A Centennial at Bay View

July 2, 2015

Bay View’s John M. Hall Auditorium is celebrating 100 years this summer. The renowned local venue that sits alongside Bay View’s legendary Victorian cottages and campus buildings, many of which have hosted notable and famous guests, has certainly enjoyed a storied past.

This unique community and National Historic Landmark is preparing to celebrate and honor one of their oldest structures and cultural gathering places with a slate of live performances. Let’s take a look back at the auditorium’s history.

SUMMERS OF PROGRESS

John M. Hall was an attorney from Flint, Michigan, who was elected superintendent of the Chautauqua Educational Department of Bay View in 1885. Under his leadership, he established the first university level summer school in Michigan, which quickly enrolled 700 students.

In 1913, after three decades at Bay View, Hall announced he’d be gifting a new auditorium to the community that would replace the original 1887 “Old Auditorium, “which was beginning to decay.

“The new facility was to be completed the following summer, but construction problems and Hall’s death delayed the project,” explained Bay View Artistic Director Chris Ludwa.

Finally, in 1915, 40 years after the founding of Bay View, the John M. Hall Auditorium and a Pilcher pipe organ were dedicated. The cost of the auditorium was approximately $50,000 and the pipe organ $8,000. The Auditorium could seat 2,100 guests and was designed by architect W.E.N. Hunter of Detroit.

“John M. Hall Auditorium also has one of the few proscenium curtains remaining in Michigan — featuring Little Traverse Bay. It’s lowered on very special occasions,” Ludwa said.

DECADES OF DEDICATION

In the 1950s, it was time to replace the original wooden chairs, and theater seating was installed on the first floor.

During the decades to follow, interior improvements were done a little at a time. Finally, with new theater venues popping up around the region, it was decided to upgrade the auditorium again in 2008.

“The auditorium now seats 846 on the main floor and 528 in the balcony,” Ludwa said. “The sound and lighting systems were upgraded, along with new seating, carpeting, window blinds and backstage improvements.”

Ludwa added that one of the coolest things — literally — about the auditorium is that it’s quasi-open air.

“There are enormous windows flanking the seating on both sides, probably 12 feet wide and 7 feet high,” he explained. “They slide open and let the audience feel the Michigan breeze during a performance.”

More than just a lake breeze wafts through the auditorium. The venue’s past and present have shaped a unique ambiance of significance that’s evident to anyone who has visited.

“A recent artist remarked, ‘this is such an incredible building; you can feel the scope of history when you’re on stage, yet it’s also completely updated,’” Ludwa said.

YEARS OF CULTURE 

A lot of artists have passed through the venue, performing for Bay View residents and guests.

“We’ve hosted everyone from opera legends from the Metropolitan Opera in NYC to world-renowned speakers on Sunday mornings,” Ludwa said. “In recent years, some highlights for me personally have been Punch Brothers with Chris Thile, comedian Paul Reiser, string trio Time for Three, Chick Corea and The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African- American touring ensemble.”

To help celebrate the venue’s centennial, July 11 will welcome late ‘60s rock group, The Rascals, for a special concert. The annual pops orchestra concert — which this year has a sci-fi/“Star Wars” theme — will take place July 12. A major vespers concert is set for Sunday, July 19, with more than 100 years’ worth of music and more than 30 artists performing songs from 1915 to the present. The opera “La Bohème” will play at the auditorium for the first time in early August.

“And the musical ‘Ragtime’ (July 23-25) will be the most relevant piece of theater we’ve ever done, given the challenges our nation faces today,” Ludwa said.

John M. Hall Auditorium is considered by many to be the heart of Bay View, representing the history of both the Bay View community itself and, Ludwa said, “the last 100 years in America.”

“It stands for how far we’ve come and how far we have to go,” he explained. “Because it’s used in so many ways, it’s a cultural epicenter unto itself. This building is special in a way that’s intangible and when you add the talents of our artists and community members, it’s truly a unique experience you can’t find in even the most advanced theaters in the world.”

For more information on the Chautauqua of Bay View and the Bay View Festival, visit bayviewassociation.org and bayviewfestival. org. Special thanks to Mary Jane Doerr, author of “Bay View: An American Idea.”

Fun Facts About Bay View:

- Ernest Hemingway was given a room at Evelyn Hall where he could stay and write while recovering from his war injuries in 1919.

- Actor Stacy Keach was interviewed in that same room by CNN News in 1987, discussing his lead role in the TV miniseries “Hemingway.”

- Irma S. Rombauer took cooking at Evelyn Hall and wrote the first edition of “Joy of Cooking” in 1931.

- Members of George Armstrong Custer’s family spent time at a Bay View cottage in 1877.

- The great operatic contralto Madame Schumann- Heink sang at the Old Auditorium to 2,100 people in 1913. She was paid $4,000 and, at $2 a ticket, the association broke even.

- The Old Auditorium leaked so badly that people brought umbrellas for performances when it rained.

- Legendary teacher Anne Sullivan fell when she and Helen Keller were getting on the stage of the Old Auditorium, prompting Hall to make plans for a new auditorium.

- Bay View’s music festival is the oldest continuously operating chamber music festival in the country.