Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown is a community theatre company located in Jamestown, New York. It evolved from the Jamestown Players Club and was established as a non-profit corporation in 1936 with the name Little Theatre of Jamestown. The company has its own theatre on East Second St. in Jamestown which it purchased in 1968. Both the company and its theatre were renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown in 1991 to honor the actress Lucille Ball, Jamestown's most famous resident. Ball got her acting start with the company's precursor The Players Club and returned in 1945 to perform in a series of skits with the company in Chautauqua's Smith-Wilkes Hall. Throughout her life, she would send the company cash donations as well as costumes from her television and film career. One of her donations, a costume from the film Gone With the Wind is still used by the company. [1]
Type | non-profit corporation |
---|---|
Industry | community theatre company |
Founded | 1969 |
Founder | Abner E. Allen |
Headquarters | Jamestown, New York |
Key people | Charles Samuels |
Since 1969, the company's home has been located at 18 East Second St. in Jamestown. The building began its life in 1881 as Allen's Opera House. Its proprietor, Abner E. Allen, sold the theatre to Charles Samuels in 1898 when it became known as Samuels Opera House. It was then acquired by the MA Shea Corporation in 1919 and in 1925 was extensively and elegantly refurbished in a Spanish style, which can still be seen in its facade. The Shea Theatre was initially used for vaudeville performances but with the decline of the genre it was turned into a cinema. [2] By the early 1960s the cinema had closed and the building was derelict. It was purchased in 1968 by the Little Theatre of Jamestown, and new theatre was built inside the shell of the old one. The renovated theatre was opened in 1969. Officially renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre in 1991, it has a seating capacity of 402, a full stage, and a small lobby. [3]
Celoron is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It is part of the town of Ellicott and sits on the west boundary of the city of Jamestown. The population of Celoron was 1,082 at the 2020 census.
Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest city in the county. Nearby Chautauqua Lake is a freshwater resource used by fishermen, boaters, and naturalists.
Jamestown West is a census-designated place (CDP) located near Jamestown in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. Also known as West Ellicott because of its location in the Town of Ellicott, the area population was 2,408 as of the 2010 census.
Mayville is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 1,477 at the 2020 census, 13.7% less than in the 2010 census. Mayville is in the town of Chautauqua and is the county seat of Chautauqua County. The village and town offices share a building on Main Street, directly across from the Chautauqua County courthouse.
Vivian Vance was an American actress best known for playing Ethel Mertz on the sitcom I Love Lucy (1951–1957), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, among other accolades. She also starred alongside Lucille Ball in The Lucy Show from 1962 until she left the series at the end of its third season in 1965. In 1991, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is most commonly identified as Lucille Ball’s longtime comedic foil from 1951 until her death in 1979.
Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The lake is approximately 17 miles (27 km) long and two miles (3.2 km) wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately 13,000 acres (53 km2). The maximum depth is about 78 feet (24 m). The shoreline is about 41.1 miles (66 km) of which all but 2.6 mi (4 km) are privately owned.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, better known as Desi Arnaz Jr., is a retired American actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Lucie Désirée Arnaz is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Lakewood is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 2,993 at the 2020 census. The village is in the northern part of the town of Busti.
Light Opera of Manhattan, known as LOOM, was an off-Broadway repertory theatre company that produced light operas, including the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and European and American operettas, 52 weeks per year, in New York City between 1968 and 1989.
Midway State Park, located in Maple Springs, New York, was established in 1898 by the Jamestown & Lake Erie Railway as a picnic ground. Today, it is recognized as the fifteenth-oldest continually operating amusement park in the United States, and the fifth-oldest remaining trolley park of the thirteen still operating in the United States.
Freddy Wittop was a costume designer. He enjoyed secondary careers as a dancer and college professor.
Dipson Theaters is a movie theater chain based in Western New York.
Raymond Allen was an American stage actor who was best known for his performances in Gilbert and Sullivan and other light operas from the 1950s through the 1980s. He spent most of his career with the American Savoyards and later the Light Opera of Manhattan.
The Junior Guilders are a singing group associated with the Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown, New York. Founded in 1983 by Helen Merrill and Lucille Miller, the Guilders get together each week to practice their singing, dancing, and acting. Their ages range from 7 to 16 and they use a wide variety of styles, including folk, jazz, blues, and rock and roll.
Findley Lake is part of the town of Mina in southwestern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. Situated at an elevation of 1440 ft above sea level, this hamlet is located on the north shore of Findley Lake.
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American actress, comedian, and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Jamestown Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located at Jamestown in Chautauqua County, New York. The district encompasses 103 contributing buildings in the central business district of Jamestown. The district developed between about 1873 and 1956, and includes buildings in a variety of architectural styles including Italianate, Gothic Revival, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival, Classical Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Art Deco. Located in the district is the separately listed Wellman Building. Other notable buildings include the Arcade Building (1898), Odd Fellows Lodge (1914), Bank of Jamestown, Hotel Samuels (1910), Hotel Jamestown (1924), Chautauqua School of Nursing (1911), Jamestown Telephone Company (1930), Maddox Building (1933), First National Bank (1953), Pennsylvania Gas Company building, Chautauqua National Bank (1956), Palace Theatre, Allen's Opera House, and the former Broadhead Worsted Mills.
Lake View Cemetery is a cemetery in the city of Jamestown, in Chautauqua County, New York.
42°05′44″N79°14′24″W / 42.095561°N 79.240111°W