The Hollywood Theater

Gowanda, New York 

Located in New York's Cattaraugus County is the small town of Gowanda.  Gowanda is home to the Hollywood Theater built in a neo-classical style.  The site was once home to the Gowanda Opera House which opened in 1884. On October 27, 1924 a fire occurred destroying the structure. The fire was believed to be electrical, in origin and spread to adjacent buildings destroying much of the business district on the north side of Main street. The Gowanda Opera House lay in ruins with an uninsured loss estimated at $80,000.  Prospects looked dim for having the opera house built by Gowanda businessman and entrepreneur, Jared Sidney Torrance replaced after the fire. 

In stepped, Mr. Richard Wilhem, a German immigrant who made his fortune in the glue business setting his sights on building a theater called the Hollywood Theatre which opened April 16, 1926. Wilhem commissioned famous theater architect and designer Leon H. Lempert to build a new multi-use theater where the old opera house once stood and spared no expense in doing so. 

The theater was a famous venue for hosting big bands, famous vandeville performances, first run motion pictures and live performances.   In 1992, the historic theater closed leaving the building abandoned and susceptible to damage.  Since 1997, after being named a New York State and National Historic Registry landmark, a group called Friends of the Hollywood began working to restore the Hollywood and hold events.  Gowanda's Hollywood Theater is representative of the lavish theaters that were typical during the Roaring 20s era and has now been historically restored to the delight of the community and fans of old theatres who visit Gowanda and experience a theatre built in the 1920s.*

Wilhem was known as "The Glue King".  The Eastern Tanners Glue Company was established in 1904 by Wilhem and two other investors.  The factory was located on Palmer Street along the banks of Cattaraugus River. Through acquisitions, Wilhem created a huge manufacturing, sales and marketing network.  Wilhelm eventually bought the company  and over the next 30 years purchased nearly every major glue manufacturer in the U.S. and Canada.  He changed the name of the company in 1930 to Peter Cooper Glue Corporations as a result of the purchase of the Peter Cooper Glue Company.  

Richard Wilhelm

After Wilhem's passing in 1940, his estate kept the theater open and operating until the 1970s.  For the next couple of decades the theater changed hands a couple of times and in 1992, the theatre sadly closed its doors. For the next 7 years the theater sat abandoned until a rescue was attempted by another leading Gowanda businessman, Dan Gernatt, Jr. 

This businessman purchased the theater and donated it to a not-for-profit group, The Gowanda Area Redevelopment Corp.  GARC was able to secure a loan to repair the roof of the building, but that was about the extent of their restoration.  In 2003, The Gowanda Historic Hollywood Theater, Ltd not-for-profit acquired a deed to the property.  In 2007, they were awarded a $500,000.00 matching grant through the state and started a 4.2 million dollar restoration. The organization expanded and upgraded the theater's restrooms, installed a new heating system, new roof conductors, upgraded electrical, installed a fire safety system and replaced all exit ramps.  The theatre's original lighting has also been restored along with the Hollywood's leaded stained glass doors and windows. 

The Stained Glass Happy Face Image

The Hollywood Theater is a highly ornate structure featuring 700 orchestra level seats and around 300 balcony seats featuring Vermont marble floors in the lobby, ornate plaster designs, brass railings, 14-piece orchestra pit, 70 foot by 30 foot stage, dual original oil murals, a concave seating design and a highly decorated softly lit 22 foot ceiling dome in the center of the theater.  It is, without a doubt, the crowning jewel of this beautiful theater. 

In the balcony, the motion picture booth had two identical projectors complete with rewind machines and fireproot film cabinets.  Galvanized stove pipes vented the heat generated by the projectors out through the ceiling.  A turntable for 78 RPM phonograph records provided musical entertainment as well as a disc player for sound movies. 

*Two-thirds of the theatres built in the 1920s are gone from our landscape, today so being able to experience the Hollywood Theater is very special.  Treat yourself and travel to Gowanda to experience the Hollywood Theater and all that it has to offer with live concerts, silent films and classic movies.

 

 

Remember and Honor

 Why Music?

