“It was new and oh, so beautiful…we were young and once beautiful.” So begins the ballad “New and Beautiful” introduced at “A Salute to Vaudeville: Voice of the City” Sept. 27 for the 90th anniversary of the Pantages and the Rialto theaters. The song was written by Art Mineo (with a little input from me in addition to the lyrics).

For many years Mineo was the center of live and recorded music in Tacoma. His band played at the New Yorker Nightclub in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He was also writing music and recording. For the Seattle World’s Fair his futuristic music played in the bubble-ator at the Seattle Center. His “Man in Space” CD is still selling in Europe and one of my favorite CDs contains music arranged by Mineo and written by his wife Toni. “Sound of Love” features Corky Corcoran playing saxophone accompanied by members of the Seattle Symphony on some of the most romantic music you will ever hear.

When David Fischer, executive director for Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, told me about his plans to celebrate the anniversary of the Pantages with a Vaudeville show I was as happy as a Hood Canal geoduck. I stuck out my neck and proposed to Mineo that he and I write a song. Although I received many compliments about the song, what I really enjoyed was seeing the local acts. Kevin Joyce was an excellent emcee. He has done similar shows in the Seattle area. Sister Kate showed both beauty and coordination as they danced in unison across the stage. Sister Kate is an all-female, Seattle-based performance troupe specializing in vintage jazz dances. Godfrey Daniels started everyone laughing by simply walking up to the footlights.

Everyone at the Pantages enjoyed themselves. Black plastic derbies were available as well as little stick-on mustaches. Imagine hundreds of Charlie Chaplins walking around. People looked so cute. In his heyday many theaters across America would feature Chaplin look-alike contests. Truly, everything old is new again.

It must have been something to see some of the greats like Fred Astaire, Bill Robinson, and Babe Ruth appear on stage at the Pantages, but it was nice seeing something so simple as a professional jump-roper working the audience, also.

The Broadway Center for Performing Arts is bringing us a combination of local entertainment and well-known acts and traveling shows as well. For the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 29, the Pantages will run the classic film “Scrooge” starring Albert Finney, and there will be local elements as well including a special drawing that will feature a Christmas goose family dinner with the goose donated by The Meat Shop of Tacoma prepared by the chef at C.I. Shenanigans.

The day of “A Salute to Vaudeville,” Art and Toni Mineo joined my wife, Peg, and me for dinner at Marzano in Parkland for some excellent Italian food. Gene Mineo, with his cousin Mikeal-Ann Metcalf, drove his dad and mom from their North End Tacoma home to the restaurant and then to the theater. Mineo doesn’t get out much into the community as much as he used to. An oxygen bottle slows him down. He still plays piano everyday, but now I have to visit him to hear him play. He used to show up unannounced at our door and immediately sit down at my Baby Grand and play for 10 or 15 wonderful minutes. Mineo was deeply touched by the recognition by emcee Joyce as he introduced and performed Mineo’s music.

On a night when it seemed like everything was going on in Tacoma, the Pantages still had about 700 patrons. There is nothing as entertaining as live shows, which is why our local theaters are flourishing. I hope Tacoma continues to have concerts, plays, and vaudeville. The lyrics of “New and Beautiful” echoed again: “Live, we love it live.”