View of the stage from the Fitzgerald Theater, in St. Paul, with Garrison Keillor and crew performing.
My friend Beth Gorrie, founder and director of Staten Island Outloud, read one of my blog posts and thought about another wonderful old-time movie palace that almost was demolished:
"Your blog reminds me of a fundraising campaign that Garrison Keillor helped spearhead years ago, when the movie palaces in downtown St. Paul were falling into disarray. One such theater, The World, had become down-at-the-heels after a long history as a movie house. (It may have been a burlesque house before that.)
Garrison Keillor’s fledgling radio show, 'A Prairie Home Companion,' had already outgrown its original space at Macalester College, if I recall the story correctly. They needed a home, so despite The World’s crumbling condition, they moved the show there. To quote A Prairie Home Companion, the theater was, at that time, 'a lovely, crumbling building that was one plaster crack away from the wrecking ball.'
Well, 'A Prairie Home Companion' fans created new interest in The World Theatre among a younger audience. There had been some talk of demolition. That's when Keillor & Minnesota Public Radio decided to try to buy the World and by so doing, to preserve a grand old palace. They called their fundraising campaign (what else?), 'Save the World!' And save it they did, with the help of St. Paul’s then-Mayor George Latimer and many public-minded citizens. The campaign was a success — renovation was completed in 1986 — and the theater became the permanent home of 'A Prairie Home Companion.'
In 1994, the hundredth anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birth, The World was officially renamed The Fitzgerald Theater. Fitzgerald, a leading literary light of St. Paul, had lived not far from the grand old palace."
Garrison Keillor’s fledgling radio show, 'A Prairie Home Companion,' had already outgrown its original space at Macalester College, if I recall the story correctly. They needed a home, so despite The World’s crumbling condition, they moved the show there. To quote A Prairie Home Companion, the theater was, at that time, 'a lovely, crumbling building that was one plaster crack away from the wrecking ball.'
Well, 'A Prairie Home Companion' fans created new interest in The World Theatre among a younger audience. There had been some talk of demolition. That's when Keillor & Minnesota Public Radio decided to try to buy the World and by so doing, to preserve a grand old palace. They called their fundraising campaign (what else?), 'Save the World!' And save it they did, with the help of St. Paul’s then-Mayor George Latimer and many public-minded citizens. The campaign was a success — renovation was completed in 1986 — and the theater became the permanent home of 'A Prairie Home Companion.'
In 1994, the hundredth anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birth, The World was officially renamed The Fitzgerald Theater. Fitzgerald, a leading literary light of St. Paul, had lived not far from the grand old palace."
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