On April 27, 1972, the iconic surf film Five Summer Stories, asks, “Where were you in ’72?”

Heralded as, “the finest surf movie ever made,” Five Summer Stories is a cultural icon, a time capsule from a watershed era when the world was at a critical crossroads and its reflection was clear in the emerging sport/art of surfing.

The Lobero was a leader in premiering new surf films during the 60’s and 70’s, and this one consistently scores high marks from critics and fans. Set against a backdrop of the Vietnam War and the Nixon years, Five Summer Stories was the culmination of the joint surf-film careers of Jim Freeman and Greg MacGillivray.

“For the surfing afficianado, Five Summer Stories is an incredible barrage of audio-visual stimulus.” – SURFER Magazine

Code name “The Last Surfing Movie” during production, the movie portrays a young, outlaw sport at a strategic point in its creative evolution–and at a historical crux in time.

The film is generally acknowledged as the start of the second generation of surf films, with the first generation being typified by Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer.

Sources:

• 5 Summer Stories IMDB
• https://www.facebook.com/MacGillivrayFreeman/?tn-str=k*F
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Summer_Stories

On April 25, 1884, prominent Temperance leader Judith Ellen Foster lectured about the perils of alcohol.

Mrs. Foster was a member of the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

The Temperance movement was a significant mass movement in the United States during the 1860’s – 1900, and it encouraged general abstinence from the consumption of alcohol. They believed that abstinence would help decrease crime, make families stronger, and improve society as a whole.

Temperance proponents saw alcohol as the most crucial problem of Western civilization, causing secondary poverty, and social problems.

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that, linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity. They played an influential role in the temperance movement, supporting the 18th Amendment and other social reform issues that came to prominence in the progressive era.

Sources:

• https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5647&context=annals-of-iowa
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_movement
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_Christian_Temperance_Union

On April 22-23, 1970, George Greenough’s Surf film The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun premiered, forever changing surf films.

Wielding a 28-pound waterproof camera rig on his shoulder, Greenough was the first surfer and filmmaker to capture the view from the inside of the barrel.

Surfing has one maneuver whose feeling has no parallel: the tube ride. And until 1970, vision inside the tube was restricted only to the surfers capable of putting themselves in the right position and even then, it only lasted a second. That is, until Santa Barbara native George Greenough’s seminal scene in his only full-length flick, The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun.*

“This release is essential watching because it is a cinematic masterwork of the highest magnitude.” – Surfer Today

George Greenough was born 1941 in Santa Barbara, CA. Greenough is credited for the design of the modern surf fin as well as with influencing modern surfing’s more radical maneuvers.

This film was considered so inspiring by surfers that entire audiences of them would yell and shout for the duration of the movie. The film caught the attention of Pink Floyd, who went on to use the film as a backdrop for their concerts.

Sources:

• https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/the-best-surf-movies-of-all-time
• https://www.theinertia.com/surf/the-58-best-surf-films-of-all-time-ranked/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Greenough
• http://www.weekendhippie.com/george-greenough

On April 17, 1926, The Lobero Theatre welcomed the London String Quartet.

The Lobero’s grand opening was held in 1924, making the new theater an enticing destination on the west coast, welcoming distinguished acts from across the pond.

The London String Quartet was a string quartet founded in London in 1908, and remained one of the leading English chamber groups into the 1930’s making several well-known recordings. The Quartet was one of the most famous actively touring groups active in America at that time.

“When such artists play, as the London String Quartet, one wishes that no ballroom walls would close them in. One wishes that those doors might be flung wide open to every ear to hear, and to every heart to beat its response.”

Research suggests that the Quartet may have made a stop at the Lobero on a West Coast tour which included a stop in Pasadena, recorded here.

Sources:

• http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Jan12/London_StrQt_CD1253.htm#ixzz6JdJ5LK4F

On April 16-17, 1886, Spiritualists Dr. Alexander Hume and Dr. Harding presented “A Night of Wonders” at the Lobero Theatre.

The prominent Dr. Hume was said to be, “the only representative that gives sittings upon an open, brilliantly lighted stage,” and described as “pre-eminent to every living spirit medium.”

Spiritualism was based around the possibility of communication with the spirits of dead people and reached its peak in membership from the 1840’s to the 1920’s. They believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice.

In the 1880’s, a number of mediums were touring the United States, presenting “open light” seances, which included spirit slate writing, a table rising, a display of the hands or faces of spirits, and the playing of a phantom guitar.

By 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. After the nineteenth century the credibility of the informal movement began to weaken due to accusations of fraud, and the appearance of more formal spiritualist organizations.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism

On April 13, 1962 Joan Baez played the Lobero Theatre at just 21-years-old.

Seven years later Joan would go on to perform at Woodstock and continue on to become a prolific folk musician and activist.

After becoming a staple on the coffeehouse folk-music scene in Cambridge, Baez’s professional career began at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. Quickly, her star rose around the world as she penned original songs about freedom and Civil Rights and deftly interpreted works by Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and Woodie Guthrie among many, many others.

