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Photo above: The staff of the Grandin Theatre poses in front of the cinema in 1938. Courtesy of John Francis
Roanoke’s Junior Woman’s Club held a gala in 1932 to formally open the historic theatre.
Readers of the Roanoke Times were introduced to “Roanoke’s New Theater” in the Sunday, November 1, 1931, edition. There, on an inside page, was an artist’s sketch of what would become the Grandin Theatre. The smartly drawn rendering contained a caption of basic information.
“The new structure will be modern in every respect and will cost approximately $100,000. The theater will have a seating capacity of 1,000 and will be equipped with a beautifully designed mezzanine and lounges. The building will be especially constructed for the showing of sound pictures, contracts for which have already been signed.”
The theater was a project of the Community Theater Corporation, whose offices were located on the fifth floor of the Boxley Building in downtown. At the time of the announced plans, no name had been selected for the theater, and so the officers of the corporation held a contest, receiving submissions for the next thirty days. Officers of the corporation were M. Lindsey, president; M. J. Patsel and J. D. Turner, vice-presidents; and Nick Walters, secretary-treasurer.
Within a few months, as the theater was nearing completion, the Junior Woman’s Club decided to sponsor the theater’s opening night, slated for March 26. The club would use the event as a means to raise funds for its “school for crippled children,” located at 1501 Patterson Avenue SW. Miss Clara Black was named chairman of the ticket committee.
In the following months more details of the theater’s construction were reported. “The theater was especially constructed with attention to sound effects and is declared to provide unusually good results in all parts of the building. A modern high-low intensity projector makes objects on the screen distinct from any angle on the main floor or gallery and removes the glare from the front of the screen…Ceiling lighting, arranged in blue and amber, is diffused from three owl reflectors on each side of the auditorium. A star-light effect is provided at each of the two balconies at the front of the theater, while the various shades and blended effects produced from the stage footlights add greatly to the beauty of the interior. The ceiling, accentuated by the lighting arrangements, is especially striking, carrying out in delicate decorative effects the Spanish theme.”
All of this design was under the watchful eye of Roanoke’s Eubank and Caldwell architectural firm.
Former Roanoker John R. Brophy was brought back to manage the theater, having worked in the film industry for 12 years in New York and on the West Coast.
As opening night drew closer, the Junior Woman’s Club was in high gear. The opening for that Saturday night began at 8:15 with a feature film, “Arrowsmith,” starring Roland Colman and Helen Hayes. To help promote the opening, the women organized a parade the weekend prior with a police escort and headed by Mayor S. P. Seifert and City Manager W. P. Hunter. The automobile parade snaked its way through downtown with banners on every car announcing ticket sales for the benefit of the club’s school.
The goal was nothing less than a sell-out of the theater. Thurman and Boone Furniture Store also made tickets available through their cashiers. On the day of opening night, ticket-bearing club members stationed themselves in the lobbies of hotels throughout the city in an effort to attract those visiting from out of town. The morning paper of March 26 reported, “Tests at the theater were completed yesterday afternoon and everything declared in readiness for the show tonight. Dancers and musicians also conducted a rehearsal last night and acclimated themselves for their performances.”
At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, the doors to the Grandin Theatre officially opened. Last-minute ticket-buyers lined up at the box office window, while Junior Woman’s Club members ushered patrons to their seats. At 8:15, the curtain was pulled back and the gala commenced. The Roanoke Times covered the evening in great detail.
“‘Arrowsmith,’ starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes, was the initial number on the program. The story of the picture deals with the struggle of Martin Arrowsmith, young medical student from the Middle West, in attaining his ambition of becoming a research scientist, an attainment which costs him many of his most cherished friends and ideals.
“‘Sea Legs,’ a musical revue, and ‘Shipwrecked,’ a ‘looney tune’ cartoon, offered dramatic relief and set the stage for the dancing troupe.
“Beautiful costumes, enhanced by striking lighting effects produced with the blending of shades from the footlights, made the dance numbers unusually attractive. This entire portion of the program, from opening chorus, soft shoe dance, syncopated tap dance, to a very individual number by Miss Martha Turner and Hubert Smith and the concluding appearance of the ensemble received continued applause.”
The leaders of the Junior Woman’s Club, namely Miss Essie Dyer, president, and Miss Clara Black, event chairman, pronounced the three-hour gala a success. The event was attended by over 800 persons and helped the Woman’s Club retire a $1,600 debt on their school for disabled children. More importantly to Raleigh Court, however, was the opening of the Grandin Theatre, which is now Roanoke’s only remaining historic theater.
The story above is from our November/December 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
