ORUMATIL-L Archives

From: "Joe & Laura Schmidt" <>
Subject: Pendleton OR: The Rivoli Theatre
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:42:32 -0800

Below you will find a column written in the Eastern Oregonian. It appeared
on Saturday, March 12, 2005 in an edited form. This is the original form.
For those of us who love local history and believe in the revival of
America's downtowns, I share this with you. Our ancestors would be proud
that their descendants cared enough to restore what they built. At the end
of this article, I am adding a link that take you to pictures of the way
Pendleton was, in its heyday. Tom is a friend of mine. I had the honor of
watching him describe in person what he saw and what he felt to first enter
that theater and take the stage. Did you all know that George Cohen
performed in Pendleton? Do you want to find out more? Get involved!
Contact Phillip Houk, Mayor, and let him know what you
think! I know he cares about the arts and helping to get this vision
working! Go to the city council meetings! They meet the 1st and 3rd
Tuesday of Month at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers at 501 S. W.
Emigrant Avenue, on the 2nd Floor! Contact the Umatilla County Historical
Society . Pass this letter on to all who have roots in
the Pendleton area or care for the preservation of our downtowns!
Laura



The Rivoli Theatre: The Key to Downtown Pendleton?
Tom Hebert
______________________________
Prologue
Let¹s be clear, you and I: Generally I don¹t divulge to anyone that I
majored in theatre arts, Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon. Surely not
in a newspaper. But several years ago I began to admit to this heresy to
other corporate and government managers. To my surprise, with a
coming-out-of-the-closet air of relief, several confessed, ³Me too!² So
there¹s a sort of brotherhood of fallen-away drama majors out there who have
made it in business or government because they learned the essentials of
good management in theatre, that most entrepreneurial, demanding, and
accountable of managerial arenas.

Anyway, all that goes to explain why the other day I found myself clearing
decades of debris from a dilapidated old theatre stage in downtown
Pendleton. And then, by the light of a Coleman propane lantern, reading
aloud to an empty house from an old playscript.
The Stage Manager speaks:

³This play is called ³Our Town.² It was written by Thornton Wilder. The name
of our town is Grover¹s Corners, New Hampshire. The first act shows a day in
our town. The date is May 7, 1901, just before dawn. Aya, just about. Sky is
beginnin¹ to show some streaks of light over in the East there, back of our
mountain. The mornin¹ star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it
has to go. Well, now I¹ll show you how our town lies. Up here is Main
Street.²

While that was fun, truth is I wanted to be the first one in all these years
to honor that good old stage, recognizing that there was still a playable
house<waiting there<to come alive.

To begin at the beginning
Despite its current dank, gloom, and darkness, other recent visitors to
Pendleton¹s oddly neglected Rivoli Theatre on our Main Street have been
astonished, struck by the powerful, dramatic yet intimate physical
relationships between the stage and the audience. Wow! With its high, high
ceiling, close-in balcony<its obvious ³touch of elegance²<clearly this was
built as a legitimate theatre house to reckon with. Returned to its former
glory, the Rivoli Theatre would again be ³a favorite of audiences and
performers alike.²

Happily, restoring these old theatres and movie palaces is still viewed as a
viable step in redeveloping downtowns. It is being done all over the nation.
With their high domed ceilings, chandeliers and elegant foyers, these
theatres were all designed to ³transport patrons to a world of richness and
splendor.² Now, most of those that have escaped the wrecking ball are
assuming new civic functions as well. They can thus again contribute in a
meaningful way toward the well-being of their communities.

As Pendleton once again moves to rediscover itself, the Rivoli is something
too remarkable to pass over. Intuitively, it just seems appropriate to
consider the Rivoli as vital to Pendleton and the much-needed trigger event
for downtown redevelopment while making ³our town² much more livable. A
great new place to go, if . . . the public planning goes right.

And arts mean business
This is because that nationwide, towns and cities have realized that arts
can stimulate community spirit, civic involvement, tourism, and economic
vitality. As Sue Robinson of the Partners for Livable Communities in
Washington, D. C. has written,

³The city¹s task is to make downtown an exciting place, changing the
perception of individuals toward the downtown. Cultural assets are activity
anchors. By creating an aura of activity which attracts shoppers, tourists,
arts enthusiasts, and most importantly, business and developers, the arts
enhance the vitality and quality of the tourist product... the city. The
arts, both performing and visual, can fill hotel rooms, taxi cabs and
restaurants, spinning off considerable economic gain to the arts
organizations, tourist-related activities, and the City¹s coffers.
Connecting the arts to tourism and economic development also allows arts
organizations to get out from under finite, cyclical, and
dependency-producing grants. But cultural, environmental, and tourism
planning must have similar goals and be undertaken simultaneously.²

Opened in 1921 by local theatre magnet Casswell Guy Matlock, downtown
excitement and economic gain is why the Rivoli was built. The East Oregonian
of August 31, 1921 wrote: ³Pendleton, with the opening of the new $110,000
Rivoli Theatre, will boast a playhouse which will accommodate a better class
of road shows and moving pictures.²
Entertaining Pendletonians and visitors alike, while offering everything
from vaudeville and silent movies to touring shows to Hollywood
blockbusters, throughout the remaining 1920¹s, 30¹s and 40¹s, the Rivoli
reigned as Pendleton¹s premier movie and variety theatre.

However, with the emergence of television in the 1950¹s like all downtown
theatres, its patronage declined. Forced to close sometime in the 1970¹s,
the Rivoli barely escaped demolition. But today, you ask older folks about
the Rivoli and you hear good memories about a place of lasting meaning.

