Recreation |
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Attraction: The Landers Theater
Title: The Landers Theater Posted by: Todd A Keeley
The Landers Theater
Springfield, Missouri
One needn’t travel far to visit Missouri’s oldest and largest civic theater. Located at 311 East Walnut Avenue in Springfield, Missouri, The Landers Theater is a National Historic Site. Local enthusiasts often use The Springfield Little Theater and The Landers Theater interchangeably. While The Landers Theater maintains its own identity, The Springfield Little Theater owns the building.
According to the records, the building completed construction in 1909 and will celebrate her 100th birthday this year. The exterior walls were laid using 17-inch solid bricks!
Historical Postcard Courtesy of Springfield Library
The facility has been in continuous use either as a legitimate theatre or a motion picture house since it opened with THE GOLDEN GIRL in September 1909.
According to The Springfield Library, “On December 17, 1920, the Landers suffered a major fire. An asbestos curtain and other fireproofing precautions kept the theater from being a total loss. The theater was rebuilt in 1922.”
Many artists have graced the stage at the Landers including John Philip Sousa, Fanny Brice, Lon Chaney, George Cohan, and Lillian Russell. In 1928, The Landers became the 35th theater in the United States to become a motion picture house presenting the newest technology of the time – “talkies.” The first talkie at The Landers featured Al Jolson in "The Jazz Singer.”
According to Wikipedia, “Landers was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, significant for the preserved Baroque Renaissance, Napoleon architectural style. A number of major restoration projects have been undertaken, and the most recent restorations have been cited with awards from the American Institute of Architects.”
Springfield.net notes that The Landers Theater, “… continued as a movie theatre until 1970, doing double duty for a time in 1959, when the Landers was also the home of live broadcasts of FIVE STAR JUBILEE, a national NBC-TV show.” “The Springfield Little Theatre organization, founded in 1934, bought the Landers in 1970. Since then, a number of major restoration projects have been undertaken, most recently in 1985 and 1988. In those two years, approximately $500,000 worth of work was done to return the facility to its full 1909 elegance.”
“The Landers is also the performance site for the Springfield Ballet, Springfield, Regional Opera, Springfield Symphony Chamber Series, and numerous other events that range from old time fiddle music and barbershop choruses to modern dance and jazz ensembles. Among Landers alumni who have gone on to national recognition in theatre and film are Kathleen Turner, Tess Harper, and Kim Crosby, the original Broadway Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.”
In 1996 the Landers was featured in Southern Living magazine, and in 2001 the Landers Theatre was awarded the McReynolds Award for Historic Preservation.
Photo by Flikr.com
Todd A. Keeley
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