Loew`s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres

Transcription

Loew’s Yonge Street and
Winter Garden Theatres
On Monday, February 16, 2004, the Ontario Heritage Foundation unveiled provincial plaques in
Toronto to commemorate Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres as part of
Heritage Week and on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the theatres. The bilingual text
reads as follows:
LOEW’S YONGE STREET AND WINTER GARDEN THEATRES
Designed by architect Thomas Lamb for entrepreneur Marcus Loew as the
Canadian flagship of his American theatre chain, these double-decker theatres
opened in 1913-14. The 2,149-seat, lower theatre was decorated with classical
details and red damask, while flowers, leaves, lanterns and garden murals
embellished the 1,410-seat rooftop Winter Garden Theatre. Both theatres
presented vaudeville acts and silent moving pictures until 1928 when the Winter
Garden was closed and Loew’s Yonge Street was converted to show sound movies.
After the lower theatre (renamed the Elgin in 1978) closed in 1981, the theatres
were acquired by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, which restored and upgraded
the building. The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre reopened in 1989 and is
the last of its kind in operation.
THÉÂTRES LOEW DE LA RUE YONGE ET WINTER GARDEN
Conçus par l’architecte Thomas Lamb pour l’entrepreneur Marcus Loew, en tant
que vedettes canadiennes de sa chaîne de théâtres américaine, ces salles
superposées ont ouvert leurs portes en 1913-1914. Le théâtre du rez-de-chausée,
de 2 149 places, comportait des détails classiques et ses murs étaient recouverts de
damas rouge, tandis que des fleurs, des feuilles, des lanternes et des jardins peints
sur les murs embellissaient le théâtre Winter Garden de 1 410 places, à l’étage
supérieur. Les deux théâtres proposaient des pièces de la période du vaudeville et
des films muets jusqu’en 1928, lorsque le théâtre Winter Garden ferma ses portes
et le théâtre Loew de la rue Yonge fut converti en salle de cinéma. Après la
fermeture du théâtre du rez-de-chausée en 1981 (rebaptisé théâtre Elgin en 1978),
la Fondation du patrimoine ontarien se porta acquéreur des théâtres et les restaura
tout en y apportant des améliorations. Le Centre des salles de théâtre Elgin et
Winter Garden rouvrit ses portes en 1989. Il s’agit du dernier centre de ce genre
encore en exploitation au monde.
Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres
Featured Plaque of the Month, March 2004
Historical background
Marcus Loew’s Theatres
Marcus Loew was born in New York City on May 8, 1870, the son of Jewish immigrants
Herman Loew and Ida Sichel. Loew worked in the fur industry before getting into show
business in Cincinnati during the early 1900s by operating a chain of penny arcades. He opened
his first theatre, a burlesque, in Brooklyn in 1909. The following year, he formed Loew’s
Theatrical Enterprises. The company expanded into Canada in 1912 after absorbing the midand west-coast Sullivan-Considine circuits which booked vaudeville acts for Vancouver, Victoria
and Montreal. In January of the following year, Variety announced that Loew was opening new
theatres in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Toronto.1
Loew realized that demand for theatre in Toronto was high. The city had seven live theatres –
two showing traditional theatre (The Royal Alexandra and The Princess), two specializing in
comedy and melodrama (the Grand Opera House and The Majestic) and two featuring
burlesque (The Gayety and The Star). The seventh, Shea’s Victoria Theatre at Richmond and
Yonge Streets which opened in 1910, was the only large vaudeville theatre in Toronto.2 Loew
incorporated Marcus Loew’s Theatres Limited in Toronto on February 11, 1913 “to construct
theatres and other buildings,” to “manage, maintain and carry on the said theatres and other
buildings,” and to provide for the production and presentation of “operas, stage plays,
operettas, burlesques, vaudevilles, ballets, pantomimes, spectacular pieces, … musical
compositions, photographic films and other dramatic pictorial and musical performances and
entertainments.”3
The Board of Directors of Marcus Loew’s Theatres Limited included Marcus Loew (New
York), Lawrence Solman (Toronto), Robert B. Bongard (Toronto), R.S. McLaughlin (Oshawa)
and T.P. Birchall (Montreal). Solman managed the Canadian operations of theatre giant Lee
Shubert and the Royal Alexandra Theatre. He also owned or managed baseball, lacrosse and
hockey teams, the Mutual Street Arena, the Hanlan’s Point Stadium, Sunnyside Amusement
Park and the Toronto Island ferries. Bongard was President of Bongard, Ryerson and Co.,
brokers and underwriters. McLaughlin owned the McLaughlin Motor Car Company. Birchall
was President of the Canada Industrial Bond Corporation, director of Bras d’Or Coal Co., and
a director of Loew’s Montreal Theatres Limited.4
1
Hilary Russell, Double Take: The Story of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre. (Toronto: Ontario Heritage
Foundation, 1989), pp. 24-25.
