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Bob Goldstine and friends are trying to hang on to a rich part of Fort Wayne s past They are woefully short of the money they need to do it.So the Embassy theater, a for years landmark on Fort Wayne's entertainment scene, is a prime candidate to become a parking lot.Goldstine, a Fort Wayne realtor, is president of the Embassy Theater foundation. His tiiends are the thousand area residents who |oined the foundation to try and save the old theater with its classic, extravagant decor from crumbling under the wrecker's ball.At ten dollars a membership, the save the Embassy crusade raised $12,000 over the past year. It needs at least a quarter of a million dollars to buy the theater, however, and it needs the cash in a great hurry. On Monday, October 28, its option to buy runs out After that, the Embassy's fate is in the hands of Sportservice, Inc., of Buffalo, NY.“If we don t get it, I suppose they tear it down,” says Goldstine He says it calmly for someone who could see a year of fundraising work go down the drain.The problem is not a lack of popularity for the cause, but a lack of the big money donors who are the backbone of such campaigns So far no one has kicked in even $75,000, and there’s a lot of families in Fort Wayne to whom that’s nothing.”In all, Goldstine needs a half million to save the theater which has hosted entertainment for so many norfheastern Indiana movie and concert fans over the years. The first quarter million is to buy it from Sportservice, a concessionaire whichwound up with the Embassy because it was the biggest creditor when the Embassy’s owners went bankrupt in spring 1973. The next $250,000 is to put the building back into useful condition.Goldstine thinks it’s worth the price. “A community this sue needs very badly an auditorium of that caliber, and here one isat a ridiculously low price ” He estimates the city would spend eight or nine million dollars to build a new auditorium as acoustically excellent as the Embassy and with its seating for nearly three thousand persons.The theater also has historic value since it is one of the last of an ornate breed that is fast becoming extinct. Its last hope is that city hall may be interested enough to come to the rescue Goldstine fears the price will scare away city administrators who have shown enthusiasm for his battle to restore the Embassy as a home for culture and entertainment.Goldstine still clings to the hope that someone will come through with the quarter million dollars he needs at the last minute.
Newspaper Details
Decatur Daily Democrat
Decatur, Indiana, US
Fri, Oct 25, 1974
Page 20
Full Page
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Anonymous
SE 11 Mar 2019
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