New book explores Hippodrome’s 50 years

Many may take the Hippodrome for granted and count on being able to see a performance or two from the downtown theater company every year. But local author Richard Gartee is not among them.

Few cities the size of Gainesville can boast of being home to a first-class regional theater, so Gartee decided five years ago that it was crucial to document the history of the Hippodrome Theatre, affectionately known as the Hipp, before it was too late.

“It was very much a passion project for me,” said Gartee. “At the end of 2018, I was meeting with then artistic director Lauren Caldwell. All the founders had retired or were very ill or had passed away. Some of the key actors had died.”

Gartee wanted to act before the Hipp’s tale got lost in time. 

“If we don’t capture this information at this point and preserve it, it’s going to be lost forever,” he said. “Fifty years is a long time. Even old newspaper clippings from 50 years ago are ragged and yellow. We agreed, and I set upon laying out what I was going to do for the book.”

Like so many other things, Gartee’s project was delayed by the pandemic. He was able to get some research and interviews done, but it wasn’t until 2021 that he was able to start writing the book.

His book titled, “The Hippodrome Theatre First Fifty Years,”was a labor of love.

“There is an important story here about how six graduates from UF with no money brought about this tremendous thing that has since become a cultural icon of Gainesville’s artistic community and become one of the better-known regional theaters of America,” Gartee said. “All on a shoestring. All from nothing.”

Gartee wanted his book to read like a narrative and tell a story and be more than an encyclopedic compendium of facts. He accomplished that by weaving in interviews with founders, actors and other Hipp supporters over the years.

Gartee begins at the beginning the theater group’s first production on August 8, 1973, a pantomime, “Did You Hear Something?” that ran for five days at the Hipp’s first location on Hawthorne Road.

It wasn’t until September 1980 that the theater group moved into the old post office building they still occupy in downtown Gainesville—after battling a lot of red tape. But they prevailed, and in January 1981 the Hippodrome team presented “The Elephant Man” in their new home.

As a longtime Gainesville resident, Gartee says he remembers what downtown was like before the Hippodrome set up residence there.

“It was like a ghost town,” he said. “Getting the Hipp to move down to the post office, where they are now, was really the beginning of the revitalization of downtown Gainesville.”

In 1981, the Hipp secured permission to present a Neil Simon play, “Broadway Bound,”while it was still on Broadway—something that almost never happens. The production brought not only a Tennessee Williams play to town, but Williams himself for opening night, a talk, a fundraiser and more. The play was “Tiger Town”presented in 1979.

“One thing that stands out to me is that this group of local thespians raised the bar of theater to such a level that they gained respect in the New York theater world and the London theater world,” Gartee said. “Playwrights from London and New York would come down and do a residence at the Hippodrome just to see it and help get their name on the stage.”

That notoriety has continued through the present, Gartee said.

“From my perspective, the Hippodrome has done fantastic work in theater and for the city of Gainesville,” he added.

Gartee’s 458-page hardcover coffee table book tells the story of the 440 plays presented with 420 black and white photos. “The Hippodrome Theatre First Fifty Years” is on sale now at the Hippodrome before select matinees, at the Matheson History Museum, at the Harn Museum gift shop, Ilene’s Gator Store in Thornebrook, and from Amazon. Learn more at www.hipp50.com.

Gartee will offer four talks in July about the book, sharing the spotlight with other notables:

• On July 8, Matheson History Museum—the Hippodrome’s role in revitalizing downtown Gainesville
• July 9, Millhopper Library—writing the Hippodrome history
• July 16, Millhopper Library—stories from the Hippodrome
• July 21, former Media Image Studio (next door to the Hipp)— photographing Hippodrome plays