2
Ibid, p. 18.
3
Archives of Ontario, RG 53, Series 41, Vol. 19, Extra Provincial Corporations, Licence Charter Book 19, Marcus
Loew’s Theatres Limited, p. 139. in Russell, Double Take, p. 26. Loew planned to build two theatres in Toronto but
the second theatre at College Street and Spadina Avenue in Toronto never materialized.
4
Russell, Double Take, p. 27.
© Ontario Heritage Foundation
Page 2 of 8
In Toronto, Loew acquired property in the theatre block between Yonge and Victoria Streets,
north of Queen Street, for $600,000.5 Loew fronted $100,000 for the project; George
Barnsdale Cox of Cincinnati, $50,000; Kentucky Congressman Joseph Rhinock, $50,000; and
theatre giants J.J. and Lee Shubert, $100,000.
The Canadian Flagship
Marcus Loew built Loew's Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres as the Canadian flagship
of his American theatre chain, which by 1914 controlled nearly 100 theatres. He commissioned
New York architect Thomas White Lamb to design the double-decker (or stacked) theatres.
Lamb was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1871. After working as a building inspector in New York
City, the self-taught architect opened an architectural practice in 1892. According to Lamb’s Job
Book, he began renovating theatres by 1905. Throughout his career, Lamb designed several
double-decker theatres in Manhattan, including the 1909 American Roof Theatre, the 1912
National Winter Garden, and the 1913 Riviera and Japanese Garden Theatres (now
demolished) – the twin of Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres. Lamb was closely
associated with Loew. Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres was the 48th theatre
designed by Lamb, the 22nd he designed from the ground up, and the first double-decker theatre
in Canada.6
The building permit for the Yonge Street Theatre was issued on April 5, 1912. It listed the cost
of the building as $250,000 (although the final cost would reach $500,000). Just days before the
theatre was issued its building permit, Toronto City Council passed a bylaw regarding the
construction of theatres and public buildings. Double-decker theatres had never been built in
Toronto and city officials were concerned for public safety. In particular, they were worried
about the length of the corridor running from Yonge Street. In New York, it was typical for
theatres fronting prime real estate to lower costs by having a narrow façade that connected to
the cheaper real estate behind the theatre by means of a long corridor. This layout allowed the
owner of the building to rent part of the front of the theatre as commercial space. However,
the design of Yonge Street Theatre, with its 169-foot corridor, contravened Toronto bylaws,
which stipulated that stores could extend 30 feet from the street.
To bypass this requirement, Lamb and Stanley Makepeace, the local architect who worked on
this project, filed drawings with the City Architect’s Office for the Victoria Street Theatre (not
the Yonge Street Theatre) with a sham entrance and ticket booth fronting onto Victoria
Street.7 Leon Fleischmann (partner of the New York contracting firm the Fleischmann Brothers
who oversaw construction of the theatres) testified: “The front of that building we do not
5
Ibid, p. 24. Paul Dilse, Toronto’s Theatre Block: An Architectural History. (Toronto: Architectural Conservancy of
Ontario, 1989), pp. 8, 30. During the 19th century, the site acquired by Loew was occupied by Good’s Foundry,
then Albert Hall – the first theatre built in the Toronto theatre block.
