Fox Theatre (Atlanta)

Coordinates: 33°46′21″N 84°23′8″W / 33.77250°N 84.38556°W / 33.77250; -84.38556
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Fox Theatre (disambiguation).
Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre (Atlanta) Logo.png
The Fox Theatre in 2013
Address660 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, Georgia
United States
OwnerFox Theatre Inc.
TypeMovie Theater Palace
Capacity4,665
Screens1
Construction
Opened1929; 95 years ago (1929)
Reopened1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Tenants
Broadway Across America
Website
www.foxtheatre.org
Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre is located in Atlanta Midtown
Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre
location in Midtown Atlanta
Coordinates33°46′21″N 84°23′8″W / 33.77250°N 84.38556°W / 33.77250; -84.38556
ArchitectOlivier J. Vinour
Part ofFox Theatre Historic District (ID78003178)
NRHP reference No.74002230
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 17, 1974[1]
Designated NHLMay 11, 1976[2]
Designated ALBOctober 23, 1989

The Fox Theatre (often marketed as the Fabulous Fox), a former movie palace, is a performing arts venue located at 660 Peachtree Street NE in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, and is the centerpiece of the Fox Theatre Historic District.

The theater was originally planned as part of a large

Shrine Temple as evidenced by its Moorish design. The 4,665-seat auditorium was ultimately developed as a lavish movie theater in the Fox Theatres chain and opened in 1929. It hosts a variety of cultural and artistic events including the Atlanta Ballet, a summer film series, and performances by national touring companies of Broadway shows
. The venue also hosts occasional concerts by popular artists.

Architectural features

View from nearby building showing notable architectural features

When the Fox Theatre first opened, the local newspaper described it as having, "a picturesque and almost disturbing grandeur beyond imagination". It remains a showplace that impresses theater-goers to this day. The principal architect of the project was Olivier Vinour of the firm Marye, Alger and Vinour.

The original architecture and décor of the Fox can be roughly divided into two architectural styles:

Arabian courtyard, complete with 96 embedded crystal "stars" (a third of which flicker) in its ceiling and a projection of clouds that slowly drift across this "night sky." A longstanding rumor that one of the stars was a piece of a Coca-Cola bottle was confirmed in June 2010 when two members of the theater's restoration staff conducted a search from within the attic above the auditorium ceiling.[3]

The Egyptian Ballroom is designed after a

Sphinxes. The Islamic sections feature a number of ablution
fountains, which are currently kept dry.

Throughout the Fox there is extensive use of

canopy in the auditorium is plaster and steel rods designed to help funnel sound
to the farthest balcony.

The Fox Theatre gives regular tours of the building's interior.

History

Originally designed as the Yaarab Shrine Temple, the

stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression
. A week later, on New Year's Day, the Shriners inaugurated their new "mosque" in their part of the building, which contained executive offices, a large lounge, a ballroom/banquet hall, kitchen, practice hall, and locker-shower room. Under the terms of the lease, they remained as paying tenants until 1949.

According to the National Park Service, "the Fox Theatre closed only 125 weeks after it opened. Members of the Yaarab Temple could not meet their [mortgage payments], and by 1932, William Fox was bankrupt."[4] After the mortgage was foreclosed in December 1932, the entire complex was purchased jointly by Paramount Pictures and Lucas & Jenkins, a Georgia company that owned a hundred theatres.[5]

In 1939, the movie most associated with Atlanta and the

Loew's Incorporated as part of a deal with rival studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The parade down Peachtree Street for the movie's premier coincidentally started just outside the Fox because the movie's cast was staying across the street at the Georgian Terrace Hotel
.

