Article transcribed from The Austin American, Sunday, July 5, 1925
BETTER MUSIC AT CRESCENT New Reproduco Organ Has Been Installed.
A new special Reproduco pipe organ has been installed in the Crescent Theatre, it was announced by the management recently. The Reproduco is the newest thing in theatre music, it was said, and it will play during the entire performance at the Crescent in the future. It is the first of its type ever brought to Austin. The instrument is reported to reproduce the organ music of the original artist with all the shadings of tone and volume, and it fills the wants of theatres playing pictures at popular prices where no orchestras are used.
(Note: Reproduco was an automated musical instrument company that built some 200-odd small pipe organs/photoplayers during the silent movie era. Though few survive today, they are in retrospect, seen to be of exceptional quality and the music recorded on their paper rolls is of quite good quality.)
Transcribed from The Nashville Banner, Sunday, March 7, 1926, page 31.
New Pipe Organ at Loew’s Makes Debut Monday
The Wurlitzer pipe organ which has been installed at Loew’s Vendome theater in the record time of nine days will make its debut to Nashville’s motion picture fans Monday. Featuring the first week’s life of the instrument will be a prelude with the orchestra “Prelude in C Sharp Minor” by Sergi (sic) Rachmaninoff. In this prelude the entire organ will be used to give a greater effect. Miss Colyar and Mrs. B. T. Sheetz will be the organists.
While in no way detracting from the orchestra the new instrument at Loew’s will be able to give orchestral effects which are found in few organs. From the ripple of a brook breaking over pebbles in its bed to the thunder and crash of a storm or the roar of guns and cannon the new organ will be capable of playing to a picture—not being content to just “play music” during the run.
The same type organ as has been installed at Loew’s is playing to the crowds at large Eastern and Western houses and the local theater is to be congratulated on this step of increased efficiency.
Transcribed from “The Tennessean” Nashville, Tennessee, September 22, 1938. Pages 1 and 2
Headline: Famous Old Orpheum Theater To Be Wrecked
Seventh Avenue Playhouse Featured Scores of Stage Celebrities;
Was for Years City’s Only Refuge of Professional Legitimate Drama
By WILLIAM R. BREYER
The ghosts of play and player that haunt the stage of the Orpheum Theater must find another home.
This week workmen will begin tearing down the Seventh Avenue playhouse that, for a decade, was Nashville’s only refuge of the professional legitimate drama.
Some of the most illustrious folk of the theater have trod its boards - Minnie Maddern Fiske and William Faversham: Otis Skinner and Margaret Anglin and Chauncey Olcott and Robert Mantell.
But it has been four years since its auditorium and stage have been polished up to receive a visiting celebrity; it has become a white elephant to its owners, so the space it occupies will be leased out for a parking lot. For more than 15 years it was leased by the Crescent Amusement Company. That lease expired the first of this year, according to Charles F. Lovell, secretary of the Percy Warner Corporation, which has been the owner of the building for several years. ‘We didn’t want to tear it down,” Lovell said. “We’ve tried to rent it to someone who could utilize it. But we haven’t been able to do that, so we will lease the space for a parking lot.”
As nearly as Lovell could recall, the Orpheum was built about 25 years ago. Until 1919 it shared with the Vendome Theater the function of housing the touring attractions coming to Nashville. Then the Vendome became a movie house, and for the next 10 years the Orpheum was Nashville’s only legitimate theater. Beginning with the season of 1929-30, though, Ryman Auditorium has brought all the touring companies coming to Nashville, and since that time the Orpheum has been lighted only intermittently. Stock companies also have played their part in the history of the Orpheum, and the Orpheum, in turn. has had a share in providing a stepping-stone to fame for several stock company players.
The most conspicuous of these from the strictly contemporary viewpoint was Ralph Bellamy, now a successful leading man in moving pictures. He was the leading man of the Bellamy Players, who operated profitably for three months in the spring and early summer of 1928 and for four months again in the winter and spring of 1929. In the winter of 1932-33 a group of local drama enthusiasts sponsored the Orpheum’s most recent stock company. Its leading woman, for the 10 or 12 weeks of its existence, was Shirley Booth. Miss Booth, two years later, became famous on Broadway as leading woman of the smash-hit, “Three Men and a Horse.“ The juvenile of this company, Henry Richards, has just opened on Broadway n the revival of "Lightnin.’”
But long before Miss Booth played here, there were the Burgess Players in the summer of 1921. The juvenile of that company was Robert Armstrong. A few years later Armstrong was the leading man of “Is Zat So?“ and when the play finished its Chicago run, he went to Hollywood to embark on a successful career in pictures.
OPEN OCCASIONALLY
After the 1933 stock company closed, the Orpheum has been open only occasionally. In December 1934, it was used by the Selman Players for their production of “The Drunkard.“ Earlier that same year, Vanderbilt used it for its last "Cap and Bells Show” and around that same time it had its last celebrity - Cornelia Otis Skinner - in her character sketches.
The last time it was used professionally was two years ago. A burlesque company played there for four or five weeks. But it had its share of fine plays and great players.
Possibly its most glorious night since the war was that of April 6, 1928, when an all-star company, headed by Minnie Maddern Fiske, played Sheridan’s “The Rivals” there. The company Included Chauncey Olcott, Tom Wise, James T. Powers and Lola Fisher.
Rivaling this was Harry Lauder’s engagement there March 8, 1937. A month later Madge Kennedy and Sidney Blackmer played the Orpheum In “Love In a Mist.” A year later a touring company gave Deems Taylor’s opera. “The Klng’s Henchman" In the theater.
(Appropriately, following immediately below this final paragraph on page 2, are Death Notices. ed.)
Transcribed from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, September 4, 1910 pages 14 and 15
Headline: The Orpheum, The Gem of the Wells Theaters, Which Opens Tomorrow
Teaser paragraph: Nashville’s new vaudeville house built at a cost of $40,000. Its location In the metropolitan district of Nashville is Ideal. In its construction, Jake Wells embodied all of his best Ideas gained by experience In the construction of a dozen other theaters in Southern cities The Orpheum’s attractions will come from the high-class Keith circuit. Nashville now has five theaters exclusive of moving picture show places.