6
7
Ibid, p. 52.
Page 3 of 8
consider at all as Yonge St., we consider Victoria St. the front of that building and I feel we
would have a perfect right according to the bylaw simply to shut that building off altogether and
we would be still within the jurisdiction of the bylaws.”8 Eventually, Loew was issued his
building permit after agreeing to concessions that, according to him, added $75,000 to
$100,000 to the cost of the theatre.9
Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre
The architecture of the Yonge Street theatre was typical of “small-time” vaudeville theatres.10
The Yonge Street façade was decorated with Roman arches, roundels, pilasters, dramatic masks
on the keystones, an upright sign, a light-studded marquee and a free-standing box office. The
Victoria Street façade was decorated with terracotta decorative elements and patterned
brickwork. Building materials included face brick, ornamental terracotta, plasterwork and
decorations imported from New York City. Steel was used to bear the load of the doubledecker theatres, which resulted in a “striking … absence of obstructing columns.”11
The interior of the lower theatre, Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre, was lavishly decorated in “the
modern French Renaissance style” with gilt, imitation marble and red damask.12 Ornamental
plasterwork dramatic masks, festooned grapes, ribbons and musical instruments decorated the
inside of the theatre. The Toronto Daily News reported that, despite its “immense” size, there
was “warmth of colour and coziness of the place”.13 Draperies were gold or fawn velour fringed
with gold tassels. Wall panels were finished with red silk brocaded damask and a crimson,
diamond-patterned Wilton carpet covered the floor. House lighting consisted of emergency gas
lighting, direct electric lighting provided by chandeliers and lanterns and indirect lighting diffused
through translucent mediums.
The 2,149-seat Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre opened on Monday, December 15, 1913 – eight
months after its building permit was issued. “The world and his wife turned out en masse” to
the opening performance.14 Loew’s guests included the theatre giants Lee Schubert and A.L.
Erlanger, songwriter Irving Berlin, and the comedy team of Weber and Fields. The audience
included: The Honourable Sir John Gibson, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario; Sir James
Whitney, Prime Minister of Ontario; The Honourable J.J. Foy, Attorney General of Ontario; His
8
Hilary Russell, Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres, Toronto: A Structural, Architectural, and Social History to
1961 (Canadian Parks Service, 1990), Vol.1, p. 20.
9
Ibid, pp. 50-51
10
Big-time vaudeville offered two shows daily – one matinee and one evening – with the highest paid performers
and highest admissions prices. Small-time vaudeville offered three or more shows daily or two shows nightly at
popular prices.
11
Construction, April 1915 in Russell, Double Take, p. 55.
12
World, March 6, 1913 in Russell, Double Take, p. 66.
13
Toronto Daily News, n.d. in Russell, Double Take, p. 67.
14
“At Opening of New Theatre”, Toronto Daily News, December 16, 1913 in Russell, Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter
Garden Theatres, Toronto, p. 2.
Page 4 of 8
Worship Horatio C. Hocken, Mayor of Toronto; members of City Council; John Ross
Robertson, publisher of the Evening Telegram; Joseph Atkinson, Managing Director of the
Toronto Star; David R. Wilkie, President and General Manager of the Imperial Bank; Colonel
George Sterling Ryerson, founder of the Red Cross; and John Lyle, the architect who designed
the Royal Alexandra Theatre.15
The Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre was located seven storeys above the Yonge Street Theatre. The
1,410-seat upper theatre opened on February 16, 1914 with proceeds from the opening
performance donated to the Toronto philanthropic organization, the Riverdale settlement.