During the 1940s, the Fox acquired strong management and became one of the finest movie theaters in Atlanta. It was also at this time that the Egyptian Ballroom became Atlanta's most popular public dance hall and hosted all the important

country and western swing bands of the era. It was notable at that time for being the only theater in Atlanta allowing both white and black patrons. However, there was a separate black box office, entrance, and seating; the segregation wall in the middle of the second dress seating still remains, and the "colored" box office window stands unused at the back entrance. These are left in place for educational and historical purposes. The theater was integrated in 1962.[6]

During the 1970s, several elements collided to bring about the Fox's decline –

U.S. Department of the Interior subsequently named the Fox a National Historic Landmark on May 26, 1976, citing its architectural uniqueness.[7]

After the Fox was saved from

décor had survived and new pieces were created with the help of old photographs. Today, the Fox appears much as it did when it opened, with some additions that were in the original plans but had to be scrapped in the 1920s due to financial constraints. Other changes have been made to bring the building up to current safety codes.

The Fox Theatre, facing northwest

The Fox is now the only remaining movie palace in Atlanta. The Loew's Grand, Martin Cinerama, Georgia Cinerama, Paramount Theater, and the Roxy Theater, all once-famous Atlanta movie palaces, are gone, and others that opened in the 1960s have since been converted to multiplexes. The Fox Theatre, now run under the

non-profit Atlanta Landmarks, Inc., hosts a multitude of cultural and artistic events, including the Atlanta Ballet's annual Nutcracker performances, a summer film series, and performances for various national touring companies of Broadway shows. Because of its origins as a movie house, the Fox has a shallow stage by theatrical standards and is unable—without extensive but temporary alterations—to accommodate some of the set pieces required by modern large scale shows such as The Lion King and Miss Saigon
.

In June 2006, the theater installed a $130,000

video projection system, which debuted with a showing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on June 26, part of the Summer Film Festival. The sing-alongs that precede each feature are still shown by the Brenograph Movie projector
which was installed in 1929.

The Egyptian Ballroom and the Grand Salon are rented regularly for corporate and private functions, including banquets, fundraisers, weddings, trade shows and conventions. They are also both popular spots for proms for many area high schools. Notably, Oxford College of Emory University hosts its annual Fall Formal in the Egyptian Ballroom.

Every year since Atlanta Landmarks assumed management in 1975, the Fox has generated an operating surplus. An estimated 750,000 people visit the Fox every year. The venue was the site of Prince's final performance, held one week before his death on April 21, 2016.[8] In May 2017, Aquarium Rescue Unit frontman Col. Bruce Hampton died after collapsing onstage at the Fox during a concert celebrating his 70th birthday.[9]

On February 2, 2019, the Fox hosted the NFL Honors ahead of Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.[10]

Drivin' N' Cryin' with Drive-By Truckers in '19, Blackberry Smoke in '19, Travis Tritt in '19, and The Georgia Satellites
in 2022.

The Mighty Mo

The Fox features a four manual (or keyboard) 42-rank pipe organ nicknamed the "Mighty Mo". It was custom built for the Fox by M. P. Möller, Inc. in 1929 in Hagerstown, Maryland. With 3,622 pipes, it is the second-largest theater organ in the country, behind the Wurlitzer at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and was the largest theater instrument built by Möller.

Mighty Mo (opus 5566 / 1929 built) console

As a true

grand piano (originally from the Kilgen organ in Chicago's Piccadilly Theatre); plus a large variety of silent movie sound effects
(such as various car horns, thunder and rain effects, bird whistles, etc.). The organ is remarkable for a theater organ because it also includes 12 ranks of pipes for a church organ, known as the "Ethereal" division. Thus the organ can be played as a church organ as well as a theater organ. It is noteworthy that the Mighty Mo is among the shrinking list of instruments which remain installed in the theaters for which they were designed.