Buildings, like individuals, have a character all their own, either admirable or criticisable (sic) and an appearance either pleasing or displeasing. Thus the architectural character of Nashville’s new theater, the Orpheum, which will entertain its first audience Monday night, is in a class to itself, embracing uniqueness and beauty, solidity, comfort, convenience and safety.
All of the experience amassed in the brain of Jake Wells, the owner, in the construction of his numerous other theaters in the Southern States, was brought to play in the architectural, ornamental and useful features of the Orpheum, the result being the most perfect and one of the most beautiful theater buildings ever constructed either by this Southern theatrical magnate or by anyone else in the South.
Exclusive of the moving picture shows, the Orpheum gives Nashville five theaters. They are the Vendome, the Orpheum, the Fifth Avenue, the Grand and the Bijou. The latter theater was the first playhouse constructed by Mr. Wells in the heart of the South. He entered the theatrics business in Richmond Virginia, on Jan. 9, 1899, as manager of the Bijou. In the eleven years since then he has acquired control, either by construction, purchase or lease, of thirty-two theaters in the principal cities of the Southern States, a truly remarkably record.
He built the Gramby In Norfolk, the Bijou in Chattanooga, the Lyric and the Forsythe in Atlanta, the Grand in Montgomery, the Bijou in Evansville, and playhouses with similar names in Knoxville, Savannah and Jacksonville. The Bijou in Evansville and the Bijou in Nashville were constructed at the same time. From the building of all these theaters it stands to reason that Mr. Wells gradually gained a perfect knowledge of theater construction which he has used to admirable advantage in the construction of the Orpheum in Nashville, all of the desirable features of ail of his other theaters having been combined in the design and arrangements of this new theater.
Orpheum Located in Metropolitan District
Rare good judgment was shown in the location of the Orpheum. Situated on Seventh avenue, North, but a few yards from Church street as one goes towards the Capitol. (a 300 word description of the surrounding blocks is omitted from this transcription, ed)
Beauty and Convenience Characterize the Orpheum
Five double plate-glass doors with green tinted frames and ornate brass handles admit the visitor to the Orpheum. He immediately finds himself in a lovely lobby with a tessellated floor, tastefully decorated walls and ceiling, a cozy box office midway between two entrances to the lower floor, and two stairs to the balcony, the whole giving an extremely favorable first impression which increases to genuine admiration as the visitor proceeds to his seat.
An incline so gentle one might imagine oneself on a level floor leads to the orchestra pit, two broad, red-carpeted aisles being in the middle section of the theater and one on each side. The patron will be seated in a chair of latest model and will find it provides the acme of comfort. The seat and front of the chair is covered with brown imitation alligator skin and the hack is tinted in green. There are four boxes, two on the lower floor and two on the upper floor, each seating eight persons. Ranging from the boxes to a point midway of the house on both the upper and lower floors are loges, ten on the orchestra floor and six on the balcony floor, each seating eight persons These loges are provided with neat cane-bottomed movable chairs elevated In the loges somewhat above the floor of the orchestra and of the balcony, with solid railings between thus affording semi-exclusiveness and an unobstructed view of the stage.
Stage and Dressing Rooms Are Spacious and Comfortable
When seated the patron of the Orpheum will face a stage 35 feet in depth and 63 feet in width with a rigging loft height of 60 feet from the floor. The proscenium arch is 20 feet high and 33 feet wide. The asbestos drop curtain represents a rich drapery effect of crimson, ivory and gold. Praise be to the powers that be there is not a word of advertising on the curtain. Only the word “Asbestos' is seen in the center of the painted draperies, wisely placed there to assure patrons of safety in case of fire on the stage. So far as that is concerned however, the Orpheum was constructed under the supervision of City Building Inspector Edward Laurent and wired under the supervision of City Electrical Inspector H. B. Long. All of the arrangements of the theater were heartily approved by them as providing the maximum of safety. Indeed the Orpheum has a larger number of exits than called for by the law, doors opening from the boxes from the sides of the house and in every direction one may turn. Furthermore, the windows on the lower floor are so low anyone could mount the window sill and jump out in ten seconds were it necessary.
Performers will be delighted with the dressing rooms. None better fitted or more comfortable can be found in a New York theater. Each dressing room has hot and cold running water, mirrors, comfortable chairs, wardrobe hooks, wide windows, electric fans and plenty of incandescents (sic) at the proper places for the performer to get in costume and make-up.
The stage has been equipped with entirely new scenery, of course, the variety of sets being sufficient to suit the character of any vaudeville act or sketch. This scenery and the decorations represent the artistic work of Toomey & Volland, widely known scenic artists of St. Louis, who have decorated all of the theaters constructed by Mr. Wells, having formed a connection with him when they decorated the Bijou in this city years ago. One can find nothing to criticize but everything to commend in the general-features of the Orpheum. The principal color scheme is green and gold with a daub of crimson to give it tone. The woodwork resembles green tinted mission furniture. Chocolate colored draperies adorn the boxes. The footlights are of all tints for varied effects. Elaborate arrangement for cooling the house will enable attractions to be given with comfort to patrons throughout the summer months, while the heating arrangements are so equally elaborate as to assure warmth in every nook and corner. There is not an uncomfortable seat in the house nor an undesirable one from the point of view.
On the balcony floor is a retiring room for ladles where a maid will always be in attendance. On the same floor Manager George Hickman will have his private office with a reception room adjoining.
Holders of balcony seats will have access to a pergola-like veranda overlooking Seventh avenue which is to be lighted with elevated rows of tinted incandescents, giving a dazzling and lovely effect.
With the exception of seven or eight rows in the balcony, all seats will be covered by coupon tickets purchasable a week in advance of each week’s vaudeville bill, thus preventing crushes at the box office at the hour of each performance.
A matinee will be given every day, the price of coupon tickets of admission to all parts of the house except the boxes being 25 cents. Night prices will be 50 cents for all seats on the lower floor except for seats in the boxes and loges, the price of which will be 75 cents. Reserved seats in the first two rows of the balcony will be 50 cents, the next seven rows 35 cents, and all other rows in the rear of the balcony 25 cents.
The Orpheum will present high class vaudeville attractions exclusively booking the best attractions of the Keith Circuit and entirety changing the bill each week.
