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If you have personal memories, photographs,
or memorabilia of the Fox Oakland Theater, we'd love to hear
your story. Please
email FOOF.
TOM HORSFALL,
a projectionist in Local 169
(Oakland, Alameda County) for 16 years, worked at the Fox
Oakland for about three months in the summer of 1966 (written
in 2001):
"The old-timers I worked with
that summer had been around for decades, [and] they always
referred to the theater as the 'Oakland' while my generation
used 'Fox Oakland' I never heard it referred to as the 'Fox'
or 'Oakland Fox'; the only 'Fox' was on Market street in San
Francisco and it was demolished years ago."
SMITH AND BUBAR commercial artists, worked out of the Fox during the the Depression creating Movie posters for the West Coast Fox Theaters.
ROBERT C. was
born and raised in Oakland, graduated from Fremont High School
in 1970, and his family was in the motion picture business,
primarily in film exhibition. In the late 1960s and early
1970s, he was an usher at the Fox Oakland (written in August
2001):
"I remember working [at] the Fox when
the film "I Am Curious Yellow" came out in 1969.
It was rated X and there were at least 900 people in the theater.
It got shut down by the Oakland Police as being obscene [but
reopened the next day with no further problems]. The last
film shown there was a double bill of "Lady Sings the
Blues" and "The Godfather" [both released in
1972]. I was the usher at the time, and on a weekend there
were only 15 people in the theatre; it was sad. Everyone was
going to the Roxie, which had half-price triple bills [mostly
blaxploitation films], or the Lux which had nightly bingo
games, or the T&D which showed porn.
"The elevator in the theatre [manually
operated] used to creak real loud, but it was fast! One of
the operators used to swing the lever fast so that it would
catapult to the top floor and give the unruly kids a stomachache.
"The Fox, in my opinion, was haunted.
Weird things happened in there: The [statue of the Hindu deity]
to the right of the proscenium arch would light up by itself,
for no reason, and the curtain would open up by itself. But
it's the secret passageways; the way to get into the Fox without
a key; the one-lane bowling alley (now gone); and numerous
other gems that make the Fox Oakland stand out as one of the
most mysterious, beautiful, and lavish theaters on the West
Coast.
BOB KOCH remembers,
among other things, a performance by Ann Miller during the
1930s (written December 2001 & February 2003):
"I'm almost 80, went to University
High in North Oakland and remember in 1935 my father taking
me to Earl Carroll's Vanities on the stage of the Fox Oakland.
Forget the stars, I think the song 'Cocktails for Two' was
in the show; maybe Carl Brisson in it. What I remember most
was Ann Miller and her dancing. She was great and must have
been only in her late teens. She sure has longevity. I was
13 at the time, no wonder I don't remember.
"I spent many hours in there watching
the picture shows, going across the street to the White Log
Tavern for a 5 cent hamburger and 7 cent malt, and later when
times got better being able to go into Edy's next door for
milk shakes etc. One thing the Fox had, as did the Paramount,
was a magnascope screen. This was a wonder to my young eyes;
when the feature would come on they had this huge screen which
covered the whole proscenium and the picture was its normal
size but the rest of the outside areas were covered with mosaics
projected by the Brenograph effects machine in the booth.
After the credits, the last one being "directed by"
there was always a fade and then the effects machine was turned
off and the screen masking came in from three sides and masked
the feature film to its normal size. Even though I'm eighty,
I can see it yet. The huge screen was the result of Fox film
studios experiment with something called "Grandeur"
an early big screen; i.e. seventy mm. Because of the depression
it died a natural death. I used to know, when I was a kid,
the local IATSE members that worked in the booth (projection
room). Elmer Nicholls was one."
JOE D.
remembers the 1950s (written March
2002):
"As a teenager during the mid 1950s
I lived on 22nd Street just a few blocks from the Fox Oakland
Theater and I have fond memories of those years. My buddies
and I went to St Francis de Sales school which is also just
a few blocks from the Fox. I remember the neighborhood and
the Fox with much affection. I can not remember how many afternoons
I spent at the Fox but there were many."
AL PEREZ,
who "grew up" in the Fox Oakland Theater, remembers
Marilyn Monroe movies from the 1950s (written January 2002):
"I saw the uncut previews of Marilyn
Monroe's "7 Year Itch" [released 3 Jun 1955] and
"Bus Stop" [released 31 Aug 1956] at the Fox--UNCUT
Sneak Previews--and I still have the original forms that were
handed out for us to make comments before the final editing
was completed... Oy Vey!
"I was absolutely thrilled a couple
of weeks ago when I saw what a MAGNIFICENT restoration has
been done to the exterior [marquee and blade sign]--gawd,
that alone is so exciting! YOU, whoever you are: Bless you
for caring and for doing such a splendid job so far...It's
certainly a daunting task ahead, but WOW-- won't it be mind-boggling
if we can get this magnificent structure functioning (in ANY
capacity WHATSOEVER) once again? Wow..."
