I recently had the privilege of touring the Palace Theatre with Irving Clark, who was the head usher in 1927. Irving graduated from the Lockport High School in 1930.

We walked through the theatre, talking about shows of the past, and recalling memories of what used to occupy that magnificent structure. “No one was allowed to seat themselves back then, we escorted everyone to their seats,” he recalled. Irving was the head usher, which meant that he was the supervisor of all the other ushers, as well as being the ticket collector. Pictured above is where Irving stood in 1927 as he collected tickets from all of the customers. The ticket stand is original and is the same one the Irving used.

Every night there were four ushers (two for the balcony and two for the main floor) plus himself that were in charge of the crowds. The ushers in the balcony were in charge of keeping an eye on the teenage couples in the Loges, while the ushers on the main floor had the additional task of keeping an eye on the “standing room only” crowd in the back of the theatre.

The Program consisted of 10 minutes of News, 10 minutes or so of comedy cartoons, the Main Feature was a silent movie accompanied by organist Lou Hannigan and a live vaudeville act to wrap up the night. Admission was 25 cents, while children under 12 got in for free. The big crowds came through on the weekends. Irving worked 7 days a week.

Irving didn’t look forward to Saturday nights, because after the show was underway, his job was to start organizing the big metal letters that hung across Main Street to read the name of the show that was coming the next week. The programs changed every week, and each week he had to change the letters above Main Street for the new program which started on Sunday. He would organize all of the letters and then go up on the roof and string them across a cable that ran from the roof of the Palace to the roof of the Post Office. One rainy Saturday, he was stringing the letters across the cable when the cable broke and fell onto the Trolley Lines that ran below. Irving said he had never received such a shock in his entire life. And despite throwing him 20 feet or more, he never told his boss, and never went to the hospital. His fellow employees told him he should have been dead, but just the same, Irving not only walked away from that accident, but rehung the cable and finished stringing the letters that same night.

Irving remembers the track team practicing for meets in the alley behind the Palace. At that time the high school was next door to the Palace Theatre and between the high school and the Palace was a small alleyway where they would practice the 50 yard dash, the high jump, the long jump, and a few other track events. He remembers hearing them outside while he was working after school.

After spending a good two hours with Mr. Clark, I not only learned a lot about the Palace, but thoroughly enjoyed hearing a first person account of the building, rather than reading about its history in newspaper clippings. I thank Mr. Clark for his time and hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much I enjoyed putting it together.

~ Jason Walling

If you have any interesting stories about the Historic Palace Theatre and would like to share them with us, please feel free to email us or call the Palace at 716.438.1131.