Play It Again Sam - Revive Proctors!

by Don Rittner

Humans need entertainment. It’s as necessary as breathing. Sports and games were played in the oldest civilizations. Playthings have been found in prehistoric graves. Organized amusement parks were entertaining crowds in the 16th century.

Closer to home, Troy has been a center of entertainment for music, stage, and motion pictures for the last two centuries.

Going to the movies was a common and popular event and one that took some thought not too long ago. There were a dozen movie houses in the city.

Old timers will remember the Lincoln on Third Street. The American was on River. The Palace sat on Fifth Avenue and Hoosick. The Rose, later called State, was on Fourth by Congress. The Arlington was on Pawling Avenue. The Bijou and Lansing entertained in Lansingburgh. The Griswold and Shea’s Five Cent Theater were on Third. The Rivoli was on Second. Lastly, the Troy on River and Proctors on Fourth were the city’s premier movie stops.

Earlier Vaudeville and Burlesque theaters were also popular like the Star Theater on Federal Street in the 1890’s, The Gaiety on River, or Folly Theater in 1901.

Many of these theaters offered the finest Hollywood productions until the 1970’s, and tickets were no more than 10 to 50 cents a movie! I remember standing in line to get a ticket that went around the block - twice - at Proctors.

We can thank Thomas Edison, Louis Lumiere, Bell Labs, and others for the technology that makes movie magic. During the early 20th century, short "silent" films or "flickers" were offered in vaudeville houses often as the last item of the night, or between performances.

The Griswold Theater was leased to Frederick F. Proctor in 1905 and remodeled as Proctors Griswold Theater. You could see Mary Pickford as Cinderella or Quo Vadis, both a "photo drama" in 1913.

Proctor’s "New Theater" on Fourth, which he promoted as having "Super Vaudeville," and "Supreme Photo-Plays" was built in 1913-14, and billed as "Troy’s Largest Amusement Place." One of the earliest shows was a Warner’s feature movie - "The Mothers Penitent," a drama of the golden West. It premiered on February 2, 1914. It starred Baby Early and Elsie Albert. In 1917, Fred and Adele Astaire (before Ginger) appeared in person to "new songs and distinctive dance."

The first real success in synchronizing sound and film was achieved in 1922 by Bell Telephone Laboratories with their creation of the Vitaphone.

Samuel L. Warner (Warner Brothers) was so impressed by it that he committed the studio to develop motion pictures with sound. He created the Vitaphone Corporation in April 1926, with exclusive license to utilize the new technology.

Only four months later, Warner released the first Vitaphone feature production, Don Juan. The movie was filmed as a silent, but given a synchronized musical score. Along with the film were several Vitaphone produced shorts, including a talkie and some songs to show off the new technology. There were only 12 movie theaters in the country and not much of a viewing public, but nonetheless, it was a hit.

William Fox, President of the Fox Film Corporation, saw the potential of

Warner’s efforts and purchased the competing Case-Sponable system for recording and synchronizing sound on film, which he renamed Movietone.

In the spring of 1927, Fox released a Movietone which featured

sound shorts of the outdoors, something not possible with Vitaphone technology. Audiences were delighted to the sights and sounds of

the morning drills of West Point cadets and Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic takeoff.

Not to be outdone, Warner released The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson, on October 23, 1927, complete with the very first dialogue ever recorded for a feature. It premiered in New York City at Warner’s Strand. The following year the Troy Theater, built only four years previous as a "silent," was billing itself as the "House of the Talkies."

Vaudeville and movies often shared the same stage. On November 9, 1929, you could see both Ruth Chatterton in "Once a Lady," and Rose’s Midgets on the same bill at Proctors.  Rose’s "25 Lilliputians" were billed as "The Largest Company of Midgets In The World With the Only Midget Jazz Band." Quite a show, I bet.

By 1931, there were 11 theaters in our area offering such entertainment as Joan Crawford in "This Modern Age," Buster Keaton in "Sidewalks of New York," Eddie Cantor in "Palmy Days," or the double feature at the Palace showing Maurice Chevalier’s "The Smiling Lieutenant" and Bert Wheeler’s "Caught Plastered."

The next thirty years were the golden age for movie theaters. I remember

going to the State Theater during the 60’s. Admission was a dime (two features and a cartoon). So was popcorn, but my favorite Goldberg’s Peanut Chews only cost a nickel. Often a serial played between features such as Batman, or Flash Gordon.. Bingo was offered after the show but I was too young to play.

With the 1950s came the proliferation of television sets. The movie studios countered with 3D, Cinemascope and VistaVision, as an attempt to lure viewers back. Moveover, it was the time of drive-in movies and grade B science-fiction films that featured aliens (substitutes for the Communist threat) with their zippered suits and flying saucers on strings.

By the early 1970’s, suburban expansion and later Troy’s reckless urban removal period rang the death bell. You had to get in the car and leave the city to see a movie. Proctors closed for the last time in the 70’s (I believe 1977 with Hayley Mills/Parent Trap). The American Theater became "specialized," and is the sole remaining "movie" house in Troy. An ill fated attempt to bring first rate movies occurred when they built the Atrium. It suffered the same fate.

That brings us back to Proctors. This five story entertainment complex with movie house and commercial space takes up most of the east side of Fourth Street between State and Broadway. The beautiful facade of marble and terra cotta with lion heads and gargoyles is impressive even today. Proctors seated over 2000 people.

Inside the theater are two steep balconies overlooking the main floor, with a set of ramps leading down to the first floor (way before the disabilities act). A set of side balconies hang to the left and right of the stage. I admit that I was thrown out several times for running too fast down those ramps. I couldn’t help it. Really.

Over the years ideas have floated around to reuse Proctors. It’s my turn. Let’s turn this entertainment complex into a - well, an entertainment complex - duh!

The five story commercial section is ideal for broadcasting facilities (WTRY started there). Someone should talk to John Kelly from Albany Broadcasting. He owns five radio stations all housed together behind a strip mall in Latham. He should be encouraged (financially) to move them to Troy.

There are five commercial bays on the first floor of Proctors with glass fronts. Each radio station could be housed in them separately. Imagine being able to see all five stations in operation as you walked down the street. The second and third floors could become business offices for the broadcasting company. It would bring Fourth Street back to life.

The top two floors could be converted to luxury apartments so the city could get more revenue.. By the way, in the original design the upper level was suppose to have 23 apartments.

What do we do with the theater? Turn it into a theater! Troy needs a first rate movie house. What better activity then to bring back motion pictures. Admittedly, it probably wouldn’t pay for itself, so RPI, HVCC, and Russell Sage should come in on the project and use it for lectures, studio space, labs, and special events during the day. Evening and weekends would be for the movies or it could also support small plays or even music concerts.

Behind the complex on Fifth Avenue is a parking lot. Build a four or five tier parking garage with an elevated covered walkway that connects into the movie/commercial complex on the other side of the alley.

Now if we can’t convince Mr. Kelly to come to Troy, try Clear Channel. They own one TV and seven radio stations. They could take over the whole commercial side.

The bottom line is we must act now to save Proctors. The complex is crumbling from neglect. Allowing it to deteriorate to the point of no return is in my opinion a criminal act. What do you think?

©1999 Don Rittner

Got history? Contact Don at drittner@aol.com or 251 River Street.