1738. Florida Theater, Jacksonville, Florida

[@MicheleD61]

Appreciate the tour. My grandfather was an usher there when they opened in the 1920's.

[@lelandsklar6363]

So cool!

[@danglin69]

Hey Leland, thanks for showing off our beloved venue. Been to over a hundred shows there over the past 35 years. Thanks for coming to Jax and see you at tonight's show!

[@michellefuerst1039]

Hi! What a Beautiful venue!! It's just so lovely...1927. Love the older theaters. Thank you so much for sharing!🇨🇦❤✌️

[@fernandoperezsousa3779]

Very beatiful theater. Thank you for show us this magical places.

[@NickRosaci]

I've played in this theater a number of times! Played with Alan Parsons, ELO, Denis De Young, Little River Band, etc. in this place. Jacksonville is an interesting city with a cool history, and there's a number of great places just around the corner to eat at on your dinner break. Also heard the Marsalis family knock it out of the park here, and some other jazz greats. As far as alternate venues, the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts is the only other place, which is just down the road from there. The Florida Theater has much more character, though! Have a great show, Lee!

[@Seibling]

and you seem to be a very interesting person. you played in all my favourite bands though. respect. 🙏👍

[@JeffCohenOnline]

Hey Lee! Would love to have you interview band members for just a couple minutes - what have they learned by playing with Lyle, how they deal with being on the road, how do they juggle work vs family commitments while on tour, etc. Thanks!!

[@buzzsmith8146]

That is a nice theatre! Lyle's sound guys must be masters at their craft with the different acoustic spaces and the flooring in the various venues.

[@barrywaples8150]

Evening Lee and all Greetings from Berchtesgaden, Bavaria. Yes . I'm back on the road. Day 3 from Epping & it's raining, with more forecast tomorrow. 😮‍💨 Cheers Barry 🎸

[@steven_scattergood]

G’day Barry. You certainly get around.🇦🇺🖐

[@barrywaples8150]

@@steven_scattergood Indeed🏍

[@johncopeland3826]

I can imagine being in the audience at a concert in the sensational Florida Theatre Mr Sklar , soaking up the atmosphere and all of the wars , killings ,tragedies and ills of the world would disappear for about 2 hours ,such is the beauty and grace of this stunning venue . A safe haven and a dream maker of the finest kind ...Thank you kindly for cheering me up no end with this wonderful footage . Best wishes .

[@billmiller5741]

Wow is a deserving word of this Theater and Wow is the view from Lyle's mic...I can only imagine the seats being filled and you guys feeling the energy from this fortunate crowd...enjoy with a smile

[@Andy-ql9wh]

Hi, and thank you for sharing this beautiful venue.

[@steven_scattergood]

A lot of us would never be able to experience a place like this and thank you so much for the tour. It must be an amazing experience and a privilege to play in a venue like this. Once again thank you for this memorable walk Lee. Absolutely beautiful. 🇦🇺🙏

[@eddiethek]

The daily Laeli!! Twice! Nice tour of a neat old place.

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

I love these Art Deco/Art Nouveau venues. You are so privileged to play them, though I guess you know that.

[@michaelvaladez6570]

Majestic..one of a kind..stunning theater. And Brad off in the corner practicing diligently ! Another spectacular backstage pass. You are definitely getting your steps in for the day again. Stay safe 🙏 be safe Leland 🙏 Sklar 🙏 ✌️ ✌️ ☮️ ..have a great time in the show !!!

[@SoundsFair--M-and-J]

👍👍 Great tour!!!

[@doloresvelez3243]

Thank you.❤❤🙏

[@kjbunnyboiler]

Morning Leland, tour time👍👍

[@lelandsklar6363]

Yep!

[@kevinallen1761]

"Have we been here?" "I don't know". This made me smile. The plight of well employed traveling musicians.

[@jackmalvern2394]

What an amazing building, loads of details. I lost count of how many times I said "wow". Thanks for the tour Lee. jj

[@RalphOnofrio]

I laugh myself silly....You have your own music track, thanks to Brad...

[@kimbiwasmith9661]

We do love our old theatre. Glad to have you here.

