By Cathy Maestri

InstantRiverside.com

Proving that they do indeed give a damn, hundreds of Riverside’s elite ponied up $150 for hors d’oeuvres, champagne and a first peek at the renovated Fox Theater on Friday night.

The venue, first opened in 1929 as the Riverside Theatre to offer vaudeville and early talkies, still smelled of paint as it made its official debut as the Fox Performing Arts Center. Fox Foundation Gala attendees, clad in tuxes and evening finery, were greeted by a phalanx of period cars and a flirting Rhett Butler — a nod to the venue’s history as the site of the first public screening of “Gone With the Wind.” Food and champagne were served in three giant plastic tents, complete with crystal chandeliers and live jazz, set up at Mission Inn Avenue and Market Street.

There was a buzz of anticipation as gala-goers waited for Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge to turn on the lights and open the doors.

“We’ve been waiting for this a long time,” said 83-year-old Geneva Derr of Sun City, who frequented the third seat from the aisle in the Fox balcony (pictured) when she lived in Riverside.

“I think it’s marvelous…. People are almost hungry for it,” said Derr, widow of Riverside parks chief Don Derr.

“This is one of the most fantastic gala events I’ve ever attended,” said Ralph Chelli, who said he expects to be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for his 30 years as a Clark Gable impersonator — from Universal Studios to the Rose Parade to films including “Chaplin” and “Seabiscuit.” It was actress Vivien Leigh, not Gable, who actually attended the secret 1939 preview of “GWTW,” but Chelli spent the evening mingling in a white suit and black-and gold ascot, arching a rakish eyebrow as he posed for pictures and fussed over the ladies. “I appreciate the people that keep this alive… the people that love tradition.”

The city acquired the venue through eminent domain in 2005; Joe Zivnak bought the theater in 2001 and began renovations, intending to house his Wurlitzer organ in the theater and run it as a non-profit. (Pictured right: The stage, May 2007, before renovation.)

The Fox’s rebirth echoes that of its neighbor, the once-shuttered Mission Inn, which reopened in 1992. Hotel owner Duane Roberts is now head of the board of trustees for the theater.

The Fox Performing Arts Center will host its first entertainment on Jan. 22-23, when singer Sheryl Crow performs; Nederlander’s initial Broadway in Riverside lineup includes “Annie,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Hairspray.” For a full list of events, click here.

Prior to the gala, Fox project manager Robert Wise led a press tour to show off details of the building’s $32-million renovation. (The Fox will be open for free public tours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.) An earthquake retrofit may have been the most important part of the work, but the most impressive is the painstaking replication of the intricate paintwork on the building’s beams and ceilings — obscured for decades under layers of brown paint.

Artist Evan LeGrande Wilson had to re-create faux woodgrain on the plaster beams before using stencils based on the original artwork. Even imperfections were duplicated, according to Wise. “The way you see this lobby now is the way it looked in 1929 when it opened,” he said.

Because the ceiling of the main auditorium had escaped the brown paint, it only required cleaning, touchup and varnishing, Wise said. Down below, all the old seats were removed (Wise called them “a biohazard”); the payoff is that the new ones, covered in deep red faux velvet, are decidedly more comfortable.

The ornate stage looks much the way it did in 1929, capped by three huge mission-style bells that had been covered by a latter-day facade since 1939, Wise said.

Wilson refurbished those as well as worked on the reproduction of detailed plasterwork and new tiles to replace those that were broken or stolen during the years the theater was dark.

Up in the balcony that Derr always favored there are an extra 92 seats, boosting the venue’s capacity to 1,642 — the extra room is thanks to the removal of the old projection room and cameras. (Films shown at the renovated Fox will be screened via rear projection.)

There are also more restroom stalls; 38, up from the original eight.

The theater’s original iron-and-mica lights were approximated — the new ones don’t have real mica or old-fashioned light bulbs, and additional units were added in the mezzanine lobby, Wise said. (Vintage photo, pictured right.)

Also reproduced is the neon “Preview” script that once graced the front of the Fox’s rotunda. The copy is in the bar area that replaces some of the old ground-level shops. The front of the building now sports a trio of LED billboards, the building’s most visible (some would say jarring) update.

Behind-the-scenes modernizations include an expanded stagehouse; sound equipment in the old pipe-organ spaces; and five wheelchair lifts and a freight elevator. Old office space above the theater has been turned into dressing rooms for performers — interiors walls and doors are generic modern-office style, but the exposed brick of the exterior walls looked so good after being stripped of plaster that they were left that way, Wise said. The room in the building’s rotunda has been structurally reinforced and renovated; it will serve as a lounge for donors.

While the Fox may look new, it still retains its character — and perhaps characters. Wise, who will move on to work on a parking structure that will replace the building adjoining the theater, said he’s heard the stories of ghosts in the Fox and isn’t the only one to get the occasional creepy feeling. Some of the electricians working on the renovation, Wise said, “won’t go into the basement alone.”

More information

Click here to learn more about free tours of Riverside’s Fox Performing Arts Center on Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to watch a documentary on the history of Riverside’s Fox and the beginning of it’s renovation.

Click here to watch the demolition of the back wall of Riverside’s Fox Theater.

Click here to watch a video report on the renovation of Riverside’s Fox as it neared completion.