Blog Archive

The Smith Blog

The Smith blog features artist interviews, deep dives in the Smith’s 125 year history, and updates from inside The Smith.

The Smith History Blog is the outcome of a research project led by Dr. Chris Woodworth, associate professor of theatre at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and her 2018 summer research assistants, Austin Jennings and Margaret (Gretty) Hollister.

A Conversation with Jamie Cosco from Ruby Shooz

May 28th, 2021

We are super excited to welcome Ruby Shooz to the Smith tonight! Hear from band member Jamie Cosco about the development of Ruby Shooz and what to expect from a concert! Smith (SM): For people who are new to Ruby Shooz, what Read more »
The Ghost Light Tours

July 6th, 2020

When COVID-19 kept The Smith Opera House from hosting our on-site the history tours, we brought the history tour to you with The Ghost Light Tours. Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Quasquicentennial

October 21st, 2019

by Chris Woodworth We use the word “centennial” to mark a 100-year anniversary and “bicentennial” to mark a 200-year anniversary. So what’s the word for a 125-year anniversary? “Quasquicentennial!” Interestingly, the word quasquicentennial is itself less than 125 years old. Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Acoustics of The Smith, an Audio Exploration

October 14th, 2019

by Austin Jennings Have you ever marveled at the unique and entrancing acoustics that grace the auditorium of the Smith Opera House? Would you like to learn about the history of those acoustics and how they exist in the way Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Take a Seat

October 7th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth On our weekly history tours we often encourage attendees to look up and marvel at the period lighting fixtures, elaborate carvings, and paint detail. This week we are encouraging you to look down, specifically at where you Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Victor Rigaumont, Architect

September 30th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth The Smith Opera House re-opened as Schine’s Geneva Theatre in March 1931. Audiences in the theatre that night were enveloped by the atmospheric theatre design that placed them under a starry night sky in a "Moorish Courtyard." Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Fearless Five: The Men Who Saved The Smith

September 23rd, 2019

by Austin Jennings Imagine a parking lot where the Smith Opera House stands today. There’s no ornate facade, art deco interior decorations, or an auditorium with a vast starlit sky above. There’s only cracked asphalt, faded white paint, and an Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Prime Parking

September 16th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth Imagine our surprise when flipping the pages of Gerald Fowler’s Scrapbook to discover several photographs of cars parked IN THE LOBBY! It appears that in the 1940s, and perhaps into the early 1950s, while Fowler was the manager, Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Interactive Timeline of 1990s Renovations

September 9th, 2019

by Austin Jennings In the 1990s, the Smith underwent major restorations and renovations. In the beginning of that decade, the building was in horrendous disrepair. By the end of the decade, under the ownership and care of the Finger Lakes Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Will you help us make history?

September 3rd, 2019

If you have been following our Smith History Blog for the past year, then you know that we usually reserve these posts for sharing unique facets of this building's legacy within our community. Today we offer a slightly different take Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Geneva Theatre Trio

August 26th, 2019

by Austin Jennings The year is 1920. Biting winds move across Seneca Lake beneath the dull, February sky. You feel a sinking feeling in your whole body when you realize that today is a Monday. The colorless, dingy streets downtown Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Smith Opera House Chronicles

August 19th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister October 1994 marked the centennial anniversary of the Smith Opera House. As part of the celebration, Charles McNally, an English professor from Hobart and William Smith colleges, wrote a book that was then self-published by the Finger Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: From Local Theatre to the Theatre of War: War Bond Rallies at The Smith

August 12th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth On a late July night in 1942, hundreds of Genevans gathered in The Smith (then Schine’s Geneva Theatre) for a screening of the film Mrs. Miniver. In addition to witnessing one of Greer Garson’s most iconic roles Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Horses on the Stage!

