Qualla: Ironwood Theatre https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Ironwood Theatre https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre Ironwood Theatre: Introduction https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre/ Photo credit Billertl, CC BY-SA 3.0. The first film ever screened at the Ironwood Theatre was Wings, the 1927 World War I epic starring Clara Bow and Gary Cooper that would go on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Eighty-two years later, when volunteers finished restoring the theatre's original 1928 Barton pipe organ, they chose the same film for the rededication ceremony. That act of symmetry says everything about this place. The Historic Ironwood Theatre, designed in Italian Renaissance style by self-taught Ironwood architect Albert Nelson, was built in 1928 at a cost of $160,000. It seated 1,000 people, showed first-run films and vaudeville acts, and served as the cultural heart of a remote mining city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Then it nearly disappeared.

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Image: Billertl | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/cbrb-ironwood-theatre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ironwood Theatre: Vaudeville, Hollywood, and Collapse https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre/ Photo credit Billertl, CC BY-SA 3.0. Under the direction of A.L. Pikar, the Ironwood Theatre flourished through Hollywood's Golden Age. Through the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, it was one of three movie houses in town, presenting first-run films alongside live vaudeville shows. The Italian Renaissance interior -- hand-sculp...

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Image: Billertl | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/cbrb-ironwood-theatre-vaudeville-hollywood-and-collapse.mp3 0:06 2 full Ironwood Theatre: The Grand Old Lady on Her Pedestal https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre/ Photo credit Billertl, CC BY-SA 3.0. Through all those years of closure, the Barton pipe organ never left. Nicknamed "The Grand Old Lady," the 2-manual, 7-rank, 499-pipe instrument sat on its original 1928 pedestal while the theatre around it went silent. Restoration began in 2000 under Dr. Tom Peacock's direction. ...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/cbrb-ironwood-theatre-the-grand-old-lady-on-her-pedestal.mp3 0:06 3 full Ironwood Theatre: A Mural Beneath the Paint https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre/ Photo credit Billertl, CC BY-SA 3.0. During a 1973 renovation, workers painted the theatre's proscenium mural and surrounding ceiling with dark blue and white paint. The three-piece canvas painting by William Hasenberg -- created to give the theatre its finishing grandeur -- was assumed destroyed. Two decades later,...

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Image: Billertl | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/cbrb-ironwood-theatre-a-mural-beneath-the-paint.mp3 0:06 4 full Ironwood Theatre: Volunteers Keep the Lights On https://qualla.com/ironwood-theatre/ Photo credit Billertl, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Ironwood Theatre reopened in 1988 as a nonprofit cultural organization, operated by Ironwood Theatre Inc. and a volunteer board of directors. In 2010, the city purchased the adjacent Seaman building, renamed it City Centre, and expanded the theatre's footprint with a concours...

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/r/b/ironwood-theatre-wp/cbrb-ironwood-theatre-volunteers-keep-the-lights-on.mp3 0:06 5 full