“Where’s the horses?”…Furniture Showcase, Inc. Stillwater, OK

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When I was a young boy, growing up in Stillwater Oklahoma, my father and I frequently went to western movies together at the Leachman Theater.  We both loved westerns.  I also rode my bike there on Saturdays to see matinees with my friends.  The Creature from the Black Lagoon gave me nightmares.  I think it did all of us, but of course none of us would admit it to the others. 

The Leachman theater was nothing more than a movie theater to us at that time, single-screen as they all were in those days.  I never gave much thought to the building or how it was decorated.  Just the movie and the popcorn, please.

Vicky and I were driving down Main Street in Stillwater day before yesterday (yes, my childhood home town has a "Main Street"), on this reminiscing leg of our road trip, when I spotted the building.  It was still there!  And from a distance it looked like my father and I could have still walked up to the ticket booth and purchased tickets to The Searchers, where I actually saw this movie in 1956.

As we got closer, we could see that it was no longer a movie theater, but instead was a furniture store—Furniture Showcase.  I wasn’t sad that it was no longer a movie theater because that would be an unreasonable expectation in this day of multi-plexes and theater chains.  Instead, I was thrilled!

We witnessed the best job I have ever seen or heard about of a business making creative use of an old structure.  Whoever had the vision for this business in this theater deserves a huge “hip hip hooray!”

Because not only is it a really nice looking furniture store, but it is a private quasi-museum as well.  Virtually everything that could have been kept was kept.  The only obvious omission was the seats, and that’s fine because the idea is that the building has to also make money.  It is a business, not a county museum. 

But the screen is still there, the ticket booth, the displays on the outside that were still labeled “Now showing” (but currently showcasing advertisements for furniture instead of films), interior Art Deco decorations, the balcony that kids were never allowed into, some carpeting, posters, the curtains that were pulled back before the movies began, the restrooms, the swirls on the ceilings and on the walls, etc.

 

   

 But the whole was more than the sum of the parts.  Because in addition to all of the details, it simply  FELT right.  Whoever conducted this restoration had a terrific artistic sense as well as respect for history.  I actually felt like I was back in the theater.  And the changes from 53 years ago were in many respects fewer than the changes I had experience in the other places we have visited in Stillwater.

Endeavors such as this can’t be eligible for the National Register of Historic Sites.  I can understand the need to have rules in place for how buildings have to be restored.

But, doggone it, there should be some type of award for what the folks here have done because it is an awesome way to preserve the past yet serve the present.  

A few years ago in Langley, where I live, an art studio purchased a building that long ago held the city’s post office.  When tearing off the front façade to remodel it, the old front that said “Post Office” was exposed.  I thought:  “Great!”  Incorporate that sign into the new design.  How cool!  After all, it is an art studio and who better to create something fun and special?

But alas, the old front was soon covered up.  An opportunity lost.

Maybe the government, when it starts governing again, should create a “Leachman” designation, or perhaps the “Leachman/Furniture Showcase” designation for private individuals who use historic and important structures in new and creative ways that preserve parts of the past that we want to be able to experience, yet are not so noteworthy that they deserve National Monument status. 

We also want to mention how friendly the people at Furniture Showcase were.  Right away I mentioned that we couldn’t purchase anything because we were traveling through, but just wanted to see their building.  Randi (who seemed to be a manager, but I failed to ask) was gracious and helpful, showing me many of the features of the building, photos she had, and even photos that were on her computer.  She sent me several, some of which I have put into this blog.  She made this trip down memory lane even more special. 

By the way.  The quote at the beginning is what I said partway through the 1953 movie Mississippi Gambler.  It was a western film but took place on a riverboat.  About half-way through it, somewhat confused, I asked my father:  “Where’s the horses?”  It was a story he loved to tell, and how I wish I could hear it once again.  I sort of did, that afternoon two days ago, in Furniture Showcase.  

Photos:

Here is the shot of me in the balcony, looking toward the screen.  I have waited 55 years, and driven 2000 miles, to finally fulfill my childhood dream of  making out with a girl in the balcony of the Leachman Theater.

 Same place from my childhood:

"Popcorn, please."

From the lobby, now and in the past.  It's kind of difficult to make out, but you can see from the old photo how much of the lobby's character has been maintained.

We finished watching Oklahoma last night.  How fitting:

 

 We all had our trusty coonskin caps and "Old Betsy."

 The theater, then and now.