[@RalphOnofrio]

Nice old theatre.Rock on,Leland.

[@steini6771]

These videos/documentaries are just marvellous! Greetings and love from Norway. Tusen Takk -

[@kateconway-hickman5945]

Really nice, thank you! 😊

[@melissaward6311]

So happy this structure is still here. How cool. Ty for showing it. Its really beautiful.

[@Mark_Brooks]

In 1927, on the same day that the Florida Theatre first opened its doors to the public, the World News Service in New York City carried this report: “For the first time, men sat in New York and looked 200 miles over a telephone wire at other men in Washington, D.C. Television was pulled out of the dictionary and into the world of fact.” Thus, on the same day, the largest theatre in the State of Florida had its Grand Opening, and the seeds of its eventual demise as a movie house and resurrection as a nonprofit arts center made news too. But on the night of April 8, 1927, however, all was splendid in Downtown Jacksonville. The next day, the Jacksonville Journal reported, “On the spot where once stood an unkempt police station that had housed in its sordid career many of the riff-raff of the world there has come into being a thing of beauty, a palace of dreams. This masterpiece of art is the Florida Theatre, which today became an integral part of advancing Jacksonville, following its dedication last night before an audience packed the playhouse to capacity….”

[@Mark_Brooks]

Construction on the Florida Theatre began in the summer of 1926 when building permit #1345 granted Southern Enterprises, Inc. permission to construct a seven-story concrete, fireproof theatre and commercial building with a roof garden on the corner of Forsyth on Newnan Streets in downtown Jacksonville. The application indicated that R.E. Hall & Co., Inc. of New York were the architects, with Roy A. Benjamin of Jacksonville as Associate Architect. The George A. Fuller Company of New York was the general contractor, and the building’s value was estimated at $1.5 million. The new Florida Theatre would be the sixth theatre on Forsyth Street alone, where the Savoy, Empress, Imperial, Palace, and St. Johns Theatres were all in a row in a four-block stretch. According to the Jacksonville Journal, foundation work began around June 20, 1926, and the first steel was erected around August 10. A derrick with a 115-foot mast and a 105-foot boom was used to erect the 1,200 tons of steel shipped by rail in over 40 rail cars. Four thousand five hundred cubic yards of concrete were poured for the slab. One aspect of the Florida Theatre’s construction was historically significant; it was the first job anywhere in the South to use ready-mixed mortar to lay the bricks. As a result, it only took 21 days to lay one million bricks. The structural framing of the balcony was unique in that two-thirds of the massive balcony was supported by just two steel trusses, each spanning 90 feet with a depth of approximately 8-1/2 feet. One balcony girder alone weighed 65 tons. The balcony was formed in ten days, and the concrete was poured in three. The plaster work was conducted using a scaffold suspended from the roof trusses instead of the modern method of using the ground-supported stand. When the theatre finally opened, Sam Katz, President of Publix Theaters, the arm of Paramount Pictures that constructed and operated theatres, told the Times-Union newspaper: “A properly conducted theatre is of the same importance to a community as a school or a church. Such a theatre contributes to the community’s welfare because wholesome recreation is essential to its well-being.” Nine and a half months after breaking ground, the theatre opened.

[@xeode]

what an interesting decor the place has

[@Ajgreetings]

Most amazing building......thank you

[@FreedomRock44]

So nice inside.....I bet that hall inside has great sound.

[@mbskinner]

Beautiful special historical theater! Thank you for sharing this.

[@rowermusic]

Hey! Nice tour! enjoyed it

[@artemisXsidecross]

Redemption of a 97 year old building is time travel, what will 2120’s reveal long past our transcendence. The Florida Theater on its opening was ‘White Only’ and one of the largest then in the nation. I agree with Brad that more student and professional musicians need to interact. The dichotomy of the older facilities to the newer one’s are striking; progress is far from a straight arrow.