ERIKA MAILMAN,
formerly an editor and now a columnist for the Montclarion newspaper,
gathered these two memories in 1999: "When the
house lights came on, the place would just glitter like gold,"
remembers HERBIE TAYLOR. Not
only were the walls gold, but the ushers wore gold uniforms.
Catwalks along the top of the walls were places where ushers
could walk and spy on patrons unseen. "One time, I was
smooching with my girlfriend in the balcony and a few of the
guys in the row were heckling us. All of a sudden, an usher
shows up and shines his flashlight right on them. I always
wondered how he knew which ones were doing it, but I know
now he must've been up there watching. The Fox is the best
theater Oakland had," says Taylor emphatically. The Fox's
admission price was always higher than the other theaters
in town, and according to Taylor, a man not wearing a tie
was frowned on.
ERMA DELUCCHI
has fond memories of attending the
Fox as a young girl : "I remember standing in
line to see Gone with the Wind. It was raining hard and we
stood there for 45 minutes with our umbrellas... and we didn't
even care!" Wearing a white gardenia corsage, she'd sit
in the loges with her future husband and enjoy the spectacle
of a show at the Fox.
KEVIN MCFARREN,
a volunteer researcher for FOOF, was asked to find out if,
in the pre-civil rights era, there was any sort of discrimination
at the Fox Oakland Theater. Here is his report (written March
2003):
"I interviewed three persons at the
Downtown Senior Center on March 4, 2003: two African-Americans,
one Caucasian. The stories were the same: the Fox Oakland
Theatre did not discriminate at all.
"The first person I spoke with was
an African-American gentleman named SAM
MILLER. He is 81 years old, and had great memories
of the Fox. He said there was no discrimination. He recalled
seeing Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and more movies than he
could recall.
"The second person I interviewed was
a 78-year-old Caucasian gentleman named ERIC
ERICSON. He said there was never a question about race
at the Fox, and he said he spent many nights there. He said
the Paramount was also "open" with regards to integration.
"My favorite interview was with LIONEL
SENNETTE. Mr. Sennette is 74 years old. He loved the
Fox. He is African-American, and when I politely asked if
he had ever experienced discrimination, he got incensed. He
said the Fox was multi-cultural. The only discrimination he
recalled was when he and his friends would skip class and
the Fox would not allow school-age children, regardless of
race, in during the day! There was a movie house called the
Rex in Oakland between 9th and 10th on Broadway. They let
children in during the day."
ABNER wrote
this account in the early 1990s:
Oakland was fortunate to have several large
movie theaters, which were built during the "golden age"
of the motion picture. Besides the Fox-Oakland, patrons had
a choice of attending the T & D, the Grand Lake, Fox-Orpheum,
Senator, Fox State or the Paramount Theater. There were numerous
smaller movie houses, but these large "palaces"
had seating capacities for at least two thousand patrons;
the Fox-Oakland and the Paramount could accommodate over three
thousand people.
Among the giants, only the Grand Lake and
the Paramount are in current use. The Grand Lake was divided
into multi-screens with a large portion of the main auditorium
intact. The Paramount was selected to be the home of the Oakland
Symphony and Ballet in addition to being used for performing
arts. Having been purchased by the Oakland Symphony Association
in 1972, the Paramount Theater was given a complete restoration
with a strong emphasis on the details and accuracy of the
original appearance. The rest of the large theaters were demolished
except for the Fox-Oakland, which still stands ... but the
fate of the building remains uncertain at this time.
The Fox Oakland first opened on 17th and
Broadway in 1923. A couple of years later, the name was changed
to the Fox-Orpheum and when vaudeville acts became the only
entertainment offered there, the Fox part of the name was
dropped. In 1927, construction began on the current structure
at 18th and Telegraph originally scheduled to be named the
Baghdad, the theater was named the Oakland by West Coast Theaters.
After that firm was absorbed into the William Fox Empire,
the "Fox" name preceded the "Oakland."
The building was designed by the architectural firm of Charles
Peter Weeks and William Day; the construction contract was
awarded to Maury Diggs. The theater was patterned to resemble
a far eastern Hindu-Islamic atmosphere (thus the original
name Baghdad) and it was one of the last movie palaces to
feature a flamboyant interior. The Fox-Oakland opened to the
public on Friday, October 26, 1928. The following year featured
the grand debut of the magnificent San Francisco Fox, designed
by Thomas Lamb. Advertised as "the last word," the
San Francisco Fox was opulent, gaudy and elegant; no expense
was spared in its building and furnishing. Both the San Francisco
and Oakland Fox Theaters were among the last to be built with
lavish interiors and exteriors in an era that preceded sound
movies and art deco architecture.
The major competitor to the Fox-Oakland
was the Paramount, which opened in 1931 and was originally
owned by the Paramount-Publix chain. Before the Paramount
was completed, the parent company went bankrupt and sold the
theater to West Coast Theaters, a subsidiary of the William
Fox empire. Because both theaters were now under the same
ownership, management avoided direct competition by alternating
popular movie titles. By the end of 1931, a national depression
was taking place and Fox West Coast could not afford operating
costs for all of its theaters. The Paramount was forced to
close its doors for a while - the Fox-Oakland remained open.
