Biographical profile: Joe LaPorte - Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame (snow skiing, 2007)

Inductee in 2007, Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame (snow skiing)

Source:
https://www.db.tacomasportsmuseum.com/hall-of-fame-detail.php?id=463

Joe LaPorte developed his love for skiing in his teens when his father would take him skiing at Paradise on Mount Rainier. The two would hike from Narada Falls up to the lodge at Longmire and then ski down Devil’s Dip.

LaPorte was born on May 1, 1921 in San Francisco and moved with his family to Tacoma in 1929. He graduated from Bellarmine Prep, where he was a member of the ski team.

He joined the Army in 1944 and found a way to continue to pursue his passion for the ski slopes. While stationed in Europe, he was successful in spearheading a program that created recreational skiing opportunities for officers, enlisted personnel and WACs.

While in Europe, he participated in the Army-sponsored European Skiing Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

After returning stateside, he was certified as an advanced instructor by the Pacific Northwest Ski Association.

From 1952-65, he was chief instructor of the Tacoma Ski School, which offered free lessons to participants who paid only for transportation and insurance. The emphasis was on participation and not on developing Olympic champions. The ski school started at Paradise Valley but also moved to Snoqualmie Summit, Ski Acres and Crystal Mountain. In the late 1960s, LaPorte started the Cascade Ski School.

LaPorte also started the Totem Ski Club on American Lake, which gave skiers such as him the opportunity to strap on a pair of skis during the non-snow skiing months. LaPorte and his friends would perform shows in order to raise money to support the club.

Obituary: Joseph E. LaPorte

Obituary:

Joseph E. LaPorte
May 1, 1922 ~ February 5, 2015 (age 92)

Source:

https://www.gaffneyfuneralhome.com/obituary/Joseph-LaPorte

Joseph E LaPorte was born in San Francisco May 1, 1921 to Lawrence Joseph LaPorte and Mary Viola McNulty. He passed away peacefully on February 5, 2015 with Karen and the girls helping till the very end.

A Bellarmine graduate of 1941, Joe served in World War II, was a train engineer on Northern Pacific Railroad for 40 years, with the last two years on Amtrak until he retired in 1986.

He volunteered as Historical Interpretive Guide on the Amtrak Coast Starlight, Knights of Columbus, St. Charles, BN West CU, and TOA Commodore.

Joe met Karen Peterson on a Milwaukee Ski Train and they were married on May 26, 1951.

Joe's love of skiing inspired him to teach others, and he started up Totem, TNT and Cascade Ski Schools, and taught his girls to snow and water ski at a young age.

Dad and Mom enjoyed many trips with Discovery Bus Tours and outings with Overland RV Club.

He grew up with his brothers Don, Bob, Laurie, Dennis, Pierre, and Tim, and sisters Mary and MaryAnn.

He is survived by Karen (Catherine) his wife of 63 years, Carrie Kay, Connie (Tom) McCormick, Carole (Scott) Shelton, Chris (Rick) Snell, Cindy (Jim) Cochran, and Cherrie LaPorte.

He is also survived by 9 grandchildren, Mandy, Nathan, Rania, Kayla, Jessica, Ben, Dana, Ryan, and Jared, and three great-grandchildren, Iliana Rivera, Annmarie, and John Thomas McCormick.

Joe's Celebration of Life is 11:00 on Thursday, February 12th, at St Charles Borromeo Church, with reception to follow.

Arrangements by Gaffney Funeral Home, and interment at Calvary Cemetery.

Condolences at www.gaffneycares.com Many thanks to Dr. Vance's office and Oncology NW at St. Joseph's.

Disruption to football season would be very bad for all of college sports

Disruption to football season would be very bad for all of college sports

(Note: This story was pieced together. There's a possibility it was not re-pieced correctly or some parts of it were inadvertently omitted.)

By Will Hobson and Emily Giambalvo

Washington Post

April 11th, 2020

As Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard talked with peers and reporters about the novel coronavirus this month, he used a weather-based analogy to describe how the pandemic could affect his department’s finances.

If the crisis subsides soon, Pollard said, it could be akin to a bad blizzard. If it delays the beginning of the football season, it could be like a long, hard winter. And if the pandemic forces the cancellation of the football season?

“It’s an ice age,” Pollard said in a phone interview. “I don’t know how any of us, how the current NCAA model, could survive if we’re not playing any football games.”

Just four weeks after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and other sports, athletic directors, conference commissioners and network executives are turning their attention to the upcoming football season. In interviews this week, several athletic directors and college sports officials acknowledged a distressing reality: A canceled football season would cost the industry billions, forcing athletic directors to consider layoffs, drastic pay cuts and potentially canceling so-called Olympic or nonrevenue sports.

“Everything is on the table,” Pollard said. “It’s hard today to wrap your head around how challenging that would be if we can’t play any football games. . . . We’d essentially be bankrupt.”

