Macon Magazine

Stage stories Sorry to disappoint, but there's no definitive answer. ere are good stories, enough that most volunteer guides at the theater will point stage right and say, "at's Houdini's trap door." Bob Mavity has a lot to say on the matter and all things Grand Opera House. He's the theater's senior technical director and has been climbing around its nooks and crannies for 26 years. He's the on-site, go-to guy for history both solid and fuzzy. His personal leaning on the Houdini issue? "People have tried looking up facts but there's nothing to absolutely prove Houdini cut trap doors in our stage, and that's just the HAVE YOU EVER SENSED A GHOST AT THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE? Ever heard that real horses once raced across the stage there? Many tall tales abound regarding the Grand and other local historic venues, and while we may not settle every rumor or cover every tale, it's fun to try – or at least get the official word on some of the more prominent ones with a few historical tidbits thrown in. In a series of articles, we first we consider the Grand Opera House and start with what may be its most controversial story of all: Did Houdini really cut a trap door in the stage? mind, were all for the same person. "I don't know what other illusionist was famous enough for the Grand's management to do all that for. I don't believe it'd be for just any magician passing through. Houdini's carpenters were known to come to town in advance under secrecy of night and install all the traps he needed. ... My opinion, it was for the man himself. Do we have paperwork? No. But none disproving it, either. I'd love to see it if there was." Another stage story is magnificently true and involves the great traveling stage production of "Ben Hur" at the turn of the last century, which featured real horses on a real racetrack pulling real chariots right onstage to thrill audiences. e Grand's written history and Mavity confirm not only a flat conveyer-belt racetrack but that it was built right into the stage. Even more, the show was booked as the Grand was being built and "Ben Hur" technical staff were sent to oversee stage construction and assure all was in order for the spectacular scene. In addition to horses, the stage has seen its fair share of notable humans through the years. A lineup of historical acts at the Grand includes John Phillip Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, Charlie Chaplin, Lionel Barrymore, Will Rogers, Ethel Barrymore, George Burns and Gracie Allen, the Allman Brothers Band, Bob Hope and Ray Charles. Foundation formation ere's been debate about the Grand's foundation. Was it built on the same foundation as its preceding incarnation, the Academy of Music? e Academy was built in 1884, but by 1902 it and its classic rose window were obsolete. Plans were made for a new Macon cultural venue: the Grand Opera House. Some say the Grand was built on the basic foundation of the Academy, literally, and some say a façade was added to the old structure. Of course, others say no way. Joe Patti, executive director at the Grand, offers proof the Grand was entirely a rebuild, not a re-do. "It's not the same foundation at all," Patti said. "We can tell from records, drawings, photographs, diagrams and insurance maps the Academy was about a third the size of the way it is," he said. "Once a story is told it gets perpetuated and maybe that's all there is to this, but personally, I believe there is something to it. I was told from the start we had three functional trap doors – one stage right, one stage left and another center stage. I was told they were placed there by an illusionist assumed to be Houdini. "I do know this for sure: When we replaced the stage floor for the first time since it was built in 1905, when we pulled up the flooring about 20 years ago due to deterioration, we found evidence of not one, not three, but of 26 more traps with their leavers and workings. ey'd been boarded up under the stage and were all the same size, matched, and to my APRIL/MAY 2020 | maconmagazine.com 77

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