Experienced Theater Men Will Cater to Patrons
It is already very well known to theatergoers that George Hickman is to be the manager and Oscar Altman the treasurer of the Orpheum
Mr. Hickman engaged with Jake Well when that gentleman first broke away from the diamond and into the theater business as the owner and manager of the Bijou in Richmond nearly twelve years ago. He has been with Mr. Wells ever since that time, coming to Nashville about five years ago as manager of the Bijou. His length of service with Mr. Wells is convincing evidence of his steadiness and ability.
Mr. Altman has been in the theatrical business all of his youthful life. He began as a programme (sic) boy at the Bijou when the Boyle Stock Company was there and the theater was known as the Grand. Every season he was promoted and has risen step by step from programme boy to Treasurer. Several times he left Nashville, his birthplace, to go on the road as Treasurer of some company, and for one season he was a Treasurer under Thompson & Dundy at the Hippodrome in New York, but he always drifted back to Nashville, and now considers himself a permanent fixture in this town as the Treasurer of the Orpheum.
Both Mr. Hickman and Mr. Altman are congeniality personified. Each is a prince of a good fellow and each possesses a legion of friends.
Nick Rooney was the contractor of the Orpheum and Milton Belt the superintendent of construction. Both men have been with Mr. Wells for many years and they declare themselves prouder of Nashville’s Orpheum than of any theater out of the dozen they have constructed for the Wells circuit.
R H Eubank, of Richmond, is to be the stage manager. His experience and competence assure perfect staging and smoothness of performances. Incomparable Rudolph Moehl is to be the director of a splendid orchestra. All employees of the Orpheum have been selected with great care as to their ability and gentlemanly character.
Pessimists have declared that Nashville had enough theaters without the Orpheum. But the logical way of looking at the matter is that the more theaters the more theater-goers, since each new theater provides a larger opportunity for educating the public to the value of the theater as a place where one may forget dull care and keep in touch with one of the highest art in the world — the art of amusement.
(The following appears on page 14 separate from the main article)
In addition to reflecting credit on the management for the general pleasing design the Orpheum Theater is convincing argument of the ability of Nashville firms to furnish the best of material and carry out the plans of the builders in a way which could not be surpassed by concerns which make a specialty of this character of work. Manager Hickman stated that it was their intention of providing only the best, both in the construction of the building, and its conveniences for the patrons, and in the things which assist in telling of the high-class productions which will be presented from week to week during their season. Among the Nashville contractors and supply houses which have contributed to the pleasing appearance and comfort of Nashville’s newest theater are the Fulcher Brick Company who furnished the brick and erected the structure; the Nashville Bridge Company, structural steel; Phillips & Co., roofing; Herbrlck & Lawrence, plumbing, heating system, switchboards, wiring and chandeliers; Charles A. Howell, painting and decorating; J. H. Fall & Co. hardware; Castner-Knott Dry Goods Company, draperies; F. A. Leatherman, pianos; Nashville Railway & Light Company, lighting; Howe Ice & Coal Company, Howe’s Distilled Water; Cassetty Coal Company, coal; C. R. & H. H. Hatch, printing; and the Nashville Photo Engraving Company, halftones.
The Saturday March 03, 1917 edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper mentions the Gem Theatre, Blytheville Arkansas. The article is about the pipe organ being installed at the First Methodist Church “being the third church to conform to the new regime. The Gem picture show was the first in the pipe organ line.”
So there was some business in Blytheville in 1917 showing movies and using the name “Gem.”
Dating this photo, The Revenge of Tarzan, played at the Wizard, York, Pennsylvania the week of December 16, 1920. Gene Pollar as Tarzan, Karla Schramm as Jane.
The entire mall has been torn down and the theatre has vanished. Of the three theatres that were within a couple minutes driver here, this was my favorite. (Carmike on Millertown Pike is operating, the East Town Crossing long gone.)
Another idle thought, wonder what ever happened to Mr. Fuji, for so many years the ticket taker?
In its last days, I went to see the animated Addams Family and afterwards, a friend and I walked around the mall one last time. The writing was on the wall as it were. There were maybe 6 stores still operating. It was a little poignant to see the pet shop, the camera store, Spencer Gifts, Penny’s, Sears, the food court, the shoe shops, the lingerie shops, even the last ditch dollar stores, all boarded over, no attempt at pretending there was any hope the crowds would come back.
On that last visit, the theatre staff were up-beat and working in top form as always. Everything was clean and looking good. the popcorn was hot, the picture crisp, the masking was “right,” the sound as good as ever. Sure it was just another almost anonymous mall multiplex, not the Paradise or Roxy, but still sad to see it gone.
The organ in the Flatbush was an early Wurlitzer, their opus 59 (out of a total of 2234 organs). The factory records show a Style “V” – vee, not roman numeral 5 – the first of 26 Style V instruments built over the next 3 years. The V was a fairly small instrument for a house of this size; 2 manuals and 8 ranks of pipes, lacking the distinctive Tibia Clausa which became the iconic sound of the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
Moving Picture World magazine for April 6, 1918 says
“Lebanon, Pa.—J. A. Jackson, of the Theatorium, Lebanon, recently installed a magnificent organ which is considered one of the largest in this state.”
When it comes to organs, there is no end of hype, so ‘largest in the state’ is laughable. Cross referencing the pipe organ databases, there is no mention of the name Theatorium or Aldine in Lebanon PA.
This suggests the Theatorium / Aldine was nickelodeon-sized with a photoplayer in front of its tiny stage. As happened so often elsewhere, the older, smaller theatre lost out to the stiff competition from newer, bigger halls of the 1920s.
Hey Joe – I just tried to update this with fleshing out some information on the organ and I get a message that says “Your Message Appears to be Spam” and it kicked me out. What the heck?
DavePrice and DavidZornig, Last year you were mentioning, above, the park that is bordered by Church, North 6th and Anne Dallas Dudley (a.k.a. Capital Boulevard). In the June 26, 1915 Moving Picture World magazine there is an announcement for a new theater, planned for that site or possibly the adjacent parcel. I was wondering if either of you had run across this.
This is the first paragraph of the article.
