Fox Theatre

Does anyone know why the all records say the Fox was added to the National Register in 1976, but the playbills from the Fox all claim it was added in 1987. Is there some reason, or do the Fox people just have it mixed up?

All of the big movie palaces —and most of the smaller ones— had “walkways” like the one described above called “Catwalks” They were indeed used to access the indirect lighting and chandelier winches and were often spooky journeys in the ill-lit vastness of the multi-story heights between the auditorium ceiling and the roof where there were no windows. In the larger theatres, some architects specified concrete catwalks with steel strap railings, but in many lower budgeted houses it was a few boards just set upon the trusses with nary a railing in sight! Not every workman was as surefooted as the rest, as a scar in the repaired ceiling of the SOUTHTOWN in Chicago testified to the puncture of it by the body of a man who stepped off the catwalk, showed as he fell to his death upon the seats below.

Theatres have many fascinating areas not found in other buildings, but often dangerous ones! The FOX was blessed to have two ways to get to the booth (actually a large Projection Room suite of rooms); most theatres had but one way, and if it were blocked by fire, there was often only the window to crawl through and one hoped for a sturdy fire escape nearby.

The Fox Theatre opened on Jan. 31st, 1929.

Did the Fox ever get its new marquee?

lostmemory: The photo on your Sept. 21st post is fantastic. The lighting really shows of the brass doors! Doesn’t the RCMH Christmas Spectacular come to this theatre?

There is a new site with many fine photos of the interior details of the FOX by photographer and stagehand, Noah Kern: http://www.pbase.com/affablebeef/stlouis
You may leave comments there regarding the individual photos or the entire theatres of this and the many other theatres there pictured. Let him know how fine you think his photos to be.

For those of you interested in the Fox Marquee I have good news. The current marquee has been removed and will be replaced with a new one – in the style of the original! I will post details when I get them. I was able to watch the old marguee being removed last week and later passed it on the back of a semi being hauled away. As far as the rooftop sign goes, sorry but no plans are in the works to restore it to its former glory…Yet!

I get a very proud feeling when I read the glowing remarks about the Fox interior. My grandfather was the interior designer of the Detroit Fox, the twin of St. Louis. He was considered an acoustical genius, in his day. He also had a magical sense of imagination, as displayed in the Fox.
When he retired he gave all his drawings to my father who stored them in our garage in Detroit. When the drawings were made for the Fox, drafting paper had not been invented. Architectural drawings were made with India ink on starched linen. When my mother wanted a dust cloth she would send my brother to the garage and have him wash out an old drawing. Unfortunately, I am sure a lot of the Fox drawings ended up as poor dust clothes or polishing rags.
My grandfather lived out his later years in Midland,Michigan where he became friends with Eldon Dow of Dow Chemical.

Thank you for your kind comments. I am very happy to be able to say that the Fox has already asked us (like they even NEEDED to ask) if we will premiere our next documentary about the Gateway Arch there in 2006 – Of course the answer is an enthusiastic “YES” and we are honored to do so!

One of the greatest thrills of my life, and I sincerely mean this, was having our documentary about the 1904 World’s Fair premiere at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis in the summer of 2004. We sold out the theater (now slightly less than 4500 seats) and I was amazed to see crowds stretched around the block in each direction before the show. Everything about that night was better than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. Being back stage at the Fox was a real treat (BTW, they offer tours to the general public and I’m told Stan Kann sometimes shows up during a tour to play the Mighty Wurlitzer). The walls are painted with artwork from the various musicals that have played there – signed by cast members – along with caricatures of some of the stars who have graced its stage. I felt like a real “big shot” being able to use the main dressing room to prepare before the movie began. Waiting behind the curtain with my co-director and the Mayor of St. Louis, about to step out and stand before a crowd at this amazing theatre, is a feeling I will cherish the rest of my life. Words can not adequately express how privileged I feel to have something I worked on shown at such a marvelous, historic theatre.

Bob Miano, Director
www.civilpictures.org
www.theworldsgreatestfair.com

After Jim Grebe asked my several questions about the Fox I decided to have a look myself at your site, and I am impressed! I worked on the Fox Wurlitzer for 20 years 2 months and watched the restoration of the theater from before the work started. I am really busy at the moment but as time permits I would be happy to share many of the hundreds of photos of the building and organ, and also stories of the restoration. I hope to soon have my web career history up and running on my web site, www.studio4-17.com , which will have some of the Fox stuff on it. I am also in the early stages of writing a book on the project, but that will have to wait for my first book to be finished.
Keep up the good work!
Marlin Mackley

Unfortunately in this great land of ours (and I DO love the U.S., so please don’t get me wrong on that statement) the bottom line is all that most people care about. The reason that the Ambassador was torn down for a driveway is likely that the property taxes for a driveway were considerably less.