The Ray Evans Seneca Theatre

Salamanca New York

Downtown Salamanca

circa 1950s

This theatre was originally called the Seneca Theatre and was built by the Schine Theatre Chain to replace an aging venue a couple of blocks up the street (seen in photo).  The theatre was designed by Drew Eberson, son of John Eberson. The Schine Chain operated the theatre until the mid-1960s. Construction began in 1941 just before the outbreak of WWII.  It opened August 27, 1942, but due to a shortage of materials final work was not completed until 1945 after the war ended. The theatre lobby originally featured many sculptures in crevices on the walls.  In November 2013, the Ray Evans Theatre featured the film, "The Lemon Drop Kid" for which Ray Evans and Jay Livingston wrote the score.  

The theatre was called the Seneca Theatre after the Indian nation which owns the underlying ground.   It sat abandoned until the early 1980s when Cattaragus County acquired the building.  Over the next several years the theatre was slowly renovated and transformed into the Cattaragus County Center for the Performing Arts.  It is now used for local live theatre productions.

Ray Evans

Raymond Bernard Evans (1915-2007) was an American songwriter.  He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films.  Evans wrote the lyrics and Livingston wrote the melody. Evans is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  He and Livingston have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame presented to them in 1995.  Evans died at age 92 in Los Angeles on the 42nd anniversary of the death of Nat King Cole, who had made the song, "Mona Lisa" so famous.  

Ray Evans and Jay Livingston

receiving their Oscars

Jay Livingston (1915-2001) and Ray Evans wrote some of America's most popular songs and shared Academy Awards for "Buttons and Bows", "Mona Lisa" and "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qui Sera, Sera)" and many others.

In a collaboration that began in the late 1930s, Livingston who provided the melodies and Evans who wrote the lyrics wrote 26 songs that sold more than a million records each. Recordings of their songs, including the holiday season perennial "Silver Bells" (1951) have sold almost 500 million copies. "Silver Bells" was written for the film, "The Lemon Drop Kid" initially naming the song, "Tinkle Bells" though changed it to "Silver" because of a common connotation of "tinkle"!  

Livingston is also an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  In 2004, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission installed a historical marker in McDonald, Pennsylvania commemorating his achievements. 

These two talented men wrote songs for at least 100 movies and earned seven Oscar nominations among them "Tammy" for the movie "Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957). Their credits include three Broadway productions and the themes for several TV series including "Bonanza" and "Mr. Ed".  They met as students at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and played together in bands on cruise ships during school vacations.  In 1937, the two young men moved to New York City where they began their songwriting collaboration.  I guess you could say .. "and the rest is history" .. though the story continues.

In 1944, they relocated to Hollywood.  Placed under contract to Paramount Studios in 1945, the songwriting team earned the first of their many Academy Award nominations.

"Buttons and Bows" which was introduced in a movie starring Bob Hope earned the team their first Oscar and became a hit for Dinah Shore.  They received their second Oscar for "Mona Lisa" in 1950.

The songwriting team left Paramount in 1955 and while working freelance won their third Oscar for "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) which was sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock's, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956). Later, songstress and actress Doris Day used it as her theme song for her 1960s TV sitcom.  

Their last project was "Michael Feinstein Sings the Livingston and Evans Song Book". 

Thank you gentlemen for your musical contribution to the world. 

Ray Evans in Salamanca 

with

Oscar