How long until sports can return? You might not like the answer.

Iowa State’s annual athletics budget hovers around $90 million, and about 75 percent of its revenue comes from football, Pollard said. To deal with a $5 million drop in this school year’s revenue created by the coronavirus-related cancellations, Pollard already has instituted an across-the-board 10 percent pay cut for all coaches and athletic department employees. But he said that wouldn’t come close to helping deal with plummeting revenue in the 2020-21 school year if no football is played, which is why hybrid season models are under discussion.

“There’s a lot of really smart people out there who will do everything humanly possible to try to find a way to play some or all of the football games,” Pollard said.

For the past few weeks, Tom McMillen, chief executive of Lead1 — a nonprofit that represents the 130 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision — has had regular virtual happy hours with small groups of athletic directors, sipping wine and discussing how the coronavirus might affect the football season.

They weighed the pros and cons of options that included delaying the season into spring 2021 and relocating games to regions of the country where the pandemic has been contained, as well as the potential impact if the season is lost entirely.

“The optimistic view here is that we will get this under control and this is not like the Great Depression that went on and on,” McMillen said. “But there’s going to be some type of change or impact, no question about it.”

Even if the season kicks off as scheduled Aug. 29, McMillen said, many athletic directors expect some type of effect on their bottom line because of fears of a resurgence.

Some experts have said it is possible new coronavirus infections could taper off in the summer before returning in the fall and winter, similar to the timeline of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic. In Italy, a Feb. 19 professional soccer game in Milan was identified as a potential “super spreader” event, helping ignite the coronavirus crisis in that country.

“It’s probably going to take a while for people to feel comfortable sitting close to each other in a stadium or arena again,” McMillen said.

Ticket sales are just one of several revenue streams that could be impacted by coronavirus concerns, McMillen and others noted. A struggling economy probably would affect donations. Several schools delayed deadlines for donations required to secure football season tickets.

“It’s borderline immoral to be soliciting money from people, given what some folks in our country are going through,” said Tulane Athletic Director Troy Dannen, whose department normally is ramping up its fundraising operations in April, May and June as people renew season tickets.

Many athletic departments, particularly those outside the wealthier Power Five conferences supported by lucrative television contracts, depend on mandatory student fees that probably would be waived if students aren’t on campus.

At the University of Central Florida, a roughly $172 fee assessed to every full-time undergraduate student on campus provides more than $23 million of the athletic department’s $68 million in annual revenue.

“The financial model of major college athletics is built around the revenue we generate in those three months,” said UCF Athletic Director Danny White, referring to the football season. “There is no financial solution to solve that if [the football season] doesn’t happen.”

Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy says his team needs to play for benefit of state economy

A handful of the wealthiest programs have substantial reserve funds saved that could help mitigate the financial pain. Georgia’s athletic department has more than $100 million in a reserve fund, a school spokesman said in an email.

But across the landscape of major college sports — where athletic departments routinely spend every dollar they earn, plowing income gains back into rising salaries for coaches or new facilities to impress donors and recruits — few schools have rainy day funds at all, let alone reserves as large as Georgia's.

“They typically don’t do a great job creating a huge buffer of savings they can grab in times like these. . . . They do typically make more money each year, but then they go right out and spend it,” said Daniel Rascher, an economics professor at the University of San Francisco and president of consulting firm SportsEconomics.

Some conferences also have reserve funds, but the sums are not enough to mitigate the losses that would be felt at each school in the event of a lost season. The SEC, for example, reported $25.4 million in savings and another $59.3 million in investments in its most recent financial filing to the IRS. At Alabama, just one of the 14 SEC schools, football generated $95.2 million of the athletic department’s $164.1 million of revenue in 2019, school records show.

Spokespeople for the SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 all declined to comment or did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

“A situation with more questions than answers right now,” wrote Herb Vincent, associate commissioner for communications at the SEC, in an email declining an interview request.

Sporting events should be among the final parts of everyday life to return, not the first.

While the football season is not scheduled to begin for more than four months, social distancing mandates would need to be relaxed well in advance for the season to begin on time.

Most teams begin preseason camp around Aug. 1, and schools probably would need to know at least a few weeks in advance, potentially as early as by July 1, whether they have the all-clear to have their football players and coaches begin making arrangements to be on campus.

Iowa State’s Pollard emphasized the tremendous uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic at this point, expressing hope the season would begin as scheduled while acknowledging the possibility predicted by some experts that pro and college sports won’t return until 2021.

He also noted that, in the grand scheme of things, if college football can’t be played this fall and winter, it probably means there are far more significant problems confronting the nation.

“If we’re not playing college football … that probably means the economy in the United States is a lot worse off than it is today,” Pollard said.

“So the pain we would feel in college athletics may be minuscule compared to what our country would be feeling.”

