Memory Of The Week: The History Of The Bama Theatre

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"When the static from the mouthpiece gave away to the sound below, James Dean went out to Hollywood and put his picture in a picture show"

- John Prine, "Picture Show" (1991)

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Few venues are as crucial to the cultural identity of Tuscaloosa as the historic Bama Theatre, with its current incarnation still welcoming patrons after nearly a century.

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But the iconic marquee and box office facing out onto Greensboro Avenue are just small parts of the overall history of the theater, which can trace its roots back to 1886 when it was the former site of Tuscaloosa City Hall and an old brick city jail.

The old, stately city hall was built at a cost of $35,000, according to a newspaper story from 1938 when the new theater was erected. Funding for the new Bama Theatre was made possible through a City of Tuscaloosa bond issue for $110,000, a federal Public Works Administration grant of $90,000 and temporary loans.

Indeed, multiple accounts from the time said the construction of the new venue came in roughly $50,000 over budget due to rising costs of materials and labor. The bill for the construction was initially set to be paid off within 20 years by rentals from the theatre auditorium, along with revenue generated by stores on the ground floor and offices rented on the second floor.

The country had yet to truly turn the corner from the Great Depression and Tuscaloosa was no different as city leaders reportedly became anxious for a new City Hall once the relief money started flowing down from Washington, D.C.

Enter Bob Wilby — a Selma native and the co-owner of the Wilby-Kincey chain of motion picture houses. Wilby had owned the original Bama Theatre on University Boulevard at the current site of the First National Bank Building and had a friend in the cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And it was this relationship that reportedly helped the city secure the funding for a new combined city hall/theater complex.

Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin, whose career spanned over 400 mostly municipal projects, was tasked with designing the new complex, while Montgomery's Upchurch Construction Co. was hired to build it.

The inside of the theater, however, was arguably the most-anticipated offering and was mentioned in several newspaper stories leading up to its big opening on April 12, 1938.

For instance, one sidebar story printed in the Tuscaloosa News lauded the sky-blue ceiling, the Italianate balconies, garden scenes, rose arbors and archways intended to give the visitor the feeling of being in an Italian courtyard.

The interior design that is a hallmark of the venue to this day comes into even sharper focus when considering who was responsible for it —University of Alabama professor and artist Navino Nataloni, who was praised as a skilled veteran in the field of interior design for theaters.

A native of Italy, Nataloni immigrated to the United States in 1920 after fighting for Italy in the first World War. As one newspaper article pointed out just ahead of the Bama Theatre's opening in 1938, Nataloni had two brothers at the time enlisted in the army of fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with one fighting in Ethiopia and the other seeing combat in Spain.

The buzz in Tuscaloosa on April 12, 1938, shows that the theater opening was the event of the season for the city, which held a parade that included Disney characters and the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band.

The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa says that “Bringing Up Baby," which starred Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, was screened at the grand opening gala, along with other animated features.

Theater manager Doug Perry said several decades later that the debut season for the Bama Theatre featured roughly 70 performances in additions to the films screened. The theater also sold approximately $550,000 in war bonds during World War II.

Still, the shine and excitement around the theater seemed to have waned considerably with the advent of television and a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1950s that forced the separation of movie makers and movie house owners at a time when half of the Wilby-Kincey chain of theaters was owned by Paramount Studios.

The theater was also racially segregated for most of its early existence.

Despite the introduction of an imported German smoke machine around this time to compliment the twinkling stars on the ceiling of the theater, business was becoming tough for the palatial movie houses of old.

The decline was so sharp, in fact, that the venue was leased to the Tuscaloosa County Arts and Humanities Council in 1976 after ABC Southeastern Theaters decided it was no longer profitable to operate the complex as a movie theater. Tickets were also noticeable more expensive than the Bama Theatre's other nearby competitors like The Ritz, The Diamond and The Druid — the latter being the renamed original Bama theatre once co-owned by Wilby.

From there, the Bama Theatre became a storied concert venue over the next several decades, welcoming notable acts like John Prine, The Police, Ry Cooder, Joan Baez, Drive-By Truckers, Bela Fleck and Bill Monroe, just to name a few.

Vincent Price, one of the greatest horror icons of the silver screen, also visited the theater in 1981 and years later celebrated author Neil Gaiman made an appearance at the historic venue.

Tryouts for extras in the Peter O'Toole film "The Stunt Man" were also held at the theater in the late 1970s.

It was during this time of transition, too, that several improvements were made to the aging theater, including a $5,000 anonymous gift for new carpet that would last until 1999.

What's more, the theater space was in desperate need of a stage extender due to the fact that the initial design of the performance area was suited for vaudeville acts.

While the height and width of the original stage were both standard Broadway dimensions, the shallow depth of roughly 18 feet was considered a "severely limiting factor."

In response, the University of Alabama put up $5,000 for a temporary demountable stage extender to be custom-built.

Even in the 1970s, experts praised the physical shape of the venue, with engineer Charles H. Gilbreath pointing out that the building was constructed with reinforced concrete and stone, before mentioning that its total value was appraised at $660,180 in 1974.

"It's been a good building for 40 years," Gilbreath said in 1978, "and I expect it should be for another 40 to 50 years."

In an effort to improve the overall experience for patrons, the theater's carpeting was recently replaced thanks to an investment of $150,000 by the Tuscaloosa County Commission in 2021 that went toward more than $363,000 in renovations.

The latest round of improvements also included a new stage floor and new theater seating, with the old chairs having served patrons since the 1980s.

Apart from the most-recent improvements to the theater, its iconic murals painted by Navino Nataloni were restored in 2019 by local artist Ruth O'Connor, with transparent panels installed to protect the integrity of the pastoral artwork.

Listed on the National Registry of Landmarks and Heritage, the Bama Theatre is as busy as ever at present and remains one of the most-popular event venues in West Alabama, hosting everything from beauty pageants and large-scale stage productions to the Arts Council of Tuscaloosa's popular classic film series.

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