History

The Historic Palace Theatre in Lockport, NY, is a proscenium-arch-style space built in 1925 by Charles Dickinson. The decor is an eclectic mix of art deco and Italian Renaissance styles and is a replica of New York City's Famous Paramount Theatre.

The Palace was on the cutting edge of technology. Besides being technologically advanced with air conditioning, a pipe organ, and an orchestra pit, it was also exquisitely decorated. The murals on the ceiling still exist today.

In 1907, there were five theatres in Lockport, the Bijou, the Arcana, the Orpheum, the Hippodrome and the Hodge Opera House. The next movie house to join the Lockport roster is the only one of the six standing today and it is the hero of this story. Its name is the Historic Palace Theatre and it lives at Two East Avenue, right here in the heart of downtown Lockport, New York.

The first movie to play at the Palace was Cecil B. DeMille's, "The Ten Commandments," on July 18, 1925. The Palace continued to show movies, but they also added vaudeville acts and entertainment such as John Phillip Sousa's Band and the U.S. Marine Corps Band.

Dickinson leased the Palace originally to Publix Theatre Corporation. In 1928, it was leased to the Schine Company after the dissolution of Publix. Schine operated the Palace from 1928 through 1942. They purchased the theatre in 1942 just in time to show Casablanca. At this time, the only theatres left in Lockport were the Palace and the Rialto. In 1957, the Rialto too shut its doors. In 1969, County Wide began operating the Palace.

In 1972, there was a gas explosion in the theatre that many feared would spell the end of the Palace. However, it was sold to Granchelli Real Estate Developers, who opened a revamped Palace with a concession stand in 1974. In 1988, theatre manager, Bob Burns, had a sound system installed that not only had three large behind-the-screen speakers, but also a plethora of mounted wall speakers for surround sound.

In 1999, Lockport's musical production company, Curtain Up Productions, held its first show at the Palace. Later in 1999, the Schratz, Shaw, and Kurbs families began leasing the Palace to continue Curtain Up and other musical productions. The theatre is now operated by a nonprofit board of directors.

The building has been updated and reworked many times over the last 81 years, and because of that, many details such as lighting fixtures, paint schemes, and the concession stand have been changed, compromising some of the building's aesthetics. Efforts to restore the space to its original beauty began in 1999.

Recollections of the Palace

Irving Clark, Head Usher from 1927, shares memories in an interview with Jason Walling...

I recently had the privilege of touring the Palace Theatre with Irving Clark, who was the head usher in 1927. Irving graduated from the Lockport High School in 1930.

We walked through the theatre, talking about shows of the past, and recalling memories of what used to occupy that magnificent structure. “No one was allowed to seat themselves back then, we escorted everyone to their seats,” he recalled. Irving was the head usher, which meant that he was the supervisor of all the other ushers, as well as being the ticket collector. Pictured above is where Irving stood in 1927 as he collected tickets from all of the customers. The ticket stand is original and is the same one the Irving used.

Every night there were four ushers (two for the balcony and two for the main floor) plus himself that were in charge of the crowds. The ushers in the balcony were in charge of keeping an eye on the teenage couples in the Loges, while the ushers on the main floor had the additional task of keeping an eye on the “standing room only” crowd in the back of the theatre.

The Program consisted of 10 minutes of News, 10 minutes or so of comedy cartoons, the Main Feature was a silent movie accompanied by organist Lou Hannigan and a live vaudeville act to wrap up the night. Admission was 25 cents, while children under 12 got in for free. The big crowds came through on the weekends. Irving worked 7 days a week.

Irving didn’t look forward to Saturday nights, because after the show was underway, his job was to start organizing the big metal letters that hung across Main Street to read the name of the show that was coming the next week. The programs changed every week, and each week he had to change the letters above Main Street for the new program which started on Sunday. He would organize all of the letters and then go up on the roof and string them across a cable that ran from the roof of the Palace to the roof of the Post Office. One rainy Saturday, he was stringing the letters across the cable when the cable broke and fell onto the Trolley Lines that ran below. Irving said he had never received such a shock in his entire life. And despite throwing him 20 feet or more, he never told his boss, and never went to the hospital. His fellow employees told him he should have been dead, but just the same, Irving not only walked away from that accident, but rehung the cable and finished stringing the letters that same night.

Irving remembers the track team practicing for meets in the alley behind the Palace. At that time the high school was next door to the Palace Theatre and between the high school and the Palace was a small alleyway where they would practice the 50 yard dash, the high jump, the long jump, and a few other track events. He remembers hearing them outside while he was working after school.

After spending a good two hours with Mr. Clark, I not only learned a lot about the Palace, but thoroughly enjoyed hearing a first person account of the building, rather than reading about its history in newspaper clippings. I thank Mr. Clark for his time and hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much I enjoyed putting it together.

~ Jason Walling

If you have any interesting stories about the Historic Palace Theatre and would like to share them with us, please feel free to email us or call the Palace at 716.438.1131.