“ William H. Wassman, Nashville’s pioneer motion picture man, is preparing to erect what is declared will be one of the finest and safest motion picture theaters in the country, and the first house in
Nashville to be built from the ground up. The building will be on the west side of Sixth avenue. North, and just north of Church street, extending back to the Capital boulevard, on the property owned
by the Sixth Avenue Property Company. The plans, which are being prepared by Marr & Holman. Nashville architects, call for a three-story building which will be the last word in theater construction.”
I’m not finding a Cinema Treasures listing for this hall. Certainly there were innumerable theatre building projects announced which came to nothing, but since this article mentions which architect is preparing the plans it would seem to have some legitimacy.
Setting a date for this photo, The Treasure of Pancho Villa with Rory Calhoun and Shelly Winters was released October 19, 1955. It would have gotten to a small neighborhood house like the Gay Theatre several months later. That and the almost bare trees suggests a date for this photo of early spring 1956.
“Horater Making Changes
Toledo, O. – Havey C. ("Doc”) Horater, managing director of the Alhambra theater, is making plans for next season.
The Alhambra will close on July 1 for a short time, to be redecorated, remodelled (sic) and repainted. New draperies will be installed and a $25,000 Hope Jones Unit organ will be installed.
Horater thinks the coming year will be the biggest in the history of the business and says the prices asked for productions, so far as he is concerned, cut no figures so long as the productions are good. He states that producers from whom he has heard say they intend making fewer pictures for the fall season."
Cross referencing to the Wurlitzer Organ Company (Hope Jones) opus list shows their opus 325, a style 135A organ, sold to the Alhambra. It was small II/4 + piano and had a piano console rather than the more prestigious horseshoe console. The cost of a 135A was +/– $8,500 rather than the $25,000 stated in the article. Personaly opinion: the little 135A would have been significantly underpowered for a 750 seat auditorium.
It is noteworthy that 10 days prior to the contract for this organ, a contract for an identical organ was signed for the Alhambra Theatre in Columnbus Ohio. One assumes a connection in ownership of the two halls.
Ken – that interior is amazingly distinctive for 1911. To my eye it says the architect was intimately familiar with the designs of Louis Sullivan or early F.L. Wright. I’d give you good odds the architect for the interior was George Elmslie who was working in the mid-west during the early 20th century.
The Wurlitzer records show a tiny 3-rank organ sold to the Eagle in August 1926. For an 800+ seat theatre that must have been about as effective as a – well, let’s not get into vulgarities. It does push the opening date back a little. The castellated architectural style popular at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries and the name Eagle, suggest the possibility that this was a fraternal hall re-purposed into a commercial theatre. Maybe?
The Wurlitzer records show that the Grand Theatre purchased a model 140 pipe organ in October 1928. It was a tiny instrument of only 4 ranks and a “straight rail” console rather than the more familiar horse-shoe console associated with theatre organs. At an unspecified date, it was relocated to Neil Avenue Methodist Church, Columbus Ohio, which closed in 1995. Fate and location of the organ is unknown.
Here’s another mention of the Walnut Street Theater from The Moving Picture World, this time May 15, 1915:
TOUGHS RIOT IN LOBBY
Louisville’s Walnut Street Theatre Employees have Tussle with Gang of Roughs Who Attempt to Get in Without Payment – Assistant Operator Shot in the Leg Trying to Wrest Revolver from Gangster Who Had Fired at Him.
The Walnut theater, on Walnut street, between Forth and Fifth, got into the limelight when a gang of young toughs undertook to pass the doorkeeper without paying at the box office. The trouble occurred on Sunday night, April 25 (1915, ed.) According to employees of the theater a number of boys appeared in the lobby and made themselves disagreeable. They were ordered off the premises, but later returned with a gang which claimed that it was going to clean out the theater. The doorkeeper and two or three other employees called for police aid, but before the latter could arrive the trouble started. The employees of the theater were forced to chase the gang out, and some of the latter who happened to be armed started shooting as soon as an alley was reached. A bullet passed through the clothing of Thomas Newman, one of the theater employees. Leroy Nichols, 15 years old, opened fire on Whiteford Volles, 17 years old, assistant operator at the Walnut. Four shots failed to take effect, and Volles grappled with the boy doing the shooting. In the scrap that ensued Nichols discharged the gun into his own leg, and was removed to a drug store and later to the hospital. The police at last arrived and captured a few of the youngsters, who were taken to the Juvenile Court on Monday. Very few of the patrons of the theater became aware of the disturbance, although it caused a good deal of excitement on the streets. Trouble has been experience on one of the two occasions at the suburban theaters by young hoodlums, but his is one of the first cases in the downtown district.
From “The Moving Picture World” May 15, 1915:
The New Empire Theater, Winchester, VA., was built through the public spirit of W.H. Baker, the noted chocolate manufacturer, at a cost of $50.000, and is evidence of his broad interest in the welfare of his home town. The house was designed by J. Henkel Henry, vice-president and secretary of the Empire Amusement Corporation of Winchester, lessees of the structure. The work of construction was personally supervised by Mr. Henry.
Before entering the picture business, Mr. Henry owned and successfully managed a skating rink on the site of the Empire. When the skating rage decreased, the rink was converted into a picture and vaudeville house, which Mr. Henry conducted up to about two years ago, when the structure was destroyed by fire. The Empire was then erected upon the site, and it is one of the finest theaters of its kind for a town the size of Winchester.
The stage is fully equipped and can handle the largest traveling show, it being 35 feet deep, 60 feet across and 60 feet to the gridiron. in the dressing rooms there is hot and cold water, and gas as well as electricity. Each room is well ventilated. The Empire is among the first theaters to use the automatic sprinkler system. The drop curtain is asbestos.
The booth is unconventional in shape; it resembles in appearance a small cottage. The port holes of the booth have been banked and painted so that they bear a similitude to real cottage windows. The roof is gabled, and the flue running to the roof of the theater proper carrying off the heat looks like a chimney and accentuates the illusion of the booth being a cottage. The operating room is practically fireproof. The exterior is pebble dashed. It is fitted with all conveniences.
The indirect lighting system is used. The floors are carpeted, and the walls and ceilings are adorned with rich frescoes. The most attractive painting is directly over the proscenium arch and represents the people of Winchester appealing to George Washington for the protection against the Indians.