August 5th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth In the early years of The Smith Opera House, audiences could experience an eclectic array of performances. Many of these productions featured unique gimmicks, designed to set productions apart from more traditional modes of performance. Earlier we Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Sacred Space: The Smith as a Church

July 29th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth In the pre-dawn hours of April 10, 1965, the sanctuary of St. Francis De Sales Church on Exchange St. in Geneva was engulfed in flames. The fire had been intentionally set by an area youth who was Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Final Show

July 22nd, 2019

by Chris Woodworth The future was uncertain for The Smith in 1977. Back taxes were owed to the city. The roof was massively leaking and causing water damage to the interior. Revenue was slim. Many thought the days were numbered Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG Movies Under the Stars: The Atmospheric Style

July 15th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister Marcus Loew, the theatre entrepreneur who would go on to help form the mega-movie conglomerate Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), is credited as having once said, “Patrons buy tickets to theatres; not movies” (“Movie Palaces” 4:57). Back in the 1930s, Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Talking Pictures at the Smith

July 8th, 2019

by Austin Jennings Considering that commercial movie theatres were not in existence 125 years ago, it’s interesting to note that the Smith has lived through nearly the entire history of the American movie industry. It has therefore lived through the Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Passionate Pankhursts: Suffrage at The Smith, Part II

July 1st, 2019

by Chris Woodworth In last week’s blog post, we discussed how Elizabeth Smith Miller and her daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller brought suffrage to the stage of The Smith and eventually created the Geneva Political Equality Club. According to the Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: “Come Let Us Reason Together”: Suffrage at The Smith, Part I

June 24th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth The Finger Lakes region boasts a rich and vibrant suffrage history. The 1848 Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls kicked off a multi-decade quest for obtaining the vote for women in the U.S. What may come Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: National Crests

June 17th, 2019

by Austin Jennings If you have attended events at the Smith in the past 20 years, you may have noticed the numerous crests painted on the side walls of the theatre, above the sunset frescos and just below the starry Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: A Canopy of Clouds

June 10th, 2019

by Chris Woodworth “A canopy of clouds moving across a field of twinkling stars is used in the atmospheric theatre to complete the illusion that pictures are being viewed beneath nocturnal skies.” Thus begins the text of an ad for Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Smith’s Opera House or the Geneva Theatre?

June 5th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister Not many of us are lucky enough to change our names. For the most part, our names are a part of us. Buildings, on the other hand, tend to change names relatively often. This is true for Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Changing Marquee

May 27th, 2019

by Austin Jennings When Schine Enterprises renovated the Smith to become Schine’s Geneva Theatre in 1930 (McNally 49), they wanted to spare no expense to create a high-quality, modern movie palace (“Geneva’s New Theatre”). As an important part of realizing Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Cultural Appropriation in Atmospheric Movie Palaces

May 20th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister Victor A. Rigaumont’s interior architecture of the Smith Opera House is breathtaking, even more now that restoration efforts have brought it back to its 1931 glory. When Rigaumont was designing the Smith’s auditorium, he did so with Read more »
SMITH EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Eilen Jewell

May 17th, 2019

Eilen Jewell makes no bones about it. On the cusp of releasing her 13th album, “Gypsy,” later this summer, the Idaho-born singer-songwriter would never move forward in her career without looking toward her musical muses from the past. “We have Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Orchestras at The Smith

May 6th, 2019

by Austin Jennings The Final Show was on Wednesday, November 30, 1977. Even though “young, old, students, townspeople, all happily assembled amidst an aura of excitement and tradition” (Rogoff), I imagine there must have been tears in the audience. Especially Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Edison Tone Test

April 29th, 2019

by Austin Jennings The Edison Tone Test, shown at The Smith in 1921, was a brilliant marketing strategy developed by the fabled Thomas Edison to sell his phonographs. Faced with skillful competitors like Victor and Columbia Records (“History of the Read more »
National Players find timing is right for Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”

April 25th, 2019

If you have gone to school in New York state, or just about any state in the country, the chances are good that you have read Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible.” The historical allegory --- Miller adapted the story of Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Marvelous Kinnematographa

April 22nd, 2019

By Brandon Moblo, Archives Technician, Hobart and William Smith Colleges On March 4, 1897, the movies came to Geneva. Advertisements sprinkled throughout the local newspapers heralded the arrival of the “Marvelous Kinnematographa.” The Geneva Advertiser proclaimed it “The Reigning Sensation Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: What’s Art Deco?

