Sept. 18, 2009
Jack Hyman’s Dedication to Family, Community Kept Keith Albee Doors Open After Huntington Mall Opened
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Huntington’s a small city of about 50,000 people, yet it contains a two million dollar so-called “temple of amusement” built in 1928, just prior to the Great Depression. The Keith Albee Performing Arts Center has been called the city’s “jewel” as well as one of the now rare surviving atmospheric movie palaces constructed by architect Thomas Lamb.
When it opened, it was second in size in the United States to New York’s Roxy Theatre. Built by A.B. and S.J. Hyman, the theatre first offered vaudeville acts and local performers evolving into a first run sound motion picture theatre in the 1930s. (Editor’s Note: A larger version of the Keith Albee remains open in Columbus, Ohio, where the former Loews Ohio Theatre, has been restored and converted to a performing arts center.)
On September 23, the Keith Albee will be the scene of the First Preservation Awards West Virginia Banquet. The Preservation Alliance of WV began in 1981 with a group of dedicated volunteers and has since developed a traveling exhibit of historic preservation success stories and successfully lobbied the legislature for business and residential tax credits for state level preservation.
The event will focus not only on the Moorish styled theatre, but the family who preserved it. Until 2006, the Keith Albee remained a first run gem amongst rarities --- it showed first run films. However, the competition from Pullman Square 16 caused the Hyman family to close the Keith. At the time, they held about another 20 years on a least of the theatre itself; however, the land on which it sat had already been donated to the Marshall University Foundation. The Hyman family chose to donate the remaining years of the lease and the theatre to the Foundation, which led to a community wide restoration campaign.
Initially, members of the community removed the two small auditoriums that had been constructed within the theatre’s cavernous auditorium. At the time of their construction in the 70s, many citizens resisted the decision, prompting the first of many Save the Keith Albee campaigns. Since no one had the dollars to buy the theatre, the Hyman’s continued its operation as a tri-plex and eventually a four cinema operation. This assisted in providing revenue to maintain the buildings upkeep.
Further expressing his love and foresight for the structure, Jack Hyman ensured that the "small" auditoriums were constructed in a manner that did not damage the main auditorium. He hoped someday , they would be removed and the main would be one theatre again.
Prior to Pullman’s opening, the opening of the Huntington Mall, which then had a six screen theatre, had severely hurt the revenues for the Hyman’s three downtown Huntington Theatres, the Cinema (Orpheum), Camelot (Palace) and Keith Albee.
Although Derek Hyman, president of the Greater Huntington Theatre Corp., helmed the company at the time of the donation of the theatre to the foundation, he credits his father, Jack Hyman, with “the lion’s share of praise.”
“Jack’s motivation was much more tied to his love for his father who had built the theatre,” Derek explained. “The Keith Albee allowed my father to feel close to my grandfather who passed away in the early 50’s.”
Without Jack’s love for the theatre, it would have closed “thirty years ago when the mall opened in Barboursville,” Hyman said. “We had businesses elsewhere that supported the [downtown] Huntington theatres for years.” In the mid-90s, the Cinema Theatre which boasted a single auditorium seating about 800 was converted to a four plex. That brought the downtown theatres back into the black.
“Most businessmen would have save the money and closed the theatres in [downtown] Huntington, but Jack Hyman kept them open and ran them at a loss for fourteen years just to preserve the Keith Albee,” his son, Derek said.
Once Derek took over the reigns of the company, " the Keith represented my family's place in the community. It gave me great pleasure to see people enjoying the wonderful stage shows made possible by the Marshall Artist Series and our beautiful theater."
The awards event begins at 3 p.m. with a tour of the Keith Albee. A reception follows at 5 p.m. and dinner is at 6:15 p.m. Awards will be given at 7 p.m.
In addition to the Hyman Family, the preservation group will honor WV native Greg Coble who was instrumental in having the National Trust for Historic Preservation place the Blair Mountain Battlefield as one of the country’s eleven most endangered historic places. He’s now chief financial officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Speaking at the banquet will be Kennedy Smith, who as director of the National Trust’s National Main Street Center helped the expansion and recognition of the concept into a network of programs serving about 2,000 cities and towns.
For more information on the banquet, click, http://www.pawv.org.