The Empire was dedicated Christmas Day, 1913, and has been making considerable profit since that date under its efficient management. The admission prices are usually 10 and 20 cents. The better class of road shows and vaudeville are run intermittently, but pictures are the principal form of amusement.
There are Sanborn maps on line for Memphis TX for 1908, 1914, 1920, 1924 and 1931. None show a theatre on Noel Street, which narrows the Ritz’s construction date a little.
The 1914 and 1920 Memphis Texas Sanborn maps show an unnamed cinema at 613 Main Street. It is indicated as being 1 story, 16 tall, but is a half-block deep. These same maps show 611 Main Street as a tiny frame building.
In the 1924 Sanborn Map, 613 is auto sales and service. The little frame building at 611 is still in use as a retail space.
The 1931 Sanborn shows 613 is still auto sales but 611 is now a half-block long cinema, 1 story, 16 feet tall.
These same maps also show a cinema at 507 Main Street, slightly wider and taller which I suspect is the Princess Theater. Moving Picture World magazine for June 12, 1915 describes that theatre as being “2 stories tall” which is the same information seen on the Sanborn map.
This is the long way around to a hypothesis that The Texas was built sometime between 1924 and 1931.
Apparently the Barton organ was sold to the Emmanuel Evangelical United Brethren Church, in Appleton, and though rebuilt and moved, remains there and in use.
“F.W. Fisher who owns a string of theatres comprising the cites of LaSalle, Ill., Kewanee, Ill., and Madison, Wis., recently purchased the Grand Opera House building in Appleton, Wis. Dan Barton of Bartola Musical Instruments Co. has personally laid out an organ installation for him which promises to be one of the finest in the state. A large model Barton organ will be installed in the proscenium. The instrument will have a special instrumentation which will provide all orchestral effects.Mr. Fisher’s entire circuit of theatres is equipped with Barton Musical Instruments.”
The hyperbole is charming as the Barton organ installed here was 2 manuals, 9 ranks, very much a comfortable, modest organ as theatre organs went. And as with most theatre organs, it apparently went as soon as talkies came along.
Snow White with Marguerite Clark in the title role opened nationally on December 25, 1916. It would have gotten to Knoxville later that winter. Note the people in the photo are in winter attire.
The organ was a II/5 Kilgen, opus 3947, which disappeared without a trace long ago.
Article transcribed from The Austin American, Sunday, July 5, 1925
BETTER MUSIC AT CRESCENT New Reproduco Organ Has Been Installed.
A new special Reproduco pipe organ has been installed in the Crescent Theatre, it was announced by the management recently. The Reproduco is the newest thing in theatre music, it was said, and it will play during the entire performance at the Crescent in the future. It is the first of its type ever brought to Austin. The instrument is reported to reproduce the organ music of the original artist with all the shadings of tone and volume, and it fills the wants of theatres playing pictures at popular prices where no orchestras are used.
(Note: Reproduco was an automated musical instrument company that built some 200-odd small pipe organs/photoplayers during the silent movie era. Though few survive today, they are in retrospect, seen to be of exceptional quality and the music recorded on their paper rolls is of quite good quality.)
Transcribed from The Nashville Banner, Sunday, March 7, 1926, page 31.
New Pipe Organ at Loew’s Makes Debut Monday
The Wurlitzer pipe organ which has been installed at Loew’s Vendome theater in the record time of nine days will make its debut to Nashville’s motion picture fans Monday. Featuring the first week’s life of the instrument will be a prelude with the orchestra “Prelude in C Sharp Minor” by Sergi (sic) Rachmaninoff. In this prelude the entire organ will be used to give a greater effect. Miss Colyar and Mrs. B. T. Sheetz will be the organists.
While in no way detracting from the orchestra the new instrument at Loew’s will be able to give orchestral effects which are found in few organs. From the ripple of a brook breaking over pebbles in its bed to the thunder and crash of a storm or the roar of guns and cannon the new organ will be capable of playing to a picture—not being content to just “play music” during the run.
The same type organ as has been installed at Loew’s is playing to the crowds at large Eastern and Western houses and the local theater is to be congratulated on this step of increased efficiency.
Transcribed from “The Tennessean” Nashville, Tennessee, September 22, 1938. Pages 1 and 2
Headline: Famous Old Orpheum Theater To Be Wrecked Seventh Avenue Playhouse Featured Scores of Stage Celebrities;
Was for Years City’s Only Refuge of Professional Legitimate Drama
By WILLIAM R. BREYER
The ghosts of play and player that haunt the stage of the Orpheum Theater must find another home.
This week workmen will begin tearing down the Seventh Avenue playhouse that, for a decade, was Nashville’s only refuge of the professional legitimate drama.
Some of the most illustrious folk of the theater have trod its boards - Minnie Maddern Fiske and William Faversham: Otis Skinner and Margaret Anglin and Chauncey Olcott and Robert Mantell.
But it has been four years since its auditorium and stage have been polished up to receive a visiting celebrity; it has become a white elephant to its owners, so the space it occupies will be leased out for a parking lot. For more than 15 years it was leased by the Crescent Amusement Company. That lease expired the first of this year, according to Charles F. Lovell, secretary of the Percy Warner Corporation, which has been the owner of the building for several years. ‘We didn’t want to tear it down,” Lovell said. “We’ve tried to rent it to someone who could utilize it. But we haven’t been able to do that, so we will lease the space for a parking lot.”
As nearly as Lovell could recall, the Orpheum was built about 25 years ago. Until 1919 it shared with the Vendome Theater the function of housing the touring attractions coming to Nashville. Then the Vendome became a movie house, and for the next 10 years the Orpheum was Nashville’s only legitimate theater. Beginning with the season of 1929-30, though, Ryman Auditorium has brought all the touring companies coming to Nashville, and since that time the Orpheum has been lighted only intermittently. Stock companies also have played their part in the history of the Orpheum, and the Orpheum, in turn. has had a share in providing a stepping-stone to fame for several stock company players.
