Frank Larkin is a familiar face at Illinois Central College’s Performing Arts Center. For the past 20 years, he has supervised the ushers and coordinated the efforts of the box office staff.
At the age of 87, Larkin is not ready to retire anytime soon.
Longevity is something Larkin is used to, as he spent about 50 years in the Peoria area theater business prior to working at the Performing Arts Center.
While the PAC is a theater, it is quite different than the theaters Larkin recalled from year’s past.
Straight out of grade school, Larkin went to work at the Beverly Theater on Knoxville in Peoria as a parking lot attendant. The lot was across the street from the show house, which opened in 1937.
“I used to watch the theater over there. I was just a young kid and I said, ‘I have to get over there,’” Larkin said.
Initially, he helped the janitor and worked his way to usher. He stayed on through high school making 25 cents an hour.
“It was a fantastic job,” he said.
After graduating from Peoria High School in 1941, he served in World War II with the Navy. Larkin showed a badge he cherishes that listed him as part of an atomic bomb testing squad. His crew tested a bomb in the Pacific.
“That was awesome. Most people don’t get to see that,” Larkin said.
After the war, Larkin returned home and married. He also returned to the theater. Larkin, who never had a college education, took classes at Bradley.
“I was kind of scared of school ... I had to ask young people, ‘How do I study?’”
The Varsity Theater opened April 14, 1939, and Larkin worked there. In fact, he helped put up the marquee.
“The Varsity was a beautiful theater. I think it would go over there today if they would have left it alone,” he said.
The Varsity was torn down in the ’80s to make way for Campustown on Main Street in Peoria.
Over time, Larkin said it got better and better for him. Larkin, who lost his father at the age of 1, had a mentor in theater owner George Kerasotes.
Larkin became the manager of several theaters and drive-ins, including the Beverly, Rialto and the Varsity. He helped cut ribbons at several new theaters, including Westlake, the Metro and Landmark.
“We had theaters everywhere on God’s green earth,” Larkin said.
As general manager, Larkin traveled to theaters in Kankakee, Macomb and elsewhere.
In the ’80s, Larkin was awarded a “master showman” distinction twice by Kerasotes Theaters.
As Larkin showed the two badges that depicted this honor, he said, “I’ve been around. I can show you some stuff.”
Larkin was also around long enough to see some drastic changes in the movie business. When he started at the theaters, TVs were not yet in homes.
“The first thing that changed was when they built Sheridan Village. People were getting oriented to that type of shopping,” Larkin said. “The whole downtown little by little, there was nothing around you except the theaters. The next thing you know, there was a parking lot going up next to the Rialto.”
The Rialto, at that time, was pretty high-tech, as Larkin said it was one of the first theaters to have an escalator.
Another time
Going to the movies was a way of life for many families decades ago.
Larkin, who lived a block from the Beverly, said everyone from the neighborhood went to the movies.
“You’d fill up your theaters on Friday night,” he said.
Having worked at drive-ins and more modern theaters, Larkin said he preferred the days of the one-room movie houses.
“You were working with the mothers and fathers in the neighborhood,” he said. “You were around these families for several years until TV came along.”
Because he was working all the time, Larkin did not get to go to the movies much; however, he and his pals would attend midnight shows at the Madison and the Palace.
“There wasn’t much more than that to do,” he said.
While he preferred the one-room movie houses that are becoming extinct, Larkin has fond memories of his 10 years at the Starlite Drive In in Pekin.
“The drive-ins were the most exciting,” Larkin said.
He recalled the typical teenage antics.
“The neighbor would call and tell us when people were loading the trunks. One night, we unloaded a bunch of them. These guys loaded their wives in the trunk,” Larkin laughed.
Times have changed and drive-ins are extinct in this area.
Larkin said the mood of the past is also gone.
“Today, you don’t run into that cheerful and fun thing like you used to,” he said. The prices are high and the crowds are so mixed.”
Still, that does not keep him from going to the movies. In fact, he is a life member of the Foundation of the Motion Picture Pioneers Inc. and has a golden movie pass from that association. This means he can go to any movie anywhere in the country for free.
Now that he has the time to go to the movies, Larkin is not finding the films of today comparing to the oldies.
However, he relives some of this nostalgia as he continues to help out at the Apollo Theater in Peoria where classics are sometimes shown.
Working part-time at ICC, Larkin said he has never missed a theater performance over two decades.
“Frank is always very excited about the ICC Performing Arts Center’s impact on our community and its growth and potential. He is a bank of knowledge of the history of our locale,” said Stephen Stone, ICC’s performing arts manager.
People ask Larkin why he does not retire.
“I can’t retire. I like to work, and, most importantly, I just like what I do. That’s the best vitamin I can take.”
East Peoria, Ill. —
