University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 23, 1998 Page: 4 of 42
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UNIVERSITY PRESS DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY ISSUE • SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 • PAGE 4A
PAGE 4A • SEPTEMBER 23, 1923 •
Restoration -
Continued from page 1A
was hired to design the new entertainment palace
for Beaumont. Weil’s work on the Saenger featured
the moon, stars and clouds on its ceiling. The clouds
moved across the sky, and the sky could go from
sunrise to sunset to midnight. This type of theatre
was commonly referred to as an “atmospheric.”
Clemons and Gordon obviously did not want an
“atmospheric,” but they did want a showplace.
Consequently, construction began on the new
structure in 1926; and by 1927, when it was com-
pleted, the city had a Moorish- and Spanish-styled
building that had totaled more than $1 million — a
cost that would easily translate into $30 million in
today’s buying power.
A contest was held to name the spectacular edi-
fice. Beaumonter Mrs. Vance M. Adams was the
winner when she suggested “The Jefferson.” Of
course, this was appropros since our county is
Jefferson, one of our most famous presidents was
Jefferson, and the name of the company that
owned the showplace was Jefferson.
The Jefferson opened to great fanfare on Nov.
14,1927. It was promoted as “a treasure house of
art” and featured furnishings from several
European countries “placed with lavish profusion”
throughout.
Marble water fountains, each said to be equal in
cost to a new Ford automobile, adorned the lobby.
The huge stage was equipped to handle live perfor-
mances of every type, and the building had one of
the largest movie screens that could be found any-
where.
One of the first air-conditioned buildings in the
city, the theater boasted about its “manufactured
weather” and claimed that there “is but one season
at the Jefferson — eternal spring.”
One of the theater’s most enduring landmarks is
the Robert Morton Wonder Pipe Organ, which
was said to be comparable only to one in New
York and one in the Saenger Theatre in New
Orleans. It was built to accompany silent movies
and Alice Richmond, promoted as the South’s
finest theatre organist, was hired to play for all
showings.
Those attending the opening ceremonies walked
into a wonderland of Italian and New York mar-
ble, gold-leafed ornate plaster, custom-made
Alabama tile, and imported Italian statuary.
When they entered the auditorium, they were in
the midst of a Spanish village courtyard with build-
ing facades that lined the side walls and pricked
the imagination.
Mildred Yates, chair of the Jefferson Theater
Lecturer Committee, said she remembers staring
at the pipe organ as a young child during the many
shows she had attended.
The organist starts playing with thunderous
sounds that seem to shake the building; a spot light
bears down to left stage orchestra pit; and the huge
console, looking much like an airplane cock pit,
comes rising out of the floor on a hydraulic lift.
Likewise, just before he or she finishes playing, he
presses a button and the console goes down out of
sight with the end of the sound of music.
“I remember the organ was covered with gold
glitter. It seemed so garish and ugly; but when the
spotlight was on it, it was just beautiful,” Yates
said.
Howard Perkins, a member of the lecture com-
mittee and director of student publications at
Lamar, meets with groups in town that need a
speaker for programs and tells them about the
restoration drive.
“Mildred is certainly right,” he said. “The first
thing that people, who were familiar with the
Jefferson, want to know is ‘How’s the organ.’
“I always tell them that the organ is the best-
kept thing about the building.
“It’s kept in excellent repair, you know, by the
Southeast Texas Chapter of the American Theatre
Organ Society.”
“These huge instruments, with all kinds of
mechanical sound effects, were built to accompany
silent movies, and practically every movie palace at
the time had one. As far as we can tell, the
Jefferson is one of only six or seven theatres in the
country that still has its organ in the original set-
ting. I think the Gordons must have been very
fond of it. In my lifetime, they would hire local
organist A1 Sacker to play for intermissions. I was
always impressed when the building started vibrat-
ing and suddenly the organist and the console
burst out of the floor in a flood of light. It was all
very theatrical.”
Yates said she would go to the theatre every
Saturday and watch silent films, many of which
were “cliffhangers” that would end with the hero
in some harrowing, life-threatening situation.
Other times there would be talent shows on
stage. Yates said she remembers going to the tal-
ent contests with a bag full of candy she’d buy at
the corner store, because the Jefferson did not sell
candy.
Her first visit to the grand struc-
ture was to see Cab Calloway in the
late 1920s.
“I’d been in theatres before, but
never in any like that,” Yates said.
“Of course, I remember the
Jefferson very well as a movie
house,” Perkins said. “It was always
a delight to go to a movie there
because of the surroundings.”
By 1974, suburban shopping
centers, many of them with theatres
attached, caused the demise of
many old movie palaces that were
built to hold so many people. The
Jefferson seats 1,700. Beaumont’s
downtown was undergoing hard
times.
“We want a living, breathing
theatre — not a museum,” Yates
said.
Restoration architect David
Hoffman from Austin has drawn
up complete plans to bring the the-
atre back to its original splendor.
The primary objectives of the
restoration are to restore the
Jefferson’s significant architectural
detailing to the greatest extent
possible while enhancing its capa-
bility to meet the contemporary
needs of a fully-functioning the-
atre.
Most of the glaniorous, decora-
tive features of the past still remain
in the old theatre, such as the
French chandelier in the main
auditorium. Most all of the distinc-
tive architectural detailing and styl-
istic enhancements such as light
fixtures and irop railings are intact
in the lobbies and auditorium.
“No changes have been made to
the architectural character of the
theatre that cannot be restored or
recovered in a well-planned, com-
prehensive restoration process,”
Hoffman said.
Beaumont attorney Walter
Umphrey and Beaumont business-
man Roy Steinhagen are co-chair-
ing the committee for restoration
of the Jefferson. The group has
already raised $1.5 million toward
the total $4 million restoration
costs. The public has not yet been
approached for contributions.
With so much support already
shown from so many people, by
2001, the planned completion date,
those of us who are new to
Beaumont or too young to remem-
ber the Jefferson will be experienc-
ing Broadway plays, concerts,
movies, comedies, dance recitals,
workshops, and much more enter-
tainment in the spectacular setting
that has meant so much to so many
since 1927.
n
m
(Southeast
Texas
Student tickets are $5 at the door with ID, depending on availability of seats
Celebrating
Lamar s
75th
Thursday,
Sept. 24,
8 p.m.,
Julie Rogers
Theatre
Allen
Vizzutti
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Sonnier, Todd. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 23, 1998, newspaper, September 23, 1998; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500801/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.