A gift for the theatrical

A while ago I talked about old theaters in White County. Whenever I drive around in old towns, one of the first things I look for (up there with ghost signs and train stations) are its theaters. Sometimes it's almost masochistic, because while I love to see old theaters, they tend to be in such disrepair that I almost feel wounded.



Sheridan's theater represents what's usually the barest minimum the remnant of a town's theater. The facade has been wiped clean, the windows painted over and the steel art moderne awning is eroded. The ghost of "SCOUNT" is printed on the facade, suggesting this building has been used for more than movies. It at least still is recognizable as a theater, as long as you know generally what theaters looked like. I do suppose it's in better condition than Kensett's poor guy.



This one in Grayville, Illinois has joined a host of other old theaters in becoming a concert venue. Though the whole effect of the building is pretty unassuming, there are a few curious things to be spotted: a mysterious "W" adorning the front of the marquee (probably referring to the theater's original name); a pair of glass-cube windows (present on many 1940s-60s theaters); and two loudspeakers mounted on the top of the marquee for whatever reason.



The gorgeous Malco theater in downtown Hot Springs has been restored and is now the home of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute. Most of Hot Springs' downtown district is pretty nice, but once you hike out of the National Park area, you tend to find some areas that have seen better days.



Just down the street from the Malco is the waning Central theater, which must have had a more elaborate marquee in better times. Older times were better times for most of the street around the Center theater; many of the neighboring buildings are vacant or home to last-legs type institutions like bars and antique stores.



The Melba of downtown Batesville (one of my favorite downtowns in this area) is an art deco theater fairly similar to Searcy's Rialto both in design and function: the Melba still shows movies. Down the street from the Melba is another excellent specimen.



Though I am not certain, the Landers appears to be an older theater, judging by its brick facade. The signage probably came later. As you can tell from the picture, the Fellowship Bible Church (which is gigantic and rich, if you didn't know) have bought out the building. They have since gutted out the inside. I don't think they're going to change the exterior, but even with this the town of Batesville have gotten rather peeved at them. I am mildly peeved as well, but I can think of worse uses for the building. As a bonus, here is an old picture of the Landers, which I found at the Independence County Museum:



Note, of course, the different sign and marquee. I can't decide which I like more, the old art deco rounded letters or the more 1950s-style separated neon ones.

I kinda feel like adding in a bit of bitter old-man-ish talk about how much better old theaters are than new ones, but I'm not an old man yet. I'm still trying to find things that I like about the 21st century, though, so I guess I'll try to be positive. We have air conditioning and multiple screens! Yayy...(I'm bitter).

I'm going on a little road trip this weekend between here and Fort Smith, so I ought to come back with a lot more stuff. That's good news!

-Jonesy

Ghost Signs: Part 2

Location: Corner of Scott & Second Street, Little Rock

"When asked how he managed to be happy every day, Mr. Adair would simply say, 'I trick my mind into thinking I'm having fun.' This attitude adjustment always applied, even to those times when he found himself hoisted high above ground in 100-degree heat."

The above quote is from Bob Adair, a lifelong painter of wall signs. I read the interview in Ghost Signs of Arkansas after Jenna surprised me with it one night (she had planned on presenting it to me after the wedding, but I talked about buying it too much, so I got it sooner. Yay, persistence!). These painters were commonly known as "Wall Dogs," and this particular dog began his career in 1924, ending it sometime in the 90s.


Location: Sheridan

The wall dog's job was one of precision. Folks like Adair would often travel in pairs, with one dog laying down a framework in charcoal, and the second filling out the skeleton with colored paints. The above sign was in a particularly bizarre location, lurking in a back alley home now only to bits of broken glass and plastic lawn chairs. I spotted it from far away and hiked over the cracked concrete to get to it. Later, I felt like I needed some ice cold refreshment. Looks like those ads still work this many years later...


Location: Batesville

Speaking of refreshment, this sign in downtown Batesville was totally restored by some modern wall dogs in 1988 at the behest of the city. The 20 years since then have worn it down, letting some of the layers underneath peek through. If you squint, you can make out the phrase "Relieves Headaches" at the upper right. This is hilarious, but I'll remind you that extra-strength Excedrin actually contains caffeine as one of its active ingredients. Unfortunately Coke is still just about as inept at curing migraines as it is curing thirst. That didn't stop me from drinking some on the afternoon I snapped that picture, though.


Location: Hot Springs

The thing I love the most about these signs is that they are never tacky. I'm sure someone out there might argue with me over that, but I haven't seen a tacky one yet. The text is perfectly aligned, it's clear and legible, beautiful, classy and artistic. There's no papyrus or comic sans or monotype corsiva. And when the text isn't perfectly aligned, it's endearing instead of annoying. The artists were skilled.

"One such skill, according Mr. White [another wall dog], is the ability to judge scale and proportion well enough to start at any point in the lettering or graphic and paint the sign to fit the space. To prove himself to a skeptical client, he once had to paint lettering for the word 'Solarcaine' backwards, from right to left, on a large billboard."


Location: Hot Springs

As a last image in today's entry, here's one of my all-time favorite signs. This one has just about everything on it, from giant 3-d letters to Coca-Cola to outdated prices to long-gone businesses. The box in the upper right advertises a "saloon," which is worth an entire time machine in itself. The phantom of the word "rooms" haunts the very top of the display, bringing me to muse on what kind of folk populated the rooms in the first half of the 20th century. And looming behind the whole picture is the colossal, cryptic "SELZ," that could really be just about anything.

Next, we'll travel outside of Arkansas to see what ghosts other states might offer.

-Jonesy