to regain prominent
position in Lakewood
Strand Theater bidding
to regain prominent
position in Lakewood
By Joyce Blay
Staff Writer
The Strand Theater in Lakewood has seen its fortunes rise and fall over the course of 80 years. Those fortunes were way up recently when singer Dionne Warwick entertained fans to celebrate the theater’s milestone birthday.
Like a shimmering phoenix, the 80-year-old Strand Theater in downtown Lakewood has died and been reborn. It is a bravura performance that even Harry Houdini might envy were he still around as well.
Completed in 1922, the Strand was designed by the noted theater architect Thomas Lamb for the Ferber Amusement Co. at a time when Lakewood was the home of the rich and famous. It was conceived as a place where Broadway producers could test out their productions before moving them to the Great White Way.
But the Strand was not just a place to go for millionaires at play. It offered audiences an unobstructed view of its stage, and its acoustical qualities are considered remarkable even today, according to Sheldon Wolpin, the chairman of the Lakewood Heritage Commission.
"The Strand Theater is a gem," he said. "Every seat is a good seat for sight and acoustics."
PHOTOS BY JERRY WOLKOWITZ Detailed artwork and design can be seen throughout the Strand Theater, a fixture in Lakewood since 1922.
Silent screen star Mae Murray inaugurated the Strand with her performance in the movie Peacock Alley, followed by a series of five vaudeville acts. True to the Ferber vision, the Strand also hosted pre-performance productions of Broadway shows in succeeding years. However, once talkies became popular, the Strand began to show movies exclusively. Then came television.
As audiences increasingly stayed home to watch television, or if they did go out, chose to instead patronize multiplex theaters, the combination of smaller revenues with spiraling costs led to the Strand’s descent into the seamier side of entertainment. Instead of presenting DeMille epics, the Strand became a porn house showing X-rated films such as Deep Throat. Still, that plan did not work.
It was the beginning of the end. Or so it seemed.
In 1981, a determined band of individuals, business interests and government officials succeeded in having the Strand conveyed to the Ocean County Center for the Arts, as well as placed on the New Jersey Register of Historical Places. By 1982, the Strand had also been added to the National Register of Historical Places. Pearl Bailey was the theater’s star attraction when it reopened in 1984.
Thomas Arroyo of Lakewood works on renovations at the Strand Theater as projects continue to restore the historic building.
Theater administrators received a $2.5 million grant in 1992 to complete the interior restoration, but it wasn’t enough, according to Mayor Ray Coles and Deputy Mayor Charles Cunliffe. The money ran out until the Lakewood Development Corp. stepped in, using Urban Enterprise Zone money to finish the job after acquiring the Strand in 1999. Today, renovations to the 1,042-seat theater are nearly complete, according to Strand Executive Director Theresa Beaugard.
"(Performances for) the whole month of January (have) been postponed in order to complete renovations to the windows," she said. "I don’t know what else has to be done, but given the age of the building, nothing will ever really be completed."
Strand Ventures Inc. hired a new management team to produce the Strand’s own events and to present shows that will appeal to the diverse tastes of Lakewood’s growing population, once again making the Strand the town’s cultural magnet.
On Oct. 20, Dionne Warwick, whose smooth, sensuous vocals have enraptured generations of fans, became the Strand’s star performer at its 80th anniversary celebration.
In the theater’s VIP lounge, guests waiting for the show to begin reminisced about the theater and what it meant to them.
Judy and Martin Lefsky of Wall Township discussed some of her favorite moments there while growing up in Lakewood.
"This part of the theater we are in used to be a drugstore in 1950," she said. "I saw Gone With the Wind (at the Strand)."
"I’m not from (Lakewood)," said her husband Martin, "But the most amazing thing is its resurrection."
Their friend, Bob Kirschner, had his own favorite moments to remember growing up with the Strand.
"If you made too much noise during the movie, Tommy Tupper, the projectionist, would come and throw you out," Kirschner said with a chuckle.
Gesturing toward the bar set up near the entrance to the theater, he added, "There were two pinball machines and two pay phone booths in the corner back then."
"When did it start to go downhill?" asked Judy Lefsky.
"In the ’70s," said Kirschner. "They started showing porno."
The past was quickly forgotten as theatergoers began to take their seats shortly before performance time. At 8 p.m. sharp, Warwick appeared onstage in a silver sequin pantsuit and elegantly coifed blonde hair. Singing exactly on pitch and never missing a note, the 62-year-old diva thrilled her audience members for almost 90 minutes by performing many of their favorite songs. The appreciative audience sang along, applauding as the first notes of a beloved song were played, then rising to their feet as Warwick launched into a throaty caress of "Alfie," the theme from the 1960s hit movie, and one of her biggest hits.
After performing "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" with a samba beat in tribute to her adopted home of Brazil, Warwick said to the audience, "There are three things that are extremely important to an entertainer: The place where they are performing, the people before whom they are performing, and the people with whom they are performing."
The audience couldn’t agree more.
"It was a wonderful show, and it capped off a wonderful night," Coles said after the show was over and the star’s brief appearance in the VIP lounge to sign autographs had ended.
"We were so impressed that she came out here to sign autographs, too," said Jan Coles, the mayor’s wife.
The evening’s star performer was a hit with many in the crowd of people who were not VIPs, but whose appreciation was just as important to the success of the evening.
"It would be great to have more people perform that we grew up with," said Mickey Eaton of Manchester, while waiting earlier with his wife, Ada Gonzalez, for Warwick to make her appearance to sign autographs.
"Dionne Warwick is his idol — that’s the only woman I allow him to idolize next to me," said Gonzalez jokingly.
Jimmy and Pam Coefield of Lakewood also shared warm memories of the superstar songbird whose records they remembered from their childhoods.
"We grew up listening to her," said Jimmy Coefield. "But there’s nothing like live music."