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The Friends Save Shea's Buffalo

The Friends Save Shea's Buffalo

1975 - 1994

Leon Lawrence Sidell foreclosed in December 1974, owing as much as $225,000 in taxes, and planned to shutter the theater doors by June 30, 1975. It would soon be the end of the Loew's Buffalo Theatre, another one of Michael Shea's theaters lost to the wrecking ball...

Still Playing at Loew's

By 1974, there wasn't much still playing at Loew's Buffalo Theatre: patrons could only buy tickets to see wrestling, boxing, World Cup soccer matches (live via satellite), and exploitation films like Sweet Sugar, Dolemite, and Foxy Brown.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - July 12, 1975

Friends of the Buffalo Theatre

Curt Mangel III

Shea's Buffalo has had many friends -- and Friends -- but none more-so than Curt Mangel III.

Curt was hired in 1973 as an engineer and watchman, the 23-year-old living out of a dressing room backstage but he became quickly intent on saving the theater organ -- and then the entire theater as it was apparent that Sidell was preparing to shutdown for good. But plans to strip the theater and attempts to demolish it were all foiled by Curt: by living in Shea's at all hours of the day, the wrecking ball was unable to be unleashed -- and by night, Curt spent countless hours inventorying "every antique in the building", a record that saved Shea's Buffalo Theatre in State Supreme Court.

After a decade of serving Shea's -- from volunteer to Managing Director, whether he was rebuilding the Mighty Wurlitzer and installing a new stage floor or paying the heat bill out of his own pockets, Curt Mangel III moved on from Buffalo, to take on another theater in Denver in need of saving. But our friend, and Friend, is always welcome back at Shea's.
These Friends of Buffalo led by restoration director L. Curt Mangel reacted with pleasure as they toasted the future of the landmark theater. From left are Mangel, George Wands and Carl Kosmerl.

Photo Credit: Buffalo Courier-Express Newspaper - August 20, 1977. Credit to Buffalo State Digital Commons.

These Friends of Buffalo led by restoration director L. Curt Mangel reacted with pleasure as they toasted the future of the landmark theater. From left are Mangel, George Wands and Carl Kosmerl.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - July 15, 1975

L. Curt Mangel, founder of the Friends of Shea's Buffalo and director of the restoration work on the Buffalo landmark, is seen from a straight up angle as he climbs over scaffolding to inspect a plastering job. The effort to restore the showplace to its former splendor, including new seats and rugs and refurbished marble and chandelier, is expected to be completed by Sept. 29.

Photo Credit: April 12, 1978. Photo originally published in the Buffalo Courier-Express Newspaper. Credit to Buffalo State Digital Commons.

L. Curt Mangel, founder of the Friends of Shea's Buffalo and director of the restoration work on the Buffalo landmark, is seen from a straight up angle as he climbs over scaffolding to inspect a plastering job. The effort to restore the showplace to its former splendor, including new seats and rugs and refurbished marble and chandelier, is expected to be completed by Sept. 29.

Thanks Sylvia! <i>Mignon</i> appreciates the cleaning.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 20, 1976

Thanks Sylvia! Mignon appreciates the cleaning.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - January 19, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - April 23, 1977

City Comptroller George D. O'Connell

With weeks to go before the wrecking ball would arrive, someone would need to sign off on the city's expense report to pay for the demolition. That someone would be Buffalo Comptroller George D. O'Connell, who wouldn't sign the paperwork, and instead stepped to help the Friends of Shea's Buffalo rally the city.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - April 18, 1975

"I feel very strongly about Shea's Buffalo. There's only one Shea's Buffalo in the entire world, and if it's gone, there is no way to retrieve it, or rebuild it. I call it Shea's, rather than Loew's Buffalo, because that's the way I remember it."

- City Comptroller George D. O'Connell
Thanks to the Friends of the Buffalo Theatre, the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of protecting the remaining furnishings still preserved at the Shea's Buffalo Theatre, preventing former owner, Leon Lawrence Sidell, from taking or selling these artifacts -- including the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - July 2, 1975

Thanks to the Friends of the Buffalo Theatre, the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of protecting the remaining furnishings still preserved at the Shea's Buffalo Theatre, preventing former owner, Leon Lawrence Sidell, from taking or selling these artifacts -- including the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - June 4, 1976

Photo Credit: Buffalo City Archives, edited by Mika Puma

439 Pearl Street circa 1970's: the back of Shea's Buffalo Theatre once had a bowling alley for a neighbor.

Photo Credit: Buffalo City Archives, edited by Mika Puma

439 Pearl Street circa 1970's: the back of Shea's Buffalo Theatre once had a bowling alley for a neighbor.

439 Pearl Street circa later 1970's: the bowling alley was demolished and this parking structure was put in place until 2016, when it was removed to make way for the future Shea's expansion.

