The Strand gets a Hand

Thanks to an Outpouring of Community Support, Marietta’s Historic Theater Stands Strong in the Spotlight

By Jennifer Maciejewski

When the Strand Theatre opened its doors in 1935, it seemed as if all of Marietta turned out to attend the premiere of “Top Hat,” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The state-of-the-art Art Deco-styled theater offered moviegoers the most modern experience outside the city of Atlanta, seating 1,000 and providing luxuries such as heating and air conditioning. Over the next 40 years, people of all ages headed to Marietta’s town square to catch a Sunday matinee with their friends or spend the evening sharing a movie with a date, making it a beloved fixture in the community where families could share stories about seeing their favorite movie idol on the big screen.

But as megaplexes began to emerge in the 1970s, the Strand was converted into retail space in 1976, housing several business ventures until it was left vacant in 2002. For five years, the formerly glamorous Strand was now ancient, deteriorating and left to die, serving as an eyesore to Marietta’s historic square, which was in the midst of a major redevelopment effort. That same year, a group of community leaders, later known as the Friends of the Strand, started exploring the possibility of restoring the Strand to its original form, a move that would bring an entertainment venue back to the now bustling town square while preserving a piece of the community’s history.

Restoration of the Strand Theater is underway. The new facility is scheduled to open Summer 2008.

A Grand for the Strand

“The Strand is one of the landmark buildings in Marietta,” said Friends of the Strand board member Becky Paden, vice chair of the Marietta Historic Preservation Commission and president of the Cobb Preservation Foundation. “Many people living here have memories of attending movies there. We are losing so much of our heritage in Cobb County from development, and we need to preserve what we can. If we are going to teach our children about our past, we need to have some reminders still with us to show them things that speak to our heritage.”

In 2004, the Friends of the Strand launched a capital campaign, “Bring Back the Strand,” and negotiated a favorable lease on the property. Although the community loved the idea of resurrecting the square’s movie theater, the donations trickled in slowly, and after two years, the group was still $750,000 short of the $2.3 million it needed to start the building’s renovation.

Giving itself a 90-day limit, the Friends of the Strand decided to make one final attempt to raise the remaining funds. Unless they met their goal by March 1, the group would shelve its plans to return the theater to its original state, leaving the building to face the same fate as the square’s original courthouse — the wrecking ball.

To create a renewed sense of urgency, the group shifted its message from “Bring Back the Strand” to “Save the Strand,” and it worked to spread the message through as many media outlets as possible. With its “A Grand for the Strand” fundraising initiative, an individual or a group could purchase a seat for $1,000 and dedicate it to someone — three sisters joined together to honor their mother, cousins pooled their money to honor their grandparents, a sixth-grader went door-to-door in his neighborhood to request donations to meet his goal and many other Marietta residents followed suit, raising more than $300,000 in seat sales alone. Even Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway adopted the cause and began speaking publicly at everything from Rotary Club to IMPACT (Involved Mariettans Planning Actively for the City of Tomorrow) meetings about the importance of saving the Strand, which is the last historical structure on the square. The Downtown Marietta Development Authority pledged $10,000 to create a “Mayor’s Row” of theater seats in honor of past mayors who no longer have relatives that could purchase a seat for them, and Mayor Dunaway and former Mayor Victoria Chastain also purchased seats in the row.

Even with the funds seemingly pouring in, the Friends of the Strand was still $400,000 short of its goal with just two weeks remaining. To fill in the gap, several corporations and individuals stepped up with major gifts, including Bank of North Georgia, Entertainment Design Group, Georgian Bank, Maude Vaughn Fund, Roger and Pam DeBoy, former Gov. Roy Barnes, Walton Communities and Wharton Management. And though it went down to the wire, the Friends of the Strand met their fundraising goal, thanks to an eleventh-hour $100,000 donation from Bill Heard Chevrolet in Kennesaw, whose general manager, Mike Raines, grew up going to movies at the Strand.

