By 1933 it had fallen on hard times. Even the Broadway shows that played there could not make it profitable. That same year it was remodeled in the Art Deco style and renamed the World Theatre. It became a movie theatre and specialized in showing foreign films. By 1978 it was scheduled to be torn down. Minnesota Public Radio was looking for a new home for one of it's programs, A Prairie Home Companion. They were able to lease the theatre for a very reasonable price. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as the Sam S. Shubert Theatre and Shubert Building. In 1985 it was decided the building was unsafe and was in danger of closing permanently. After raising nearly two million dollars, the building was once again renovated. In 1994 it was renamed after St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald.