The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-11-05
THE BRAND new
CENNETT THEATER
MADE ONE OF THE BEST PLAY
HOUSES IN THE STATE
is COMPLETELY CHANGED
Elegant Dressing Rooms for Actors
and Actresses New
Features.
lis COMPLETELY CHANGED

When the Gennett Thtearer opens
its doors next Tuesday night the pa
irons of that popular house will be
greatly surprised at the change
which has been made in the entire
interior Of the house.
In the course Of remodeling which
has been going on in the place since
the first of September. not a thing
has been left untouched from the
back Of the stage to the last row in
the gallery, everything has been
gone over and it will be hard for a
number Of people to recognize the
place as the old Gennett. Manager
Ira Swisher has spared no pains in
making the theater one of the pref
test small houses in the west and
people of Richmond should be proud
Of it as it will rank among the best
IN the country.
AS one steps in the door he
is struck with the beauty of the
theater and it's freshness. The first
thing to catch the eye is the new
proscenium opening. This is really
work of art. 1t was painted by
one Of the best known decorators in
the country and prominent theat-
rical man, of Chicago, remarked
yesterday that he had never seen a
prettier one in his life in any the
alter. Everything in the house has
been repainted and re-decorated.
Nine rows of new plush seats have
been placed on the lower floor and
the floor itself has been re-arranged
so that patrons of the house will
have more comfort Willie witnessing
a performance. New seats have been
placed in the balcony and three
rows Of opera chairs have been Civ
en- over to the gallery gods. While
all of these changes have been made
in the front Of the house Manager
Swisher has not fogotten the hard
workers back of the stage. A num-
Der of changes have been made
there and it will be but a short time
until a new building will be COM
pleted in the rear of the theater for
actors and actresses. The building
will contain dressing rooms which
VII all be up to date and the young
est chorus girl will have a room
equal to a stars room in many play
houses.
In the alterations of 'the house
Manager Swisher has seen that all
protection possible against fire has
been made. The boiler room. which
was formerly underneath the theater
has been moved so that there is no
danger from that whatever. The
largest fire escape in the city has
been erected on the north side of
the building. At each floor there is
a large platform to the escape and
the steps are wide and hand
railing is on either side of the es-
cape. All of the exits have red
lights over them and these red
lights will be kept burning all of
the time The exit doors themsel-
yes are fastened with an ingenious
device which makes it very easy for
them to be opened from the inside
The landing on the second floor at
the entrance of the balcony has been
made considerable wider bv the de-
struction of a room at that point and
it is adorned by a handsome carpet.
The exterior of the theater has not
been forgotten in the reconstruction
Of the theater as it has been painted
a light stone grey color and trim
med i'll a pale green.
Taking it all in all the theater is
one TO be proud of and in the work
Of remodeling the prevailing idea has
been for the comfort Of everyone in
the tlftater, from the box holder to
the scene shifter. and it is evident
that This idea hac hoa,, ooao,,,.>I:-l,oJ