Larry Hodges and Cory Hull haul narrow seats earmarked for removal in the Arlee Theater’s seat renovation project.

Successful S.O.S. fundraiser means new and renovated seats are on their way at the Arlee

[February 09, 2015]  MASON CITY - Following its recent showing of “Paddington,” the Arlee Theater closed its doors for long-awaited seat renovations. A Grand Reopening is anticipated in early March. The project is being paid for by donations and money raised at various Save Our Seats fund-raisers over the past seven months. The estimated cost is $20,000, and thanks to the great community support most of it has been raised.

“Ever since we bought the Arlee Theater 12 years ago, we have wanted to address our dilapidated seats,” said Gaye Maxson, who owns the nonprofit theater with her husband, John. “Over the past 18 months, the community has really rallied to help us keep this local treasure open. People have donated their time, talents and financial resources to help us buy a digital projector and now repair the worn-out seats.”

To prepare to ship out 300 seats by this Friday, Arlee volunteers have been gradually taking apart and removing seats since Christmas. After the stage area behind the movie screen was filled with seats, they began piling up in front of the stage and in every other available space in the nearly-80-year-old theater.

“We still had over 150 seats available for patrons at our last movie,” said John Maxson. “Our customers haven’t minded the disarray, and are looking forward to the wider seats and extra leg room.”

“Hull Trucking has been very helpful making arrangements to ship the seats to Cy Young Industries near Kansas City,” he said.

At Cy Young, the Arlee seats will be fitted with new padding and reupholstered, and returned along with 50 wider vintage seats similar to the Arlee’s. The wider seats will be installed in the center back of the auditorium.

“When we started dismantling the seats, we discovered several wood backs had initials carved in them,” Maxson said. “We imagine many go back to the Arlee’s early years.”
These newly discovered mementos will remain for posterity, but the seats will not be reinstalled in their original locations, so if you look for your initials, it will be a treasure hunt.

The Arlee originally had 499 seats. When Don Keith converted the cinema into Nashville Sound Country Opry, about 50 seats were removed to create a dance floor near the stage. With the latest project, another 100 seats are being eliminated to allow for greater comfort of patrons. The wood arm rests and seat backs, as well as the painted cast iron Art Deco standards, are being preserved to retain much of the original appearance.

[Gaye Maxson, Arlee Theater, Mason City]