After ten years of successful operation and restoration, the Casino Theater in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania has been declared the National Museum of Vaudeville at the Casino Theatre. Now in the process of collecting and displaying items from vaudeville’s zenith, we invite you to come and visit a real American treasure. Intact and being restored are the original vaudeville dressing rooms, the authentic curtain drops and riggings, the original preserved electrical panel from 1900 and a sandbag system that raises and lowers the curtains and back drops.
You can almost smell the grease paint of an unforgettable era in American history. Currently, open by appointment for tours, the Casino Restoration and Management Group (CTRM) has a vision to show the world what was almost lost. Call us at 724-567-5000 or visit our web site (www.casinotheatre.org) if you want more information about how you can be a part of an excellent project to save a big part of "Americana."
Perhaps you are a Vaudevillian or know someone close to you who was. We welcome contacts to discuss donations or loans of Vaudeville related items that we can protect and nurture for all to enjoy. Help us before all is lost or forgotten.
The Casino Theatre Restoration and Management is a registered 501 © 3 organization and all donations of items or cash, are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We hope you can support this worthy cause. Thank you!!!
A "ONE-OF-A-KIND" HISTORIC AND CULTURAL TREASURE:
Some background…
When the Casino Theatre officially opened on June 24th, 1900, it was touted as the "crown jewel" of a very unique community, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. The town was designed by the world famous landscape architectural firm of Frederick Law Olmstead and built around the vision held by its founding industrialist, George McMurtry. His vision was that the working class could rise to a higher socio/cultural level if treated with respect and offered quality-of-life amenities. Up until then, "company towns" were owned, "lock, stock and barrel," by the same factory that brought in the labor, owned the houses and even sold the workers their food and clothing. In Vandergrift all of that was changed by paying the workers a decent wage, allowing them to own their own homes and establishing things like a community baseball team and, of course, a world class center for the performing arts.
In the days before the automobile had become a common sight and movies, radio and television were, simply, unheard of, those who wanted to experience the bigger picture of the world would have to read about it or if fortunate enough to be of the privileged class, they could travel by rail or ship to see the world for themselves. Vaudeville’s traveling shows were the common-mans’ "window on the world." They were pure entertainment, education and magic all rolled into one and brought to the working man’s "door step" for the simple price of admission.
The Casino Theatre was everything it was meant to be. Catering to the working class, traveling shows arrived at the train station where rented wagons waited to carry scenery, props and costumes to the magnificent Greek Revival Theatre, above Olmstead’s park, at the top of the hill. The huge ionic columns, and roof-top cockade adorned with the American Flag, flying freely in the wind, must have provided a warm welcome the troops of Vaudeville players arriving by train.
A rich performing-arts tradition followed at the Theatre, providing patrons with entertainment and culture for over a century. Famous names in Vaudeville and oratory have graced the magnificently arched stage and enjoyed the venue so much that many of them returned time and time again.
As the years passed and forms of entertainment changed, the theatre transformed into a movie palace to keep its important "nitch" in the community. Years of long lines and great films began to fill the dates formerly held by vaudeville’s greatest. Even they, the performers, in some cases, made the transition to films or other forms of entertainment as the 20’s and 30’s came and went. Yet, the Casino Theatre still held a special place in the performers hearts and minds as occasional variety shows hit the stage with great audience anticipation.
In 1981, the Casino closed its doors for, what everyone thought was the last time. The multi-screen, mini-theaters had, at last, silenced the "grand icon" and many felt that it would be lost. It was then that a group of spirited community leaders decided to preserve it for future generations. Declared a National Historic Site, along with Vandergrift’s old downtown, the Theatre began operating again as a live theater in 1995.
Musicals, concerts, stand-up comedy, and greats like Mickey Rooney and Maynard Ferguson have recently performed there drawing capacity crowds. Every performer has made similar comments that this theater is the perfect place to perform because, in their words, the auditorium provides a grand intimacy with 525 patrons sitting on two levels with no seat more than 65 feet from the stage. The acoustics are perfect and every performance carries with it a warm relationship between the audience and performer not easily found in the entertainment world.