The most conspicuous of these from the strictly contemporary viewpoint was Ralph Bellamy, now a successful leading man in moving pictures. He was the leading man of the Bellamy Players, who operated profitably for three months in the spring and early summer of 1928 and for four months again in the winter and spring of 1929. In the winter of 1932-33 a group of local drama enthusiasts sponsored the Orpheum’s most recent stock company. Its leading woman, for the 10 or 12 weeks of its existence, was Shirley Booth. Miss Booth, two years later, became famous on Broadway as leading woman of the smash-hit, “Three Men and a Horse.“ The juvenile of this company, Henry Richards, has just opened on Broadway n the revival of "Lightnin.’”
But long before Miss Booth played here, there were the Burgess Players in the summer of 1921. The juvenile of that company was Robert Armstrong. A few years later Armstrong was the leading man of “Is Zat So?“ and when the play finished its Chicago run, he went to Hollywood to embark on a successful career in pictures.
OPEN OCCASIONALLY
After the 1933 stock company closed, the Orpheum has been open only occasionally. In December 1934, it was used by the Selman Players for their production of “The Drunkard.“ Earlier that same year, Vanderbilt used it for its last "Cap and Bells Show” and around that same time it had its last celebrity - Cornelia Otis Skinner - in her character sketches.
The last time it was used professionally was two years ago. A burlesque company played there for four or five weeks. But it had its share of fine plays and great players.
Possibly its most glorious night since the war was that of April 6, 1928, when an all-star company, headed by Minnie Maddern Fiske, played Sheridan’s “The Rivals” there. The company Included Chauncey Olcott, Tom Wise, James T. Powers and Lola Fisher.
Rivaling this was Harry Lauder’s engagement there March 8, 1937. A month later Madge Kennedy and Sidney Blackmer played the Orpheum In “Love In a Mist.” A year later a touring company gave Deems Taylor’s opera. “The Klng’s Henchman" In the theater.
(Appropriately, following immediately below this final paragraph on page 2, are Death Notices. ed.)
Transcribed from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, September 4, 1910 pages 14 and 15
Headline: The Orpheum, The Gem of the Wells Theaters, Which Opens Tomorrow
Teaser paragraph: Nashville’s new vaudeville house built at a cost of $40,000. Its location In the metropolitan district of Nashville is Ideal. In its construction, Jake Wells embodied all of his best Ideas gained by experience In the construction of a dozen other theaters in Southern cities The Orpheum’s attractions will come from the high-class Keith circuit. Nashville now has five theaters exclusive of moving picture show places.
Buildings, like individuals, have a character all their own, either admirable or criticisable (sic) and an appearance either pleasing or displeasing. Thus the architectural character of Nashville’s new theater, the Orpheum, which will entertain its first audience Monday night, is in a class to itself, embracing uniqueness and beauty, solidity, comfort, convenience and safety.
All of the experience amassed in the brain of Jake Wells, the owner, in the construction of his numerous other theaters in the Southern States, was brought to play in the architectural, ornamental and useful features of the Orpheum, the result being the most perfect and one of the most beautiful theater buildings ever constructed either by this Southern theatrical magnate or by anyone else in the South.
Exclusive of the moving picture shows, the Orpheum gives Nashville five theaters. They are the Vendome, the Orpheum, the Fifth Avenue, the Grand and the Bijou. The latter theater was the first playhouse constructed by Mr. Wells in the heart of the South. He entered the theatrics business in Richmond Virginia, on Jan. 9, 1899, as manager of the Bijou. In the eleven years since then he has acquired control, either by construction, purchase or lease, of thirty-two theaters in the principal cities of the Southern States, a truly remarkably record.
He built the Gramby In Norfolk, the Bijou in Chattanooga, the Lyric and the Forsythe in Atlanta, the Grand in Montgomery, the Bijou in Evansville, and playhouses with similar names in Knoxville, Savannah and Jacksonville. The Bijou in Evansville and the Bijou in Nashville were constructed at the same time. From the building of all these theaters it stands to reason that Mr. Wells gradually gained a perfect knowledge of theater construction which he has used to admirable advantage in the construction of the Orpheum in Nashville, all of the desirable features of ail of his other theaters having been combined in the design and arrangements of this new theater.
Orpheum Located in Metropolitan District
Rare good judgment was shown in the location of the Orpheum. Situated on Seventh avenue, North, but a few yards from Church street as one goes towards the Capitol. (a 300 word description of the surrounding blocks is omitted from this transcription, ed)
Beauty and Convenience Characterize the Orpheum
Five double plate-glass doors with green tinted frames and ornate brass handles admit the visitor to the Orpheum. He immediately finds himself in a lovely lobby with a tessellated floor, tastefully decorated walls and ceiling, a cozy box office midway between two entrances to the lower floor, and two stairs to the balcony, the whole giving an extremely favorable first impression which increases to genuine admiration as the visitor proceeds to his seat.
An incline so gentle one might imagine oneself on a level floor leads to the orchestra pit, two broad, red-carpeted aisles being in the middle section of the theater and one on each side. The patron will be seated in a chair of latest model and will find it provides the acme of comfort. The seat and front of the chair is covered with brown imitation alligator skin and the hack is tinted in green. There are four boxes, two on the lower floor and two on the upper floor, each seating eight persons. Ranging from the boxes to a point midway of the house on both the upper and lower floors are loges, ten on the orchestra floor and six on the balcony floor, each seating eight persons These loges are provided with neat cane-bottomed movable chairs elevated In the loges somewhat above the floor of the orchestra and of the balcony, with solid railings between thus affording semi-exclusiveness and an unobstructed view of the stage.
Stage and Dressing Rooms Are Spacious and Comfortable
When seated the patron of the Orpheum will face a stage 35 feet in depth and 63 feet in width with a rigging loft height of 60 feet from the floor. The proscenium arch is 20 feet high and 33 feet wide. The asbestos drop curtain represents a rich drapery effect of crimson, ivory and gold. Praise be to the powers that be there is not a word of advertising on the curtain. Only the word “Asbestos' is seen in the center of the painted draperies, wisely placed there to assure patrons of safety in case of fire on the stage. So far as that is concerned however, the Orpheum was constructed under the supervision of City Building Inspector Edward Laurent and wired under the supervision of City Electrical Inspector H. B. Long. All of the arrangements of the theater were heartily approved by them as providing the maximum of safety. Indeed the Orpheum has a larger number of exits than called for by the law, doors opening from the boxes from the sides of the house and in every direction one may turn. Furthermore, the windows on the lower floor are so low anyone could mount the window sill and jump out in ten seconds were it necessary.
