When we were driving around last night to find the church and a restaurant, we drove by a huge building with a sign on what appears to be the back side, "Hershey Theatre" and a sign about a tour at 1 p.m. today. So we presented ourselves at 1 p.m. and found the tour guide, her 8 year old daughter, and 2 other people. Another great tour because it was so small. The tour guide teaches speech and drama at the Hershey High School and gives tours in the summer time. Such enthusaism!!
Milton Hershey built the town around his chocolate factory and the Hershey Foundation still supports many of the institutions. He is quoted as saying, "The more beautiful you make something which people can see and use, the more enjoyment they will get out of it."
The theatre takes up about one-quarter of the huge building called the Hershey Community Center built by Milton Hershey in 1929. It was designed in 1915, but it was built between 1929 and 1933 as part of Mr. Hershey's "Great Building Campaign" of the Great Depression, which also produced such Hershey landmarks as the Hotel Hershey, the Hersheypark Arena, and the Hershey Stadium.
The architecture and worksmanship is beautiful. In the Grand Lobby the floor is laid with polished Italian lava rock. Four different types of marble, both imported and domestic, shape the walls and exquisite series of arches. The ceiling is filled with bas-relief images. The inner foyer's "canopy of gold" arched tile ceiling was patterned after St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy. Two German artisans labored for two years to create the beautiful blue and gold pin-point mosaic design leading to the main floor seating area.
It was built as a movie theatre, and venue for live performances. The backstage facilities accommodate traveling Broadway shows (but not Phantom of the Opera). There are five floors of dressing rooms. We saw the whole building, including the projection room, over a 90 minute tour.
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