Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:50:44 -0700 http://www.thehollandtheatre.org/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://www.thehollandtheatre.org/images/logo.gif http://www.thehollandtheatre.org/ webmaster@thehollandtheatre.org http://www.thehollandtheatre.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1 By Brian J. Evans Bellefontaine Examiner Staff Writer Hundreds of community members gathered outside the Holland Theatre 75 years ago Sunday evening on the northeast corner of Opera Street and Columbus Avenue, eagerly waiting for its doors to open. The first Ohio showing of Stolen Heaven and a presentation of Laurel and Hardy's The Chiselers, began after sundown. As a line sprawled around Columbus Avenue and Opera Street, the "dazzling glows" of a towering 40-by-10-foot marquee of "Schine's Holland," flickered bright colors through the dusk. It was about time to open and it was the grand opening night. In honor of the Holland's opening day, the Logan County Landmark Preservation Inc. has planned a gala benefit concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. today, featuring local talent, and an open house from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday with a slate of performances and free birthday cake. The Daily Examiner's "New Holland Theatre Edition," published on Feb. 11, 1931, and the Feb. 13, 1931, story of the grand opening detailed the community excitement and the grandeur of the building designed by Peter M. Hulsken, who obtained his architectural education in Holland and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Three thousand people, including some from out of state and representatives from Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Fox, attended. The lobby's walls were lined with banks of flowers leading to the auditorium, with cards of congratulations and praise to the theatre's owners, the Schine brothers, for bringing such a monumental, state-of-the-art theatre to Bellefontaine. The opening night was described as "awe-inspiring" and "unforgettable." A Daily Examiner staff reporter described the grand opening as "an evening that I shall never forget." "Many many years from now Bellefontaine's youth, then grown to grandfatherhood and grandmotherhood, will be telling bedtime stories to their little folks," the reporter wrote. "I can remember everyone sitting, looking at the stars and the planets and the rolling clouds - so realistic that one had to think twice to remember that he wasn't in a truly out-of-door theatre." "Once in the auditorium itself, one feels he is taking part in a paradox. Being inside, he is to all appearances very much outside. Outside, in the midst of a beautiful summer night, with twinkling stars, moonlit clouds and invigorating air adding to the joy of a stroll down a thoroughfare lined with real little Dutch houses and windmills." The sold-out auditorium sat in silence, "and then the lights began to change, a sunset pink began to appear where before had been a blue night. The clouds rolled faster and then, slowly at first and then a bit faster, the windmills began to turn. A childlike 'oh' went over the whole audience as if they had witnessed a kind of man-made miracle." The raising of the curtain unveiled a vast canvas depicting a Dutch harbor scene, the article says. Trumpets, drums and other music blared as scents were blown into the audience. "The whole day was a delight," the article says. "(It's) a marvel that such a building really exists in the City of Bellefontaine." During an era in which Italian and Spanish-styles were dominant among theatres known for their atmospheres, the Holland Theatre was the first of its kind in the nation featuring 17th Century Holland-style architecture. The architect had the design copyrighted Nov. 15, 1930, as the only Dutch-theme theatre registered with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. "The entire theatre, from the outside façade including lobby, foyer and auditorium is carried out in the style prevailing in that century in old Holland," Mr. Hulsken wrote in an article in the special edition. "Every building in the entire scheme (in the auditorium) is a replica of some old building in that country. Each shield and coat of arms has history and represents the coat of arms of important cities." The $250,000 theatre was erected in less than four months, with construction beginning Sept. 4, 1930. The 1,400-seat theatre introduced then state-of-the-art technology in heating, cooling, lighting, sound, stage mechanics and film. Motion pictures were "a wonderful new force," that brought "healthy excitement and the keenest pleasure" and education, a special edition article proclaimed. The Daily Examiner reported the owner, Schine Enterprises Inc., had the largest circuit of theatres in New York state. J. Meyer Schine, president of Schine Enterprises Inc., and brother Louis W. Schine, general manager/treasurer, operated theatres across the eastern U.S. and was extending its operations to the Midwest, the article says. With Schine's expanding, the Holland offered potential to revive the local economy, feeling the effects from the 1929 stock crash and the ensuing Great Depression. "It is here that all walks of life rub shoulders," J. Meyer Schine wrote of the Holland in the special edition. "We'll do everything possible to further the progress and growth of Bellefontaine." The Schine brothers expected to draw people from 10 to 15 miles away because of the popularity of the growing motion picture industry. "Farmers and people in small settlements who consider town too far away except very occasional visits will travel one or more times a week to see talking pictures in a new house with good equipment," the Schine brothers wrote. The Holland continued to earn community support for decades. Structural changes were made inside beginning in the 1970s forming additional theatres, and ownership changes were recorded. Much of the original artwork has been damaged or lost. It ceased operations Oct. 11, 1928. Today, the Holland is being brought back to life and has hosted various fine arts events through efforts of the preservation group which vows to restore the theatre to its previous majesty. The rebirth began Jan. 20, 1999, sprouting from the production by a group of local Bellefontaine High School students of As the Windmill Turns, a play about the theatre. Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:50:44 -0700