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Fox Theatre still Shines
Pat Shepard grabs a dusty rope backstage and hoists the ratty gray curtain. For an instant, the Fox Theatre is transformed to its original glory as hundreds of red plush seats stretch out under the chandeliers’ blue and red haze.
Then the damage hits you.
Many of the seats are faded and covered in plastic. The stage’s right hand side is charred black from a fire set in the early ’90s. Firefighters punched holes in the roof, which gape like open sores in the decorated brown and blue ceiling.
Everything is covered with a thin layer of dust. There are cobwebs, chipped paint, exposed wooden beams, mounds of scrap metal, piles of extension cords and even a graying tapestry peeling off the corner of the left wall.
The Fox Theatre in Fullerton, which opened in 1925, was once a glamorous setting for Hollywood’s golden days. Robert M. Kennedy designed the theater, along with its sisters, the Chinese and Egyptian theaters in Hollywood. Clark Gable performed there, as did Buster Keaton. It was the first theater in Orange County to have sound and was home to one of the pre-television era Mickey Mouse Clubs.
During World War II, the theater showed weekly news updates and employees sold war bonds in the lobby. It is Orange County’s first and only surviving movie palace.
But the Fox was no match for modern technology. Despite an upgrade in the ’60s, it failed to compete with modern day multiplexes and closed in 1987. It languished on the corner of Chapman Avenue and Harbor Boulevard for years, suffering from neglect until the owner decided to demolish it to make room for new apartments.
But several Fullerton citizens were determined to save their local landmark. In 2001, they formed The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation, a community-based nonprofit organization created to save the Fox and restore it to the cultural center it once was.
Having saved the theater, they plan to restore the entire Fox complex, which consists of the theater, a two-story “Tea Room” restaurant and the 1929 Firestone Building “motor court”. Their dreams are great, but so is the damage, and high costs coupled with a lack of awareness have hindered the restoration process.
Shepard, 61, has been a member of the foundation for the past five years. Born and raised in Fullerton, he does not have strong memories of the Fox himself, but imagines his grandparents, who moved to Fullerton in 1926, and parents enjoyed shows there. He left Fullerton in the ’70s but moved back six years ago to find “Save the Fox!” flyers posted all over town. Glad to see people caring for local history, he attended an informational meeting and has been heavily involved with the Fox ever since.
Shepard begins his tour in the main theater. One blessing has been the survival of the original proscenium, or archway, over the stage. In the ’60s, the owners attempted to upgrade the Fox into a modern cinema by adding a widescreen. The builders chose to put the screen in front, saving the proscenium from destruction.
They were less kind to the rest of the theater. The ornate moldings around the side organ lofts were torn down, taking chunks of plaster with them. Six enormous murals depicting scenes of California history were also painted over. The foundation plans to build new loft decorations modeled after photographs and clean the murals.
Next to the main theater is a two-story high open area with wide archways that was once the original “Tea Room” restaurant. More scrap piles, buckets, hanging wires, exposed beams and cobwebs fill the space. A discarded popcorn popper sits in the corner, half-covered with a tarp. The second floor is missing, but the foundation plans to rebuild the missing level.
Back in the theater, Shepard steps carefully over the creaky floorboards and takes a narrow staircase to the basement, where peeling peach-painted bricks form eight dressing rooms. Several tattered posters of Italian cities cling to the walls and exposed copper pipes snake across the ceiling. A 3-foot-high water line along the walls show the basement was flooded once, and caution tape is tied into a bow in front of a rotting staircase leading to the stage. Shepard points out several trap doors in the ceiling, which were built to accommodate vaudeville acts. He doesn’t know if they still work.
Another staircase ends in the orchestra pit in front of the stage. Shepard takes the side door through the lobby and courtyard and up a set of creaking stairs in the balcony to the projector booth. Only two projector pedestals remain in the cramped and dirty room. A toilet and sink stand in the back corner, looking out of place. Shepard explains the bathroom was built for the projector’s convenience, as they had only minutes between switching reels and could not waste time walking to the restroom.
Shepard views the complex with great optimism and potential. The foundation wants to bring the complex into the 21st century by rebuilding the “Tea Room,” adding new sound technology and putting in a new box office and marquee. They also want to build a hydraulic orchestra pit in front of the stage, which would sink into the ground to form the pit and rise to extend the original stage.
The foundation also wants to restore the theater to its ’30s glory by cleaning up the artwork and repairing the original architecture.
“When I walk through the courtyard, through the theater, I want to get the feeling of walking back in time,” said Shepard.
To make this dream a reality, the foundation must first overcome many obstacles.
One challenge the foundation faces is the lack of citizen awareness. Most people simply don’t know about the project. Shepard is frustrated by the lack of awareness, but acknowledges that the foundation is partially to blame, as they can do more to advertise their organization.
One thing the foundation has done is hold an information booth at the Fullerton Farmer’s Market every Thursday night for the past five years. They can be found next to the garlic products and across from the juggling elderly man in the brown bowler hat. In their bright red polo shirts, Shepard and several other volunteers hand out flyers and answer questions.
Most people walk right by, but some nod and smile, and a few accept flyers. The farmer’s market booth slowly reaches people one by one. One success was Jim, James and Sunita Parsell, who had not heard about the foundation until they visited the booth but found the project interesting and worthwhile.
The other challenge is raising enough money to fund the restorations. The project is estimated at over $25 million and only $7 million is committed. A lack of funds has crippled the foundation from the very beginning – they barely scraped together the money to save the theater from the wrecking ball.
Only an anonymous donation of $1 million in the eleventh hour saved the Fox and turned it into a City-designated Local Landmark. This vital success has inspired a variety of other fundraising efforts.
In 2005, the theater created Movies on the Fox, an ongoing fundraiser that turns the parking lot behind the Fox into an outdoor cinema by projecting movies onto the back wall. Guests bring their own blankets and lawn chairs and enjoy the movie for free, while the foundation raises money by selling refreshments. Since the first successful showing of the original “War of the Worlds,” the foundation shows roughly one movie a month to an average of 800 people.
Their next movie is “Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom” to be shown on Thursday, Sept. 10. Ric Opalka, 62, a member of the Fox Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation, who remembers seeing movies at the Fox as a kid, is positive it will be a hit.
“Rule of thumb – if it’s summer and it’s Spielberg, we fill the place,” Opalka said.
The foundation’s best fundraiser is their annual “Hollywood in Fullerton” night, which features performances by local theaters, including Cal State Fullerton and Fullerton College’s theater departments, as well as a cocktail reception and a silent and live auction. Last June, the event was held inside the theater and raised over $44,000.
The foundation also asks for volunteer clean-up, cash donations and government aid. The theater recently received a $2 million grant from the state, as well as a $6 million loan from the city of Fullerton’s Redevelopment Agency.
Despite these successes, fundraising has proved slow and demanding, especially now with the failing economy. Shepard has no idea how long it will take to complete the project; “It’s a matter of where that money is and when it comes.”
It is this matter that keeps the project in limbo. But The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation is determined to see their project through until they complete the restorations.
Shepard stands in the main lobby and surveys the work around him. When the theater was upgraded, someone covered the original ceiling murals with plaster. Some plaster has since been scraped away and chunks of the paintings are visible.
Like the Fox, they are faded and damaged, but with time and hard work, Shepard hopes audiences will be able to glance up and appreciate the artwork before walking into the red and blue haze of a refurbished theater.
Source: http://www.dailytitan.com/2009/08/fox-theatre-still-shines/
