"Colony built in the golden era of live theatre" published by The Marietta Register, June 6, 2007

By guest columnist, R. Hunt Brawley, J.D.
Director, Hippodrome/Colony Historical Theatre Association
Column No. 3

As mentioned in my last column, the Hippodrome was built in 1919 for live performances. It was an engineering marvel for its time and built mainly with brick, concrete and steel. It was built to the Broadway industry standard of the time which meant it had a large stage with a proscenium width of 32 feet and a stage depth of 35 feet.       

By the early 1900’s, stage shows were becoming increasingly elaborate. If theatres were to present the biggest traveling shows they had to be built to the industry standard. They had to incorporate the sophisticated rigging systems that were just emerging to accommodate the spectacular scenic effects. The large and awkward fixed flat backdrops were abandoned for the rolled canvas scenery that could be suspended in the flyloft. Marietta actually appears prominently on a railroad map from Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide published in 1896-1897 so it was most likely a major stop on the theatre circuit. The “New Hippodrome” was billed as “Marietta’s Foremost Amusement House” and it was probably built to attract the major traveling shows.   

Prior to the turn of the century most theatres were wood construction “opera houses”. Even though real opera was rarely played, opera houses appeared everywhere as even the smallest of communities wanted to demonstrate they had culture and sophistication. The “opera house” may have been built on the second floor of a general store or some other public building it was still an opera house. In Marietta’s case the Auditorium Theatre was built in 1880 on the third floor over the courthouse and jail at the site of the current City building on Putnam and Third. Apparently, an inmate at the jail set a fire that burned the entire building down.

The McConnelsville Opera House (1892) just up the road, the Stuart’s Opera House (1879) in Nelsonville and the oldest surviving theatre in Ohio, the Woodward Opera House (1851) in Mt. Vernon, are good examples of the older opera house style structure that still survive. Opera houses are generally very attractive and exceptionally good acoustically, but they make for very difficult restoration projects. The older wood construction generally required support columns for the balcony which obstructs the view from the auditorium. Structurally, the stage houses cannot support the massive loads of the heavy lighting arrays, backdrops, set pieces and other equipment of the modern touring production. Conversion to modern plumbing and electric is extremely problematic.

In 1927 Al Jolson performed The Jazz Singer on an early synchronized talking picture and the entertainment industry changed forever. Motion Pictures dominated the entertainment industry and henceforth most theatres were designed specifically for film. The houses became narrower to improve the view of the screen and a large stage was no longer necessary. There were some spectacular movie palaces, but conversion of even the most elaborate movie house for live acts still requires building the stage house from scratch. 

Fortunately, the Colony (Hippodrome) was built in that fifteen to twenty year window after the wood construction of the opera house and before the movie palace. It was the golden era of live theatre buildings and remains golden for us today.