#

La Grande, Oregon, movie memories, mostly from La Grande Observer newspaper

LA GRANDE THEATRES HISTORY

As seen online April 11, 2020, at www (dot) lagrandemovies (dot) com

1927 La Grande Theatres was founded by Francis A Greulich

1928 Acquired Granada Theatre

1952 Granada Theatre had a major renovation

1953 Purchased La Grande Drive-In

1972 Granada completely renovated and converted to a 2 screen multiplex

1994 Granada completely renovated and converted to a 3 screen multiplex

2010 Granada installed new rocker luxury seats

2011 Granada - deployed new all digital Christie projectors, new Dolby 750 Surround Sound and Dolby 3D. All film projection equipment was replaced.

2013 La Grande Drive-In update to Christie Digital Projection and new audio.

…………...

LIBERTY THEATRE TIMELINE

Observer, Feb 17, 2010 

November 1910 - the building that would later become the Liberty Theatre opens as the Orpheum Theater. S.A. Gardinier and his wife Madeline are the owners. The Gardiniers had purchased the theater property earlier and then built the Orpheum.

The Gardiniers already owned La Grande's Scenic Theater. The Scenic, which opened in 1902, may have been La Grande's first film theater. Four other theaters opened in La Grande between 1902 and

November 1910, The Dime, The Electric, The Isis, The Pastime and The Lyric. The Isis later became Sherry's, The Colonial, and then The State Theater, according to La Grande historian and author Bob Bull.

1911 - The Orpheum Theater is renamed The Arcade Theater.

1930 - The Arcade is closed after being purchased by Inland Theaters Inc. Following extensive remodeling the movie show house opens on Oct. 3, 1930, as The Liberty Theatre. "So This Is London,'' starring Will Rogers, was the first movie shown in the Liberty, according an October 1930 edition of The Observer. Admission to the film was 50 cents for adults and a dime for youths.

Prior to film showings and during intermissions, spectators were treated to music played on the theater's Robert Merton pipe organ. Isabel Miller was the Liberty's first organ player.

January 1931 - The "Big Trail,'' the first motion picture in which John Wayne had a starring role, is shown at The Liberty. The film was a lavish production about the Oregon Trail. The Liberty offers free passes to everyone who signed a form certifying they came to the state on the Oregon Trail. Thirty-six people, all from Union County, received free coupons. They had arrived in the state between 1863 and 1897.

February 1952 - the Granada reopens after extensive remodeling. The "new '' Granada ended the Liberty's reign as La Grande's best theater, according to a National Register of Historic Places application submitted to the U.S. Park Service.

The Granada was considered one of the largest and most modern theaters in Eastern Oregon. Its features included 800 staggered seats, cry rooms for babies and advanced camera and light systems.

1959 - The Liberty quietly closes. It was open for a portion of 1959 before shutting down

.

1962 - The first floor of the old theater is remodeled to house retail establishments.

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NORTHEAST OREGON HISTORY: LA GRANDE DRIVE-IN

By Dick Mason, Observer, Aug 7, 2018 

Q: How long has the La Grande Drive-In theater been in operation?

A: 67 years.

The evening of May 10, 1951, was the first time La Grande residents could enjoy performances of Hollywood stars under the stars.

That is the night the La Grande Drive-In theater opened with showings of “Tarzan’s Peril” starring Lex Barker and Virginia Houston and “Beaver Valley,” a film about North American wildlife.

“See your favorite stars and pictures this way, in the privacy and comfort of your own cars. It’s a new thrill,” read an ad for the La Grande Drive-In in the May 9, 1951, Evening Observer.

Admission on opening night was 60 cents for adults and nine cents for children younger than 12.

In 1951, the drive-in had a capacity of 416 cars and speakers were provided for each one, according to The Observer’s archives.

Moviegoers were encouraged by the theater’s owners to dress casually.

“Come as you are and relax in your car,” stated one of the drive-in’s advertisements.

Movies shown after the drive-in’s opening weekend in 1951 included two starring future president Ronald Reagan — “Bedtime for Bonzo” and “Louisa.” A film of a boxing match between featherweight world champion Sandy Saddler and challenger Willie Pep was also shown at the drive-in that year.

The new drive-in was then competing against three indoor theaters in La Grande: the Granada, State and Liberty theaters. It is not known how well the drive-in did its first year, but it appears to have fared well for it continued operating through Nov. 13 when it concluded its season with showings of “When Willie Comes Marching Home” starring Dan Daily and “Dark City” starring Charlton Heston.

Cold weather was expected the concluding night of the 1951 season, according to the Evening Observer, which published a forecast calling for a low in the high 20s for Nov. 13. This must have been why the drive-in theater provided or paid for a free gallon of gas to the driver of each vehicle coming to the final showing of the season. The purpose of the gasoline was to allow moviegoers to run their vehicles during the Nov. 13 showing to keep from getting chilled.

