Evergreen on Poplar

Backseater on October 4, 2005 at 3:54 am

I got my start in show business as a doorman/ticket taker at the Guild from 1965-67 and again from 1973-74, rising eventually to the rank of “assistant manager.” Everybody said it had once been named the Ritz. It was already being run by the Art Theater Guild in 1963 when I first went there as a freshman at Southwestern at Memphis (AKA “Rhodes College” —gag—). It was a medium-long walk or a short car ride (if you had one) from the SW campus and it seemed that entire generations of SW students had worked there. The tradition was that when you were about to graduate, you picked your successor and personally introduced him/her to the manager, Bill Kendall—a real nice guy and an SW grad himself. Almost everyone so introduced was hired. I remember seeing—not necessarily in order—“The Pawnbroker” with Rod Steiger, highly controversial in early 1960s Memphis because a black woman went topless; “Phaedra” with Melina Mercouri, Raf Vallone, and Anthony Perkins; “Blow-Up” for 8 weeks followed by “Georgy Girl” for 7 weeks (almost all showings were sold out—we called it “The House the Redgraves Built”); Roman Polanski’s “Knife in the Water”; Ingmar Bergman’s “Winter Light”; Fellini’s “8-½”; and (later) Richard Burton and Jenny Agutter in “Equus”, among many, many others. By 1973 the Art Theater Guild had pulled out and Mr. Kendall was booking the theater himself. Eventually, this failed and it was taken over by a third party who obtained a beer license and started perhaps one of the first “cabaret” or more accurately, “bar” theaters. Although no longer working there by then, I went as a customer and saw “Rocky Horror Picture Show” first-run before it became a cult classic and while you could still hear the dialog (approximately 1976). Unfortunately, I had several beers before the show started and don’t remember much about it. I lost track of the Guild during my last few years in Memphis, 1977-83. It was closed for a while, but eventally was acquired by Circuit Playhouse, a division of Playhouse on the Square, and is now a live theater venue. From the seating chart their website, it appears that they have enlarged the stage and cut out or replaced lots of the original seats. When I worked there it was a large open auditorium with no balcony and seated about 600. The original small square screen from the 1930s was still there, but a larger screen had been installed in front of it, with the loss of several rows of seats. Starting about 1966 we showed “Underground Movies” at midnight on Saturdays for a few months. It was illegal in Memphis to start a public movie after midnight, so we turned the entire theater into a private club with a 25-cent lifetime membership fee. Ah, memories.

Will Dunklin on September 22, 2006 at 4:06 pm

First, the Ritz was equipped with a small Kilgen pipe organ in a single chamber at one side of the stage. It was removed long ago, current location unknown.

The Circuit Playhouse (a.k.a. the Ritz and the Guild) is a magnificent example of the adaptive reuse of an historic building: it was extensively remodeled to accomodate live theatre. The original stage and pipe organ chamber still exist and are part of the rehearsal hall. Costume shop, dressing rooms and storage were also accomodated into the space that was once the area closest to the screen. The significantly reduced auditorium is not without a certain bohemian charm. The tiny lobby had a shabby-chic facelift which is entirely appropriate for the venue.

It should be noted that under Jackie Nichols direction, Playhouse-On-The-Square and its sister facility, Circuit Playhouse, provide live theatre of the absolute highest quality. Mr. Nichols has proven himself not only a theatrical director of exceptional talent but also a businessman with financial acumen seemingly equal to Donald Trump’s. His playhouse facilities have been financially successful for nearly 40 years. His approach to recreating old buildings for new uses approaches the level of visionary.

(Think the praise is too effusive? You haven’t seen what he’s done.)

The Playhouse webside’s “history” page

View link

indicates that new facilities are in the works that will replace both of 1920’s-era movie theatres. We can only hope that the Memphian and the Ritz (to use their former names)
will find new uses and continue to entertain future generations.

gspragin on November 4, 2006 at 7:38 pm

Here’s a photo of the
Circuit Playhouse formerly the Guild and the Ritz. I remember seeing a movie there when I was in high school in the 1970s.

CSWalczak on February 15, 2010 at 6:44 am

It should now be listed as the Evergreen Theater according to this article View link