Performers will be delighted with the dressing rooms. None better fitted or more comfortable can be found in a New York theater. Each dressing room has hot and cold running water, mirrors, comfortable chairs, wardrobe hooks, wide windows, electric fans and plenty of incandescents (sic) at the proper places for the performer to get in costume and make-up.
The stage has been equipped with entirely new scenery, of course, the variety of sets being sufficient to suit the character of any vaudeville act or sketch. This scenery and the decorations represent the artistic work of Toomey & Volland, widely known scenic artists of St. Louis, who have decorated all of the theaters constructed by Mr. Wells, having formed a connection with him when they decorated the Bijou in this city years ago. One can find nothing to criticize but everything to commend in the general-features of the Orpheum. The principal color scheme is green and gold with a daub of crimson to give it tone. The woodwork resembles green tinted mission furniture. Chocolate colored draperies adorn the boxes. The footlights are of all tints for varied effects. Elaborate arrangement for cooling the house will enable attractions to be given with comfort to patrons throughout the summer months, while the heating arrangements are so equally elaborate as to assure warmth in every nook and corner. There is not an uncomfortable seat in the house nor an undesirable one from the point of view.
On the balcony floor is a retiring room for ladles where a maid will always be in attendance. On the same floor Manager George Hickman will have his private office with a reception room adjoining.
Holders of balcony seats will have access to a pergola-like veranda overlooking Seventh avenue which is to be lighted with elevated rows of tinted incandescents, giving a dazzling and lovely effect.
With the exception of seven or eight rows in the balcony, all seats will be covered by coupon tickets purchasable a week in advance of each week’s vaudeville bill, thus preventing crushes at the box office at the hour of each performance.
A matinee will be given every day, the price of coupon tickets of admission to all parts of the house except the boxes being 25 cents. Night prices will be 50 cents for all seats on the lower floor except for seats in the boxes and loges, the price of which will be 75 cents. Reserved seats in the first two rows of the balcony will be 50 cents, the next seven rows 35 cents, and all other rows in the rear of the balcony 25 cents.
The Orpheum will present high class vaudeville attractions exclusively booking the best attractions of the Keith Circuit and entirety changing the bill each week.
Experienced Theater Men Will Cater to Patrons
It is already very well known to theatergoers that George Hickman is to be the manager and Oscar Altman the treasurer of the Orpheum
Mr. Hickman engaged with Jake Well when that gentleman first broke away from the diamond and into the theater business as the owner and manager of the Bijou in Richmond nearly twelve years ago. He has been with Mr. Wells ever since that time, coming to Nashville about five years ago as manager of the Bijou. His length of service with Mr. Wells is convincing evidence of his steadiness and ability.
Mr. Altman has been in the theatrical business all of his youthful life. He began as a programme (sic) boy at the Bijou when the Boyle Stock Company was there and the theater was known as the Grand. Every season he was promoted and has risen step by step from programme boy to Treasurer. Several times he left Nashville, his birthplace, to go on the road as Treasurer of some company, and for one season he was a Treasurer under Thompson & Dundy at the Hippodrome in New York, but he always drifted back to Nashville, and now considers himself a permanent fixture in this town as the Treasurer of the Orpheum.
Both Mr. Hickman and Mr. Altman are congeniality personified. Each is a prince of a good fellow and each possesses a legion of friends.
Nick Rooney was the contractor of the Orpheum and Milton Belt the superintendent of construction. Both men have been with Mr. Wells for many years and they declare themselves prouder of Nashville’s Orpheum than of any theater out of the dozen they have constructed for the Wells circuit.
R H Eubank, of Richmond, is to be the stage manager. His experience and competence assure perfect staging and smoothness of performances. Incomparable Rudolph Moehl is to be the director of a splendid orchestra. All employees of the Orpheum have been selected with great care as to their ability and gentlemanly character. Pessimists have declared that Nashville had enough theaters without the Orpheum. But the logical way of looking at the matter is that the more theaters the more theater-goers, since each new theater provides a larger opportunity for educating the public to the value of the theater as a place where one may forget dull care and keep in touch with one of the highest art in the world — the art of amusement.
(The following appears on page 14 separate from the main article)
In addition to reflecting credit on the management for the general pleasing design the Orpheum Theater is convincing argument of the ability of Nashville firms to furnish the best of material and carry out the plans of the builders in a way which could not be surpassed by concerns which make a specialty of this character of work. Manager Hickman stated that it was their intention of providing only the best, both in the construction of the building, and its conveniences for the patrons, and in the things which assist in telling of the high-class productions which will be presented from week to week during their season. Among the Nashville contractors and supply houses which have contributed to the pleasing appearance and comfort of Nashville’s newest theater are the Fulcher Brick Company who furnished the brick and erected the structure; the Nashville Bridge Company, structural steel; Phillips & Co., roofing; Herbrlck & Lawrence, plumbing, heating system, switchboards, wiring and chandeliers; Charles A. Howell, painting and decorating; J. H. Fall & Co. hardware; Castner-Knott Dry Goods Company, draperies; F. A. Leatherman, pianos; Nashville Railway & Light Company, lighting; Howe Ice & Coal Company, Howe’s Distilled Water; Cassetty Coal Company, coal; C. R. & H. H. Hatch, printing; and the Nashville Photo Engraving Company, halftones.
The Saturday March 03, 1917 edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper mentions the Gem Theatre, Blytheville Arkansas. The article is about the pipe organ being installed at the First Methodist Church “being the third church to conform to the new regime. The Gem picture show was the first in the pipe organ line.”
So there was some business in Blytheville in 1917 showing movies and using the name “Gem.”
Dating this photo, The Revenge of Tarzan, played at the Wizard, York, Pennsylvania the week of December 16, 1920. Gene Pollar as Tarzan, Karla Schramm as Jane.
And it’s gone.
The entire mall has been torn down and the theatre has vanished. Of the three theatres that were within a couple minutes driver here, this was my favorite. (Carmike on Millertown Pike is operating, the East Town Crossing long gone.)
Another idle thought, wonder what ever happened to Mr. Fuji, for so many years the ticket taker?