“Keep warm at our expense,” read a Nov. 10, 1951, La Grande Drive-In ad in the Evening Observer.

The La Grande Drive-In opened at a time when the popularity of outdoor movies was beginning to gain momentum. By the late 1950s, there were approximately 4,000 drive-in theaters in the United States, according to www.DriveinMovies.com.

Today there are about 325 drive-in cinemas in the United States. This total includes just three in Oregon, a far cry from the 1950s when the state had about 70. Today, outside of La Grande, the only places one can find an operating drive-in theater in the state are Milton-Freewater and Newberg.

DriveinMovies.com states that Washington has five drive-in theaters and Idaho has six. Washington’s are in Bremerton, Colville, Oak Harbor, Port Townsend and Shelton. Idaho’s are in Caldwell, Driggs, Grangeville, Parma, Rexburg and Soda Springs.

The three primary reasons drive-in theaters are few and far between today are Daylight Saving Time, rising land prices and the availability of movies via rental and other means, according to www.DriveInMovies.com.

Daylight Saving Time, which took effect in much of the United States in 1966, meant sunset came an hour later during the busiest time of the year for drive-in theaters. In many parts of the country, during Daylight Saving Time, drive-ins were not able to start their first movie until 10 p.m. Rising land prices have been a factor because owners of drive-ins can make more money by selling their land to developers than operating an outdoor theater.

None of these factors have stopped the La Grande Drive-In, which remains a popular gathering place for moviegoers based on the long lines of vehicles waiting to get in before many shows.

The La Grande Drive-In, which now has 300 spaces for vehicles and uses a short -range FM radio system to broadcast the sound of movies to cars instead of speakers, is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in the spring and summer. It opens annually in April or May and operates through early September.

..................

LIGHT 'ER UP: LIBERTY SIGN SET FOR OFFICIAL LIGHTING THURSDAY

By Kelly Ducote, Observer, Dec 28, 2015 

Some remember watching Elizabeth Taylor star in her breakout film "National Velvet," or the epic "Ten Commandments" starring Charlton Heston.

Others remember the balcony. Specifically, they remember knowing not to sit just underneath the edge, where popcorn and other falling objects were bound to land.

And still others remember their first jobs at the Liberty Theatre, as usherettes and janitors.

"The Liberty Theatre had an air of luxury to it. More posh like," recalled Marianne Feik Fullmer, who worked at the Liberty and Granada theaters in the early 1950s.

At the Liberty, she seated patrons who came in after the lights went out.

"I also would have to keep an eye on people who put their feet on the back of the seat in front of them," she said.

Though the Liberty is remembered for that "air of luxury," there was always a team of janitors behind the scenes.

Stan Steffen was one of those janitors, who with Marvin Hill had a contract to clean the theater in the early 1940s, during the war.

Steffen recalls vigilant work at the theater, where it seemed the women's bathroom and usherette dressing room were a constant work in progress.

"It's like they had a compulsion in damage," Steffen said. "The floor was always littered with their street clothes."

As a patron, Steffen spent a lot of time at the theater, eventually befriending the projectionist who provided him with fly-fishing tips and a glimpse into making movies run on the big screen.

"He let me do certain simple functions myself," Steffen said. "For me, the highlight of the whole thing was the projection room."

Norma Goodwin Flanagan said she sold the last ticket at the theater, where she worked in high school.

"I had a lot of friends that worked there," she said. "We had a lot of fun there."

By all accounts, the theater was a lively place, where teens popped their popcorn bags and, after management put popcorn in boxes, turned their popcorn boxes into Frisbees.

For others, it was an escape from the daily grind.

"My husband loved movies, and he was a lawyer," recalled Gerda Brownton. "It he wanted relief from the bad things he heard during the day, we went to the movies."

But for more than five decades, the theater has been dark, its former glory masked by a series of retail establishments in the building.

That changes on Thursday, as the Liberty Theatre Foundation, the nonprofit group paving the way for the theater's total restoration, plans to light up the Liberty's blade sign, a replica of one of the theater's historic signs.

"I'm so excited to see the historic blade sign illuminate downtown La Grande once again," said Brent Smith, Liberty Theatre Foundation board member.

All are invited to the sign lighting event, set to begin at 2 p.m. Thursday at Joe Beans, across Adams Avenue from the theater. From 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., those involved with the Liberty Theatre Foundation will share information on the restoration effort and memories of the Liberty, along with music, refreshments and displays of Liberty memorabilia. Tours of the theater will be available.

At about 4:30 p.m., the blade sign will light up downtown once more.

"The lighting of the sign is a symbol of the life of the Liberty. It has been dark for years, but this week we show the community that new life is coming in," Smith said. "The theater will be a great way to draw people downtown, and it will really become 'La Grande's living room.'"

