Hub City is Magical Placescelebrating the release of its 20th title, Magical Places: The Story of Spartanburg's Theatres and their Entertainments, 1900-1950 by author Marion Peter Holt of New York City.

Holt's book is an illustrated history of the heyday of live theaters and moviehouses in downtown Spartanburg—“a departed era of cultural life ... rapidly receding in local memory.” From the touring shows that played the Spartanburg Opera House and Harris Theatre in the early decades of the 20 th century to the marquee-lit motion picture palaces of the World War II era, Holt tells a moving story of a Southern community's romance with traveling performers and Hollywood actors and actresses.

The author, who grew up in Spartanburg, is Emeritus Professor of Theatre at the City University of New York and has been a visiting lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and Barcelona's Institut del Teatre. A graduate of Wofford College, he was a member of the Converse College faculty for a decade. His fascination with theatre architecture and performance developed when he was a teenage usher at Spartanburg's Carolina Theatre.

His passion is the preservation of historic theatres. He is an advocate for the restoration of Spartanburg's Carolina Theatre, which opened in the Montgomery Building (as the Montgomery Theatre) in October 1925 and is the “sole survivor” among the Spartanburg theatres he writes about. “With another stroke of luck, and civic imagination, it will gleam again and become a cultural magnet,” he writes in the concluding chapter of Magical Places .

For more information about Holt's visit to Spartanburg, call 577-9349. Magical Places will be available at local bookstores Sept. 1 or can be ordered from Hub City's online catalog by clicking here.

Strand Theatre, 1947