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Jack Hyman’s Dedication to Family, Community Kept Keith Albee Doors Open After Huntington Mall Opened
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Huntington’s a small city of about 50,000 people, yet it contains a two million dollar so-called “temple of amusement” built in 1928, just prior to the Great Depression. The Keith Albee Performing Arts Center has been called the city’s “jewel” as well as one of the now rare surviving atmospheric movie palaces constructed by architect Thomas Lamb.
When it opened, it was second in size in the United States to New York’s Roxy Theatre. Built by A.B. and S.J. Hyman, the theatre first offered vaudeville acts and local performers evolving into a first run sound motion picture theatre in the 1930s. (Editor’s Note: A larger version of the Keith Albee remains open in Columbus, Ohio, where the former Loews Ohio Theatre, has been restored and converted to a performing arts center.)
On September 23, the Keith Albee will be the scene of the First Preservation Awards West Virginia Banquet. The Preservation Alliance of WV began in 1981 with a group of dedicated volunteers and has since developed a traveling exhibit of historic preservation success stories and successfully lobbied the legislature for business and residential tax credits for state level preservation.
The event will focus not only on the Moorish styled theatre, but the family who preserved it. Until 2006, the Keith Albee remained a first run gem amongst rarities --- it showed first run films. However, the competition from Pullman Square 16 caused the Hyman family to close the Keith. At the time, they held about another 20 years on a least of the theatre itself; however, the land on which it sat had already been donated to the Marshall University Foundation. The Hyman family chose to donate the remaining years of the lease and the theatre to the Foundation, which led to a community wide restoration campaign.
Initially, members of the community removed the two small auditoriums that had been constructed within the theatre’s cavernous auditorium. At the time of their construction in the 70s, many citizens resisted the decision, prompting the first of many Save the Keith Albee campaigns. Since no one had the dollars to buy the theatre, the Hyman’s continued its operation as a tri-plex and eventually a four cinema operation. This assisted in providing revenue to maintain the buildings upkeep.
Further expressing his love and foresight for the structure, Jack Hyman ensured that the "small" auditoriums were constructed in a manner that did not damage the main auditorium. He hoped someday , they would be removed and the main would be one theatre again.
Prior to Pullman’s opening, the opening of the Huntington Mall, which then had a six screen theatre, had severely hurt the revenues for the Hyman’s three downtown Huntington Theatres, the Cinema (Orpheum), Camelot (Palace) and Keith Albee.
Although Derek Hyman, president of the Greater Huntington Theatre Corp., helmed the company at the time of the donation of the theatre to the foundation, he credits his father, Jack Hyman, with “the lion’s share of praise.”
“Jack’s motivation was much more tied to his love for his father who had built the theatre,” Derek explained. “The Keith Albee allowed my father to feel close to my grandfather who passed away in the early 50’s.”
Without Jack’s love for the theatre, it would have closed “thirty years ago when the mall opened in Barboursville,” Hyman said. “We had businesses elsewhere that supported the [downtown] Huntington theatres for years.” In the mid-90s, the Cinema Theatre which boasted a single auditorium seating about 800 was converted to a four plex. That brought the downtown theatres back into the black.
“Most businessmen would have save the money and closed the theatres in [downtown] Huntington, but Jack Hyman kept them open and ran them at a loss for fourteen years just to preserve the Keith Albee,” his son, Derek said.
Once Derek took over the reigns of the company, " the Keith represented my family's place in the community. It gave me great pleasure to see people enjoying the wonderful stage shows made possible by the Marshall Artist Series and our beautiful theater."
The awards event begins at 3 p.m. with a tour of the Keith Albee. A reception follows at 5 p.m. and dinner is at 6:15 p.m. Awards will be given at 7 p.m.
In addition to the Hyman Family, the preservation group will honor WV native Greg Coble who was instrumental in having the National Trust for Historic Preservation place the Blair Mountain Battlefield as one of the country’s eleven most endangered historic places. He’s now chief financial officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Speaking at the banquet will be Kennedy Smith, who as director of the National Trust’s National Main Street Center helped the expansion and recognition of the concept into a network of programs serving about 2,000 cities and towns.
For more information on the banquet, click, http://www.pawv.org.
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