The Saenger Theater in Pine Bluff, built in 1924, has been mentioned in the statewide newspaper lately because the building is deteriorating and needs its roof repaired to the tune of $150,000 to prevent its imminent demolition. This news comes at the same time a historic building in Morrilton that was still in use collapsed this week, killing a two year old girl and seriously injuring her mother. (Unlike that building, the Saenger is not still in use.) The statewide paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, reminisced in an editorial today on the heyday of the Saenger and lamented that it has not been restored like one of its sister theaters in Texarkana (it was a Saenger theater also, but is now the Perot Theater, due to Ross Perot putting up a million dollars to help get the theater restored). The Pine Bluff Saenger was close to being restored eight or ten years ago, when a Pine Bluff film festival was still in existence, but has since further deteriorated.
Anyway, today's editorial didn't mention the legend of the ghost in the theater. Supposedly an electrician was electrocuted while working overtime in order to get the final connections made for the theater to open. Also supposedly, his wife was waiting outside in their car so they could leave immediately for a vacation. This would not mean much at all to me, except for the fact that my best male friend in junior high and high school, Pat Calkins, worked as the Saenger's assistant manager for several years and has told me he saw the ghost. He's not one to make up something like that. The cleaning ladies also told him they'd seen this ghost. Apparently, strange noises were common in the theater late at night, but sightings of the ghost were not.
Last year I asked Pat to tell me about his sighting of the ghost and to provide if he could any leads I might follow relating to other people having seen it. I was thinking of writing it up as an article for the Jefferson County Historical Quarterly. Pat is a word person, but not so much a sentence or punctuation person. Here is his email to me about the ghost:
Maybe Commonwealth Theaters could check old employee files and find the old gals. what I saw , Every night after everyone had left the theater The Projectionist Zappy turned on the auditorium light and left I locked all the doors leaving my keys in the lock on the front door next to the boxofice then same routine as always I walk through the foyer taking a look in the auditorium for sleepers lovers drunks then hit the light switch under the stairs that led to the balcony , but that night I saw a figure coming up the isle I stopped looked and it was the ghost he was wearing a smock and carrying a tool box as if he was simply on the way out. It shocked the piss out of me I ran to the door unlocked it stopped out locked it back jumped in the old Flag car drove off with tears in my eyes checking the back seat. The next Coke Show I asked one of the maids if they ever saw anything unusual in there and she grabed my arm and said you seen him didn't you then started laughing and said look at those goose bumps I'll tell you exactly what you seen ,describing him exactly followed byhow he got there and he didn't bother anybody like the mean one up in the balcony . I'm running out of library time so so long adju to you Pat
