Back To Life
The Springfield Revitalization Corporation is bringing family entertainment back to Effingham County. The committee is in the process of restoring Springfield’s Mars Movie Theater, and when it’s completed the refurbished building will do more than just add to the historical beauty of Effingham’s little city. It will be a place for family entertainment and a cultural center.
It’s hard to believe that in the 1940’s and 50’s Springfield had two movie theaters: the Mars Movie Theater in downtown Springfield and the Sky-Vu Drive-In Theater on Hwy 21. Very little remains of the Sky-Vu, which was next to the present day Saint Boniface Catholic Church, but the Mars has been luckier. Over the years, it has been used by various businesses, and its original structure is intact.
The Mars Theater was a successful business. It could seat about 350 people, and during the week two movies were shown at night, and about 100 attended each movie. On Fridays and Saturdays they averaged about 200 for each movie. On Sundays the theater was closed. Business was good, but during the 1950’s most families had acquired a television, and families spent more time at home.
In 1955, business had dropped so drastically that its owner, Jack E. Ramsey, wrote an open letter to the community. In it he asked that people reconsider the value of patronizing the movie industry. An excerpt from the letter says: “You know it is possible to habit yourselves to staying at home – this means not mixing with your fellow citizens –this is bad for grown-ups and, more especially, for children….Let’s not grow old sitting at home – come to the theatre and meet your friends.”
Despite Ramsey’s efforts the movie business continued to decline, and the Mars Theater closed its doors in 1959. Gussie Nease and Butch Kiefer have talked about restoring the theater for years. Neese remembers that although her family was poor, she could still afford to go to the movies – “It cost 15 cents for kids to get in and 10 cents for a coke and popcorn,” she said. What a deal! And one movie she especially remembers seeing there is “Love Me Tender” staring “The King”- Elvis Presley.
Now those years of wishful thinking and talking about memories are in the past – through the efforts of the Springfield Revitalization Committee, work on the Mars Theater Project has begun. In 2007 they purchased the theater, and their plan is to “rebuild the Mars Theatre and establish a Foundation for the Arts and Education in Effingham and Coastal Georgia”.
The Mars Theater always had a double function. It was built with a stage so people could enjoy live performances as well as movies, and the committee plans to put that stage to good use. As a cultural center, the stage will be used for plays and concerts, and for a place for The Effingham County Orchestra to perform. Nease would also like for them to become part of the Savannah Movie Festival. “That’s just another of my pipe dreams,” says Nease. “I’ve got a thousand ideas of what I’d like us to do with this project!”
These are big plans, and a special event has been organized to raise money for the project. The fund raiser is called “A Matinee of Movie Music”. It will be held on Sunday, September 20, at 3:00 in the afternoon in the auditorium of the Effingham County Board of Education. The “movie music” theme relates directly to the Mars Theater. “Many of the original movie posters were found stored away in the theater,” said Nease, “and The Effingham County Orchestra will be performing the movie themes from those movies.”
When the revitalization of Springfield’s Mars Theater is completed, family entertainment, both in the form of movies and live productions, will be available to Effingham residents- all without having to fight the traffic to get to Savannah. But it will go beyond that. People will be able to walk down a quiet street, in a quiet town, and experience a bit of the quiet times that people enjoyed before the lure of television drove them indoors.
Let’s not grow old sitting at home – come to the theater and meet your friends!
Loading... 