[@randyschiffer3265]

Art

[@steven_scattergood]

Hi Artemis. We have nothing like this venue remaining here. Dystopia began years ago.☮️

[@m1nn1s]

Evening Leland 💖 🧙🏼‍♂️ ☮️ Beautiful Theater 🎭 Healing energy ⚡ to Maureen ✨ and the boys 🐾 🐾 🐾 🧙🏼‍♂️ ☮️ Prayers for the flood victims ☮️ 💖 🙏

[@barrywaples8150]

Hi Andy Greetings from Berchtesgaden .🍻

[@m1nn1s]

@@barrywaples8150 Hi Barry.,Epping 🌳 🇬🇧 But today.. Guten tag, mein freund 🇩🇪 Zeit nett su einander! 🤗 (Don't mention Aston Villa! 💜 🏟️ ⚽🥅🤗🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿)

[@barrywaples8150]

@@m1nn1s And I won’t tell them my name 😉

[@m1nn1s]

@@barrywaples8150 Sargeant Schultz.. (Hogan's Heroes... ("I know NOTHING!" 🤗 ☮️ 🌟 💖)

[@m1nn1s]

@@barrywaples8150 Beautiful Bavaria 🏞️🏕️

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

[@patrickjames1080]

Brilllllliant - do it like it feels new - what a theater - thanks for sharing ⛵️ 👍

[@FreedomRock44]

Thanks Lee.

[@Winterof62]

So LoveLee !!✌️❤️ Thanks again Lee!

[@stephenspencer4672]

A lot of the new theaters are impressive to look at well designed structurally. Some though seem a little lacking in style. The old theaters were more ornate with lots of artistic interior features and wall coverings. I'm glD this one in Florida was saved.

[@onefatstratcat]

What a cool old venue :)

[@acousticshadow4032]

That is by FAR the most beautiful theater I have ever seen! Like the line from "Itchycoo Park" goes; It's All Too Beautiful! And that enlarged pic of the theater in the late 1920s(?) at the 6:00 mark ~ man! TY for this magnificent tour, Leland!

[@JohnEaganMedia]

It is nice to see these again, with a new tour run. What a beautiful place. Very nice, after the past couple of venues that were kind of nice, but a little like stops along the No Soul Auditorium chain. This one is interesting, in characteristics like, you know, having seats that FACE TOWARD THE STAGE! (I know! What a concept! I hope this catches on!)

[@ragpicker006]

Spectacular, Leland. Thank you!

[@gustavoviveros8394]

Thanks Lee ✌🏻

[@Mark_Brooks]

The theatre owners of the 1920’s believed that showing movies alone was not enough to draw crowds and that a live stage show and a lavish interior were of equal importance to the film. Thus, the stage of the Florida Theatre was designed to accommodate live performances in addition to the motion picture screen, and no expense was spared on the theatre’s interior appointments, either. The Florida Theatre was the largest in the state at the time, and the Florida Times-Union praised its “Unsurpassed architectural beauty and perfection of appointments.” The original owner of the Florida Theatre was Publix Theaters, the theatre construction and owning arm of Paramount Pictures. They also built such notable venues as the Paramount Theater in New York, the Tivoli in Chicago, the Olympia in Miami, and the Tampa Theater in Tampa. (There is no relationship between Publix Theatres and the modern company known as Publix Supermarkets.)

[@Mark_Brooks]

The Florida Theatre was designed by architect R.E. Hall, who worked for the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in New York. The Florida Theatre auditorium resembles Hall’s earlier design for the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York, which opened in 1921. The local architect was Roy A. Benjamin, who built several other theatres in the South, including, in Jacksonville, the Center Theatre (32 West Adams Street), the Imperial Theatre (26 East Forsyth Street), the Palace Theatre (32 East Forsyth Street), the Riverside Theatre (1028 Park Street, now the Sun-Ray Cinema) and the San Marco Theatre (1996 San Marco Boulevard, still in operation). The Florida Theatre’s interior resembles the Tampa Theatre, which dates from one year earlier, in 1926, because the Michel Angelo Studios of Chicago designed the elaborate interiors of both venues. In each theatre, the décor included French, Spanish, and Italian motifs and furnishings in a grand style, including marble. It wrought iron railings, marble and decorative tile wainscoting, decorative columns and moldings, terrazzo and tile floors, wrought iron and amber glass, light fixtures and chandeliers, and coffered ceilings. Built-in the Spanish Eclectic Style, more commonly known as Mediterranean Revival, the terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior, the glass and copper entrance doors, the wall hangings woven in France and Italy, and the furniture obtained from collectors in Morocco all evoked the Mediterranean region and style.