Music is a Science

Music is Mathematical.

Music is a Foreign Language.

Music is History.

Music is Physical Education.

Music Develops Insight and Demands Research.

Music is all these things, but most of all ..

Music is Art.

And So Much More!

Music makes us human so we will recognize beauty.

So we will be closer to an infinite beyond this world.

So we will have something to cling to.

So we will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good.

In short, more LIFE.

The Original Floating Stage

And LIFE in Bemus Point, New York

was 

The Bemus Bay Pops!

The Bemus Bay Pops was often referred to by Dan and Sue Dalpra as Camelot.  The Pops truly encompassed the word and its meaning .. In short, there's simply not a more congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering than here in Camelot.  

Dan and Sue Dalpra

"If they build it, they will come."

And come they did!

In 1998, the Pops was created by Dan and Sue Dalpra, former owners/operators of the Italian Fisherman restaurant.  They experienced great success attracting locals and tourists to the lawns, decks and waters of Bemus Bay.  A series of concerts featured nationally known tribute bands to the Bemus Bay Pops floating stage.  Each weekend through the summer season audiences enjoyed a selection of music spotlighting the eras of disco, rock n' roll, swing, jazz, rock, country, island and Motown. 

The Most Popular Group to Step Onto the Floating Stage?

Boogie! Wonder! Band!

From

Montreal, Canada

Over Labor Day weekend the Bemus Bay Pops Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bruce Morton Wright and John Marcellus presented a diverse program each season ranging from Gershwin and Sousa to the Beatles including motion picture musical themes.  The Labor Day concerts through the years always featured vocalists who paid tribute to legends such as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Barbra Streisand. 

The Bemus Bay Pops Symphony Orchestra

and

The Chautauqua Belle

A Perfect Combination!

Remember the Pops!

Remember the Sunsets!

Cherish the Memories!

.. Many Shared Their Thoughts ..

To summarize .. If you experienced the Pops, then you know and remember .. the magic!  

A magic that added a sense of wonder, excitement and enchantment to our lives.  It sparked imagination, encouraged creativity and allowed us to believe in the extraordinary.  It provided moments of awe and joy, helping us to escape from the mundane and experience a bit of fantasy and mystery in our everyday lives.

The benefits of music in our lives was always front and center to the Pops program on Chautauqua Lake. The Pops helped the community become more aware of those benefits.  

Check out the E-Book 

created 

by

Dan Dalpra, CEO

Floating Stage Productions 

To view the E-Book, visit www.floatingstage.com and tap "Skip to Full Site" located on the upper left of the page.  Once you tap on "Skip to Full Site" tap on the red dot to download the E-Book. 

 

A Heartfelt Message to My Blog Followers

Since I am a fireworks gal I felt the best way to express to my 30 followers, to date, is to thank you with colorful fireworks!  I appreciate your support and ask that you reach out to one other person you know which would then increase my readership to 60 or more.  

I spend a great deal of time thinking of possible stories for this blog and, to date, I have composed my 260th story.  Many are still in draft and will be published throughout the summer season and beyond.

As many of you may already know I began my blog creation several years ago when asked by Dan Dalpra, CEO Bemus Bay Pops to create an online blog regarding music and all it adds to our lives.  The music related blog is still online.  Enjoy and thank you.

 chautauqualakepops.blogspot.com 

 

Canalside 

In Buffalo, the city re-created a segment of the Old Erie Canal called Canalside.  Canalside, formerly known as Canal Side is a commercial and residential district in downtown Buffalo.  It is the re-creation of the western terminus of the Erie Canal which was destroyed in the early 20th century.  Canalside is situated on the Buffalo River and is a popular destination for locals and tourists. The area has water in the spring/summer and ice in the winter for skating and ice biking called The Ice at Canalside.

In 2021, a rare three-row highly restored vintage 1924 Buffalo Heritage Carousel began operations in a new 6,400-square-foot octagonal-shaped pavilion.  It comes with tall windows and a 13-foot wide walkway around the inside of the roundhouse and is powered by solar panels on its double-pitched roof that supplies enough energy to power the carousel.

