Fox Theatre (Visalia, California) facts for kids
Visalia Fox Theatre, 2013
|
|
| Address | 308 West Main Street Visalia, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°19′49″N 119°17′41″W / 36.3302°N 119.2948°W |
| Capacity | 1,275 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | February 27, 1930 |
| Reopened | November 20, 1999 |
| Years active | 1930-1996; 1999-present |
| Architect | Balch and Stanbery |
| Website | |
| www.foxvisalia.org | |
The Visalia Fox Theatre is a famous old movie palace and theater in downtown Visalia, California. It first opened in 1930 as part of the big Fox Theatre chain. Later, in 1976, it was changed into a building with three movie screens. After closing for a short time in the late 1990s, a group of people from the community helped fix it up. It reopened in 1999 as a place for live shows and can hold 1,275 people.
Contents
A Look Back: The Theatre's History
The Visalia Fox Theatre was designed and built between 1929 and 1930. The main architect was Clifford Balch from Los Angeles. Building it cost about $225,000, which was a lot of money back then! This theatre was one of many built by William Fox and his company, Fox Film Corporation. This company later became the famous 20th Century Fox.
Grand Opening Day
The Fox Theatre first opened its doors on February 27, 1930. The very first show included a "talkie" western (a movie with sound!), a newsreel (short news film), a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and a Laurel and Hardy comedy. The theatre and the streets around it were packed with people. This was a huge event for Visalia, which only had about 7,000 people at the time. It showed how important the theatre would become to the town.
Changes Over the Years
For over 45 years, the Fox remained a single-screen theatre. But in 1976, many movie theatres were changing to have multiple screens, called "multiplexes." The Fox was bought by the Mann Theater company. To keep up with new cinemas in Visalia, the big single auditorium was split into three smaller screens. Two screens were on the ground floor, and the balcony became the third screen.
The Fox continued to show new movies for 20 more years. However, in late 1996, Mann built a huge 12-screen cinema across town. With this new, bigger theatre, the Fox closed its doors after 66 years of showing movies. But it wasn't long before people decided to bring the Fox back to its original glory.
What Makes the Fox Theatre Special?
The Fox Theatre is an "atmospheric theatre". This means it was designed to make you feel like you are outside in a magical, faraway place. This style of movie theatre was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s. They were a wonderful escape from the tough times of the Great Depression.
A Unique Design
Each atmospheric theatre had its own special theme. The inside of the Visalia Fox Theatre looks like a temple garden in India or South Asia. The ceiling has tiny lights that flicker like stars, making it seem like a clear night sky. There are also fancy "temples" or "pagodas" with beautiful paintings on either side of the stage. Above the stage, you can see a hand-sculpted genie with a fearsome face between two elephants.
The Art of Illusion
The theatre's rich and fancy look comes from an art trick called "trompe-l'œil". This is a French phrase that means "trick of the eye." It makes something look like it's made of expensive materials, even when it's not. During the "Golden Age of Hollywood," movie studios wanted to impress their audiences. They built hundreds of amazing theatres around the world. Instead of using very costly materials like real gold, marble, or fancy wood, architects used cheaper things like plaster and paint. They made these look like the real thing, creating a grand feeling without the huge cost.
Bringing the Fox Back to Life
The Fox Theatre closed in November 1996. It stayed closed until a group of people who loved the theatre, called "Friends of the Fox," decided to save it. They worked hard to buy and fix up the old building.
The Big Restoration
The clock tower, which had been ignored for years, was full of pigeon mess. The huge six-foot clock, which was hard to keep on time even when new, was carefully put back together by a local engineer. Much of the beautiful inside of the building was damaged in 1976 when it was quickly changed into a three-screen cinema. The genie sculpture above the stage was carefully re-sculpted by a local volunteer, who used old photos to guide the work. Most of the wall paintings needed to be redone, and countless decorations had to be replaced.
After three years of hard work and lots of help from people in Visalia and nearby towns, the restoration was finished. The famous musician Marvin Hamlisch played at the Grand Re-Opening on November 20, 1999, to a sold-out crowd.
Today, the theatre is still a busy place for performing arts and an important part of the community. Many performances by the Tulare County Symphony are held at the Fox. Sometimes, classic movies are also shown there, many of which were first seen at the theatre many years ago.
See also
- Fox Theatres
- Hanford Fox Theatre
- Bakersfield Fox Theatre
- Fox Oakland Theatre
- Fullerton Fox Theatre
- Pomona Fox Theater
- San Francisco Fox Theatre (Demolished)
