APRIL 2005
|
Historic DowntownChasing Rainbows at the Foxby Ken Scoville
The opening program was an event with something for everyone, even if you didn’t have a ticket to the movie. At 9:15 a.m., stars from “Chasing Rainbows” arrived, along with executives from “the coast” for their evening personal appearances. Congress Street in front of the theatre closed at 4:00 p.m. and the usherettes greeted the public when the doors opened in the evening at 6:00. The fifteen young women from Tucson were all approximately the same height and were dressed in white flannel trousers with blue stripes and blue silk accents. Small-town Tucson featured an extravaganza of local musicians: Tony Correll’s Spanish Troubadors before the movie at 7:00 and the San Xavier Indian band and the DeMoly band followed. As the evening progressed with dancing on the street, the University of Arizona provided dramatics from the senior follies and the sixty-piece Arizona band performing many favorites including “Happy Days Are Here Again”. This was a major theme song from “Chasing Rainbows” and was obviously an optimistic statement in spite of the recent stock market crash and financial uncertainty. The dancing and celebration continued late into the evening, thanks to the stylings of Roy Mack and his Desertland Troubadours and bomb salutes every fifteen minutes. The thousands who turned out that evening would eventually tell the entire 32,000 residents of Tucson that the Fox was the heart of the city. The decade of the 1930s was a financial challenge to the community and eventually everyone owed money to someone. This adversity united the town and the Fox Theatre became Tucson’s first community center with promotional events specific to the Fox or in support of local clubs and organizations. The Mickey Mouse Club evolved from several kids events and became formalized in 1932, thanks to Mabel Weadock who played Aunt Minnie. She arranged all the contests and songfests in addition to being the announcer and chaperone. This one-woman show provided more fun for kids than the dime admission could ever quantify. The club emphasized self-worth, patriotism, good citizenship, and even integration. The Mickey Mouse Club was an integrated event for everyone. Several generations grew up at the theatre, and the memory continues for many Tucsonans to this day.
The Fox closed in June of 1974 and a decade later the obituaries for our first community center ebbed into the Star and Citizen with a different rainbow. The pot of gold had become high-rise development with the announcement in 1984 of a $150,000,000 office complex by Venture West, Inc. which would include the site of the Fox. City officials began to say that the theatre was structurally unsound and Daniel E. Rubin, co-owner of the company, said that the building was so dangerous that he wouldn’t allow his own people inside. A 1991 estimate by Barnett and Devoe contractors projected the Fox’s demolition cost at $246,000, almost what it cost to build. There were off-and-on attempts to preserve the Fox with petition drives and pleas to public officials. The idea of a revitalized downtown without the Fox was unimaginable. Behind-the-scenes efforts and the organization of the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation made the purchase of the Fox a reality in October 1999. The Foundation is the latest group of Tucsonans to chase the rainbow. With the City Council’s recent decision to allow Rio Nuevo to guarantee a loan to get the theatre renovated and reopened by New Year’s Eve 2005, the Fox Theatre will again be the heart of the city. |
|
|
|
NEXT | |
| Return to www.downtowntucson.org | ||
he grand opening of the Fox Theatre on April 11, 1930 featured the movie “Chasing Rainbows”, and the title of this production perfectly defines the history and relationship of the theater to the Tucson community. The Great Depression provided the backdrop and motivation to escape the reality of current events and allowed each patron to chase that rainbow for at least a few hours. The rainbow would have a multitude of different meanings that were intertwined with each individual life: childhood gatherings for the Mickey Mouse Club, a first date and future romance, the chance to win a jackpot, a frigid escape on a June afternoon and, most recently, the preservation of the theater itself. These individual life experiences are part of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but the real treasure is bringing back that elusive sense of community in the Old Pueblo. 
The Fox Theatre was center stage for the community from the very beginning. The lamp posts on all the uptown streets were decorated in a red, white, and blue motif and a “Welcome Fox” placard signified that this $300,000 palace constructed of steel and poured concrete would finally open. The artists rushed to finish the Art Deco details inside, the pipes for the Wurlitzer organ were installed, and the Acoustone walls gave ticket holders a unique listening experience.
During the next 30 years the Fox would help the community get through the Great Depression with promotions like bank night which featured a $100 jackpot and china night. Ladies matinee would feature a romantic movie and the opportunity to dress up for a day downtown. Events reflected the community: automobile raffles, bicycle races, beauty contests, and a children’s Halloween mardi gras. Will Rogers was the featured guest for a fund raiser for the University polo team, while the war years brought Kate Smith and other celebrities on-stage to promote war bonds. But the Fox magic declined with the 1960s after a decade of drive-in theaters and television and the suburban dreams that had taken hold in Tucson.