“There was a real ground swell of community support that wasn’t there before,” said Sam Kelly, Friends of the Strand capital campaign chairman. “Everybody woke up and said, ‘You know, we can’t wait for the guy next door to do it; we’re going to have to do it.’ Everybody realized the urgency of making sure that this iconic theater on the square in Marietta was saved.”

Bank of North Georgia Marietta Community Executive Mary Karras, who is also a member of the Friends of the Strand, presents the bank’s contribution to Sam Kelly (middle), Friends of the Strand capital campaign chair, and Friends Chairman Earl Smith (right).

Plans for the Strand

With $2.3 million in the bank, the Friends of the Strand could begin construction on the theater’s extensive restoration, breaking ground in May. Although the Strand will once again house a movie theater, the renovation plan includes features that will add a new dimension to the facility.

Much of the theater’s historic façade will remain intact: the concrete on the exterior of the building will be stripped off to reveal the structure’s original marble, and architect Lane Green will ensure that its interior design remains true to the Art Deco-style prevalent in the 1930s, although it will feature roomier seats and an improved sound system. Budget permitting, the restored Strand will once again include a working organ, and to help make that vision a reality, the Atlanta Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society has committed a theater pipe organ to the project, which is similar to the one used at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

The theater’s acoustics and lighting will be optimized to provide an ideal setting for a variety of artistic performances, whether it’s playing classic movies and orchestrating film festivals or hosting dance recitals and providing a forum for the black box performances of a local theater group’s latest production.

But the plans for the Strand extend beyond recreating it as a movie house. “We’re taking it back to the original in a lot of areas, but along the way we have realized there is a lot more space in that building than just for the theater,” said Earl Smith, chairman of the board for the Friends of the Strand. “Aside from the theater, there is space for meeting places, and there is a need around the square for such a facility.”

The previously untapped space will be transformed into two banquet rooms, both of which will provide the ideal setting for everything from wedding receptions to corporate functions. The planned reception area on the second floor will be able to hold more than 150 people standing or 75 seated, and it features a catering kitchen that will be available for rent. On the fourth floor, the building will house a second area capable of holding a comparable number of people, and that room will flow out onto a rooftop garden that overlooks the square.

Premiering Summer 2008

Although the initial $2.3 million allowed the Friends of the Strand to break ground, the group has only raised just over half of the $4.5 million it needs to complete the project — $3.75 million to pay for construction and $750,000 to fund an endowment. Fortunately, there are still many ways for the community to get involved in the effort, from purchasing one of the remaining seats in the “A Grand for the Strand” program or buying naming rights to the marquee or the rooftop terrace.

Since the initial capital campaign and planning phase took longer than anticipated, the Friends of the Strand lost the first several years of its favorable 50-year lease, which waived the theater’s rent for the first eight years of the agreement. To ensure that the facility opens its doors on solid financial ground, Smith approached Councilman Philip Goldstein, the owner of the Strand, to rework the terms of the lease. Though he had previously donated $100,000 to the cause, Goldstein generously agreed to restart the clock on the lease and rent forgiveness time frame as of January 2007.

Meeting the initial fundraising goal has had a dual effect for the Strand: not only did it enable the group to begin the renovation, but demonstrating that the project was moving forward renewed the community’s interest in supporting the endeavor, especially among people who were reluctant to donate to the cause when the theater’s future remained uncertain.

“There was some apprehension because we were behind,” Smith said. “People were wondering, ‘Is it going to happen?’ Now everybody knows it is going to happen and what it is going to mean to the square, and we are comfortable with being able to raise the balance between now and the next 12 months. When it opens in the summer of 2008, the Strand will be something that people will want to experience. I know it is going to be something people will be proud of.”

Photos courtesy of Friends of the Strand

Help Save the Strand

To donate to or volunteer with Friends of the Strand, call 678-569-1321 or visit www.friendsofthestrand.org. Volunteers are needed as ushers and historians, as well as committee members for marketing and fundraising efforts.