April 15th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister In the early 1900s, everyone was searching for a new style—something to bring them out of the 19th and into the 20th century. There were automobiles, airplanes, and state-of-the-art ocean liners; there were advancements in science. It Read more »
SMITH EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Jane Siberry

April 15th, 2019

Over the course of a career that spans four decades, singer/songwriter/producer/performance artist Jane Siberry has always insisted on an artistic life outside the mainstream. Even when she was at the top of the Canadian pop charts with the 1980s with Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Can you guess the movie?

April 8th, 2019

By Gretty Hollister The classics are nostalgic, the scary ones still give us goosebumps, and the really good ones stay with us long after. Movies have been an experience since the golden age back in the 1930s, right around the Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: March 17, 1931: Schine’s Geneva Theatre’s Opening Night

April 1st, 2019

By Gretty Hollister Picture it: The old Smith Opera House block has been under construction for over a year. The newspapers have been giving updates periodically, but it’s really starting to seem as though the new theatre will never open. Read more »
Remembering Geneva’s jazz legend Scott LaFaro: An interview with his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez

March 27th, 2019

By Karen Miltner Celebrating the life of Geneva’s legendary jazz bass hero Scott LaFaro has become an annual event at the Smith Opera House, ever since the City of Geneva declared April 3, his birthday, as Scott LaFaro Day in Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: American Bands and The Smith

March 25th, 2019

by Gretty Hollister Music has always been a huge part of the Smith’s history. Orchestras and bands from all over came and played at the Smith. Before 1930, some of the biggest names in early 20th century American music made Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Patent Applied For and the Horseless Carriage

March 18th, 2019

by Austin Jennings There are many plays that can easily fit into just one genre. Patent Applied For is no such play. A melodrama about an inventor, the play was also a community event and a sort of advertisement for Read more »
The Smith interviews playwright/actor Louis Lovett of “They Called Her Vivaldi”

March 17th, 2019

“My father fantastic made me my cap. I call it Capello, it used to be yellow. Earflaps, chinstrap, twiddles to twist. It protects my ears, keeps them well and if things get loud this button’s for bells; tiny, tinkling, silver Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG & VIDEO: The Springsteen Connection

March 11th, 2019

By Karen Miltner One of the most talked-about performances at The Smith in the past 50 years is the Bruce Springsteen show on Oct. 26, 1973. Booked by Hobart & William Smith Colleges’ concert commission at the 11th hour after Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Crowded Dressing Rooms

March 4th, 2019

By Chris Woodworth The Smith has recently revealed its brand new lower-level washrooms, marking the partial culmination of a major renovation. The building has endured a number of major projects over the years, including the massive renovation we talked about Read more »
Songwriting is at the heart of Granville Automatic

February 28th, 2019

Many singer-songwriters often plumb the depths of their personal histories to create songs of that resonate with them and their audiences. Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez of the alt-country band Granville Automatic have largely turned to American history instead. Their Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Who Built It Part 2: Schine’s Contractors

February 25th, 2019

By Chris Woodworth The Finger Lakes Association published a souvenir program to commemorate the re-opening of The Smith Opera House as Schine’s Geneva Theatre, March 17, 1931. Copies of this program can be found at the Geneva Historical Society or, Read more »
Do you get as excited about new bathrooms as we do at The Smith?