:::::::::::::::

GRANADA THEATER MOVES TO DIGITAL AND 3D TECHNOLOGY

Observer, April 27, 2011

Three new digital projectors will allow customers to experience movies in high-def Dolby Digital, Surround Sound, and some films in Dolby 3D

Sometimes it takes longer than others, but progress usually does catch up with La Grande and Union County. This week, improvements at the Granada Theater propel local movie entertainment into the 21st Century.

After months of planning and significant capital outlay, three new digital projectors - one for each of the Granada's three auditoriums - are going on line. They replace the 35 millimeter machines that have been shining movies onto Granada screens for decades.

From now on, Granada customers will experience all movies in high-definition Dolby Digital and Surround Sound, and select films in Dolby 3D.

For a small community always hungering after modern conveniences, it's no doubt a welcome change. Movie purists seeking those high-resolution thrills need not travel long distances to find them.

"This is something the community has often asked for," said Granada Manager Edna Henderson. "I believe people are going to like it, not only people from Union County but from surrounding areas as well."

The Granada, at 1311 Adams Ave., has been a property of the Greulich family since 1929. Francis Greulich, who also owned the State Theater on Adams Avenue, was the founder.

The State went defunct long ago, but the family kept right on in the entertainment business. Today the Granada is owned by three of Francis's grandsons - Mark, Charles and John.

The three Gruelichs grew up in La Grande. Though they no longer live here, Henderson said they continue to take an active interest in the community and the theater, and want nothing but the best for their customers.

"They've kept up with the technology and it's their desire to provide La Grande with the best entertainment possible," she said.

In the 1970s, the owners remodeled the Granada to accommodate two auditoriums. The building became a triplex in the 1990s. Just recently, new seats were installed throughout the complex.

Like those improvements, the current move to digital and 3D technology is a major undertaking and represents a big leap forward, Henderson said.

"It's been months in the planning, and it's going to cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars," she said.

By late last week, the three projectors had arrived and were awaiting installation by a crew from Portland-based American Cinema Equipment. Two of the theater screens are being replaced as well. The third is 3D capable already.

Work began Tuesday and will continue at a feverish pace throughout the week. When it's done, all three auditoriums will be Dolby-ready.

"Having all three theaters digital and 3D-capable makes us unique," Henderson said.

Another task to be completed this week is the unpacking of some 1,500 pair of specially-made glasses essential to 3D viewing.

The glasses, available for now only in an adult size, will be handed out prior to movies and collected afterwards. With a machine made specially for the purpose, they'll be sterilized after each use.

Henderson said the glasses won't work with other 3D applications, nor will glasses made for other applications work with Dolby.

"Our glasses won't work with other technologies and they won't work with 3D television," Henderson said. "They're unique to the theater and the equipment that's being used."

Henderson said admission prices for 2D movies will remain the same for now, though 3D movies will cost $2 more. Later, she said, moviegoers will see an increase in all ticket prices.

"Rio,'' an animated feature playing at the Granada this week, is a 3D film. After the first projector was mounted Tuesday, "Rio'' became the first movie in Granada history to be shown in Dolby 3D.

Of course, not every movie on the market is made in 3D. The next one to show at the Granada is "Thor,'' opening May 6.

The Granada will remain open throughout the entire changeover this week. For Henderson and all the Granada crew, it's a hectic time.

But an exciting one, too.

"I'm proud to be a part of this," Henderson said.

:::::

BACK TO THE FUTURE IN A TOUR OF LIBERTY THEATRE

By Dorothy Swart Fleshman, Observer, Feb 19, 2010 

Last Saturday I went Back to the Future. What a trip it was! Based on last Friday's column, I was invited by Dale Mammen to tour the old Liberty Theatre with a group of interested others. How could I refuse?

It isn't the tour I want to tell you about. It is my reactions to what I saw and how my mind tried to put it back together as I remembered it.

Touring the old Liberty Theatre site was a heart-rending visit to the past while standing amidst the rubble of what it has become and trying to envision the beauty that had been torn asunder. In years gone by, it had been almost like entering a cathedral, for voices were muffled and deep carpets absorbed the patron noises.

What did you see, you ask? I'll try to find the words.

We met in the empty room west of Domino's Pizza for orientation. To help orient you, the ticket booth would have been in the area of Domino's front door entrance, so we were where you would have entered the theatre proper, set back from Adams Avenue's sidewalk. I stand to be corrected on any of these explanations, for you had to have a map for accuracy. At least it can be used in generalities.

We walked down the open space to the back of the building, down a flight of steps ... and there we were. With flashlights and floodlights, we threaded our way through the debris maze seeing bits of things that I recognized until we climbed a short flight of carpeted stairs to find ourselves in the second floor mezzanine of "the office." This is where we began seeing everything through different eras of remodeling - 1910, 1959 and the reality of the present.

