The
History of The Clyde Theatre
The Clyde Theatre was
built in 1937—the height of the Depression--by Norman and Hazel Clyde.
Although a lot more humble than the grand movie palaces being built in the
big cities, the new theater was greeted warmly by folks on South
Whidbey. The first movie to show at The Clyde when it opened
September 16, 1937, was You Can’t Have Everything, starring Don Ameche. The discovery when screening the first reel of
that film for The Clyde’s 50th anniversary party that the last
line on the reel was “Just call me Blake,” provoked more than a few
discussions about karma.
 The community-minded Norm and Hazel ran The Clyde
Theatre, as well as Clyde Motors and the Clyde Garage, for decades. Vandalism
and other bad behavior caused Norm, then Town Sheriff too, to close the
theater for a while in the 1960s. It was being leased and run on a very
limited schedule by a local banker when Blake
Willeford bought the theater from the Clydes
in February of 1972.
Blake was newly out of three years in the Punjab of India with the Peace
Corps, and really knew nothing about running a movie theater. His realtor
aunt, Margaret Kish, somehow convinced him it was the perfect small business
for a guy with two years of graduate school in philosophy under his belt. He
experimented a lot over the next few years, showing a Shakespeare festival
one winter, and adding foreign and art movies to the slate the next. He
talked local artists into designing the printed calendars, which soon became
standard décor on South Whidbey
refrigerators.
Blake added a stage for live performances of musical acts like
street troubadour Jim Page, Country Joe McDonald, and Eric Tingstad, and the excellent productions of Island Theatre
and FOOLS. Hundreds of local children have also made their stage debuts at
The Clyde in the plays and revues of Martha Murphy’s Whidbey Children’s
Theatre (including our own son Brook in 1986).
 Lynn started as a sweeper and slowly worked her way
up to Sunday night ticket seller, then girlfriend and bookkeeper, and finally
became Blake’s wife and partner in 1978. With marriage came the power to
change the ugly colors of The Clyde, whose interior featured tan acoustic
wallboard and red plastic leatherette seats with hard wooden backs, and
exterior was an awful mustard color. After a few different color schemes The
Clyde segued into its current soft rose interior and teal, aqua, rose, and
purple exterior (paint choices that horrified the Design Review Board of the
time).
  Blake did an extensive seismic retrofit of
the building in 1992 to make it safer for everyone. In 2002 the original
65-year-old seats found new homes on South Whidbey
porches as more comfortable chairs were installed. Blake continually upgrades the equipment
at The Clyde as well. He installed Dolby surround sound and switched to xenon
bulbs from the old carbon-arc power supplies in time for Amadeus in
1985, and upgraded to Dolby Digital Sound in 2000. He added a
commercial-quality digital projector and BluRay DVD
player in 2009 so the theater could be rented during off-hours for
conferences, parties, classes, etc. Full digital projection capability will
be coming in the near future.
The staff at The Clyde hasn’t changed much over the years. Blake and
Lynn have been running the place for almost 40 years now, and hope to bring
their son Brook into the business around The Clyde’s 75th
anniversary in 2012. Employees Eve and Mindy in the snackbar
and Mark and Dan in the projection booth have been with The Clyde for
decades. And there are volunteer ticket-sellers who have been showing up on
their chosen night every week for ten or twenty years. It’s
employees like these who make The Clyde the warm, friendly, very South Whidbey place it is.
Over the years The Clyde
has hosted many fund-raisers for local charities. In fact, there are those
who say our motto should be “It costs more to get out of The Clyde
than to get in.” In 2004 through Operation Phone Home the theater and its
patrons raised $16,000 in a month for the USO to provide phone cards for
soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2005 $10,500 was raised in one unforgettable night of music and film to
help victims of Hurricane Katrina rebuild. In 2010 The Clyde partnered with
the PTSA to collect 1,000 pair of athletic shoes for villagers in Africa, plus the money to ship them all.
 Instead of a tip jar on the snackbar
counter, we have the Magic Change Jar—money put in the old canning jar
by Clyde patrons is matched by The Clyde, Lindsay Communications, and Island Athletic Club and
provides a healthy donation to six local charities every year. In a special
Magic Change Jar collection after the Haiti
earthquake in 2010, $8,667 was raised for three relief agencies working in Haiti
through donations to the Magic Change Jar and community matches.
For more on The Clyde,
check out these articles:
“In Langley WA, Togetherness Comes One Citizen at a Time,”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2014515720_pacificplangley27.html
“Small-Town Movie House Raises Thousands for Troops,” http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20041209&slug=langley09
“Langley’s
Clyde Theatre Shows Films of Carlino,” http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/community/118050954.html
“Hooray for Hollywood!
KerbyFest Celebrates the Work of a Langley
Resident,” http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/entertainment/113312699.html
“It’s the End of an Era for The Clyde’s Print
Schedules” http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/entertainment/102388554.html
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