[@Mark_Brooks]

Maxey Grunthal and Bros. supplied two Haddorff Grand Pianos, and the Wurlitzer organ was the second-largest Wurlitzer anywhere. According to The Wurlitzer Co., the organ was “The second-largest unit of its kind manufactured” and the “Biggest instrument of its type ever installed in a Southern amusement house.” The Florida Theatre was the first theatre in the city with central air conditioning, and its then-modern systems also included central heating, central vacuuming, and a nursery. Henry Satter, Inc. of New York was the decorator, and the theatre’s Act Curtain was the finest they had ever manufactured. The design and fabric were from France, requiring nine months for delivery, and the fringe, at 36 inches high, was the largest ever attempted.

[@Mark_Brooks]

Just two years after opening, the Great Depression began, and like the rest of America, its effects reverberated through Jacksonville. The theatre closed several times during the Depression but was saved from complete and total failure by special programs created by the extraordinary people who comprised its staff. Screeno was a bingo game that employed the giant movie screen. Bank Night, on Monday nights, gave ticket buyers a chance at a $100 prize. The Happy Hearts Club, begun at the Arcade Theatre by Guy Kenimer and brought to the larger Florida Theatre when it opened, provided toys for underprivileged children during the holidays. The Happy Hearts Club continued throughout the Depression, World War II, and beyond for almost 20 years. Promotional tie-ins to publicize the featured movie were common. The ushers would routinely eschew their uniforms for costumes thematically tied to the featured film, from Hawaiian shirts and leis to tuxedos. Beauty pageants and trips to faraway cities were common. In 1937 a double wedding was celebrated on the stage to promote the movie Double Wedding, and the lucky couples each received Philco radios as wedding gifts. A giant fake airplane was suspended above the marquee in 1957 to promote the movie Test Pilot. On May 13, 1973, Times-Union retrospective, one customer looked back on those days and said, “You could have a date on a dollar and a half. When things were fairly grim outside the theatre, it was a dream world because it was a beautiful place…pure escapism….” Over the years, the building would go through some but not many changes. The biggest was that in 1938, the rooftop garden, the open-air portion at the center of the seventh floor, was closed and enclosed to make room for additional offices that could be rented out, primarily to lawyers. However, because it was built during the tail end of the vaudeville era and just before the beginning of the “talking picture” era, the Florida Theatre had a complete theatrical stage, with wing space, flys, and dressing rooms, and that would make the theatre desirable for many other functions. In addition to the movies, over the years, the theatre hosted opera, dance and theatre productions, trade shows, fashion shows, charity benefits, and civic meetings, all making the Florida Theatre a hub of community activity. Well into the late 1950s and early 1960s, events like The Kiddie Show for Talent, headed first by Ralph Feather and later by Jack Dew, packed the house. The Jacksonville Opera and Choral Society, under the direction of conductor C. Carter Nice, filled the seats for productions of operas like Die Fledermaus and La Perichole and musicals like Kismet.

[@dwaynewladyka577]

​@@Mark_BrooksThanks for sharing this information. Cheers, Mark! ✌️

[@sndes-x2x]

Wow! It reminds me of our Majestic theater in San Antonio. I wonder if there is an architectural connection? You've toured that one!

[@dwaynewladyka577]

Hello Leland and everyone!👋✌️

[@barrywaples8150]

Evening Dwayne of Alberta 🍻

[@dwaynewladyka577]

@@barrywaples8150 Hello Barry! 👋✌️

[@m1nn1s]

@@dwaynewladyka577 Evening Dwayne, Alberta 🍁 Andy ⛵ 🛥️ Whitstable 🧙🏼‍♂️ 🇬🇧

[@dwaynewladyka577]

@@m1nn1s Hello Andy! 👋✌️

[@elcienechagas1981]

Lee love it 💖🎸🎶🎙️👑🔥👏👏

[@robertcranton7083]

Welcome!! 🤗🤗

[@briangarrett6510]

Always interesting seeing the travel map, Charlotte to Wilmington back to Columbia down to Jacksonville. Lol. I'm sure you guys sleeping on the bus are oblivious though.