How an Antique Carousel Came to Live in Buffalo, New York

A group of volunteers and professional collaborated to restore and rebuilt this carousel.  A nearly century-old carousel has risen on the Buffalo, New York waterfront!  After a four-year, $2 million restoration paid for by public and private funding, the Buffalo Heritage Carousel began spinning on Memorial Day weekend 2021.  It offered rides for $1 a pop!  Originally commissioned by a New England amusement park owner and built by the Spillman Engineering Corporation in North Tonawanda, New York the carousel had operated in Massachusetts and then spent 65 year in storage before arriving in Buffalo!

The challenge was to make this once-beautiful carousel beautiful again.

Helen Ronan, Project Co-Leader

The project entailed the return of more than 30 hand-carved animals to North Tonawanda, where master carver and carousel restoration specialist, Patrick Stanczyk oversaw volunteers who stripped, sanded and primed the whole menagerie.  Rosa Patton, another well-known carousel expert instructed volunteers on the proper painting technique and team used what was left of the old paint layers to get as close as possible to the original hues.

The addition of a rooftop solar array to the new, $4 million roundhouse containing the carousel honors Buffalo's history as a sustainable energy hub.  

Buffalo has been a center for hydropower since the 1901 PanAm exposition which featured lighting powered by hydroelectricity. We wanted to create a sustainable carousel that could be enjoyed by generations to come.

Carima El-Behairy, Director of Operations and Development for Buffalo Heritage Carousel, Inc. 

Members of the Buffalo Heritage Carousel, Inc. (a local non-profit) are responsible for the carousel's return.  

Happy Mother's Day

from 

Norman Rockwell 

 

OTI'S CO

Skaneateles, N.Y.

The Erie Canal is an historic canal in upstate New York that runs east to west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie.  Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes vastly reducing the costs of transporting people and goods across the Applachians.  In effect, the canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes region, the westward expansion of the United States and the economic rise of New York State.  It has been called "The Nation's First Superhighway".

The length of the canal is 363 miles and is 571 feet above sea level.  The principal engineer was Benjamin Wright. The New York State Legislature authorized construction on July 4, 1817 at Rome, New York. The canal opened on October 26, 1825. The start point is at the Hudson River near Albany, New York and the end point if Niagara River near Buffalo, New York.  Branches are the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario and the Cayuga-Seneca Canal to Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake.  The Erie Canal connects to the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain and the Welland Canal to Lake Ontario.

A canal from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes was first proposed in the 1780s, but a formal survey was not conducted until 1808.  The New York State Legislature authorized construction in 1817.  The westward connection gave New York City a strong advantage over all other U.S. posts and brought major growth to canal cities such as Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.  

The construction of the Erie Canal was a landmark civil engineering achievement in the early history of the United States.  When built, the canal was the second-longest in the world (after the Grand Canal in China). The canal has 34 locks, including the Waterford Flight, the steepest locks in the United States.  When leaving the canal, boats must also traverse the Black Rock Lock to reach Lake Erie or the Troy Federal Lock to reach the tidal Hudson.  The overall elevation difference is about 565 feet.  

The Erie Canal's peak year was 1855, when 33,000 commercial shipments took place.  It continues to be competitive with railroads until about 1902 when tolls were abolished.  Commercial traffic declined heavily in the latter half of the 20th century due to competition from trucking and the 1959 opening of the larger St. Lawrence Seaway.  The canal's last regularly scheduled hauler, the Day Peckinpaugh, ended service in 1994.  

Today, the Erie Canal is mainly used by recreational watercraft from May through November each year. 

 This photo features a highway tunnel that goes underneath the canal.

During winter, water is drained from parts of the canal for maintenance.  The canal has also become a tourist attractions in its own right and a number of parks/museums are dedicated to its history.  The New York State Canalway Trail is a popular cycling path that follows the canal across the state.  In 2000, Congress designated the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to protect and promote the system.  