The Rivoli was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1985<see the brass plaque on the building front. Saved again from a fate
worse than death, it was recently bought at auction by local businessman,
Greg Galloway, who is enthusiastic about returning the Rivoli to community
service in one form or another. Options in purpose, uses, design, financing,
and organizational structure will need to be studied before any major
decisions can be made. At that point, a Friends of the Rivoli citizens group
will be needed to move a Rivoli Theatre project onto Pendleton¹s agenda.

The showplace of Pendleton, again
After a complete cosmetic overhaul, the Rivoli will require refurbished
seating, bathrooms, HVAC, dressing rooms, new sound and lighting systems,
and a refurbished ³green room.² While the inside of the building is in great
disarray, the building is said to be structurally sound, which is the very
good news. Because the existing stage is shallow, a generous forestage must
be built five to seven feet beyond the curtain line in a gentle curve from
one side of the proscenium arch to the other.

In addition to refurbishing the current marquee, the famous two-story
³RIVOLI² vertical sign on the front of the theatre must be recreated if the
theatre is going to make its mark again. Today the sign could be easily seen
from the Interstate, lighting the way for tourists and travelers to
downtown. Combined with other large building business signs in the manner of
the 1950¹s, downtown Pendleton could once again have the look of a really
big small town. (Of course, the building facades would also have to be
rehabilitated.)

From a vaudeville house to a ³picture palace² to a community showplace for
the 21st century, a revived Rivoli could still offer Pendleton and the
region the finest local venue for entertainment and cultural events.

Uses? A shopping list
With musical offerings from blues to rock to bluegrass and classical to
country, plus dance and modern vaudeville, the Rivoli could once again takes
its place at the center of Pendleton¹s cultural life. And with a schedule of
silent films and western movie festivals, and independent films that rarely
come to Pendleton, the Rivoli could also function as a single-screen movie
house again. The Rivoli could become a second home of the East Oregon
Symphony and could also welcome a wide variety of road shows each year. Add
in community theatre, summer ElderHostel lecture and performance programs, a
Chautauqua series on regional and Umatilla Tribal history,
vaudeville/variety shows (working with Main Street Cowboys), pizza and beer
nights, hall rentals, public benefits, fund-raisers and public tours, and
the Rivoli should pencil out as a downtown economic generator.

Particularly if this restoration project is combined with a new theatre
complex replacing the existing Pendleton Cinemas, one with other attractions
that would also give our kids a good downtown place to hang out, a place to
have fun.

With 300 to 350 seats on the main floor and another 250 or so in the
balcony, as a new community amenity it would also amplify the value of the
Round-Up, the Vert Auditorium, the Convention Center, the Arts Center,
Underground Tours, our several museums. A snazzy, dressed-up Rivoli is
almost the missing link. And behind it all. . . a booming five-rank concert
theatre pipe organ with a brass band on stage to bring in tourists?

The Rivoli¹s Wurlitzer
The Rivoli Theatre had a fine Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ installed in July
1921 at a cost of $19,000. It decamped Pendleton for Seattle in 1946. Its
disposition is unknown. But such organs can be found, rebuilt, and
reinstalled in new homes like the Rivoli. Tom Blackwell, president of the
Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society wrote us: ³Exciting to hear about downtown
Pendleton being reborn! An original theatre pipe organ which could rally
community support and truly invoke the magic of the grand old theatre's of
the 1920¹s. With 5 ranks, a Style 170 Wurlitzer was actually above average
in size.² As was, and as is, Pendleton today!

Officially speaking
The ³Pendleton Downtown Riverfront Urban Renewal Plan² on page 1 lists its
Goals and Objectives: ³Increase the Vitality of Pendleton's Downtown.
Strengthen downtown¹s role as the retail, service, office, tourist and
cultural heart of the Pendleton community. Promote rehabilitation and
restoration of historic and cultural structures in the downtown core.
Increase downtown¹s attraction to Pendleton residents and visitors; and
improve downtown cultural facilities and promote construction of new
cultural attractions.²

All that spells Rivoli. But it will take the entire community to get behind
a project of this importance. As a city planner familiar with Pendleton has
recently written, ³What a tremendous shot in the arm for downtown the
re-opening of the Rivoli would be!²

If Pendleton brings back its acres of unused Upper Stories, and rediscovers
the Pendleton Round-Up, while adding the Rivoli to the mix, well, now we are
getting up to a critical mass, Pendleton¹s new take-off point.

Truth or consequences
But to be honest, what is the likelihood of this happening: marginal at
best. To learn why, let us turn to Christopher Alexander, Distinguished
Professor of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley. His 1987
book, ³A New Theory of Urban Design,² Oxford University Press, carries a
special poignancy for citizens of a very livable Pendleton that every
September once made itself felt all over the nation. But no longer does:

³Every increment of construction must be made in such a way as to heal the
city, make it whole. Every project must first be experienced, and then
expressed, as a vision which can be seen in the inner eye (literally). We
have found that the substance of any growth in the city, can be either
³authentic² or not. . . heartfelt or not. . . coming from human impulses . .
. or not. This happens because the wholeness touches us, reaches the deepest
levels in us, has the power to move us, to bring us to tears, to make us
happy. All traditional towns have these features in their growth. But the
modern practice of urban development does not.²

Pendleton will soon be on the move again, but I see no magic or heart or
dream in its predictable march towards economic expansion. I fear it is
simply another old town on the make. Watching the Rivoli will tell us much.

Meanwhile, ³Everybody¹s resting in Grover¹s Corners. Tomorrow¹s going to be
another day. You get a good rest too. Good night.²


???



Tom Hebert is a writer and public policy consultant living on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation outside Pendleton. At Linfield College, he once managed
to turn an old movie palace back into a real theatre. His email is


http://www.pstos.org/instruments/or/pendleton/rivoli.htm

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• Pendleton OR: The Rivoli Theatre by "Joe & Laura Schmidt" <>