"Real beauty of the Colony is on the inside" published by the Marietta Register, May 9, 2007

By guest columnist, R. Hunt Brawley, J.D.
Director, Hippodrome/Colony Historical Theatre Association
Column No. 2

You can’t judge a book by its cover and you certainly can’t judge the Colony Theatre by its entrance. The real beauty of the Colony is what’s on the inside. People who did not grow up attending shows at the Colony are absolutely astounded when they walk through the modest sized lobby, turn left, and see the expanse of the 1000 seat theatre and stage that seems to appear from nowhere. The entrance to the Colony is very small in relation to the auditorium and very deceiving from the street. We are still scratching our heads over why the Shea Cinema Corp. replaced the granite Hippodrome archway with the quasi New Orleans-Colonial design in 1949. It’s a façade that only a mother could love, but it did expand the size of the second floor for additional offices. We will be taking advantage of this for increased lobby space and vending room upstairs.

  “It’s a façade that only a mother could love.”

When the “New Hippodrome” was completed in 1919 it was not the most opulent theatre in the country, but in a small town it was quite the attraction. The huge firescreen mural depicted a snow covered mountainscape and the rest of the interior décor matched the gold, maroon, green and yellow colors in the mural. Three false opera boxes on either side of the stage concealed the organ loft for “Mighty Mo” the Moeller pipe organ. This information was provided to us by personal accounts as we still don’t have a photo of the interior prior to 1949. Any evidence of the proscenium décor and opera box treatment would be extremely valuable to us. There were decorative pillars with carved trim at the top in the auditorium. Chandeliers hung in the entrance lobby, auditorium hallway and underneath the balcony. Marble wainscotting lined the lobby stairways and painted maple wainscotting lined the hallways. Through the years almost all of the decorative finishes have been obscured from view by dark blue paint and subsequent wall coverings.

In its original form the “Hipp” was plenty attractive, but the real beauty was in the construction technique and its suitability for live performances. The New Hippodrome was an engineering marvel for its time. The steel, concrete and brick facility is still structurally sound and its integrity is one of the biggest reasons for justifying the restoration. There are no obstructed sightlines as the huge steel support beams span the auditorium from wall to wall. It was also the first building in Marietta to feature air-conditioning. With just a little reinforcement, the steel grid located in the fly-loft that was built in 1919 will support a modern rigging system! This aspect alone probably saved us over a million dollars. Many theatres across the country spend millions to basically rebuild the stage house from scratch. We are also blessed to have a huge crawl space between the ceiling and the roof. Our plans have a modern lighting array that will sit in a slot above the ceiling that is largely out of sight. Many historic theatres are forced to hang ugly lighting booms overtop of extremely decorative wall finishes to accommodate modern productions. The spaces underneath the balcony will allow for modern restrooms and we can greatly expand the capacity in the women’s room (always a big issue!)

Since the Hippodrome was built in 1919 it preceded the synchronized, “talking pictures” and was designed primarily for live performances. It was built as a “legitimate theatre” which meant it could accommodate major traveling shows as well as vaudeville. The stage was built to the industry standard of the time which was a proscenium width of 32 feet and a stage depth of 35 (dimensions which prevail on older Broadway theatres to this day). There were silent films that were shown with musical accompaniment in the orchestra pit, but the emphasis was on live shows so the layout is wide and all the seats are close to the stage. Since the “Hipp” was designed for the un-amplified voice of a performer, it is acoustically superb. All of the theatre professionals that have toured the Colony are extremely impressed with the intimacy of the theatre and its potential for live acts. It was a great live performance theatre in 1919 and will be a beautiful live performance theatre again. You’ll just have to come inside to appreciate it!