The Winter Garden was the first rooftop theatre in Canada. Its design was inspired by the
European tradition of rooftop theatre, which Rudolph Aronson brought to New York during
the 1880s when steel-frame construction and elevators made feasible the commercial use of
rooftop space. Gradually, department stores, schools, hospital buildings, hotels and theatres
were using their rooftops for theatre. Roof theatres were characterized by tables,
refreshments, shrubs, flowers, rustic seats and coloured lights. As open-air roof theatre grew
increasingly popular, it progressed into enclosed spaces. In 1896, the Olympia opened in
Manhattan – the first enclosed rooftop theatre. The movement toward rooftop theatres grew
in 1903 with the opening of the New Amsterdam Theatre and Aerial Garden in New York
City.
The décor of the enclosed Winter Garden Theatre was enchanting. Its walls were decorated
with garden murals, leaves and branches were suspended from the ceiling, columns were
disguised as tree trunks and garden lanterns illuminated the theatre. The Toronto Daily News
reported:
The whole place is one mass of foliage. The ceiling is smothered with every kind
of plant imaginable, while the walls are studded with flowers. And out of this
mass of foliage twinkle the lights of multitudinous fairy lamps of almost every
known colour. The same rustic scheme of decoration reigns in orchestra and
balcony, and at every turn of the head one is met by flowers, flowers, flowers.
Even the pillars have been covered over with bark to resemble trees, while close
to the stage the branches are made to taper until they meet the painted twigs on
the walls, the effect produced being a highly realistic one. And above this flowery
arbour floats a peaceful moon which suffuses its rays over the whole fairylike
picture.16
15
16
Ibid, pp. 13, 16.
Toronto Daily News, February 17, 1914 in Russell, Double Take, pp. 74-75.
Page 5 of 8
Although the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto was based upon the model of the American
rooftop garden, “the Winter Garden was not a pale imitation or a carbon copy of its New
York predecessor [Lamb’s 1909 American Roof Theatre], and the decorative themes that Lamb
had explored and experimented with in 1909 seem to have found a full and unique expression
in Toronto in 1914.”17
Intricate, money-making machine
The double-decker Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatre complex was an “intricate,
money-making machine”, designed, decorated and equipped for making money by showing films
and vaudeville acts.18 Vaudeville shows typically consisted of several 10- to 15-minute acts
ranging from songs, dances, gymnastics, ventriloquists and farces to light drama. In the lower
theatre, the shows ran continuously throughout the afternoon and evening. In the upper
theatre, the identical show was presented once per evening to reserved, higher-priced seats. By
staggering the starting times of the shows, one show was presented to two audiences,
theoretically doubling the take at the box office. Tickets for a reserved seat upstairs cost up to
50 cents while tickets to see the same show downstairs cost between 10 and 25 cents – lower
prices than Shea’s, the Princess, Royal Alexandra and the Grand Opera House.19
Sound movies
Loew’s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres presented well-known vaudeville
performers including Sophie Tucker, Milton Berle, George Burns, Gracie Allen and others. By
the 1920s, however, sound movies were pushing vaudeville acts off the stage. In 1921, the
Winter Garden Theatre began showing movies. By the following year, the theatre was only
open on Saturdays and holidays. The upper theatre briefly reopened for daily shows following
the fire on May 4, 1928 when the lower theatre was being renovated. After work was
completed, the Winter Garden Theatre closed its doors, leaving its fantastic scenery to gather
dust. Its last show was held on Saturday, June 16, 1928.20
The lower theatre was wired for sound in April 1929 and the following year Loew’s adopted its
all-movie policy. It was the beginning of the golden era of the movie palace. The lower theatre
enjoyed increased revenues and underwent continuing renovations including the addition of air
conditioning, lounges, toilets and the modernization of exterior signs. The Yonge Street
Theatre showed first-run movies for many years until the 1960s when the theatre had to
compete with television. Its prestige began slipping and double-bills of second-run movies
(revivals and reruns) took the place of first-run movies. The theatre tried to compete by
introducing 3-D films and Cinemascope and was purchased by 20th-Century Theatres in 1969.
