Mae West: Jim Thorpe

MAE WEST was close to a lot of Jims, including her manager Jim Timony, and now it comes to light that she once knew Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
• • Geoff Gehman writes: The Mauch Chunk Opera House isn't an opera house. It has no luxurious lamps, no fancy murals, no series of concerts for lusty-lunged aria singers. It's more of a glorified auditorium or theatrical barn.
• • Geoff Gehman explains: Yet the Jim Thorpe landmark has an operatic atmosphere. It opened in 1882 as a concert hall and farmers market, a prosperous, practical gem in a grand, gritty coal-and-railroad tourist town that once had 13 millionaires. Over the centuries it has presented fabled vaudevillians (Mae West), big bands (the Dorsey Brothers), and marching-band pioneers (John Philip Sousa). Tonight, Roger McGuinn, former member of the Byrds and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will discover its plain charms: the generous intimacy; the wondrous acoustics; the feeling of a friendly, fascinating work-in-progress.
• • Geoff Gehman adds: Located in the middle of Jim Thorpe, the opera house is in the thick of everything. It's owned by the Mauch Chunk Historical Society, which is headquartered in an old firehouse next door. It's run by JTAMS (Jim Thorpe Artists Music Series) Productions, which is run by three grass-roots Good Samaritans who can see the opera house from their houses. . . .
• • The Mauch Chunk Opera House is located here: 14 West Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Opera house sings with character in Jim Thorpe"
• • Byline: By Geoff Gehman | Of The Morning Call
• • Published in: The Morning Call — — www.mcall.com
• • Published on: 13 September 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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