February 19th, 2019

Back in July 2018, we began a major renovation project on the lower level of our theater, bidding farewell to some very small and outdated restrooms. This past week, we officially opened our brand new restrooms on the lower level Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Who Built It Part I

February 18th, 2019

By Chris Woodworth One of the major questions that has been vexing us in our research into The Smith’s history is: who built it? We know the names of the major funders of The Smith as well as the designers Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Provincetown Players: Emperor Jones and Strange Interlude

February 11th, 2019

by Austin Jennings We often hear about Bruce Springsteen, Itzhak Perlman, and James O’Neill, as well as many others, when we enjoy boasting about the famous performers who have travelled here to the Smith. The fact that the Provincetown Players Read more »
A dozen questions for Kenny White

February 6th, 2019

If you were at The Smith June 26 when Stephen Stills and Judy Collins performed, you’ll remember Kenny White as the laid back opener with the clever lyrics, elegant keyboard playing and some fun stories. The veteran singer-songwriter-pianist Kenny White Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Original Interior of Smith’s Opera House

February 4th, 2019

By Austin Jennings With a plot of land secured and enough money raised in the spring of 1893, William Smith needed a design for the opera house that he and Geneva so desperately desired. Two major designs were put forth. Read more »
Six questions answered by jazz bassist Dave Holland

January 31st, 2019

The Smith is thrilled to have National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Kenny Barron (piano) and Dave Holland (bass) perform here April 6 as part of our 125th Birthday Series, as well as the 6th Annual Scott LaFaro Day Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Boxing Days

January 28th, 2019

By Chris Woodworth Over the years, The Smith Opera House has hosted a panoply of events, many of which have little to do with performing arts. In recent years, The Smith has served as a gathering place for some of Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Was it a Riot or Just a Riotous Good Time?

January 21st, 2019

By Chris Woodworth On Saturday January 11, 1902, a large group of Hobart College students were ejected from the Smith Opera House for disrupting a performance by the Harry Jenkins stock company. A protest erupted in the street outside the Read more »
The Smith interviews Ryan Lacey of Gaelic Storm

January 17th, 2019

A hurricane of toe-tapping jigs and reels. A blizzard of tear-stained ballads. And of course, a flood of drinking songs, love songs, dance tunes and between-song stories that cover all the elements of the human condition. That’s the forecast next Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: William Smith, Spiritualism, and the Hall of Science

January 14th, 2019

By Gretty Hollister We know that the 1894 Smith Opera House was torn down in the 1930s in order to create the building we know and love today. But more than just the auditorium disappeared with the update. While today’s Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Alabama in New York

January 7th, 2019

By Chris Woodworth Looking over old programs and newspaper articles about the performances on the stage of The Smith in its early years, two tropes emerge. First, American theatre audiences were clearly drawn to hurtful racist depictions as the sheer Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Smith’s Other Businesses

December 31st, 2018

By Chris Woodworth Where could you place a wholesale order for “Smokeless Coal,” purchase a new hat, and mail a letter at the turn of the century in Geneva? Believe it or not, all of this could be done at Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Two buildings into one: Opera House and Office Buildings as separate entities

December 24th, 2018

by Austin Jennings It might be difficult to believe now, but originally the Smith Opera House stage and the facade that reads “Smith’s Opera House” were each part of two completely separate buildings. The front building, adorned with the ornate Read more »
Works of Bergman and Sondheim come together in film and music Dec. 30 at The Smith

December 20th, 2018

The works of two masters of 20th century film and musical theater are showcased at the Smith Opera House on Sunday, Dec. 30. The late Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night,” will be screened at 2 Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: An Etude on English Baroque in Geneva

December 17th, 2018

By Gretty Hollister Baroque architecture has a long and tumultuous history. The movement began in Rome in the 16th century when the Catholic church feared that the Reformation would pull away believers. Art and architecture from this time sought to Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG AND VIDEO: Saturday Night Fever at the Geneva Theater (1978)

December 14th, 2018

Introduction and video by Karen Miltner In 1977, the Smith Opera House, then called Geneva Theatre, wasn't doing too well, as movie-going was in decline. While Geneva Concerts leased the building for the first half of the year, it did Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: House Rules / House Notes

December 10th, 2018

By Austin Jennings It can be particularly fun to look back at old cultural rules, which can often be passing fads or signs of the technology of the time. Comparing those old rules to those of today can surprise us Read more »
The true story of Tomás and The Library Lady celebrates the power of reading