Photo Credit: Buffalo City Archives, edited by Mika Puma

439 Pearl Street circa later 1970's: the bowling alley was demolished and this parking structure was put in place until 2016, when it was removed to make way for the future Shea's expansion.

Down the street at 710 Main Street, our new neighbors Studio Arena had just moved into the old Palace Burlesque theater. Note the two painters working on the Entertainment mural - it's still there today!

Photo Credit: Buffalo City Archives, edited by Mika Puma

Down the street at 710 Main Street, our new neighbors Studio Arena had just moved into the old Palace Burlesque theater. Note the two painters working on the Entertainment mural - it's still there today!

National Register of Historic Places

June 1975

This is a page from our extensive submission form to have the Shea's Buffalo Theatre declared a National Historic Site.

This is a page from our extensive submission form to have the Shea's Buffalo Theatre declared a National Historic Site.

National Register of Historic Places - Property Photographs

These photographs, taken by Curt Mangel, were submitted to the National Register of Historic Places, hoping to have Shea's Buffalo Theatre declared a Historic Site and saved from demolition.
View of front (Main Street) facade.

Photo Credit: Curt Mangel, 1974

View of front (Main Street) facade.

View of vestibule looking northwest. Marble ticket office is in the center foreground, bronze and glass doors in the background.

Photo Credit: Curt Mangel, 1974

View of vestibule looking northwest. Marble ticket office is in the center foreground, bronze and glass doors in the background.

View overlooking the lobby from the mezzanine at the west end showing enormous arched window, coffered ceilings, original furniture, sculpture, and lighting fixtures.

Photo Credit: Curt Mangel, 1974

View overlooking the lobby from the mezzanine at the west end showing enormous arched window, coffered ceilings, original furniture, sculpture, and lighting fixtures.

View from balcony in theater auditorium showing Wurlitzer organ in raised position.

Photo Credit: Curt Mangel, 1974

View from balcony in theater auditorium showing Wurlitzer organ in raised position.

View looking east over theatre auditorium.

Photo Credit: Curt Mangel, 1974

View looking east over theatre auditorium.

George Burns and Cab Calloway re-dedicate Shea's Buffalo before 3,000 fans

February 25, 1976

Allen Miller and the Organ Committee

In 1977, the work of restoring the Mighty Wurlitzer organ was finally began. To supervise the restoration of the instrument, the Organ Committee was fortunate to engage the services of Allen Miller, perhaps the leading organ technician in the country, whose training and experience qualified him perfectly for the task ahead. Under Allen's watchful eye, contracts where let to re-build and re-finish the entire console, a modern solid state multiplex system was installed, missing pipes and ranks of pipes were replaced and the entire organ was re-leathered - even the re-voicing, a task made more difficult by the fact that all of the original voicers who had worked for Wurlitzer had passed on.

Thanks to his efforts, together with those a score of dedicated volunteer workers and a generous grant from the Margaret Wendt Foundation in Buffalo, the Shea's Buffalo Mighty Wurlitzer was re-dedicated in April of 1984 with Lyn Larsen at the console.

Photo Credit: Newsletter of The Friends of the Buffalo Theater, Inc. Fall 1978

The Shea's-O'Connell Preservation Guild

The Friends of the Buffalo Theatre ran Shea's Buffalo Theatre as a rental from the city of Buffalo, keeping the doors open and the lights on as they began the long, hard work of restoring the theater. By 1985, the city finally stepped up to take over paying utilities, forgave the deficit, and set-up The Shea's-O'Connell Preservation Guild, a nonprofit that leases the theater and manages Shea's, and still does so today.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - March 5, 1979

After a decade managing - and Managing - Shea's Buffalo Theatre, Curt Mangel left Shea's better than he had found it as a 23-year-old watchman, leaving Buffalo to restore the Paramount Theatre in Denver.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - January 23, 1983

After a decade managing - and Managing - Shea's Buffalo Theatre, Curt Mangel left Shea's better than he had found it as a 23-year-old watchman, leaving Buffalo to restore the Paramount Theatre in Denver.

A Grand Re-Opening

February 26, 1976 - The Friends of the Buffalo Theatre re-opened the Shea's Buffalo Theatre with comedian George Burns and jazz musician Cab Calloway both returning to headline the grand 50th anniversary event.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 7, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 26, 1976

"I was in Buffalo in 1932. I must have made an impression, because here I am again."

- George Burns

Photo Credit: February 25, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 26, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 26, 1976

The entire cast of <i>Equus</i> playing at the Studio Arena Theater took up a collection to aid in the re-opening of the Shea's Buffalo Theatre, walking down Main Street to present it to their neighboring theater.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 7, 1976

The entire cast of Equus playing at the Studio Arena Theater took up a collection to aid in the re-opening of the Shea's Buffalo Theatre, walking down Main Street to present it to their neighboring theater.