Yes, there's the office and the restrooms, they were saying. No, there was no office there, I disagreed. Even the wall may not have been there. Restrooms, yes, but the part marked off now as office space had been a lovely lounge with a davenport, easy chairs, carpeting on the floor and drapes at the windows, mirrors on the wall where young women could primp like the elegant ladies they dreamed of becoming. Even the restrooms seemed reversed. Didn't the ladies enter west from the lounge side with booths for them rather than for the men? And, didn't the men have theirs on the east side?

I noticed a tiny room with metal walls holding a big safe. Had it always been there? I had no way of knowing, but wondered if part of the men's room had been taken for it later, convenient for the new office.

Still trying to put the mezzanine back together in my mind, I followed the group on up another short flight of stairs into the balcony itself. This I recognized, pointing out the place I had sat at the iron pipe rail, until I looked up above the aisle that separated the two divisions of the balcony, the upper part reaching up as high as the little room that held the projectors and big reels of film.

This isn't right, I thought, in spite of having heard someone say they sat on risers and watched cowboy shows with accompanying crowd "whoopin' and hollerin'." Never at THE Liberty, I was sure. Never would it have allowed such behavior - my chin defiantly in the air at this point. 

Throughout OUR theatre had been fine seats with backs, the seats folding up to allow room for patron passage.

But, there were the risers in mute testimony. Then it had to have happened with the 1959 remodel, I asserted. Unable to look out and down towards the screen since it was filled with what, I think, was the ceiling of Domino's below, as far as I was concerned, the Liberty that I had known had come to a bitter end. A crumpled tapestry lay in a heap on the floor, but I couldn't reconstruct it to have hung before the screen on stage. It had seemed so much more elegant or even in color, but cleaned and hung there with lights on it, it would have looked so very much different that perhaps my mind was playing tricks.

I had never been in the lower part of the theatre and beside the stage before, but the cramped, debris-strewn area (watch out for the low ceiling - it hurts) confirmed the fact that stage shows were possible in the long gone-by. A trap-door beneath the stage gave testimony again to the fact as well as dressing rooms and lavatory for performers. They must have really wanted to perform. My Swiss grandparents were professional singers and yodelers and performed in La Grande. It makes me wonder if this could have been one of the stages that welcomed them in the 1920s.

It comes to mind that once I did hear the fine organ, now absent, when a local person played it as a demonstration to its use for silent film accompaniment. I wonder when that might have been.

In time, thorough research will uncover the true version of the different remodel eras and a suitable one chosen for restoration. I'll keep hoping it will be mine (1930-'40s). It was worth the keeping even though my memories prove incorrect on many points. However it turns out, I cherish the theatre tour and a hopeful return to Back to the Future, thanks to Dale and the downtown restoration folks.

INCOMING THEATRE E-MAILS: Tom H. admits to

 activating bean-shooters and rubber bands at the Granada; Mark R. paid 16-cents for his admission ticket; and Homer W.H. has a sister who was a Liberty cashier. Thanks, correspondents. Keep the history flowing. We need it.

QUESTION: Why do you spell it theatre rather than theater?

ANSWER: Because that was the way I was taught and through observation. Eugene has a better answer in the French influence, but my dictionaries list both ways as correct. If I had written theater-goer, I might well have reversed the re, but the French spelling seemed to be on the marquee bearing the nameplate of most theatre buildings themselves.

Veteran newspaperwoman Dorothy Swart Fleshman is a La Grande native. Her column runs every Friday.

.................

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE RESTORING THE OLD LIBERTY THEATRE

By Dorothy Swart Fleshman, Observer, Feb 12, 2010 

News of the Liberty Theatre renovation plans is an exciting possibility to those of us who once attended movies there, at the elite movie theatre in town.

That was where I watched all of the Shirley Temple movies and marveled over the little girl of the golden curls and cute dresses. I had all of her paper doll cut-outs until they ended up in our furnace by an over-zealous father in clean-up mode.

"You can buy more," he encouraged as the last of the Dionne quintuplets followed suit as part of the moving to another house clean-up had progressed to almost all of the paper dolls standing on a ledge around the back porch, my failing for not having put them away in shoe boxes when play was last ended.

Unfortunately, neither Shirley, Jane Withers nor the Dionnes ever again became my playmates until years later in reproduction style for collection. Jane Withers, though, did catch the attention of my sister and I as we became less taken with the sugary promotions and absorbed the devilish imp in Jane as she attempted to undermine her opposite and became our counterpart. She never won, but neither did we, so we became soul mates in the struggle of growing up.

Young women dressed more carefully to attend the Liberty Theatre, located in the current Domino's Pizza and next to City Hall, previously the old post office, as versus the Granada and State theatres. The State Theatre, just down the block east of the Liberty Theatre, must not have been here for many years.

I remember being in it only once, in attendance with my older cousin Edith. It is vivid in memory as we watched a man come in just before the lights dimmed for the show. He was carrying a watermelon and sat down near the front of the theatre, just under the screen.

