State Theatre

1973 photo added courtesy Mark MacDougal. (“Deep Throat” An Adult Film In Color X) on the State marquee.

The appearance isn’t scheduled until January 9, but the NAACP wants it canceled now.

A 1996 view of the State Theatre in Easton.

I don’t know if it was ever true, but years ago when Pinder was dropped from the Moody Blues, I remember the rumor circulating at the time was because he was bald. And after Pinder’s departure, the Moody Blues sound was never quite as great, as innovative. The 1970s, unlike the ‘60s, was when the music industry suddenly turned very cutthroat, since by that point it became ALL about money. You can really see that transition vividly if you watch the movies WOODSTOCK and MESSAGE TO LOVE: THE 1970 ISLE OF WIGHT CONCERT back to back. At the 1970 Isle of Wight Concert, when the Moody Blues debuted “Nights in White Satin” for the first time — at least, to a mainstream audience — they and all the other acts were perfectly willing to do the show for free, while the concert promoters tried to turn the event into one big rip-off. And the audience kept being told, “The artists won’t perform unless you pay up,” making the artists look like they were the guilty greedy ones. From the artists’ viewpoint it must’ve felt pretty terrifying. For imagine if you will, you’ve created this music, it’s your creation, but you can’t perform it for free if you wish to because of the contract you’ve been signed to. It must’ve felt like they were suddenly living under slavery. Add to this that the Isle of Wight Concert itself took place on public trust land, meaning it was illegal to charge people money to see concerts there. But….it was the ‘70s meets the '60s, and the Moody Blues, along with the other artists, had little choice but to handle it as graciously as they could. And they did a beautiful job of it. As Ray Thomas told the audience that night, grateful for how much it appreciated their never heard before songs (at least mainstream-wise they had never been heard before), “Nights in White Satin” being one: “What you’ve given us tonight, you can’t put a price on that!”

As for YouTube, since I’m using dial-up and have yet to find a way to download videos from there so I can watch them off line at their right speed, nonetheless I probably have those Moody Blues rock videos you’re referring to on VHS. I know somewhere in my old stash of tapes I’ve got a psychedelic version of them doing “Nights in White Satin,” plus old b&w footage of the original 1965 Moody Blues doing “Go Now.” And where I was growing up I had never heard the Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon” till 1972. I’m a bit stunned to learn only now that those songs were five years old by that point!

As far as I know, “Nights in White Satin” is part of every show the Moody Blues give. The woman who plays the flute in place of Ray Thomas is quite good, too. What bothers me most is that Mike Pinder left the group under bad circumstances so none of his compositions are ever performed anymore, and he wrote a lot of my very favorite Moody Blues songs. Oh well.

Wow – I knew movies would look good in there! How wide was the screen? From the width of the proscenium it looked to be as big as the Ziegfeld’s, or even bigger.

When you see a theater like that it’s hard to believe anyone would even think of tearing it down, but of course we all know it happens all the time.

Hey, Bill.

We briefly ran classic films here when Nelson was involved with the place in 1991. You should have seen Spartacus, it was only 35mm but looked great!

The Moody Blues — one of my favorite bands of all times — are still around, still going? How many of the original members are still with them, if any? Is Justin Hayward still the band’s main lead singer? You might also want to make mention of this great experience you had last night at the following CT link — http://cinematreasures.org/news/18931_0_1_0_C/

For in my response to that Australian chap’s inquiry I failed to make mention of the State Theatre.

I was in possession of the celing medallion from the State Theatre ticket booth…..removed in the early 1980’s when theatre was in danger of demolition. Someone gave it to me years later. I just mailed it back to the director of the theatre and hope that they install it back where it belongs.

Jim, I just knew — I just KNEW! — I was going to hear your commentary on that last post I made on this State Theatre page! So it’s great to hear from you again, my man, and hope you’re doing well since the last time we corresponded!

Meantime, I didn’t know about the warning you posted at the Cinematour forum till now, only that you had posted a comment here at the State Theatre page back on June 10, 2005 combined with my remembering the religious beliefs you hold. And only after I posted what I did did it then cross my mind, uh oh, Jim’s going to jump on me for that! So in preparation I discussed the matter with my brother who’s a real scholar when it comes to the King James, and he said to tell you that in Samuel I that King Saul conjured up the spirit of Samuel, plus there are other instances where ghosts are spoken of in the Bible, and they’re not always bad.

As for me, although I’ve always had a curiosity about ghosts — and seriously, what human being doesn’t? — I’ve never actively sought out proof of such, only tried to find rational explanations for occurances I thought might’ve been such. As you can see in the questions I posted above regarding Freddy. For seriously, what am I going to do with a ghost, Jim? For my interest is in the State Theatre and its beautiful design, while at the same time I was curious what caused some to believe it’s actually haunted by the ghost of J. Fred Osterstock, a former manager, or who many now refer to as “Freddy.” As you likely know, the State Theatre now has an annual award named in his honor — that is, in honor of its former theater manager, now deceased, who had been very dedicated to his craft — and I see nothing wrong with that whatsoever, anymore than if we were talking about the Oscar here, the Emmy, the Tony or what have you. For the award is not named for the ghost but the former and very dedicated manager, that’s how I see it. The “ghost” bit, is just a touch of humor. For all throughout the theater’s over all design I see a lot of tongue-in-cheek humorous touches to it. On the one hand the theater was designed to look very regal, but it’s done in a way that’s just a tad slightly comical, as if to say William Harold Lee and others who were involved in its design were having a bit of fun with it at the same time to show that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously. For don’t you pick up on that when you visit the photo link Agilitynut gave us back on August 5, 2006 and look particularly at the middle photo he has for the State Theatre of the motif to the theater’s frontside depicting those phoenixes (or whatever they are) pawing that coat-of-arms? It’s impressive art on the one hand — looking very British or European — yet there’s a distinctive air to it of Americans poking fun at that sort of thing, too. And it’s the same with the ongoing joke about Freddy, that is Freddy the Ghost, I feel. It’s just an ongoing joke about a ghost nobody truly believes exists, nothing more. Not this people going there to specifically communicate with the dead as you suggest.

Will do, while I have no plans of getting up to Easton, PA anytime soon. Meantime, it would be interesting to learn just how many of the older theaters are haunted — or at least alleged to be haunted — by spirit presences similar. For seriously, talk about dedication to the craft!

and a couple more photos at my website (thanks Lost Memory — damn, you’re fast!):

http://www.agilitynut.com/theatres/pa.html#Easton