The Historic 1891 Sorg Opera House in Middletown Ohio

This is my tribute to this Beautiful Theatre that sits at 57 South Main St in Middletown Ohio. The theatre is a fine example of Beaux Arts decoration. The theatre has 2 balconies but the top has been closed for 70 years. It would be fantastic to see this theatre restored to it's 1891 beauty. I could have shown lots more, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet. This is a historically inportant building to save. I included one old 1890's photo that I copied, the rest are my own photos, including a pencil drawing I made for the beginning of this piece. I have produced and directed over 200 tv shows. I found these photos of the Sorg Opera House from when I tried to lease it 21 years ago. Yes, most of these photos are 21 years old. I did update a few of the outside shots last summer. I am quite proud of the way it turned out, as none of the photos are larger than 3 x 5 inches. I found a way to make them very high definition.
The background music, I played on a "Vintage" 1961 Gulbransen Rialto Theatre Organ. The music is softer than I wanted it to be. and, There is an anoying "buzz' in the music, I don't know where that is coming from. I wanted to re upload the video, but I hated to start over with it. It's amazing what you can do with a few photos.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Dream
• middletown
• ohio
• historic
• theatre
• 1891

[paulj0557]

@garygadjet I can just imagine what this theater must have been like in it's heyday. Your playing is a wonderful tribute. What organ are you playing? Is that your Rialto K? Wow! What sort of television work did you do?

[garygadjet]

@paulj0557 Hi, I just retired from the theatre 2 weeks ago. The Ceiling was completely gilded with Gold, There was a grand gaslight chandelier. It held 1,200 people on 3 levels. For its day, it was very grand. Yes it is my Rialto K on the Sorg video. I produced and directed about 200 shows for cable TV. I had 1 series called 'Theatre Organ Memories', 1 series called 'From the State House to Your House', it was a live call-in show, and we had our Ohio Senator host it.

[Voodoo8648]

Miiddletown, is an industrial city which needs more factories and industry to bring jobs to this town. Vote Art Frasik for 2012 City Council.

[garygadjet]

@Voodoo8648 You are right, Middletown needs jobs, but also needs new leadership. Middletown has a fantastic downtown that sits empty. Middletown leaders have stagnated, they do nothing to promote Middletown, their plan is to destroy every building downtown, and move Middletown to Warren County..

Get out and vote for new leaders, new idelas, get rid of the old stagnant politicians. Middletowns' future depends on new leaders.

[lonewarriorfit]

Places like this are awesome historical artifacts to a grand time in American history...sadly Middletown is dead and we can all thank the bloody unions that have sucked the life out of it and other once great cities like her.

Would love to see one like this on the Sorg House

[garygadjet]

Don't blame the unions, it is the greedy management that sucks all the life out of business

[sallad741]

I was a performer with the musical tour "Fiddler On The Roof", and we were hired in by the Sorg Opera Company, and when I arrived I was so disappointed in the shape it had been left in, and I personally wish it would have been left as an opera house, not turned into a rock auditorium.....unless someone buy it from them...Roadapple Music may just kill the place completely! :'(

[stumptacular]

i used to have an art studio on the second floor of the commercial building... Harry Finkelman was a real helpful mentor to me and is greatly missed... the organ goes perfect with this and is a very nice touch... that building as well as the sorg mansion both seem so charged with echoes of the past... i had alot of strange experiences working alone all night in that building... i guess i wasnt alone after all...

[fickendatsmooshy]

they like to worm hole from time to time

[thinsmek]

Tasteful animation!

[bbrewer5]

Are they going to fix it? Not sure if its still under ownership by ED or not but he was telling me they weren't allowed to remodel it without some kind of approval by a historical society? Is this true?

[1171skater]

@ILOVESHIT2000 hahaha.

[emquilting]

@1171skater it is said to be haunted we have water go on and off by its self