17
Toronto Sunday World, April 12, 1914 in Russell, Double Take, p. 112.
19
20
18
Page 6 of 8
By then the theatre was known as Loew’s Downtown Theatre (in 1920 Loew opened the
Uptown Theatre at Bloor and Yonge Streets in Toronto which was demolished in 2003). It was
renamed Loew’s Yonge Street in January 1970, which was shortened to The Yonge the
following month.
By the 1970s, the theatre was showing soft-core pornography, horror and kung fu movies. By
March 1978, however, the theatre readopted its first-run, family films policy. It was renamed
The Elgin to dissociate the theatre from its seedier days. The choice of name was largely
determined by the ability to reuse existing letters from the upright sign and because of the
number of letters in each word. Despite the success of the two-week Festival of Festivals in
September 1979 (forerunner of the Toronto International Film Festival), the popularity of the
theatre declined until it closed on November 14, 1981 because of outstanding work orders.
Revival
The theatres were saved from demolition by the Government of Ontario, which purchased the
complex in December 1981, and restored by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. The goal was
“to restore and revitalize this vintage theatre facility into an economically viable heritage,
cultural and economic resource for the live performing arts industry in Canada and the people
of Ontario, and to provide new opportunities and incentives for the growth and development
of an indigenous commercial theatre industry in Ontario.”21
In 1982, the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres were designated as National Historic Sites,
which paved the way for cost-sharing agreements between the federal and provincial
governments. The Elgin Theatre was retrofitted, brought up to code and painted black for
Andrew Lloyd Weber’s production of Cats. By the opening of Cats in 1985, the original finishes
of the lobby had been restored. Cats helped to identify problems with the Elgin Theatre –
sightlines from the rear of the balcony were poor, public spaces for intermissions and toilets
were scarce, and the amount of dressing room, lounge, assembly and storage space was
insufficient. The two-and-a-half-year, $29-million restoration of the theatre began after Cats
closed in March 1987.
Restoration of the theatres involved reproducing and restoring the ornamental plasterwork,
gilding, marble finishes, decorative painting and beech branch ceiling. Approximately 300,000
wafer-thin sheets of aluminium leaf were used to restore gilt plaster. Hundreds of pounds of
bread dough were used to clean the walls of the Winter Garden to ensure the hand-painted
watercolour murals were not damaged. Five thousand beech branches were harvested,
preserved, painted, fireproofed and woven into wire grids suspended from the Winter Garden
ceiling. Over 65,000 square feet of space was added including the basement, administrative
offices, washrooms, new mechanical and electrical systems, new roofing, five floors of cascading
21
Ibid, p. 146.
Page 7 of 8
lounges and eight storeys of backstage and rehearsal space. The Elgin and Winter Garden
Theatre Centre reopened on December 15, 1989.22
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre plays an active and vital part in Toronto’s vibrant
arts and cultural community. The multi-use facility hosts a variety of entertainment ranging from
comedies, dramas, operas, dance and contemporary musicals to award presentations, lectures
and gala screenings for the Toronto International Film Festival.
The double-decker complex is provincially significant for its architecture. The building is one of
the few surviving theatres designed by leading architect Thomas W. Lamb and was built during
an experimental period in the history of theatre architecture when Lamb was setting new
trends in theatre design. Its layout combines the 19th-century rooftop garden theatre with the
20th-century movie palace – marking the transition from vaudeville shows to sound movies.
Today, the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is the last of its kind in operation.
The Ontario Heritage Foundation gratefully acknowledges the research of Hilary Russell in
preparing this paper.
Photographs courtesy of Double Take: The Story of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres by Hilary
Russell.
© Ontario Heritage Foundation, 2004
22
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Restoration Project Design Summary, December 1989, p. 3
Page 8 of 8

Loew`s Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres

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