Rumor has it that back in the mid-1930s, an Ohio heiress named Julia Patterson Carnell was wintering in Palm Springs and frequented the illicit gambling dens outside the city limits. One night, she had such an extraordinary run of luck that she walked away from the tables with over a million dollars (over $23 million today) in winnings.
Ms. Carnell had a millionaire’s conundrum: What was she going to do with an extra million bucks? The answer was to buy 3.5 acres of land on South Palm Canyon owned by Palm Springs pioneer, Cordelia White. Ms. Carnell’s vision was to create a galleria of shops anchored by a grand movie theatre, all built in the Spanish Revival style, the de rigeur residential and commercial architecture of the day. The new Plaza complex was a fantasy version of a quaint Southwestern Mexican village and its plaza…an ode to a Palm Springs that never was.
Reality Shmality. This was the Great Depression. And the fantasies embodied by America’s great movie palaces were mini-Disneylands where families of almost any means could escape their mundane, sometimes grim, day-to-day existence and luxuriate in velveteen chairs and be entertained by the biggest stars of the day: The Marx Brothers, Errol Flynn, Myra Loy, Clark Cable, Vivien Leigh, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, or Greta Garbo.
Speaking of whom….it was Ms. Garbo’s Camille that premiered on opening night of the Plaza Theatre on December 12, 1936.
The theatre remained a village institution throughout the decades, even as tastes changed and the clubby village became more and more a tourist destination. It wasn’t until the late eighties when formless, tasteless little boxes called ‘multi-plexes’ spelled doom for the last remaining movie palaces. The Plaza Theater was no exception and it finally went dormant in 1989.
According to JR Roberts, a former Palm Springs council member with an extensive background in architectural restoration, the Plaza Theatre was slated for the wrecking ball when the late former Mayor of Palm Springs, Sonny Bono, stepped in and halted its destruction. Though there were no firm plans in place in how the city’s ownership of the property would ensure its survival (let alone put its operation in the black), the theatre did find itself on extended life support thanks to Riff Markowitz, a television producer, who put on The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, a campy, Vegas-style revue with songs of the 30s and 40s.
The hook was that none of the showgirls and performers could be under fifty. The show became a local institution and the footlights stayed bright from 1990 to 2014.
“I remember at that time (when his time on the city council was at an end) what my legacy was going to be,” says Roberts. “And a number of people suggested that my mission should be to save the Plaza Theatre. There was may have been vodka and tequila involved, but eventually I said yes.”
Roberts has been at it for well over a decade. He has created a foundation for the theater and enlisted countless volunteers and true believers. There have been benefits and fundraisers galore…and for all the missteps and disappointments, there have been astounding success such as a $5 million gift from Frazier producer David Lee and another $2 million gift from a generous anonymous donor. All told, over $20 million has been raised of the estimated $27 million needed to restore the Plaza to its original opening night glamor.
As evidenced by the cataclysmic scene inside the theatre on May 29 during the last public tour before closing, the restoration is both macro and micro, involving “every single nut and bolt”. For instance, at one time, the ceiling of the theatre was designed to go from dark blue of every evening to the black of night, and as it turned, hundreds of little lights would appear as if stars in night sky. Though it would be far easier and cheaper go for some sort of projection or LEDs, the Foundation is dedicated to a complete and accurate restoration and the night sky that will appear to the audience this coming December will be exactly like the one the audience in 1936 experienced.
Though the responsibilities of JR, the foundation, and the many volunteers seem limitless, there was one aspect of the theatre they chose to delegate. JR explains that at one point, he was approached by the city manager and asked if the Foundation would consider running the theater once the restoration was complete. “I got a pain in the pit of my stomach,” he admits. “I went back to the board members and told them all the reasons I thought we shouldn’t do it. Then, they voted unanimously to accept.”
Luckily, that won’t mean getting stuck with all the logistical and scheduling nightmares that come with running an active venue. They have partnered with the Oak View Group, whose local interests include the Acrisure Arena. “They really wanted to partner…and this was the perfect opportunity,” says JR. “They have the programming operations expertise…so it’s going to make a huge difference in the success of the new Plaza Theatre.”
