Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
174 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
174 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 53 comments found
Ellegant, with its star-studded sky-ceiling, when it was a movie theater, the Olympia was the Miami counterpart of the Washington Heights RKO Coliseum. I now see the Olympia was originally a Paramount theater. It has lost much of its grandeur.
A recent photo.
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This site has a number of photos of the theater as the Olympia as well as details of Elvis Presley’s appearance there in 1956: http://www.scottymoore.net/olympia.html
Endangered again. Yet another unfortunate outcome of Maurice Gusman entrusting the venue to the Miami Parking Authority.
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Here is a music video which was filmed in this majestic theater (note: song in spanish by international artist Chayanne):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJJbrBEZqy8
Here is a short ‘making of’…you can really appreciate the theater in this vid since its in glorious color.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arhgPlsevzg
Enjoy!
The Olympia with a name it apparently never carried.
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How the boxoffice used to face:
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Vintage shot of the Olympia marquee circa 1928 (BEAU BROADWAY):
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The mezzanine of the Olympia:
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1985 photo of the Gusman Center.
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The name here should be changed to Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.
http://gusmancenter.org/
The city of Miami did not rename the Olympia. Maurice Gusman saved it from the wrecking ball, refurbished it into a concert hall and named it after himself. He then left it to the city when he passed away.
This site has some photos. Click each photo to expand it.
LM, as ALWAYS! That is a beautiful pic! Nice. I still don’t understand why Miami has a tendency to rename established institutions. I would have never used Gusman Hall to rename this popular theatre. If it started as the Olympia it should remain that way forever.
Sparks' Theatre News, 1932-33.
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Great shot, LM. Elvis himself did once perform live at the Olympia.
Here is a recent close-up view of the Olympia.
Just visited this theater for the first time, yesterday, for a restored print of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West,’ presented by the Miami International Film Festival. Architecturally, it seems an exact replica of the Tampa Theatre, which is to say, it’s awesome. The presentation, however, is lacking. The screen does not appear to have proper movable masking, aperture shadow was present through some of the film, and the screen is not quite wide enough to fully convey 2.35:1. Worst of all, however, the acoustics are very bad. A large wooden stage extends from the screen, and there’s not enough carpeting in this cavernous space to absorb the sonic stuff, rendering all audio tinny and echoey. I couldn’t make out about 15% of the dialogue in the I was watching. Management seemed overworked and preoccupied.
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1198 style 260 was installed in the Olympia Theater on 11/6/1925.
I finally found the Publix-Sparks connection.
According to MARQUEE Edward Sparks was General Manager for Paramount-Publix in Florida. He apparently named, what eventually became Florida State Theatres, after himself in the 30’s.
This is an article about the 80th anniversary of the Olympia Theater.
Here is that mystery link to SPARKS' THEATRES I mentioned above.
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Before it was demolished for the Olympia, this site was the Hippodrome.
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After being awarded an inspection and repair contract for the Gusman Center in 1992, InterAmerica Stage, Inc. provided rigging hardware upgrades, control system repairs and installed a new orchestra shell ceiling hoist and controls. The theatre recently underwent another renovation led by Architect R.J Heisenbottle & Associates. A new auditorium lighting bridge and other improvements were achieved. Every year the Miami International Film Festival is hosted by the Gusman Center.
http://iastage.com/historical_renovations
Although the Olympia appears to have opened at a PUBLIX theatre, the precursor of ABC Florida State Theatres, I have recently purchased a January 1932 Newsletter from SPARKS' Theatres listing it as one of theirs on that date.
January 29, 30, 31 RUDY VALEE in Person!
Stanleigh Malotte at the mighty organ!
Saturday Midnight Show at 11:30pm Eddie cantor in THE KID FROM SPAIN
Other sites included are:
Coral Gables (not the Gables on Ponce de Leon)
Paramount (downtown house looking nothing like the one I remember) Roxy (24 East 1st Avenue)
Rex (205 East Flagler Street)
Rosetta (Little River, later a Wometco site)
Community (Miami Beach)
Does anyone have any info on SPARKS and their Miami history? I had never heard of them and I worked for ABC for over 7 years in the 70’s.