We giggled over it and wondered if he ate watermelon during the show or cradled it until time to go home. Whatever movie was being shown, I remember not caring for it.

The Granada, of course, was our favorite stomping ground, for that is where we spent every Saturday with Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, Hopalong Cassidy (Bill Boyd), Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, John Wayne, Tim Holt, Buster Crabbe as spaceman Buck Rogers and Johnnie Weismueller as Tarzan.

Armed with a lard or syrup bucket of cookies, candy, fruit or even sandwiches, we paid our nickel (under age 12) and spent the afternoon in innocent pleasure. Frances Greulich was probably the manager of the single floor theatre at the time with maybe Kenneth Grant as projectionist and perhaps Raymond Montgomery was faithfully standing at the front door ushering folks in and out. A cry-room for mothers with babies was added later as I recall.

A bit of news, but not much, cartoons, an on-going serial, coming events and the main feature kept time to our goodies from the pail. Sometimes we sat through two showings.

Mostly young boys sought the front seats, doing a bit of clowning and roughhousing up front until collared by adults. The high school-age usherettes in outfits of authority, carrying a flashlight to guide customers to seats while the film was in progress, were usually on the job in the evening hours while we were our own watch-dogs during the matinee. Of course, the adults kept some kind of order when it threatened to get out of hand.

Our group, from four to six girl cousins, sought the rear row right below the projector room. Here we could use the back wall if we needed to fold up the seat and perch higher to view the film. Here, too, we sought our goodies from deep in the pails with help from the light flickering from above us.

Here, in black and white, we soaked up the love of horses, cowboy music and space travel, the impossible to imagine. With Hoot Gibson, whom my Dad had known, we saw things from the side of the Indians, understood the white hats from the black hats, and worried about the cliff hangers that were always continued until next week when no escape seemed possible for our hero and heroines.

The Liberty Theatre, though, demanded adult behavior. Perhaps it was the building itself that suggested it in its mezzanines, beautiful draperies, amber light sconces, deep plush carpets and beautiful chandelier as well as a slightly higher price for tickets.

Most young folk sought the balcony, but decorum was expected and guarded by the usherettes and management. Our group liked to get the front row balcony, for we could rest our feet on the ledge below the iron pipe barrier above the heads of the main floor group. It was frowned upon by management, but it went on in the darkness. Young suitors sought the highest row just beneath the projector room and were under closer surveillance.

There was The Karmel Korn Shop just a few stores east of the Liberty Theatre, between it and the State Theatre, where we could buy karmel korn, popcorn, gum and candy, run by a pleasant older lady. We were allowed to take our goodies into the theatre when none was sold there, but the lard bucket lunches were an unspoken taboo.

Possibly things were more adult because we, ourselves, were older. The movies were more adult in theme when we watched Fred Astaire dance with Ginger Rogers, the Hardy series with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and the more educational newscast heralded in by the repeat of the theme song and the inevitable appearance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt riding in a car and giving what appeared to be sage advice to the news media, all in black and white.

I believe the theatre at that time was owned or managed by a man named Meyers, for he had a high school-age daughter who gave theatre parties for her friends. They were younger than I.

This was the theatre where George and I had one of our first dates, but I have no idea what we saw. I was far too conscious of the boy who sat next to me in the area where more adults were apt to sit, wondering how I could be so lucky. George said that he had seen "Gone With the Wind" in color at this theatre with his dad.

We both worked at Montgomery Wards with Mary and Arnold, also employees at the building behind and across the alley from the theatre, so we double-dated. Arnold had a car for our outings and that couple eventually also married.

George, newly back from the military service didn't yet own a car, so his father loaned George his car to take me on this particular date to the Liberty Theatre in 1946. Now, some 63 years later, I remember the moment my hand was held by a larger, stronger one, melding two hearts into one for a lifetime.

It all happened at the Liberty Theatre.

May the Force be with those of you as you reach for the goal of restoration.

Veteran newspaperwoman Dorothy Swart Fleshman is a La Grande native. Her column runs every Friday.

..............

SHARING MEMORIES OF THE LIBERTY THEATER

By Dorothy Swart Fleshman, Observer, June 24, 2011 

On April 23 the Liberty Theater restoration folks held a public meeting in our library's Community Room to hear John Kvapil from Bend relate details in the renovation of the Tower Theater there and to share memories of our long-closed Liberty Theater in La Grande.

I had to leave the meeting before really getting into the memories part, so after getting home I sent Dale Mammen an email with things that had then come to mind.

Following is the letter I sent to Dale with a few minor changes. His response was a request that it be published at a time the memory search was more actively under way. Ginny Mammen's "Out and About" column in the June 9 edition of The Observer has done just that, so I contribute what I can in hopes that others will do likewise.