There are several locks on the Erie Canal. Locks are elevators for boats, lifting and lowering them as they travel along the waterway.  It takes about 15 minutes to "lock through".  There are 57 locks on New York's canal system, including 35 on the Erie Canal though originally 83 locks then the number was reduced to 72 locks, 11 on the Champlain Canal, 7 on the Oswego Canal and 4 on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. In the early days of the canal, when horses and mules walked the towpath, this is how a canal boat passed through a lock.  Today,  boat owners are required to follow certain rules to "lock through".  The official New York Sstate Canal System website has a page on Navigating the Canals.  The original Erie Canal locks were 90 feet long and 15 feet wide.  They were designed for a canal boat 61 feet long and 7 feet wide with a 3 1/2 foot draft. In order to keep pace with the increasing traffic on the canal, it was enlarged between 1836 and 1862.  The size of the locks was increased to 110 feet long and 18 feet wide.  The depth of the Erie Canal, today is 12-23 feet and it took 8 years to dig the 360-mile canal through thick forests and stubborn rock!  An engineering marvel, unlike anything America had ever seen.  The man-made waterway included a final "flight" of interconnected locks to raise boats over the 70-foot Niagara Escarpment. Escarpment:  a long, steep slope, especially one at the edge of a plateau or separating areas of land at different heights.  

Tugboat at Lock E33 in Rochester, New York

The Erie Canal is a destination for tourists from around the world and has inspired guidebooks dedicated to exploration of the waterway.  An Erie Canal Cruise Company, based in Herekimer, New York located southeast of Utica, operates from mid-May until mid-October with daily cruises.

Aside from transportation, numerous businesses, farms, factories and communities alongside its banks still utilize the canal's waters for other purposes such as irrigation for farmland.  Use of the canal system has an estimated total economic impart of $6.2 billion, annually. 

                                          

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark.  As of April 10, 2024 there were 2,778 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California.  The stars are monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, actresses, directors, producers, musicians, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters and others. 

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is undoubtedly the most famous sidewalk in the world and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles.  Some sources claim the Hollywood Walk of Fame was inspired by the Hollywood Hotel which stood for 50 years and where they had painted celebrities' names on the dining room ceiling above the tables. This idea may have served as an early inspiration. By another account, the stars were "inspired by Harry Sugarman's (another Chamber member and president) Tropics Restaurant drinks menu which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars".  The attraction was idealized in the late 1950s by business leaders in Hollywood.  The original plan would include a caricature of the honoree inside a blue star on a brown background.  However, caricatures proved too  expensive and difficult to execute in brass with the technology available at the time.  The brown and blue motif was vetoed by Charles E. Toberman, the legendary real estate developer known as "Mr. Hollywood" because the colors clashed with a new building he was building on Hollywood Boulevard.

By March of 1956, the final design had been approved.  Between the spring of 1956 and the fall of 1957, 1,558 honorees were selected by committees representing the four major branches of the entertainment industry at that time:  motion pictures, television, audio recording and radio.  The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant including such prominent names as Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Hal Roach and Walt Disney.  

One of the first celebrities to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was the Academy Award winner, Joanne Woodward, famous for The Three Faces of Eve at a groundbreaking ceremony on February 9, 1960.  After the official ceremony, the contruction continued for 16 months with over 1,500 stars were added.  The most famous sidewalk in the world became a landmark in 1978.  The Hollywood Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce who hold the trademark rights and is maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.  It is a popluar tourist attraction receiving an estimated 10 million annual visitors in 2010.  The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E.M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953 with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame.  Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to "maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement".  

Each year an average of 200 nominations are submitted to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame selection committee.  Anyone, including fans, can nominate anyone active in the field of entertainment as long as the nominee or their management approves the nomination. Nominees must have a minimum of five years experience in the category for which they are nominated and a history of "charitable contributions".  Posthumous nomnees must have been deceased at least five years.  At a meeting each June, the committee selects approximately 20-24 celebrities to receive stars on the Walk of Fame.  One posthumous award is given each year, as well.  The nominations of those not selected are carried over to the following year for reconsideration.  Those not selected two years in a row are dropped and must be renominated to receive further consideration.  Living recipients must agree to personally attend a presentation ceremony within two years of selection.  

