{"id":46086,"date":"2024-05-30T23:53:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T03:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=46086"},"modified":"2024-05-30T23:53:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T03:53:31","slug":"watch-a-classic-film-inside-this-historic-gem-of-lakeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/05\/30\/watch-a-classic-film-inside-this-historic-gem-of-lakeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch a classic film inside this historic Gem of Lakeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Catch a classic film inside this historic gem located in downtown Lakeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Polk Theatre <\/a>was built in 1928 and sold 2,000 on its opening day on Dec. 22, 1928.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On opening day, December 22, 1928, 2,000 of the 2,200 tickets available for the 1:00 p.m. matinee were sold within an hour of the box office\u2019s noon opening. The film that the first day was a Warner Brothers all-talking special, \u201cOn Trial\u201d. During the transitional period in American popular culture, the Polk showcased both vaudeville and films. From its earliest days and extending into the \u201840s, the Theatre hosted a wide variety of live events in addition to films. There was a stage trap door that was particularly useful for magic acts. Enticing locals with the \u201cHollywood Scandals\u201d were the McCord Dancers, the Sun-Tan Revue, and The Green Pastures. The Chinese Houdini, Li Ho Chang, also performed live on stage, and of particular note was Sally Rand with her famous fan dance. Other notables to perform through the years include, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Eddy Arnold, Tom Mix, Gene Autrey, Glenn Miller, and the king himself, Elvis Presley in 1956.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s only one of four atmospheric theatres in the state,\u201d Polk Theatre Sales Manager Ricky Johnson said. \u201cYou\u2019re sitting in this literal 95-year-old piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to theatre staff, Presley stayed in one of the upstairs dressing rooms and left his autograph on one of the walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1982, a group of concerned citizens banded together to save the Polk. They formed a non-profit group, borrowed money, secured a grant from the state, and purchased the theatre for $300,000. As a non-profit, the Polk continues to rely upon grants and donations in order to meet its financial obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major restoration of the building was completed in October, 1999, but as with any historic property it continues to need work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Theatre is supported by revenue from films, its Performing Arts Series, two fundraisers a year, rental income, and memberships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Polk Theatre shows classic films, hosts recitals, and concerts, and can even be rented out as a venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are about 1,400 seats and there is also a concession stand with snacks, beer, and wine available for purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Check out the Polk Theatre\u2019s online box office to buy tickets for upcoming films\/events.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catch a classic film inside this historic gem located in downtown Lakeland. The Polk Theatre was built in 1928 and sold 2,000 on its opening day on Dec. 22, 1928. On opening… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"7348","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7348],"tags":[8669],"class_list":["post-46086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polk-theatre","tag-watch-a-classic-film-inside-this-historic-gem-of-lakeland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46089,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46086\/revisions\/46089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}