By the time the Paramount resumed operations,
both theaters were strictly movie houses.... the musical productions,
vaudeville acts and organ performances were a thing of the
past. The Fox Oakland had installed a three manual, fifteen-rank
Wurlitzer pipe organ, which was removed in the early 1950's,
sold to a John Lenninqer and installed at his home in Redding,
California.
Both the Paramount and the Fox-Oakland
continued operations into the 1960's. By that time, television
had taken its toll on the motion picture industry. People
chose to remain home and watch their black and white "tiny
screens". Many large theaters were forced to cease operations
and even the movie studios were threatened with bankruptcy.
Another setback for the studios was an antitrust ruling by
the Federal government which prohibited movie studios from
owning theaters. In addition, smaller theaters were constructed
in the suburbs and local residents preferred to attend those
nearby movie houses rather than make a trip to the city. By
the mid-1960's, many large theaters were torn down including
the San Francisco Fox, the Roxy in New York, Philadelphia's
Mastbaum and Chicago's Paradise. In their place were erected
office buildings, shopping centers, bowling alleys and parking
lots. The Fox-Oakland ceased its regular operations in 1965;
the Paramount would remain open another five years.
The Fox Oakland had a small reprieve. In
1966, the construction of the upcoming Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART) was approaching the Oakland downtown area. Two stations
were being built for that area, the Nineteenth Street Station
and Oakland City Center. The work on the BART project forced
the Paramount to temporarily close; Fox West Coast Theaters
moved its operations to the Fox-Oakland where it remained
until the Paramount was able to resume business. After that
happened, the Fox would be used about once a month to prevent
the city fire department from condemning the building. In
1968, the Fox was vacated forever.
Having been closed and no plans for future
operations, the Fox Oakland faced a grim future. In 1973,
an arson-set fire caused extensive damage to some of the interior.
The cost of repairs was covered by insurance, but another
series of fires occurred. There were no attempts to correct
these damages; with no maintenance, the theater continued
to deteriorate. The Oakland's Planning Department gave serious
consideration to razing the building and using the property
for a parking lot. In 1977 Mann Theaters, the building's owners,
held an auction.... one of the two highest bidders were investors
who wanted to tear down the Fox-Oakland and construct a high-rise
office complex on the site; the other contender was a local
Piedmont resident who held a strong sentimental feeling towards
the old theater because of fond memories of courtship which
took place there. Mrs. Erma Delucchi was awarded the sale
of the property for $340,000 and thus saved the Fox Oakland
from certain destruction.
Since that time, the Fox-Oakland has remained
unused and, while safe from immediate demolition, still has
an uncertain future. Contracted studies by potential users
have concluded that the theater could be used for a concert
hall, an opera house, legitimate theater or the auditorium
could be divided into multiplex screens. With excellent acoustics,
the Fox would be ideal for concert hall use, but the Oakland
Symphony purchased the Paramount for that purpose, after considering
and testing both theaters for possible acquisition. Although
the organization sold the Paramount to the City Of Oakland,
it still has rent free use of the facility for many years.
Oakland does not have a principal auditorium for legitimate
theater, and the large stage and seating capacity of the Fox-Oakland
would be an ideal choice; San Francisco has a large influence
on the theatrical business with several of its movie palaces
converted for that use, among them, the Golden Gate, the Orpheum
and the Fox Warfield. By utilization of the Fox Oakland for
stage shows, Oakland could attract legitimate theater and
help revitalize the downtown area. Opera productions are another
possible way of utilizing the building. A big stumbling block
to any potential use is the prohibitive cost of repair from
damage and neglect. One can debate about a cost analysis of
restoration versus construction of a new auditorium, but one
point is valid: why built a structure when a building already
exists which has the necessary prerequisites and a colorful
history to go with it? The Fox Oakland meets those requirements!
In addition, the state of California's Parks and Recreation
Department did an analysis on the property in 1981 and found
most of the interior intact and usable. Throughout the years,
the lobby ceiling was lowered and the marquee and edifice
remodeled in a chrome appearance; the organ, chandeliers and
seats were removed; otherwise, the theater and office building
remain unchanged.
Alan Michaan of Rialto-Renaissance also
had ideas for use of the Fox. Several attempts were made to
convert the theater into five multi-screens. He promised that
careful attention would be paid to details and any structural
changes would be done in an architectural style to keep a
similar appearance that would coordinate with the original
interior design. Each proposal met with failure, the last
attempt being made in 1990 which suggested that the city of
Oakland renovate the Fox and move the Paramount staff to that
facility, while Michaan would build four multi-screens next
to the Paramount and use the latter as well for his movies.
The Oakland city council rejected his ideas.
Unless some sort of action is taken to
save and preserve the theater, the Fox Oakland could possibly
fall to the wrecker's ball and join many other razed theaters
that were lost because of the inability to find some lucrative
means of operation.
Let's hope someone sees the potential and
rescues the Fox Oakland... before it is too late.
If you have personal memories, photographs,
or memorabilia of the Fox Oakland Theater, we'd love to hear
your story. Please
email FOOF.
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