“Her superb soprano voice, as lustrous and rich as old gold, flowed purely all evening with a wondrous ease… So many students have identified themselves with the 20-year-old Miss Baez, it was gratifying to hear her speak concernedly of the world around her, yet without the cliches of the socially conscious school of folk song.” – New York Times (November 13, 1961)

Her mission has never wavered in sixty years. Joan Baez was inducted into the Rock an Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Today, she remains a musical force of nature, and an artist of incalculable influence.

Sources:

• http://www.joanbaez.com/bio/
• https://www.woodstock.com/lineup/joan-baez/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Baez

On April 9, 1886 New York actress Anna Boyle began a four night run of melodramas at the Lobero Theatre.

The Madison Square Theatre company consisted of 12 actors, and came to Santa Barbara to perform four performances on April 9, 10, 12 & 13.

Melodramas were very popular theatrical format in the late 1800’s, characterized by a sensational plot designed to appeal strongly to the emotions–which take precedence over detailed characterization.

Featuring stock characters such as the noble hero, the long-suffering heroine, and the cold-blooded villain, the melodrama focuses not on character development but on sensational incidents and spectacular staging.

Characters are often simply-drawn and may appear stereotyped. The themes are typically focused on morality and family issues including love and marriage, often with challenges from an outside source such as a temptress, a scoundrel, or an aristocratic villain.

Miss Anna Boyle appeared in all four of the shows during their Lobero run, with works entitled, “The Lancashire Lass,” “The Wife’s Temptation,” and “The Unknown.”

Tickets ranged from 50-75 cents for reserved seating.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodrama
• https://www.britannica.com/art/melodrama

The Lobero welcomed the Agricultural & Horticultural Fair in 1883, 1884, and 1885.

The original Lobero Theatre first opened its doors in 1873, making the 10-year-old building a very attractive venue for the farming enthusiasts to gather and show their wares. Cost of admission was 25 cents.

A Santa Barbara Daily Independent review of the 1885 fair in the April 12, 1885  reads:

“The Horticultural Society, consisting of some of our best and most highly respected ladies and gentlemen of Santa Barbara, may feel proud – yea, doubly proud of their efforts in displaying so grand and rich a scene as the one that, mounted upon tables, stands and platforms, fairly enchanted those who visited Lobero’s Theatre last evening.”

On April 4, 1936, Martha Graham first performed at the Lobero Theatre.

Martha Graham is considered by many to be the 20th century’s most important dancer and the mother of modern dance.

TIME magazine named Martha Graham “Dancer of the Century,” and People magazine named her among the female “Icons of the Century.” As a choreographer, she was as prolific as she was complex, creating 181 ballets and a dance technique that has been compared to ballet in its scope and magnitude. Her approach to dance and theater revolutionized the art form and her innovative physical vocabulary has irrevocably influenced dance worldwide.

The Graham family moved to Santa Barbara, California when Martha was fourteen years old. She considered Santa Barbara her second home (after New York) and the Lobero could arguably be called her home theater – she appeared on the Lobero stage 8 times* between 1936 and 1966.

Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.  Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

*(1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1950, 1952 (speech), 1956, and 1966 in a Lobero production held at the Granada)

Sources:

• https://marthagraham.org/history/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham
• https://www.biography.com/performer/martha-graham

On April 2, 1940, Russian-born American musician Isaac Stern (1920 – 2001) played the Lobero Theatre for a second time.

Stern was considered one of the premier violinists of the twentieth century, and appeared at least five times here throughout his storied career, with performances in: 1939, 1940, 1945, 1951, and 1952.

Thanks to his expressive playing and engaging style, Stern rapidly gained recognition with audiences and toured extensively all over the world, appearing at major festivals.

Harold C. Schonberg put Stern’s artistry in perspective reviewing one of his performances in The New York Times in 1962:

”Mr. Stern’s playing is a perfect illustration of the fact that a big tone can be delicately and even vigorously colored without recourse to a heavy vibrato… by holding to a clean musical line, Mr. Stern makes his interpretations that much more beautiful.”

In addition to his concert performances, Stern appeared on radio and television and made numerous recordings. Active in organizations promoting the arts, he played a key role in saving New York City’s Carnegie Hall from demolition in 1960 and later became president of the corporation that administered the hall and its cultural programs; he held the post until his death. In 1964 he helped establish the National Endowment for the Arts.

Stern was also noted for his encouragement of young musicians and aided the careers of Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman, among others. Stern was recognized with several distinguished awards including the Kennedy Center Honors Award (1984) and a GRAMMY for lifetime achievement (1987). A documentary of his 1979 tour of China, From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, received an Academy Award in 1981. Stern’s autobiography, My First 79 Years (cowritten with Chaim Potok), was published in 1999.

Sources:

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Stern
• https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/23/nyregion/violinist-isaac-stern-dies-at-81-led-efforts-to-save-carnegie-hall.html