Wedding featured at Fox
History does, indeed, repeat itself. Sort of.
Effie Tate and Ralph Dicken married on the stage of the newly opened Fox Theater in 1931, after winning the theater’s promotional contest.
Nyla Beck and Donald Pipes tied the knot there on Saturday, mere months before the theater hopes to close for renovation.
The Fox has been showcasing various events – a ballet performance, a country western concert, and now, a wedding – so the public can see the theater’s hosting potential for when it reopens in 2007, said Carol Darby, the Fox’s project director.
“It’s one of the few art deco theaters left,” Darby said. And it’s a middle-sized option between the Met and the Opera House. These types of venues help a community by bringing events to town, she added, noting that the theater can hold 1,700 people.
Besides bringing outsiders into Spokane, renovating the Fox will help preserve the memories of locals who have frequented the theater over the years.
Darby herself recalls watching the just-released “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial” with her then 6-year-old nephew, who asked strangers nearby for a tissue to dab the eyes of his bawling aunt.
“It’s the memories,” Darby said, “that make a theater.”
Countless more memories were created at the wedding this weekend.
Dozens of relatives, friends and listeners of the Oldies 101.1 FM radio station that the bride hosts sat in the rows as classics like Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” wafted through the hall.
They listened to advice from Beck’s radio co-host, Dean Jaxon, who officiated. He said the theater is like a successful marriage: It bears years of wear but is still strong. He asked for mutual tolerance to endure wrinkles, gray hair and grumpy Monday mornings. He encouraged them to be each other’s home, comfort and refuge, and to respect each other’s thoughts, ideas and perspectives.
Beck’s 4-year-old son, Gage, was invited to center stage so he and the couple could, holding hands, become a family. The groom choked up as he pledged to take care of Gage “as best I can.”
The couple opened the event to the public to help promote the renovation project. They asked that instead of wedding gifts, guests donate to the theater.
The Fox has raised $16 million of its $28 million goal – $22 million for the renovation and the rest for an endowment that will pay for the upkeep of the theater and subsidize events for youth groups and nonprofits.
The renovation will include restoring the original ceiling paintings, which have been darkened by smoke from the days when cigars accompanied many theater-goers. It will bring new carpet, new bathrooms, and heating and cooling systems – a first for the theater.
“The Fox is an absolutely beautiful building,” said Beck, who has an interest in preservation. “We really need to remember where we come from.”