The Saenger Theater is a tough one. Well, certainly the building is tough for still standing there after falling into some state of deterioration. But mostly we meant that it’s just tough to figure out what to do with it.
It’s like an old classic car on blocks. Someday, that baby is going to hum, you know, if we ever get the time and money to fix it up and put it back on the road. Until then, it sits there, a tarp over, maybe holding its own or maybe continuing to go down.
The whole Saenger thought process came back this week when the city’s Urban Renewal Agency Commission met to handle a variety of items. One of the items was whether to spend more money on the Saenger to shore it up yet again. That particular piece of business was postponed for a month in order to give Director Maurice Taggart time to figure out if this new money was going to fix the problem or just be money thrown down a “rathole,” as Commissioner Kirby Mouser suggested it might be.
Actually, the photo of Mouser that ran with the story in The Commercial said it all. Incredulity, might be one way to describe Mouser, with his arms spread wide and a look of exasperation on his face.
Likely, that was in response to what Taggart had to say, which was that there had been some interest from investors, but … and there’s always a “but” with the Saenger, there was a problem.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“For an extended period of time, the Saenger Theater has been rained in,” Taggart said. “The second floor fell because of the amount of water that has been in there.”
The prospect of throwing good money after bad, if that’s what this is, would be that the city rather recently spent $100,000 to put a new roof on the building.
“So they put a $100,000 roof on it, and it leaks?” Mouser asked.
One can understand his frustration, even if Taggart later explained that well, no, the roof isn’t leaking, but water was getting in through some clogged roof drains, and to fix that and some roof flashing will be a mere $16,500.
Other commissioners were eager to figure out if this money was going to be all that stood between a wet and a dry Saenger or if there would be other problems. But Mouser, perhaps, expressed that sentiment best.
“I want to know what we’re going to do to keep us from throwing money down a rathole,” Mouser said.
“This will fix it,” Taggart said.
“That’s what they said about the $100,000 roof,” Mouser countered.
The Commercial has had any number of stories across the years about the Saenger and what an amazing place it was back in the day and how great it would be to have it back in action again. There have also been stories about some of the other renovated and now fantastically popular Saenger theaters around the country. The one in New Orleans and another in Mobile come to mind.
And while no one wants to be responsible for throwing in the towel on our Saenger, the city is left in the unenviable position of keeping it standing, which costs and keeps costing. Chances are, that $16,500 might be enough for now, but eventually it won’t be. Something else will need to be propped up. Like a house that is being watched and cared for, stuff happens. And the Saenger is far from being watched and cared for.
We look forward to the day when, as Taggart said, an investor comes along to put the building right again. But not having any idea when or if that is going to happen is a tough place to be. As we said when we started writing this. But we can always hope that some day, that baby is going to hum again.