[@Mark_Brooks]

I was stationed outside Jacksonville in the Navy.

[@dwaynewladyka577]

Cool. One of my relatives is in the Royal Canadian Air Force, with his brother. He is also an astronaut, and is taking further training in Texas and in Florida. He gets to go on an ISIS mission in early 2025. Thanks to our troops and our vets for their services. Cheers, Mark! ✌️

[@danmerkan3787]

Sorry to have missed you while you were in Jacksonville.

[@randyschiffer3265]

Definitely a sister venue to the Majestic in San Antonio.

[@TheGigmiester101]

Finding Brad is better than asking where’s Waldo 😂😂😂👍

[@user-mv5bu2kk8b]

Hey tgere boss good to see you

[@Mark_Brooks]

This is reminiscent of the Carpenter Theater in Richmond VA (Now the Dominion Energy Center).

[@dallaswright9249]

cool man dig the ole place that s when people took pride in there work thanks Leland all ways cool cool as always peace out cincy sax man all ways sounds very good

[@Mark_Brooks]

During the years of segregation, most theatres throughout the American South were separated white people and black people in separate seating areas, with white people usually sitting up front, and black people in the back or on the balcony, with individual bathrooms and often with separate entrances as well. The practice of Jacksonville’s entertainment venues was for the entire theatre to be racially segregated. When the Florida Theatre first opened its doors in 1927, there were thirteen other theatres in the north bank area of downtown, and the Florida Theatre was one of the “white only” buildings. No photographs of “white only” signage at the Florida Theatre survive because it was not needed. It was commonly understood which buildings welcomed the white population and which welcomed the black population. The latter included the Strand Theatre (West Ashley and North Jefferson), the Center Theater (West Adams Street), and the Ritz Theatre (West State and North Davis). Shannon West, a present-day audience member, recalls, “In the words of your average genteel middle-class Southern adult at the time, ‘It isn’t done. They have the places they go, and we have ours. It’s best that way, and they are happy with that.’” Present-day audience member Toni Lang Philips remembers, “I did not go to the Florida Theatre for movies, ever. My mom says she didn’t either. We went to the Center Theater downtown and the Strand, the Roosevelt, and the Ritz.”

[@Mark_Brooks]

Several present-day audience members remember that, in the words of one gentleman, “The Florida Theatre didn’t have to be segregated. The black community just went to the Ritz instead.” Of course, this thought process comes perilously close to justifying a Separate but Equal policy. It ignores the fact that if a racially integrated audience were welcome at the Florida Theatre or any other “white only” venues in the first place, separate platforms would not have been necessary. Integration of the audience at the Florida Theatre began in the mid to late 1960s. Then in 1972, the last mainstream movie shown at the Florida Theatre was The Concert for Bangladesh, a documentary of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar’s benefit concerts for flood victims in South Asian countries. (Ravi Shankar himself would later play the Florida Theatre on April 17, 1993.) The late Will Henley, Publisher of EU magazine, was a young employee of the Florida State Theatre movie chain, then the private owners of the building, and he remembered that the very next day, the theatre began showing Black Adventure films (once known as Blaxploitation movies) like Super Fly, Blacula and Foxy Brown, and overnight the audience makeup went from slightly integrated to almost entirely black. It was a typical survival strategy employed by aging movie palaces in downtown urban areas, which were then trying to survive the rise of cinemas and the flight of the white population to the suburbs. Along with Kung Fu movies, these films remained staples of the theatre’s schedule until it was sold and closed in 1980, reopening in 1983 as a nonprofit performing arts center whose first four performances included an African-American act, The Spinners, best known for their hits “Then Came You,” “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” “Games People Play” and “Rubberband Man.”

