Kirby Center is king of the comeback

Once again, the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square has proven that it is the king of the comeback, the stage of survival, the little venue that could, could, and could again.

The most recent rebound: restoring drastically damaged areas in the basement following a deluge from a broken water main that ruined offices, bathrooms and dressing rooms, all completely redone and — as if to specifically show the vintage building’s resilience — improved during the repairs.

“It was hard on us not having this lower level with the additional bar and bathrooms. On busy shows, it was a little crazy,” Director of Operations Bobby Kelchner conceded during a small ceremony unveiling the outcome of the venue’s latest act of defiance. “Having this space back open is a huge benefit.”

Miracle? Maybe, but to those familiar with the Kirby Center’s fabled history, miracles are pretty much its thing.

This Art Deco jewel has more lives than the proverbial cat, beginning with the long-forgotten glory days of movie theaters that could seat nearly 2,000 — more people than many modern multiplex facilities have even if you combine their modest screening rooms. It opened in 1938 as not only part of the Comerfod theater chain, but as its flagship cinema, replacing a bus terminal, printing company, stonecutter and drug store.

Yes, it displaced a stonecutter. Consider how modern it must have been in an era when such a profession still merited prime real estate in a booming downtown. Yet big, fancy theaters were common once, even ubiquitous. The era of five or more large movie houses in Luzerne County’s bigger cities is long gone, replaced first by smaller buildings that boasted two to five screens, which in turn disappeared with the rise of multiplexes holding 10 and even 20.

You are quite old if you can remember watching films in those single-screen settings; you are only a bit less old if you can remember multiple screens at the Wyoming Valley Mall or the Churchill Mall in Hazleton.

Yet the Wilkes-Barre Comerford survived anti-trust action that transferred it to Paramount in 1949, then remained standing despite 14 feet of river water pouring into it during the Agnes flood. Despite that survival instinct, it looked doomed when Paramount gave up the economic battle that put single-screen venues into history’s dumpster. For nearly two decades its defining features were sold off like shiny baubles or destroyed thanks to the nation’s stupid infatuation with dull modernity in the 1970s and 80s.

The Save the Old Paramount movement began in 1978, and this architectural gem landed on the National Register of Historic places, but the decline barely slowed until department store magnate Al Boscov formed a team of civic and business gurus, including Fred M. Kirby the II, that launched a drive raising $3.3 million to buy and restore the building.

The campaign is the stuff of fund-raising legends, except it’s completely true. Grade school students sent gifts. Unions donated through wage give-back programs. Kirby and his eponymous foundation made a contribution big enough to justify the name the center now uses. Fully restored, it re-opened in 1986, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So now we add recovering from a massive water main break to the list that includes surviving the demise of single-screen theaters, the Agnes flood, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a slew of smaller problems that could have scuttled many other venues. We welcome this latest example of stubborn tenacity and community support, and we trust the Kirby Center and those behind it continue to chant, “I know I can, I know I can, I know I can, I know I can!”