The first opening was on April 24, 1931. The theater opened to a matinee at noon, but the big opening was in the evening and included all of the glitz and glitter of a Hollywood premiere with Spencer Tracy arriving for the PREMIERE screening of his film, The Minute Man (which was called Six Cylinder Love when it finally opened).
The next grand opening was for the remodel of the Theater in 1957. [David Allen reminded me that the actual date for this grand reopening was Dec. 5--thanks David]. This one included a Premiere of The Enemy Below and had the film's stars attending the event including Charles Coburn, Chill Wills, Penny Edwards, and Ruta Lee. This one was sponsored by the Pomona Rotary.
The last opening was on Dec. 9, 1977, after the city had leased the building and was repositioned as the "Fox Theater of the Arts." Pomona's first civic auditorium.Now we get ready for a grand gala opening on Saturday, April 18. Stars will once again walk the red carpet led by Carol Channing, with Ann Robinson (War of the Worlds, both versions), Jane Withers (Giant, Bright Eyes--with Shirley Temple, and many others), and Pauline Wagner who was a star from the late '20s. And there are promised to be some other special surprises as well.
A few tickets are still available, although we anticipate closing ticket sales shortly as we're nearing our capacity. The black-tie optional evening will include a cocktail reception and ribbon cutting, a sumptuous dinner catered by Saffron, a show hosted by Charles Phoenix, and dessert and dancing to the sounds of the Donavan / Muradian Quartet DMQ on the new rooftop patios. AND guests will be able to view the restored theater up close and personal.
For further information, go to the Friends of the Pomona Fox web site: www.pomonafox.org. Hope to see you on Saturday.
7 comments:
For anyone still interested, the event is now officially a sell-out. Thanks to everyone who will be attending. There will be more events coming up in the future, so we hope that everyone gets a chance to see Pomona's gem in the near future.
Congratulations! I'm sure it will be a blast.
Me, I'm waiting till Gogol Bordello plays in May...
Nicely done. I'll painfully admit to being a doubter that you'd fill the joint at $135 a pop, but I'm glad to be wrong (it's the first time today).
Well Ed, don't be too wrong. Actually, because we're doing banquet/dinner seating, the number is far less than what you would have for a movie screening or concert. I'm sure that this will still be the smallest program in the space in the foreseeable future. But we're working hard to make it well worth it.
While I am going Saturday I will also be seeing Wilco at the Fox in June!
I love the fact I could see them & be home in like, three minutes!
Mark
Good job JC looking forward to the Smogdance.
Geez Mark, are you implying that dining in MetroPomona, before or after an event, isn't in your plans? ;-)
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