"Part of our vision is the Buffalo at one end of this derelict part of downtown and the Studio Arena Theater at the other, both contributing to the economic development of downtown. The city for the first time would have a performing arts complex."

- prophetic words from Charles F. Chauncey, spokesman for the Friends of the Buffalo Theatre and Executive Director of the Shea's Buffalo Theatre.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - January 6, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - February 28, 1976

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - March 1, 1976

"It's good to see the old joint again. It hasn't changed much in the years since I was here. I hope the future will hold further splendor for the place."

- Jack Kirwan, former usher for Shea's Buffalo (early 1940's)

Photo Credit: February 21, 1976

Broadway in Buffalo

1987

Shea's hired Patrick J. Fagan but nobody thought he would stick around. By November 1986, Shea's Buffalo had gone through multiple managers who lasted mere months in the unenviable position of not just saving Shea's from the wrecking ball but restoring it. <br><br> His first priority? "To get people to come here to see this beautiful building and see what we're doing."

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - November 22, 1986

Shea's hired Patrick J. Fagan but nobody thought he would stick around. By November 1986, Shea's Buffalo had gone through multiple managers who lasted mere months in the unenviable position of not just saving Shea's from the wrecking ball but restoring it.

His first priority? "To get people to come here to see this beautiful building and see what we're doing."

"A New Deal for Christmas" - thanks Jack! It is thanks to many donations like this that Shea's Buffalo Theatre was able to be restored.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - July 8, 1980

"A New Deal for Christmas" - thanks Jack! It is thanks to many donations like this that Shea's Buffalo Theatre was able to be restored.

Local children auditioning for parts in the musical "The King and I."

Photo Credit: May 8, 1981. Photo originally published in the Buffalo Courier-Express Newspaper. Credit to Buffalo State Digital Commons.

Local children auditioning for parts in the musical "The King and I."

Tom Roffino in the "living room" of the Yul Brenner dressing room at Shea's Theatre Buffalo. Actor Yul Bryner performed at Shea's Buffalo in <i>The King and I</i> and as part of his contract, had the star dressing room done all in shades of brown. The dressing room was later re-decorated to remove the brown - reportedly, Liza Minnelli hated Yul's color palette. President Patrick Fagan announced "We got as much of the brown out as we could without making major repairs."

Photo Credit: March 11, 1982. Photo originally published in the Buffalo Courier-Express Newspaper. Credit to Buffalo State Digital Commons.

Tom Roffino in the "living room" of the Yul Brenner dressing room at Shea's Theatre Buffalo. Actor Yul Bryner performed at Shea's Buffalo in The King and I and as part of his contract, had the star dressing room done all in shades of brown. The dressing room was later re-decorated to remove the brown - reportedly, Liza Minnelli hated Yul's color palette. President Patrick Fagan announced "We got as much of the brown out as we could without making major repairs."

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - April 6, 1988

Cats lands on its feet!

The show was nearly cancelled before it even got onstage when the first touring production of Cats at Shea's Buffalo couldn't get their set through the backstage door. Luckily, the crew finally pushed it through, tilting the large set piece on its side. But Cats almost closed anyways when local promoters Corky & Harvey defaulted on their share, leaving Shea's and our Board Chairman James L. Vardon scrambling to cover the costs alone.

The show went on - with help from a young producer named Albert Nocciolino, who was sent from Broadway to insure Cats played Buffalo. And Cats would go on to play sell-out runs in Buffalo for the next three years, with Albert as our co-promoter.
This auspicious article in The Buffalo News correctly predicts the beginning of a new theatrical era as Albert Nocciolino partners with Shea's Buffalo Theatre as a co-promoter in bringing Broadway productions to Buffalo. In August 1988, Shea's began offering our Broadway season subscription with our first five-show package: <i>Cabaret</i>, <i>Me and My Girl</i>, <i>Elvis: An American Musical</i>, <i>Nunsense</i>, and <i>Cats</i>.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - April 1, 1988

This auspicious article in The Buffalo News correctly predicts the beginning of a new theatrical era as Albert Nocciolino partners with Shea's Buffalo Theatre as a co-promoter in bringing Broadway productions to Buffalo. In August 1988, Shea's began offering our Broadway season subscription with our first five-show package: Cabaret, Me and My Girl, Elvis: An American Musical, Nunsense, and Cats.

In this undated photo of downtown Buffalo, it's hard to make out Shea's Buffalo Theatre without it's blade sign.

In this undated photo of downtown Buffalo, it's hard to make out Shea's Buffalo Theatre without it's blade sign.

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