All living honorees have been required since 1968 to personally attend their star's unveiling and approximately 40 have declined the honor due to this condition.  The only recipient, to date, who failed to appear after agreeing to do so was Barbra Streisand in 1976.  Her star was unveiled anyway near the intersection of Hollywood and Highland.  Streisand did attend when her husband, James Brolin, unveiled his star in 1998 two blocks to the east.

Gene Autry is the only person to be awarded stars in the five fields required on the Walk of Fame: film, television, radio, live performance and music.  During this lifetime, Autry emerged as both a top money-making entertainer and a powerful businessman. 

The only star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame whose star can't be stepped on is Muhammad Ali.  Its placement on a wall of the Dolby Theatre makes it the only star mounted on a vertical surface.  This is due to the fact Ali requested his name not be walked upon as he shared his name with the Islamic prophet Muhammad.  

Stars such as Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Leonardo DiCapiro, Madonna, Prince, George Clooney and Clint Eastwood have reportedly turned down the idea of having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  The largest group of individuals represented by a single star is the estimated 122 adults and 12 children collectively known as the Munchkins, from the landmark 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. 

Such names as Liberace, Houdini, Pink, Roseanne, Shakira, Usher have only one name on their star.  For a list of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the link is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_on_the_Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame

On February 8, 1960 Lucille Ball was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 6436 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and a 6100 Hollywood Boulevard for her contribution to the arts and sciences of television.  

 

The Twin Spires:  The Iconic Symbol of Churchill Downs

The year, 2010 marked the 125th anniversary of the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs.  As the iconic feature of Churchill Downs, the Twin Spires have provided a sense of place. 

The Twin Spires debuted in 1895 as part of a new grandstand, designed by 24-year-old Joseph Baldez.  According to Churchill Downs, the original plans did not include the Twin Spires along the roofline.  The architect added these as "he felt the structure needed something to give it a striking appearance".  Described as towers in the original drawings, the Spires provide an ornate contrast to the simplicity of the grandstand.  Baldez designed other structures, but this might be the one for which he is most remembered.  It is said that Churchill Downs Executive, Matt Winn told Baldez .. Joe, when you die there's one monument that will never be taken down, the Twin Spires.  

Reverence for the Twin Spires is not limited to those most closely connected to Churchill Downs.  It extends both locally and nationally.  On the 100th anniversary of the Twin Spires in 1995, Hal Bock of the Los Angeles Times wrote eloquently about their importance.  They stand majestically atop the grandstand at Churchill Downs, two wonderfully unique exclamation points highlighting the skyline of America's most famous race track.  

For locals, the Twin Spires provide a sense of place and a reminder of the Derby as Louisville's premier event.  So strong is the belief that these icons are "sacred grounds".  The Twin Spires have served as the iconic landmark of Churchill Downs.  Initially designed and created as simply an addition these structures have become permanently linked to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.  A reminder of place, the Twin Spires have become a .. revered symbol.  

 

150th Kentucky Derby

May 4, 2024

Live Coverage Time: 2:30

Post Time: 6:57

Churchill Downs

Louisville, Kentucky

on 

NBC

This year's theme is "Celebrating Derby 150" in honor of the Kentucky Derby 150. The official post time  is 6:57 p.m. ET.   A special rose will be placed in the center of the arrangement to symbolize the struggle and heart necessary to reach the Kentucky Derby Winner's Circle.  The winning horse will be adorned with the Garland of Roses, the most coveted possession in the world of horse racing.  The popular Derby nickname "Run for the Roses" coined by sports columnist, Bill Corum in 1925 is reflected in the blanket of red roses draped over the victorious horse after the race, a tradition dating back to at least 1932. 

The race length is just 1 and 1/4 mile and is open to any 3-year old horse although due to the need for speed and power, the race is largely dominated by male horses.  Since 1875, only three fillies (female horses) have won the derby.  

Jeff and Carrie Ketterman 

Carrie designs her own hats which she sells to help pay for their Derby tickets.

And be sure to check out their FB page 

Our Technicolor Life