Hi Dale,

I enjoyed your Liberty Theater meeting and was sorry to have to leave before it was over. That was the part I really wanted to hear although I am very appreciative of our visitor's contribution to our efforts in telling us about the successful Tower Theater renovation in Bend. Sorry I didn't have much to offer but I wasn't prepared with anything of consequence in the way of memory.

My opinion is that memory is unreliable for a factual account of anything from the past. Each one remembers it differently and some of it is remembered grossly inaccurately. 

Sometimes visions link themselves to other events or time schedules and facts prove them wrong every time.

Nonetheless, I could have mentioned walking down Adams Avenue from the then post office building (now city hall), being aware of the Westside wall that housed the Liberty Theater, and seeing a big portion of its front wall covered with advertisements. It seems like it was painted on the wall and later was of billboard type. An iron drop-down fire escape hung above it from the second floor. It is hazy but something was on that wall. There was a sidewalk along that wall that led clear back to the alley and the Montgomery Ward retail store. I walked it many a time.

The ticket cage, as one faced the theater building from the front, stood alone with "Now Showing" pictures of the movie boxed on short walls either side behind glass. You purchased your ticket and moved to the right and to the recessed back of the opening where you would enter the right-hand door, usually opened by a uniformed or suited person, to let you enter and take your ticket. To the left was another recessed double door on the opposite side of the ticket cage to let the people out after the show.

Inside the building, then, seemed carpeted everywhere with a soft maroon or dark-blue feeling that made you want to be quiet, voices were muffled as people decided whether to sit downstairs or up in the balcony. Those going into the theater proper early could choose where to sit in comfortable rows of seats without the aid of an usher, for the lights were up so that you could see. It was in the evening usually when the ushers in outfits and with flashlights led the way.

The plush loges were roped off near the back and cost a bit more. It was in the evening usually when the usherettes in, maybe satin, outfits and with flashlights led the way. They were permitted to remove the rope to let the ticket-holder in and then fastened it again.

Before the show began and the lights were up, you visited with your neighbors rather quietly because the interior was of such beauty that it seemed the thing to do. Soft music was quieting in itself. It was nothing like the plain atmosphere of the Granada or State theaters where kids ran around noisily and finally settled mostly in the front row seats. The Liberty was a place for grown-up behavior and you felt it rather than being instructed to it.

The balcony was a little less regimented but still demanded its own better actions of the patrons.

There was always a little awe in the air when the lights from the big chandelier hanging over the lower floor from the ceiling began to dim and the side lights gave off enough soft glow that they weren't disturbing to viewing the film but didn't leave you in deep darkness either. It seems like it always started with the news while people settled in their seats, all eyes directed to the big screen as images and sound appeared as the rich velvety curtain was drawn open across the stage. The light from the projection room came on and the big wheel of film turned to bring us images of world news, coming attractions, sometimes a comedy and then the main feature, filling our lives with another time and place where we lived the lives of those on the screen.

These films were a grade above the other two theaters; maybe that's why it cost us a bit more to get in and enjoy the finery it offered along with the movies. Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bing Crosby - you know, all the old favorites that were a step above Westerns, comedians, etc.

I believe "Gone With the Wind" was shown there.

The theater had a nice mezzanine up a carpeted stairway with a wrought iron railing to the second floor back behind the balcony seating. It contained sofas and upholstered chairs with mirrors on the wall.

Lace-curtained and draped windows stretched across the room and the lights from the marquee could be seen flashing off and on through the windows. At each side of the room where folks met to use the rest rooms, the ladies moved off to the left where a row of toilets were individually hidden behind doors and sinks below mirrors for a quick hair and lipstick checkup were at the ready for hand washing.

It seems that the men's room was off to the right. I have no knowledge of its interior but was of the impression that it was totally utilitarian with none of the necessities desired by the women. When I was in the balcony more recently, I was of the opinion that part of the room had been rebuilt to accommodate a place for a big safe. I cannot speak with any authority of this, but it may or may not have been there when I was a child.

As I say, memory can play tricks. If the plans can be found, I may be totally incorrect as to the location of these two rest rooms, but this is the way they have formed in my mind.

I just remember the Liberty theater as a place thick in deep carpets and covered walls to deaden the sounds of people. A place for you to act grown-up or go to one of the other theaters.

I have no memory at all of the closing of the theater because George and I moved away for the better part of 15 years and lots of happenings in our home town have no memory with me except for after the fact. Folks say that they remember sitting on wooden benches to watch cowboy shows and hoop and holler, but that seems totally foreign and inappropriate to what the Liberty stood for in my generation. Upholstered and cushioned chairs with fold-up seats were the norm even in the balcony. I would like to remember it that way.

Thanks for your efforts, Dale and Ginny and committees. I hope you are successful and that La Grande gains from its presence.

Dorothy/Dory Swart Fleshman, La Grande

Veteran newspaperwoman Dorothy Swart Fleshman is a La Grande native. Her column runs every Friday.