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Smith's Longview Opera House was Indeed GrandBy Van Craddock
Gregg County residents were excited in the fall of 1902. John T. Smith Sr., county judge from 1887-1898, opened his fancy opera house in downtown Longview.
Smith's Upstairs Opera House was built on the northwest corner of Bank and Fredonia streets, former site of a boarding house. Earl Davis Smith, a son of the judge, has given us a wonderful description of the opera house in his "Forebears and Kin of John Tyson Smith Sr. and Nancy Melvina Skaggs" (1972):
"The opera house was three stories high. The ground floor was occupied by B.W. Van Allen Hardware Store … The second floor had the elevated stage to the east with the auditorium, and the third floor was the balcony." A spiral stairway "with comfortable landings led from the (Bank Street) box office to the tiered auditorium."
All auditorium seats "with wire man's hat retainer underneath were sold by numbered reserved-seat tickets." According to Smith, "Actors' baggage and show equipment were lifted by rope, block and tackle, from mule-drawn flat dray wagons on the ground in Bank Street, to a door at stage level."
Local merchants had hand-painted advertisements on the stage curtains. There also was a "street scene" curtain that served as background for performers. In his memoir, Smith fondly remembered one ballad singer who "regardless of his song, always announced the title "It was Grandma's Toenail That Tore the Sheet."
Locals made good use of the 300-seat building.
"The commencement of the Longview High School was held at the opera house here last night," the Longview paper reported on May 22, 1909. "Congressman Gordon Russell delivered the commencement address. Miss Allene Jarrett delivered the valedictory address, after which Judge R.B. Levy presented the graduates with their diplomas in a happy speech."
Dear old LHS had nine graduates that year.
In addition to hosting local groups, the opera house was on the circuit of vaudeville, minstrel and other touring companies. Author Smith recalled that W.C. Fields' "Lassies White" minstrel show played the Longview house. The opera house hosted "The Two Orphans," a play "that has attracted universal recognition the world over" according to the local paper.
Smith recalled, "Teenage boys were hired after each show to sweep up around the theater seats, which always required removal of peanut shells."
In December 1909 former outlaw Cole Younger attracted a capacity crowd at the opera house, lecturing on "What My Life has Taught Me." The one-time member of Frank and Jesse James' gang lamented his life of crime and told the locals, "A man has plenty of time to think in prison."
Another noted speaker at Smith's opera house was William Jennings Bryan. The Nebraska politician had run (unsuccessfully) for president in 1896, 1900 and 1908 and was considered America's finest orator.
On Nov. 18, 1910, the United Daughters of the Confederacy brought Bryan to town. Thanks in part to funds raised by Bryan's appearance, Longview's Confederate statue was erected in 1911.
Alas, Judge Smith had a stroke in 1913 and vaudeville waned as "talkies" became all the rage. In 1915, when Longview's first movie theater (the Grande) opened, the opera house was shuttered. Smith died in May 1916 at the age of 72.