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History Of Our Theatre
Part 1: A
Theatre is Born
Built in 1927 as a
“community service building”, the Stirling Festival Theatre has
served many uses over its lifetime. The beautiful building
originally cost $25,500 to build. With no money in the town
budget for such a large expense, the village turned to the bank
and begged for a loan so that they might build a more adequate
space for entertainment in the bustling farm community.
Everyone chipped in to
manage the new building with representatives from the Council,
Women’s Institute, the Agricultural Society, the Board of Trade
and the Horticultural Society.
Being the only space
available in the area, the upstairs hall immediately became a
focal point for community meetings and events, dances featuring
full orchestras – even ballet classes!
To begin with, the main
building housed the Public Works office. What is the box office
today, was actually the Stirling Police Office and the dressing
rooms under the stage, were once old jail cells! On frosty
winter nights, Wilfred Gravens, the custodian, occasionally had
help fuelling the boilers from an inmate commissioned to shovel
coal.
Beginning in 1939, the
436 seat auditorium was used as a movie theatre.
During the Silent Movie
era, Jerry Clute provided piano music to set the mood. One of
the first movies show at the Stirling Theatre was the original
Jolson Story.
On Saturday nights, Rosa
Spry sold tickets to the villagers. Tickets for adults were 35
cents and children were 20 cents. The children had to be
accompanied by an adult in the theatre, as entertainment
inspectors would enforce this policy during their routine
checks. Rosa once let in an underage friend on an evening when
the inspectors were in town. Luckily for her, they told her
there wouldn’t be any repercussions this time, but if it
happened again, she’d be faced with a hefty fine!
Until the 1950’s,
movies played regularly, but then something devastating
happened. Movies were no longer a viable attraction and the
building was used less and less. Though the hall and the office
portions were fairly useful, it became apparent that the town
council wanted the land, rather than the charming theatre. In
1982, the village was looking at creating a new, up to date
public works building and the idea was raised of demolishing the
beautiful old theatre for the land…
To find out how the
Stirling Performing Arts Committee saved the theatre from
total annihilation, see Part 2 installlment
of A History of the
Stirling Festival Theatre, “Hey
Stirling-Rawdon, Here I Am!”.
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Part 2: Saved by the SPAC
Part 3:
"Hey Stirling-Rawdon
-Here I Am"
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©2005, The Stirling Festival Theatre Inc.