The Harlingen Auditorium and Harlingen Concert Association
46 Years Young – And the Beat Goes On

Norman Rozeff, November 2006 (revised 12/07)

Civic leaders and the city fathers recognized early on what that a sizeable auditorium capable of hosting name attractions would be an important asset to the city. In April 1926 even before such an auditorium was a reality Mayor Ewing had approached the Southwest Chautauqua Organization about bringing its major performers to the city. It had toured such stalwarts as the violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and lecturer Herbert Hoover.

It is in 1927 that the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium, 1114 Fair Park Blvd., is being erected at a cost of $125,000. Its site is where the annual agricultural fairs are held, and it is expected to be utilized as part of the fair activities. It is completed before mid-1928 and seats 3,200. The Hurricane of 1933 causes extensive to the auditorium, so it is extensively renovated. A new cornerstone dated 1936 is placed in it. The city government people who approved the expenditures were: Mayor Sam Botts; commissioners J.J.Burk, George Waters, Neil Madeley, Dr. E.A. Davis, and H.C. Ware. The architect was Stanley Bliss with the Ramsey Brothers doing the contracting. It is of art deco design and has a state of the art stage. Reconfigured, it then seats over 2,200.

Since the year 1928 when Harlingen was first blessed with one of the finest civic auditoriums in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the community has always enticed topnotch entertainment. This was made possible by performing-arts-lovers who organized to bring to Harlingen American and foreign artists of note. In late October 1928 at the official dedication of the facility, John Phillip Souza with his 80-man band played two concerts in the auditorium. The afternoon performance was largely attended by Harlingen schoolchildren and Souza critiqued local musicians. A month later saw the performance of Victor Herbert's operetta "Naughty Marietta". On 12/17/28 the hit musical Broadway "Rio Rita" is performed with a cast of 96 including a beauty chorus of 50. The NY Times labeled it "The Queen of All Musical Comedies."

A performance of the Freiburg-im-Breslau Passion Play takes place in it in 1929. Another prominent attraction utilizing the theater in its early years is the Broadway production of George White's Scandals. Celebrated dancers Ted Shawn and Isadora Duncan, who was later to die in a tragic accident in Italy, graced the stage. They brought with them 16 boys who performed Indian dances in appropriate costuming and makeup. . This same year saw famed but aging soprano Madame Schumann-Heink offered a concert after which the audience rose to its feet in appreciation. She, who appeared very early on, brought with her a boy violin virtuoso.

William T. "Uncle Billie" Chase was to play an important role in the auditorium's operations. Born in Hiawatha, KS 9/20/1866, he had gone to Oklahoma's Cherokee Strip when it was opened to settlement on 9/13/1893. He moved on to the Valley on 9/14/14. Here he purchased 60 acres of land on S. Dilworth Road. He moved into the Lon C. Hill house at Fair Park in the spring of 1927. Then he was to take on the position of theater manager at $170 per month plus the free housing. He would not relinquish the job for 30 years just before reaching age 91.

In the 1930s polar explorer and aviator Richard Byrd would lecture at on his adventures.

In the March of 1939 the American Legion here will sponsor two lectures in the auditorium by wife, and esteemed in her own right, of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt.

In was the year 1933 that saw the formation of the Rio Grande Valley Civic Music Association. Its leaders were responsible for obtaining and scheduling the many first-class performers who were to grace Harlingen's wonderful venue. In the 1940s this members-only organization dedicated to bring reasonably-priced artistic attraction to the city embarked on a different track. It contracted with Civic Concert Services, Inc. based in New York City, and the Civic Concert Association. These provided performer services to cities nationwide. These entities had a history extending back to the year 1927 when people began to think "Why not raise some money first and then hire the artists?" The idea soon caught on. Between 1945 and 1950 the total number of community associations rose to an all time high of 1,008.

World renowned artists were to grace the stage in Harlingen over the years. It may be hard to imagine the likes of romantic-style composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, accomplished pianist Arthur Rubenstein, and violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz being here , but they were. Audiences enjoyed the talents of performer like Rudolf Serkin, Paul Robeson, and the Van Trapp Family Singers. Jan Peerce, Metropolitan Opera tenor, performed in Harlingen as did Met sopranos Vivian Della Chiesa, versatile Eleanor Steber, and coloratura soprano, Lily Pons. The talented and amusing blind English pianist, Alec Templeton, was a special treat. The acclaimed Original Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was a great attraction. The Symphony Orchestras of Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis filled the stage and theater with gorgeous melodies.

