A piece of Dixon history: Reagan’s connection to The Dixon: Historic Theatre

Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a series about The Dixon: Historic Theatre, built in 1922.

DIXON — Bronze historical markers in Dixon prominently proclaim Ronald Reagan’s connections with the Boyhood Home, South Central School, the Dixon Public Library, the Christian Church and Lowell Park. But Dixon has no historical marker that commemorates Reagan’s extensive relationship with the Dixon Theater. Hear me out.

In 1920, when Ronald Reagan was 9 years old, his family moved from Tampico to Dixon. At that time, word had spread through town that, on the site of the burned Opera House at 112 Galena, Leonard G. Rorer was going to build “the finest show house to be found between Chicago and Des Moines and from Rockford to LaSalle.”

In love with the movies

In his 1990 biography, Reagan himself said, “After we moved to Dixon, I fell in love with the movies. I couldn’t count the number of hours I spent in the darkness of our only movie house.”

In 1920 and 1921, that movie house was the Family Theater, located near 1st and Peoria (now Lena’s Social Club). In his 1965 biography, Reagan remembered “sitting in the Family Theater, watching the marvelous flickering antics of Tom Mix” in the silent movies then known as Westerns. Biographer Anne Edwards said that Reagan “insisted on sitting in the front row” as he watched Mix’s heroic adventures.

But when the glorious new Dixon Theater opened with great fanfare on March 15, 1922, Reagan could be found sitting in the balcony.

“The family generally attended the movies together on Friday nights,” said Edwards. “Whenever he could get Jack (his father) to give the extra dime, Dutch would go to the Saturday matinees.”

Around 1924, when Reagan entered his teenage years, he worked as an usher at the Dixon Theater. This job not only provided some spending money, but it also allowed him to feed his fascination with the movies.

The acting bug

Around 1923 to 1925, Reagan acquired the acting bug. He once said that his “dramatic yen” started in the Sunday School pageant at the Christian Church. His mother, who was a “star performer,” pushed him to try a dramatic reading in front of an audience. He was reluctant at first, but when the crowd erupted in applause, he was hooked.

Inspired by the movies and encouraged by his readings, Reagan landed key roles in plays at North Dixon High School during his junior and senior years (1926-1928). His co-star in those plays was Margaret Cleaver, a “sparkling brunette” who was also his pastor’s daughter.

He fell for Margaret, and they dated each other for years. Biographer Edwards noted that he “took Margaret to the Dixon Theater … to listen to the three-keyboard Barton organ and see a double-feature movie, newsreel and cartoon.”

Moving on to college in the fall of 1928, Reagan also landed key roles in plays at Eureka College. By his senior year in 1932, he knew he wanted to be an actor. And in 1937, he famously landed a movie contract with Warner Brothers.

On the big screen in Dixon

That’s when Reagan’s connection with Dixon theater resumed. On Oct. 3, 1937, his very first movie, “Love is On the Air,” held its world premiere in Dixon – not at the Dixon Theater, but at the new Lee Theater, which was owned by the Dixon Theater Company.

Reagan then wrote a letter to L. G. Rorer, Dixon Theater manager, saying “I can’t tell you … how grateful I am to you for exhibiting my first picture.” Reagan admitted his homesickness for his hometown, adding, “I think I’d give my share of the national debt to be there right now.”

Four years later, Reagan’s homesickness was cured when he returned to Dixon and the Dixon Theater. The Telegraph then described the event as Dixon’s “biggest weekend in history.”

Reagan’s 1941 return

On Sept. 15, 1941, the Dixon Theater hosted the world premiere of “International Squadron,” Reagan’s new movie. Joining Reagan at the theater that night was famed Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons, 60, a Dixon native who was born in Freeport but became Dixon’s first female journalist in 1902.

Joe E. Brown, popular actor and comedian, served as emcee, flanked by young actors George Montgomery, 25, and starlet Ann Rutherford, 23. The celebrities arrived at the theater by police escort and greeted the crowds on a special platform set up under the Dixon Theater marquee, which then jutted out over the sidewalk on Galena Avenue.

“With the band playing and huge spotlights piercing the night, the stars arrived through throng-jammed streets,” reported the Telegraph.

On the Dixon Theater stage

Inside, speaking on the theater stage, 30-year-old Ronald Reagan told the crowd that it was his “thrill of thrills” to return to the same theater where he had often been a member of the audience.

“Only once before have I appeared on this stage,” he said. “That was back in the days when we had a YMCA, and I was the lower end man of a pyramid during a gymnastic demonstration which collapsed just before the curtain was drawn.”

When the movie ended that night, the audience “applauded a good three minutes.” Reagan then returned to the stage where Parsons interviewed him for her network radio program, broadcast direct from the Dixon Theater.

A Reagan first

During that interview, Reagan did something he had never done before. He sang before a live audience, repeating the scene in “International Squadron” where he sang the chorus of “The Man on the Flying Trapeze.” One reporter noted that he was “noticeably off-key.”

The events of the day attracted “approximately 75,000 persons from New York to California” to Dixon, which then had a population of 10,000. The Telegraph said that the event “will go down in history as one of the finest, largest and most expertly managed homecoming days ever staged in Illinois.”

1950: Back on the stage

In August 1950, Reagan came back to Dixon for the “Ronald Reagan Homecoming” during the city’s Injun Summer Days festival. Once again, he returned to the Dixon Theater and made two appearances at two showings of his new movie, “Louisa.”

When Reagan entered the theater to take his seat, “the applause was so thundering,” that he mounted the stage. Addressing the theater audience, he said, “Such an experience for anyone, could only happen in America.”

His “only in America” experiences had only begun. Famously, he would later serve two terms as president of the United States.

1990: Donates $1,000

Even after his presidency, he continued his love for the Dixon Theater. In 1990, Reagan said he was “delighted” to donate $1,000 toward the renovation of the historic theater.

I think it’s time that Dixon added a permanent historical marker that commemorates Ronald Reagan’s relationship with our glorious theater. I’d even gladly donate $100 toward the project.

Who’s with me?

• Dixon native Tom Wadsworth is a writer, speaker and occasional historian. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament.