History of The Playhouse Movie Theatre
1919 to The Present
Setting the stage: USA & The World 1919
World War I had just ended and young men returning from active duty were searching for jobs. The United States emerged from the War as a world leader but there were many challenges at home. The Great Steel Strike was in full bloom, there were race riots in several locations and the 18th Amendment, establishing prohibition, was passed that year. Some of the issues the country struggled with sound familiar today: immigration, poverty, work safety, and labor and monopoly battles. Model T Fords were rolling off the assembly line and selling for $345, but the most common mode of travel remained the horse and buggy—or the horse and sleigh on snow rolled winter streets.
Randolph,Vermont, 1919
Vermont was different back then with only 30% of the state forested as compared to 75% today. We were considered the butter capital of the world; cows far out numbered people. The freight house and railroad depot were central to the life of Randolph Village. At the time, the freight house stood on the present site of Village Pizza. When plans were made for the building of a movie house, the nearby freight house was convenient for delivering building materials arriving by train, including Douglas fir lumber from the American west. Randolph’s Main Street was dirt and movie goers either walked to the show or arrived on horseback. Shortly after the opening of the movie theater in Randolph two silent films were actually filmed in town; The Offenders in 1921 and Insinuation in 1922. Both films are presumed lost.
Motion pictures
The first motion picture was demonstrated by Thomas A. Edison in 1896. Soon, nickelodeons began springing up everywhere; in converted store fronts, offices and in penny arcades. In 1913 the the first feature length films were shown at legitimate theaters at stage prices. By 1915 the era of nickelodeons was over. Admission was now 10 cents. Projectionists would travel from town hall to town hall showing their films. Birth of a Nation played in Randolph in 1915. The Star Theatre, located in the Dubois and Gay building, showed movies this way up until early 1919 when it was closed, as many were around the country, as a result of the Great Influenza Pandemic. The Star was especially susceptible because it was located in the center of the building with no exterior walls for ventilation. ( As many will recall, the Dubois & Gay building burnt to the ground December 1991.)
The fire hazard in movie theatres of the time was great as a result of the highly flammable cellulose film stock. When the projector jammed and stopped, the carbon arc lamp-house could quickly ignite the film. The carbon arc lamp-houses created light similar to an arc welder by focusing the arc on a mirror with the rays converging on the film. (That projection system was used at The Playhouse up until 1992 ).
The new purpose-built movie theatres wanted to differentiate themselves from the live stage theaters of the time so they changed the spelling from “theater” to “theatre”. The oldest surviving, purpose-built theatre in the United States is the ornate Al Ringling Theatre in Wisconsin, built in 1915 by one of the famous Ringling Brothers. Four years later, in 1919, Randolph had its own purpose built movie theatre.
The Strand
Concerns about ventilation and clean air contributed to the closing of Randolph’s Star Theatre and soon there was a plan for a stand alone movie theatre in town. Mary Carr bought the property at the corner of Main and Weston Streets. The Blodgett house located on that site was moved to the rear of the property to make room for the building of the theater named The Strand. Kate Brock, who had previously run the Star Theatre, leased the building and lived in the apartment in the back.
Once the building was complete the following announcement appeared in the paper: “The state authorities have pronounced the arrangements, ventilation and sanitation correct in every detail.”
With this seal of approval, local residents flocked to see the first offering at their new theatre. On August 4, 1919 The Border Wireless starring William S. Hart opened. Mrs. Ella Russell was at the keyboard of the new Corona piano and the movie played to a twice filled house representing 800 townspeople.
Eventually ownership of The Strand passed from Mary Carr to Edward and Carrie O’Brien. “The Strand” was renamed “The Playhouse” in 1941 by Barbara Robb . Ownership passed from Barbara Robb to Jack and Gertrude Champlain. They ran the theater from 1943-1969. Many colorful stories are still told today at The Playhouse about the infamous clicker Jack would use while walking up and down the isles to keep kids quite. Arnie and Clara Hendin were owners from 1969 – 1988. Arnie ran a church at The Playhouse. George and Irene Rich leased the building for several years. They showed movies and started a video rental business at the playhouse and eventually moved to a new location on Main Street.
Operators from 1988 to 2012: (David & Tammy Tomaszewski)
In 1988 David & Tammy Tomaszewski, accompanied by new born daughter Tina, were looking around for a building to open some type of business. They came across an abandoned building located on Randolph’s Main Street. Being a young family, they had little money so wrote Clara Hendin a letter explaining what they could do financially. She responded by saying she wanted to buy another horse and sold them the theatre.