December 4th, 2018

At the University of California at Riverside, the Tomás Rivera Library is named after the man who became the UC system’s first minority chancellor. The upcoming play at the Smith Opera House, “Tomas and the Library Lady,” dials back to Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: William Smith: The Man Behind the Mystery

December 3rd, 2018

By Gretty Hollister William Smith is a name that you can’t walk around Geneva without hearing. 20-something women wearing forest green downtown, looking at the baroque façade of the opera house, or walking up the hill on St. Clair Street—he’s Read more »
Meet Windham Hill artists Liz Story, Sean Harkness and Samite

November 26th, 2018

For acoustic music collectors of the 1980s and 1990s, the Windham Hill record label was the go-to purchase if you wanted high fidelity sound and lush, meditative LPs (and later, CDs) with serene landscapes gracing the album covers. Think George Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Faces of The Smith

November 26th, 2018

By Gretty Hollister Over the years, thousands upon thousands — maybe even into the millions — of people have walked through, seen a show, and shared a laugh at the Smith Opera House. Their faces have been lit up by Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Nautical Drama

November 19th, 2018

By Chris Woodworth In the early decades of the Smith Opera House, touring theatre and opera companies regularly appeared on the stage. Traveling from larger cities and throughout the region, they usually performed for one day or night only. Given Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: The Smith by the Numbers

November 12th, 2018

By Gretty Hollister 1893 = The year that fundraising for the Smith Opera House began. 2 = number of land plots needed to build the original opera house; one, the one facing Seneca street which we know as the Smith Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: Reading Artifacts

November 5th, 2018

By Chris Woodworth When I teach theatre history courses, I always begin by asking the question, “how do we know what we know?” This invites discussions of “the stuff” of theatre history. What constitutes an artifact? How do artifacts tell Read more »
The Smith interviews Wil B. of Black Violin

October 25th, 2018

As far as instrumental typecasting goes, the violin often gets stuck in a rut as being seen as the poster child of classical music. Sure, it gets a few moments in the spotlight of other genres --- bluegrass, swing or Read more »
SMITH HISTORY BLOG: It all started with The Count of Monte Cristo

October 25th, 2018

By Austin Jennings Despite various delays in the construction of the building due to bad weather, shipping issues, and wall cave-ins from quicksand (Crawford and Stearns 14), Smith’s Opera House opened a mere four days later than expected on October Read more »
The Smith Interviews Andy Horowitz of Galumpha!

October 9th, 2018

Combining stunning acrobatics, striking visual effects, physical comedy and inventive choreography, the physical theater trio Galumpha will perform 3 pm. Sunday and 10 a.m. Monday (Oct. 14 and 15) at the Smith Opera House as part of its ArtSmart Educational Read more »
The Smith interviews Bettye LaVette

October 2nd, 2018

Don’t call Bettye LaVette a cover girl. The petite yet powerful rhythm and blues veteran, revered as a diva of interpretation, has never struggled to craft other people’s music into her own compelling story. LaVette, now 72, will be Read more »
Interview with Brian Noonan of The Jersey Tenors

September 25th, 2018

The Smith Center for the Arts is excited to present The Jersey Tenors to the Smith Stage Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. The all-male vocal quartet, led by Broadway veteran Brian Noonan, have been dubbed the “rock-opera mashup sensation” Read more »
Argentina-based Che Apalache has cheap imported banjos to thank for its unlikely beginning

September 11th, 2018

By Karen Miltner Bill Monroe, the legendary father of bluegrass from Kentucky, made the claim that “bluegrass has brought more people together and made more friends than any music in the world.” As unlikely as it seems, that certainly has Read more »
Smith Opera House Segment Recently Aired on CNY Central

July 20th, 2018

We are excited to share a terrific segment on the Smith Opera House that recently aired on CNY Central (WSTM TV3 in Syracuse). Smith Board Member and Hobart and William Smith Colleges theatre professor Chris Woodworth shares some of the rich Read more »