POLISHING AN OLD GEM: HISTORIC CAIRO THEATER SLATED FOR RESTORATION

Cairo's Gem Theater as it looks today.

Paint peels from the Gem Theater's logo.

Diana Steele, left, Donna Raynalds stood in the balcony of the theater, planning a future for the building.

CAIRO, Ill., -- The soft cooing of pigeons comes from behind and above the stage of the Gem Theater in Cairo, replacing the songs and laughter that filled the grand hall in years gone by.

The walls of the richly painted 86-year-old theater are pitted and crumbling; remnants of the cheerful colors cling resolutely to sections or lay scattered on the ground like so much debris. Like an actor who has fallen on hard times, the Gem's facade seems desperately dark because of the brightness of its past.

If Donna Raynalds, Cairo's community- and economic-development representative, has her way, the lights will be relit, the cameras will roll again and the action will return to the Gem in all its old glory.

A broken pane of glass hanging precariously over the sidewalk of Eighth Street from one of the Gem's upper-floor windows accidentally prompted what may turn out to be a five-year restoration project. Raynalds noticed the potentially dangerous shard of glass "hanging by a thread" from the window in December and contacted the Gem's owner, Richard Pisoni of Pier Co. in Herrin. After some conversation, Pisoni offered to sell the three-story building to Raynalds for $3,000, then agreed to donate the structure to the city.

The first thing Raynalds did after the city got the building was board up the windows and remove the threat of falling glass.

Then she set to work with the Peace Corps, for its 35th anniversary project, in a major cleanup of the nearly 700-seat Gem. Currently crews are working to clear even more of the nearly 20 years of debris that clutters the floors, stairwells and rooms of the theater that has been abandoned since 1978.

The next step is to raise approximately $20,000 to weather proof the Gem's roof, which will allow restoration work to accelerate and enable Raynalds to begin scheduling small workshops in the theater.

The idea of bringing the theater back has caught on in Cairo: After one week of fund raising Raynalds has collected $4,500 and has projects lined up to continue the giving. Her first endeavor will be an outdoor film with concessions that will be billed as BYOC -- Bring Your Own Chair. Raynalds also will be utilizing Cairo's volunteer grant-writers to help bring in state and federal restoration money.

"We're looking for arts and development grants. We may be having art exhibitions and charging admission," she said. "We are selling pins. We have ideas to get pennies and we have ideas that will get thousands."

The Gem was constructed in 1910 as a vaudeville house. It opened Oct. 5 of that year with the Cora Carson Sixtette, "six pretty girls who can sing and dance and act," according to an article in The Cairo Evening Citizen. The main floor was constructed to accommodate 585 people while 100 could fit comfortably in the balcony.

In 1934 the building was gutted by fire. The interior was destroyed as well as the roof. The theater reopened in 1936 after major reconstruction. Raynalds and her restoration project have benefited from those repairs. The roof is supported by a grid of steel beams that has kept it in remarkably good shape considering how old it is. The $20,000 estimate for the roof repair is small considering the size of the Gem.

Raynalds said she hopes to have the roof repaired by the end of the summer. The project on the Gem will move ahead from there, and coincide with the city's larger restoration of the Eighth Street shops and street.

"The Cairo volunteer grant-writing committee got a $1 million grant to rebrick the street and put period-lighting up," Raynalds said. "I see the theater restoration as having regional significance. There is no other facility in the area for cultural events. It should serve the whole region."