by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Since the day it first opened on April 8, 1927 the Florida Theatre on East Forsyth Street has hosted a wide variety of entertainment. It was originally Downtown’s 15th – and largest – movie theater. It was where audiences went for Vaudeville entertainment, orchestra performances and other entertainment art forms, including a performance by Elvis Presley in 1956.
During the Florida Theatre’s heyday and since the extensive renovation that restored the venue to its original glory in 1983, thousands of performers from world-famous to local kids in the Nutcracker Ballet have spent time on the boards of the theater’s stage.
That stage is being restored as part of the preparation for the Oct. 1 celebration of the 25th anniversary of the theater’s reopening. It’s the first major work done on the structure of the stage floor since 1927.
“Over the years, a few of the boards were replaced but it was usually yellow pine instead of heart pine,” said Saul Lucio, Florida Theatre technical director.
The wood used for the restoration project was custom-milled to match the original boards installed more than 80 years ago and the wood itself is of the same vintage. It was reclaimed from old warehouses and other structures. When the job is finished, Lucio said about 25 percent of the wood will have been replaced on the 1,900 square-foot stage.
One part that isn’t being replaced is the section closest to the audience. It’s made of maple boards rather than pine. Lucio said in the 1920s and ‘30s — when Vaudeville was as likely to be on the bill at the theater as a motion picture — that part of the stage was used by the performers, so a more durable wood was used.
“We had to take that section out, restore the boards and then put it back together like a puzzle,” he added.
Lucio said he wouldn’t have been surprised to find historical artifacts under the boards, perhaps a message written by a carpenter who helped install the original stage, but so far only an antique medicine bottle has been uncovered.
The staff at the Florida Theatre collected some contemporary artifacts for a time capsule of sorts that will be placed beneath the boards during the restoration. It contains, ticket stubs, backstage passes and photographs of the people who work at the theater, said Marketing Director Kendall Barsin.
“We’re going to put it in a place that can be found only by whoever does the next stage restoration,” added Lucio.
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