Louise Dearing Robertson and the Seminole – 1939 to 2016

Louise Dearing Robertson has had an unparalleled close connection with Homestead’s Seminole Theater since 1939 when the 15-year old Louise Dearing became an usherette. Wednesday May 4 Louise returned to the Seminole to view what the theater looks like after its recent renovation. This is the third iteration of the theater she has seen – 1921, 1940 and the current.

To say she was pleased with what she saw would be an understatement. She recalled movie dates with the boy who would become her husband after his service in the Coast Guard in WWII, Charles Robertson. Charles was a great basketball player on Homestead High’s Florida state championship teams and then a local American Amateur Union team that advanced to the championships played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

She was impressed with the manner in which the interior had been refurbished. She asked Seminole manager Mickey McGuire about the seating capacity, theater operation and told him how impressed she was with the comfort of the seating. A trip to the balcony was a must.

Louise shared where the refreshment counter and bathrooms had been and talked about the Soda Shop which she and her late husband Charles ran from 1955 until 1988. The Theatre Soda Shop dates to 1924. Louise’s sister Mary Ellen and her husband Edwin Lawrence owned the Shop in 1955 when Louise and Charles purchased it. The Shop was open from early in the morning to late at night seven days a week and was an important stop for magazines, national newspapers, snacks, soft drinks and tobacco.

Luis Hernandez, of Radio Station WLRN News accompanied Louise, her son Emory and daughter in law Pam on their tour. He delighted in his interview of Louise for a spot being produced for broadcast.

The past 77 years have done little to dim Louise’s feelings for the job of Seminole Theater usherette treasured by nearly every teen girl of her generation and her pride in what the Theater Shop meant to the people of Homestead over many years.