When they took ownership the movie screen was draped even with the front wall, covering up the small stage and orchestra pit. A mural, painted by Barbara Robb in 1941, flanked the screen on either side. The fire Marshall showed up to inspect and would not let them reopen the theatre until the mural and all the interior walls were painted with fire retardant paint. The original “stage” was merely a 3′ wide cat walk in front of the original “screen”. The walls were painted black and in the middle was the “screen”; a four foot square of white paint with rounded corners. This “screen” was inset 10′ from the front wall and had tapered walls, like a megaphone. The orchestra pit was merely a foot deep contained behind the front wall. This area currently is incorporated into a sound deadening and double fire wall system separating the apartment in the back and the theatre in front.
The apartment in the back was transformed into a video arcade for a couple of years. Putting in 12 – 14 hours a day at the arcade gave Tammy time to reupholster all the seats in the theatre. Meanwhile Dave learned how to run the carbon arc projectors with instruction from Mike Bacon. This was not an easy task! There were two projectors. When you saw the cursed timing marks on the movie you had to turn one machine on and turn the other off without people noticing you changing reals. You had to continually focus the arc to be in the right spot in relation to the mirror in order to give steady light to the film. In the meantime you had to rewind the current reel and load the next to get ready for each change-over … every 15-20 minutes! They reopened in 1989 with Clint Eastwood’s Pink Cadillac.
Initially the arcade did well and they expanded into the theatre by flattening the floor in the front and installing a couple of pool tables. They showed movies during this time with the pool tables covered. They built a stage in front of the screen and tried to diversify. They brought in live bands, but without selling alcohol, it was a bust. They also offered the theatre to the local schools, at a loss, to hold school plays.
They were struggling to be successful and in 1990 received a letter from a woman who said their problem was the sound. She couldn’t understand the speech in the movies. They invested everything they could borrow and only had $100 left in the bank after they installed a new spectral recording sound system, created a THX system behind the screen, installed a new curved screen, and sound absorbing curtains in the auditorium. The next movie was The Rescuers Down Under and success was immediate. Over the years they reinvested in the theatre in order to keep it viable. They changed over the two projector carbon arc system to an automated system with xenon lamp-house and platter. The platter holds the entire movie reel to reel and change-overs were a thing of the past. They retained the 1940’s super simplex projectors until the 2012 digital conversion although the sound head had been reworked. In 1994 Ed Lincoln worked with Dave to convert a 1940’s York water heat exchanger over to central air conditioning. For the first time patrons could watch movies in comfort. They installed a new metal roof, replaced the knob and tube electrical wiring, and designed and built a domed air lock front entrance. In 2007 the University of Vermont was updating an auditorium on campus. Thanks to a tip from Christine Damm, they gave them the old seats for The Playhouse. These were quite modern compared to the horsehair seats with wooden backs. They transformed the new seats with cup holders in place of the fold out desks. In 2009 they began renting the apartment in back of the theater that Dave had been restoring for the past 20 years.
In 2010 they began to see that in the near future they would need digital projection and 3D capabilities. Towards the end of 2011 the movie distributors were making it harder to get 35mm film prints in an attempt to get the remaining theatres to go digital.
Playhouse Flicks Foundation was incorporated on March 12,2012 as a non-profit Vermont corporation. The intent was to apply for tax exempt status 501(c)3 under: The legal definition of a maintaining a Public Building: Any building which provides facilities or shelter for public assembly. Unfortunately, this plan did not come to fruition and the Foundation was dissolved a few months later.
The Cooperative – October 2012 – May 2021
In October of 2012, under financial pressure from the advent of digital projection, the theater ended 93 years of private ownership. The owners of the theater could not bear the cost of transitioning to digital but, rather than see the theater shuttered, local community members banded together to assume joint ownership through establishment of the Playhouse Cooperative. This addressed the immediate need (the widespread purchase of shares throughout the community (over 200 members!) raised the funds needed to purchase a new projection system), but it left the theater in private ownership, which restricted its ability to raise the funds necessary to maintain the infrastructure of the theater.
The Friends of the Historic Playhouse Theatre, Inc June 2019 – Today
To provide for the continued viability of the theater, In June of 2019 the Friends of the Historic Playhouse Theater, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was established. This time the exempt status was granted based on an arts and educational mission. On May 6, 2021, following the unanimous vote of the Cooperative members to donate their shares to the new nonprofit, the Playhouse Cooperative completed the transition of its assets and obligations to the Friends, who now own and operate the Playhouse.