LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

Before there was the Orange County Performing Arts Center, before even

South Coast Repertory took center stage, arts patrons found refuge at the

Orange Coast College Auditorium -- now known as the Robert B. Moore

Theater.

Built in 1955, the theater gave people like Diane Keaton, who attended

OCC in the early ‘60s, a walkway to a professional acting career. Local

theatergoers enjoyed great acts -- albeit without air conditioning.

And it gave the same audience a chance to get away from the woe of a

nation after former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Jim Carnett, college spokesman, was an OCC student on that fateful

Friday in November 1963. The student production of “Two Gentleman of

Verona” had opened on the previous Wednesday and was to have gone on that

night.

But instead the theater went black out of respect for the slain

president. The cast thought the production might even close, Carnett

said, but Saturday’s show went on with a packed house.

“People were ready to laugh,” he said. “The community needed a

diversion.”

Renamed the Robert B. Moore Theatre in 1982, after a college president

who was an avid supporter of the arts, the facility continued to

entertain the community throughout the years with student productions as

well as such household names as the Smothers Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie,

the Kingston Trio, Tito Puente, Bob Hope, Don McLean and, most recently,

Judy Collins.

Bob Dylan was supposed to perform there in the early ‘60s but

canceled. A famous motorcycle accident threw him off track.

Guest lecturers that walked the stage included novelist H. Jackson

Brown Jr.; “Catch 22” author Joseph Heller; Richard Bach, author of

“Jonathan Livingston Seagull”; and Bill Russell, an NBA Hall of Famer and

former star with the Boston Celtics.

One local graduate who later influenced the art scene was David Emmes,

co-founding artistic director of the South Coast Repertory. He performed

on the Robert B. Moore Theatre stage.

In 1991, needing modern-day amenities after 36 years, the theater

underwent a $2-million renovation. It reopened in the summer of 1993.

Work included air conditioning, improved acoustics, the purchase of an

orchestra shell, work on the stage and renovated seats.

“I think when we remodeled, it allowed us to bring in better acts,”

said Doug Bennett, executive director of the Orange Coast College

Foundation.

The original theater, designed by Richard Neutra, seated about 1,200

people. Forty-five years later, it accommodates 910.

Carnett recounts one fun memory of watching the Smothers Brothers, not

from the seats, but rather from the ceiling.

His friend at the time was responsible for handling stage lighting for

the group’s production. The theater was supposed to remain locked all day

for the Smothers Brothers to set up and rehearse. Carnett, then 19, and

his friend hid in the catwalks above the seats and watched the famous

comedians all day long. They even brought lunch.

“This was one of the best houses, the biggest, in Orange County,”

Carnett said.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at young.chang@latimes.com; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.