Larry Douglas Embury was the theater's permanent Organist in Residence from 2002 until his death in February 2016. In that capacity he presided over the Mighty Mo in performances during the Fox's summer film festival and the Atlanta Ballet's annual production of The Nutcracker.[11][12] In September 2002, he hosted "Fox at the Fox," a concert commemorating the twenty-second anniversary of the death of the great concert organist, Virgil Fox. Fox had played a famous series of "Fox at the Fox" concerts on the Mighty Mo at the Fox Theatre in the 1970s.[13]

Private residence

The Fox also contains a 3,640-square-foot (338 m2) apartment that served as the private residence of Joe Patten, who served as technical director from 1974 to 2004. Patten, who was born in 1927, and died on April 7, 2016, was granted a lifetime rent-free lease to the apartment. Patten first became involved with the Fox when he volunteered to restore the theater's Moller pipe organ. He later was instrumental in the movement to save the Fox from demolition. The apartment occupies space previously used as an office by the Shriners, who had built the Fox as a meeting hall. The apartment's walls are 2 to 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, and a passageway leads from the bedroom to a former spotlight platform at the top of the auditorium. A separate entrance provides direct access to the street outside the theater.[14][15]

Patten's presence is credited with having saved the Fox from a fast-moving fire in April 1996. The pre-dawn blaze, which broke out in the attic wiring, caused $2 million in damage. Damage likely would have been greater if Patten had not been on site to call the fire department, said Alan Thomas, president of Atlanta Landmarks, the nonprofit agency that owns the Fox.

Atlanta Landmarks had no definite plan on how the apartment will be used after Patten's death. "We could use it for dressing space, rehearsal halls," Thomas told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It's unlikely that we'd let anyone else live there."

On August 30, 2010, local news outlets reported a dispute between Patten and the non-profit Atlanta Landmarks which owns the theater. Patten reported that he was being evicted from his apartment by the group which he helped to found. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Landmarks board in a statement to the public indicated their intent to draw a new lease which addressed Patten's health needs. They stated he remained welcome to live in the apartment.[16][17][18]

Gallery

  • The theatre illuminated at night
    The theatre illuminated at night
  • The theatre from Ponce De Leon Ave NE
    The theatre from Ponce De Leon Ave NE
  • Fox Theatre in foreground with the Cox-Carlton Hotel and Georgian Terrace Hotel in background, with The Ponce Condos to the right
    Fox Theatre in foreground with the Cox-Carlton Hotel and Georgian Terrace Hotel in background, with The Ponce Condos to the right
  • Interior of the Fox with a view of the canopy ceiling.
    Interior of the Fox with a view of the canopy ceiling.

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ "Fox Theatre (Atlanta)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2008. (See also: site search results, and "Fox Theatre--Atlanta" page on www.nps.gov)
  3. ^ Swartz, Kristi E. (July 2, 2010). "Myth no more: Coca-Cola bottle part of Fox Theatre's starlit sky". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  4. ^ "Fox Theatre". National Park Service. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  5. ^ Foreman, Bob. "Joe Patten's Fox Theatre Apartment". Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  6. ^ Jean-Laurent, Annabella (August 20, 2014). "Traces of the Past: Segregation at the Fox Theatre".
  7. ^ "NHL nomination for Fox Theatre". National Park Service. January 28, 1976. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  8. ^ "Prince's final concert was in Atlanta". WSB News. April 21, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  9. ^ Mele, Christopher; Stevens, Matt (May 2, 2017). "Bruce Hampton, 70, Jam Scene Patriarch, Dies After Collapsing Onstage". The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  10. ^ ."Steve Harvey Will Host NFL Honors Show On Super Bowl Eve In Atlanta". 11alive.com. January 14, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Larry Douglas Embury Bio" Archived April 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Duoarts2.com
  12. ^ "Larry Embury at Fox" (PDF). The Organizer (November 2002). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2009.
  13. ^ "Fox at the Fox" program, September 2, 2002.
  14. ^ Tagami, Kirsten (September 20, 2007). "Phantom of the Fox". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  15. ^ Eldridge, Ellen (April 7, 2016). "Phantom of the Fox Theatre: Joe Patten dies at 89". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  16. ^ Swartz, Kristi (August 30, 2010). "'Phantom' likely leaving Fox Theatre after lease dispute". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  17. ^ "'Phantom' misinformed, says Fox Theatre". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. September 1, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  18. ^ Carver, Darryl (August 31, 2010). "New Lease for 'Phantom of the Fox'". WAGA News. Archived from the original on August 31, 2010.

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