In 1961 the Civic Music Association here was superceded by the Harlingen Community Concert Association which in turn was now to be serviced by Community Concerts, a division of Columbia Artists Management, Inc. Similar associations were formed in Brownsville and McAllen.

In the years 1992 and 1993 the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium and adjacent Casa de Amistad receive major renovations and modernization including a unifying façade which enlarges their entrances. In the auditorium there is a reduction in seating to 2,200 padded ones. The acoustics are greatly improved as are the dressing rooms. The lobby is much enlarged. City government officials leading this effort are Mayor H. William Card and Commissioners Nat Lopez, Donna P. Bonner, Jessie Robles, John T. Garrett, and Dr. James R. Rowe. A. Brent Branham is city manager, Peacock Construction is the general contractor, and Gignac and Associates are architects. During this two year concert season period the Harlingen Community Concert Association finds a home for one season at the Jacob Brown Auditorium in Brownsville and in the second season at Harlingen High School South.

In the year 2000 the service corporation Community Concerts was purchased by the Trawick Company. Over time it was poorly managed, so the Harlingen Community Concert Association severed its ties with Trawick in 2003. The local association revised its Constitution and By-Laws in March 2004, changing its name at that time to Harlingen Concert Association.

A partial listing of the artists and performers who have come to Harlingen reads like a Who's Who of both American and international stars. The list of artist may surprise even the most blasé and jaded theatergoers. Can you believe?

Ballet and Dance Troupes: The Chicago Opera Ballet, Robert Joffrey, Dallas Ballet, Ruth Page's International Ballet, Jose Molina Bailes Espanoles, Ballet America, Hungarian Folk Ballet, Richard Thomas Ballet, Czechoslovakian Folk Ballet, Ballet Folklorio National Mexico, Gisela and Her Flaming Flamenco, Trula Yugoslav Dancers, Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company, Chamber Ballet, and the Nevada Dance Theater;

Big Bands: Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Bob Crosby and the Bobcats, Les Brown and his Band of Renown, the Jack Daniels Silver Cornet Band, Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show, Salute to Benny Goodman, and the Big Band Cavalcade;

Orchestras: the Boston Pops, the Symphonies of Indiana, St. Louis, Madrid and Warsaw, and the Washington Symphony with guest conductor Arthur Fiddler, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Paul Krentz Chamber Orchestra of Paris, Irish Pops Orchestra, the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Pan American Symphony:

Choral: Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Helsinki University Choir, Norman Luboff, Vienna Academy, Mitch Miller, Little Angels of Korea, Krsmanovich Chorus, the Roger Wagner Chorale, Robert Shaw Chorale, William Hall Chorale, the Westminster Choir, Swingle Singers, New Christie Minstrels, Johnny Mann Singers, Tony Sandler Singers, and the Black Mountain Choir of Wales;

Piano: Leonard Pennario, Peter Nero, Daniel Epstein, Hodgens and Howard, James Dick, Andre La Plante, Rostal and Schaefer, Constantine Orbelian, Lincoln Mayorga, Leonid Kuzman, Markham and Broadway, Jean Casadeseus, and the Hambro Quartet of Pianos;

Singers: Ezio Pinza, Patrice Munsel, William Walker, Robert Merrill, Rise Stevens, Rosalind Elias, Leonard Warren, Enrico Di Giuseppe, James McCracken and his wife Sandra Warfield (all Metropoliitan opera performers), Richard Fredericks, John Raitt, Theodore Uppman, Gloria Capone, Louis Otey, Pamela South, Rosalind Kind.

In addition there have been brass, string, and saxophone ensembles, organists, banjo quartets, guitarists, harpists, harmonica virtuosos, and Chinese acrobats. Texas State Opera productions have seen the limelight as well as such Broadway productions as Brigadoon, Camelot, I Do I Do, Forever Plaid, folk singers, and numerous festivals for various American composers.

With four to six season performances each winter season over a 46-year span the scope and variety of entertainment having graced the stage of the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium is truly dizzying. The success of working in unity to provide low cost access to quality entertainment is no more evident than with the Harlingen Concert Association and what it has accomplished.

Please look at the article on the Broadway Theater League to glean additional information on performances at the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium.

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