[@artemisXsidecross]

@@Mark_Brooks Well done Mark, we need to remember what happened less than a hundred years ago especially in context about how the use of the word 'immigrants' is being used as a term of slander. Sinclair Lewis should have titled his 1937 novel 'It Can Happen Here' omitted 'Can't'. ⚠

[@w.geoffreyspaulding6588]

What is an Enunciater? Did it make dialogue more clear…

[@slipperynoodle20]

Magnificent.Your kind of place,you old romantic you. I wonder what is in the phone boothes. Old phones with dials? It would be cool if, somewhere in the basement, they store the molds for the aisle end plates. How many white shirts in your stage wardrobe? Love and Thanks ❤👍❤👍

[@m1nn1s]

@@slipperynoodle20 Hi Tom ☮️ 🤗 🧙🏼‍♂️ ✨ 💖

[@slipperynoodle20]

@@m1nn1s Hey, Andy! How goes it. Still walking? Getting stronger?

[@m1nn1s]

@@slipperynoodle20 Slow week, shingles re-hash.. Doctor 😷 medical next week ☮️😷☮️

[@slipperynoodle20]

@@m1nn1s Sorry to hear that. Head up, keep going .

[@m1nn1s]

@@slipperynoodle20 Will do, Tom, Thanks 💖🌟🙏☮️

[@FreedomRock44]

I was laughing until Brad finally noticed!!

[@southerndrummer8300]

That Theatre is Haunted. Its been on TV specials. Check for apparition on right side of upper balcony. By the way, please call Ben Schultz when you get free time👋

[@FreedomRock44]

You are walking in to the building hoping for a cool attic or basement along with a great buliding.

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

This theater looks like it’s of the vaudeville vintage or something that originated for the Orpheum circuit. The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie is of that same vintage.

[@williamdaly1005]

Hey Lee, if you come to Texas to visit UNT you can stay at my place. My dogs will love you.

[@ditchgator1]

😎👍👍 Love Brother 😎✌👍❤🖖

[@judmcc]

I've been there quite a few times.

[@w.geoffreyspaulding6588]

There was another theater that had a similar ceiling I think…..,lots of carved wood…..but I don’t think we’ve seen this one before…..

[@FreedomRock44]

Lyle always gets the best view.

[@pamr4040]

❤

[@trout211]

"Elvis Presley performs at one of his two concerts at the Florida Theatre on August 10 & 11, 1956. 'Drive careful on your way home', Elvis teased the crowd, and don't let anybody pass you'." 😃

[@lavatar3562]

It’s certainly a beautiful theatre in the Spanish Eclectic Style with elaborate fittings, plaster walls and wrought iron railings to rival San Antonio.

[@splashesin8]

This does sound really pretty. 😊 I am curious, and found where Helene is also curious about the enunciator, as a thing. I learned to enunciate for a few years in high school, and theater, but am curious about what that piece is, in this building. 😸 Was there one also in that fancy school building where we kind of got a whole historical tour last year? The one it sounds like where all the girls were on maybe the stop next or next next after this one.

[@jamesanthony5257]

Hopefully the new Hurricanes will leave Florida alone as the tour Zig Zags across the State.

[@douglasdegraff8335]

BRAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Larkpine]

💜👩💜🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶😊

[@randyschiffer3265]

Where the hell is The Brooks Report? Don't tell me the rumors of those attending Diddy's parties scared him off.

[@artemisXsidecross]

Randy, The Brooks Report can be found elsewhere, and it is quite good; I check it daily. It is found on another platform, let me know if you want more information. ☮

[@randyschiffer3265]

@@artemisXsidecross Why isn't it here?

[@artemisXsidecross]

@@randyschiffer3265 My answer was blocked, I sent a private message that KZbin is yet to be able to censor ⚠

[@brachialmusiker]

Eights😀

[@baxter3998]

Who cleans all the suits and shirts

[@user-mv5bu2kk8b]

Last😅

[@SnoopySnoops1]

Happy Dance for Snoop the Dog in the pocket :)

[@user-mv5bu2kk8b]

First

[@slipperynoodle20]

🏆