BRATTLEBORO — With a yearlong series of special events planned for 2013, the Latchis Hotel and Theatre in Brattleboro celebrates both the 75th anniversary of the Latchis complex and the 10th anniversary of its nonprofit owner, Latchis Arts.
But the most momentous event for the Latchis this year is a major renovation of the main theater itself.
The main theater will see replacement of the main hall seating, as well as restoration of the famed Zodiac ceiling. The $550,000 project will require closing the main theater August and September.
The kickoff of this year's festivities is a screening of “Bringing Up Baby,” perhaps the definitive 1930s screwball comedy. The film stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and features a pet leopard and a missing brontosaurus bone. Howard Hawks rendered this masterpiece in 1938, the year the Latchis opened.
The show is Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation, which benefits Latchis Arts.
According to Latchis managing director Gail Nunziata, “Bringing Up Baby” is planned as the first of 12 monthly specials.
Latchis recently screened two other classic films: “Singin' in the Rain” (1952) and “White Christmas” (1954).
Nunziata said she also is excited about a special event planned for Feb. 24: an Academy Awards party, complete with red carpet and more glamour than Brattleboro usually sees at any one time.
“The big screen in the main theater will show a live HD broadcast, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, of the 85th airing of the world's most famous film awards ceremony,” she said. “The broadcast will be the centerpiece of a glamorous, fun-filled evening, simulating all the mystique and aura of that celebrated Hollywood night.”
Restored to greatness
Nunziata said the public can expect big changes for the Latchis this year, as the theater is restored to its 1938 glory, backed by $550,000 in grants and donations.
In August the old seats will be removed, and the empty theater will fill with scaffolding. Nunziata said the balsa wood Zodiac pieces will be restored. Along with restoring the ceiling, Latchis Arts plans to return a starry night effect to the heavens, using LED lighting instead of the ancient light bulbs that originally lit the “sky.”
Bringing the theater up to code for ADA accessibility upgrades is another major goal.
Plans call for bringing new seating into the theater, and restoring or replacing the historic aisle seat framings.
According to Nunziata, the community has been “very responsive” to the Latchis's mission, and fundraising efforts have netted more than 50 percent of the goal.
Latchis Arts President Lisa Bloch says, “The Latchis is a piece of the community that can't be replicated. We are proud to be taking care of this landmark building.”
Living history
The Latchis Theatre and Hotel opened Oct. 6, 1938, in a gala event that had been delayed two weeks by the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. It is one of only two genuine Art Deco buildings in Vermont, and is perhaps most famed for its magnificent terrazzo floors.
The grand theater was built with balcony, stage, and oversized screen, and is adorned with one-of-a-kind Greek statuary and hand-painted mythic murals.
The Latchis now houses four screening rooms, and the community regularly uses the main stage for major events.
An assortment of vaudeville entertainment - including music, magic, and acrobatics - was followed by the Latchis' first feature film, “That Certain Age,” starring Deanna Durbin, Melvyn Douglas, and Jackie Cooper.
The grand opening was a major event, with friends, family, citizens of Brattleboro, and representatives of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the motion picture industry joining a capacity crowd to honor Demetrius P. Latchis, patriarch, entrepreneur, and business leader, who had steered his family to success in their adopted country.
For the Latchis family - which already owned 12 movie houses throughout New England, as well as three hotels, a fruiterie, and a confectionary - this reportedly was their most personal venture.
Done in a style which has been called “Greco-deco,” the Latchis is a mixture of the popular 1930's brand of Art Deco design with whimsical touches of antique Grecian mythology and landscapes in memory of the Latchis family's ancestral homeland.
Modern times
The Latchis family owned and managed the theater until 2003, when it put the complex up for sale.
Latchis Arts, the organization formerly known as Brattleboro Arts Initiative, took on the responsibility to mount a fundraising campaign and purchase the Latchis Hotel and Theatre from the Latchis family in 2003.
In the past decade, more than $1.8 million has been invested in the building, hotel and theater, deepening the role the Latchis plays as a home for culture and art, and solidifying its economic impact as a stable downtown landmark.
When the Latchis complex opened, complete with a restaurant, coffee shop, ballroom and hotel, it was billed as being “a city within a city.” Today's Latchis Theatre is part of a nonprofit/for-profit hybrid which includes the Latchis Hotel.
“We - Latchis Arts and Latchis Corporation, and all of Brattleboro - owe a debt to the visionaries in the Latchis family so long ago,” says Nunziata. “This monument to Demetrius Latchis has stood the test of time. It is substantial, timeless, and built to last.”
“We believe the Latchis plays an important role in building community. We are a true success story of a cultural facility making a difference in our downtown,” said Bloch.
Weathering Irene
Nunziata said she is happy to say that today the Latchis is a healthy institution, even after flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 destroyed the building's electrical and heating systems, and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
“Of course, Irene was a crisis for us,” she says. “We had to close our doors for quite a while to replace our electrical system, among other things, which turned out to be very expensive. Now we have a financial burden we had not had in the past. But we are willing to live with that fact. Nature has a way of impinging on things we love. One thing I could say in the flood's favor is that the storm did finally get us to clean out all that junk which we had for years stored in our basement.
Nunziata said making the Latchis work is a slow-going, arduous process, but a fulfilling endeavor.
“We call what we do here 'relentless incrementalism,'” she says. “We work every day to make the Latchis a stronger and more viable asset to our community.”