{"id":8261,"date":"2021-09-01T14:05:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T18:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=8261"},"modified":"2025-09-08T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:40:52","slug":"eastman-theatre-grand-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2021\/09\/eastman-theatre-grand-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastman Theatre Grand Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Published on Sep 1, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week At Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1722432977281{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”1922: “For the enrichment of community life“” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1722433053830{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” gap=”10″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1722445287807{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1722433067341{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8827″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Rochester citizens of all ages approaching and lining up outside the new Eastman Theatre on Opening Day.\u00a0 The large EASTMAN sign on the Main Street side of the building was removed in 1971 owing to safety concerns. Photographer unknown.\u00a0\u00a0ESPA 11×14 2-53; ESPA 11×14 2-53.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1722433118808{padding-top: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8828″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Eastman Theatre stage is set for the orchestra members and the screen is in place ready for a motion picture to be shown.\u00a0 Photographer unknown.\u00a0\u00a0ESPA Album 7-23. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1722433016959{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1722433332902{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]On Monday September 4th, 1922, which happened also to be Labor Day, the Eastman Theater was opened to the public for the first time. Not only was the day one of the most significant in Eastman School history, but it also represented a milestone date in the civic history of Rochester, New York. The Eastman Theater was George Eastman\u2019s gift to the University of Rochester \u201cfor the enrichment of community life\u201d (as read the words that grace the theater\u2019s fa\u00e7ade). From the outset, the theater\u2019s purposes were twofold: to screen the best motion pictures that were available, and to serve as a venue for live musical performance. Significantly, the accompaniment of the silent motion pictures was to be provided by the newly founded Eastman Theater Orchestra; historically, it was out of the theater orchestra that the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was born.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The history of the Eastman Theater\u2019s origin and early years of operation has been thoroughly described by Professor Vincent Lenti in his articles \u201cFor the\u00a0Enrichment of\u00a0Community\u00a0Life: The Opening\u00a0of the Eastman Theater in 1922\u201d (1982) and \u201cFrom\u00a0Eagle Tavern to Eastman Theater:\u00a0A Sesquicentennial\u00a0History of\u00a0Music in Rochester\u201d (1984), and in his book\u00a0<\/span>For the\u00a0Enrichment of\u00a0Community\u00a0Life: George Eastman and the\u00a0Founding of the Eastman School of Music\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(University of Rochester Press, 2004). Separately, the book\u00a0<\/span>The Eastman Theater: Fulfilling George Eastman\u2019s Dream\u00a0<\/span><\/i>with text by the late Elizabeth Brayer (published by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, 2010) constitutes a commemorative pictorial volume.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rochester\u2019s daily newspapers issued special sections to commemorate the theater\u2019s opening. These were an 8-page section issued by the\u00a0<\/span>Democrat and Chronicle,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>September 10th, 1922, with George Eastman\u2019s photo printed over the entire span of the first page; and, a 16-page section issued by\u00a0<\/span>The Post Express,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>August 26th, 1922, with a drawing of the Eastman Theater\u2019s exterior covering the entire span of the first page. This special section was especially elaborate in its presentation of the Eastman Theater\u2019s splendid architectural details and its lavish amenities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A private opening ceremony\u2014with attendance exclusively by invitation\u2014had taken place on Saturday, September 2nd. A souvenir program had been provided to the invited patrons that amounted to more than two dozen pages in length, filled with descriptive text, photographs, and a reduced-size representation of the architectural drawing of the floor plan. The following words appeared on the souvenir program and also on the printed program that would be distributed to the public:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the terms of the gift of George Eastman, this theater is the property of The University of Rochester, to be operated and maintained for the promotion of musical interests generally in the City of Rochester through a separate Board of Trustees. Any surplus from the operation of the theater will be used in developing the musical interests of the city.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In that by-gone era, moving picture cinemas were generally in the business of providing live entertainment preceding the screening of the featured motion pictures. That is, on any given day or evening, the cinema-goer could enjoy, for the price of his or her ticket, some selections of live music (whether vocal or instrumental), a newsreel or news feature of some kind, and possibly\u00a0some other features besides\u2014all this in advance of the start of the film. The Eastman Theater\u2019s program of entertainment for its first week of operation, beginning with the private opening on September 2nd, and continuing throughout the week beginning September 4th, was comprised of the following features:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n