In its last days, I went to see the animated Addams Family and afterwards, a friend and I walked around the mall one last time. The writing was on the wall as it were. There were maybe 6 stores still operating. It was a little poignant to see the pet shop, the camera store, Spencer Gifts, Penny’s, Sears, the food court, the shoe shops, the lingerie shops, even the last ditch dollar stores, all boarded over, no attempt at pretending there was any hope the crowds would come back.
On that last visit, the theatre staff were up-beat and working in top form as always. Everything was clean and looking good. the popcorn was hot, the picture crisp, the masking was “right,” the sound as good as ever. Sure it was just another almost anonymous mall multiplex, not the Paradise or Roxy, but still sad to see it gone.
Maybe someone saved the neon lobby sculpture.
The organ in the Flatbush was an early Wurlitzer, their opus 59 (out of a total of 2234 organs). The factory records show a Style “V” – vee, not roman numeral 5 – the first of 26 Style V instruments built over the next 3 years. The V was a fairly small instrument for a house of this size; 2 manuals and 8 ranks of pipes, lacking the distinctive Tibia Clausa which became the iconic sound of the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
Moving Picture World magazine for April 6, 1918 says
“Lebanon, Pa.—J. A. Jackson, of the Theatorium, Lebanon, recently installed a magnificent organ which is considered one of the largest in this state.”
When it comes to organs, there is no end of hype, so ‘largest in the state’ is laughable. Cross referencing the pipe organ databases, there is no mention of the name Theatorium or Aldine in Lebanon PA.
This suggests the Theatorium / Aldine was nickelodeon-sized with a photoplayer in front of its tiny stage. As happened so often elsewhere, the older, smaller theatre lost out to the stiff competition from newer, bigger halls of the 1920s.
Hey Joe – I just tried to update this with fleshing out some information on the organ and I get a message that says “Your Message Appears to be Spam” and it kicked me out. What the heck?
DavePrice and DavidZornig, Last year you were mentioning, above, the park that is bordered by Church, North 6th and Anne Dallas Dudley (a.k.a. Capital Boulevard). In the June 26, 1915 Moving Picture World magazine there is an announcement for a new theater, planned for that site or possibly the adjacent parcel. I was wondering if either of you had run across this.
This is the first paragraph of the article.
“ William H. Wassman, Nashville’s pioneer motion picture man, is preparing to erect what is declared will be one of the finest and safest motion picture theaters in the country, and the first house in Nashville to be built from the ground up. The building will be on the west side of Sixth avenue. North, and just north of Church street, extending back to the Capital boulevard, on the property owned by the Sixth Avenue Property Company. The plans, which are being prepared by Marr & Holman. Nashville architects, call for a three-story building which will be the last word in theater construction.”
I’m not finding a Cinema Treasures listing for this hall. Certainly there were innumerable theatre building projects announced which came to nothing, but since this article mentions which architect is preparing the plans it would seem to have some legitimacy.
Setting a date for this photo, The Treasure of Pancho Villa with Rory Calhoun and Shelly Winters was released October 19, 1955. It would have gotten to a small neighborhood house like the Gay Theatre several months later. That and the almost bare trees suggests a date for this photo of early spring 1956.
Wid’s Daily June 8, 1920
“Horater Making Changes Toledo, O. – Havey C. ("Doc”) Horater, managing director of the Alhambra theater, is making plans for next season.
The Alhambra will close on July 1 for a short time, to be redecorated, remodelled (sic) and repainted. New draperies will be installed and a $25,000 Hope Jones Unit organ will be installed.
Horater thinks the coming year will be the biggest in the history of the business and says the prices asked for productions, so far as he is concerned, cut no figures so long as the productions are good. He states that producers from whom he has heard say they intend making fewer pictures for the fall season."
Cross referencing to the Wurlitzer Organ Company (Hope Jones) opus list shows their opus 325, a style 135A organ, sold to the Alhambra. It was small II/4 + piano and had a piano console rather than the more prestigious horseshoe console. The cost of a 135A was +/– $8,500 rather than the $25,000 stated in the article. Personaly opinion: the little 135A would have been significantly underpowered for a 750 seat auditorium.
It is noteworthy that 10 days prior to the contract for this organ, a contract for an identical organ was signed for the Alhambra Theatre in Columnbus Ohio. One assumes a connection in ownership of the two halls.
Ken – that interior is amazingly distinctive for 1911. To my eye it says the architect was intimately familiar with the designs of Louis Sullivan or early F.L. Wright. I’d give you good odds the architect for the interior was George Elmslie who was working in the mid-west during the early 20th century.
The Wurlitzer records show a tiny 3-rank organ sold to the Eagle in August 1926. For an 800+ seat theatre that must have been about as effective as a – well, let’s not get into vulgarities. It does push the opening date back a little. The castellated architectural style popular at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries and the name Eagle, suggest the possibility that this was a fraternal hall re-purposed into a commercial theatre. Maybe?
Faux gas lights, hanging on chains. One smiles.
The Wurlitzer records show that the Grand Theatre purchased a model 140 pipe organ in October 1928. It was a tiny instrument of only 4 ranks and a “straight rail” console rather than the more familiar horse-shoe console associated with theatre organs. At an unspecified date, it was relocated to Neil Avenue Methodist Church, Columbus Ohio, which closed in 1995. Fate and location of the organ is unknown.
Here’s another mention of the Walnut Street Theater from The Moving Picture World, this time May 15, 1915:
TOUGHS RIOT IN LOBBY Louisville’s Walnut Street Theatre Employees have Tussle with Gang of Roughs Who Attempt to Get in Without Payment – Assistant Operator Shot in the Leg Trying to Wrest Revolver from Gangster Who Had Fired at Him.
The Walnut theater, on Walnut street, between Forth and Fifth, got into the limelight when a gang of young toughs undertook to pass the doorkeeper without paying at the box office. The trouble occurred on Sunday night, April 25 (1915, ed.) According to employees of the theater a number of boys appeared in the lobby and made themselves disagreeable. They were ordered off the premises, but later returned with a gang which claimed that it was going to clean out the theater. The doorkeeper and two or three other employees called for police aid, but before the latter could arrive the trouble started. The employees of the theater were forced to chase the gang out, and some of the latter who happened to be armed started shooting as soon as an alley was reached. A bullet passed through the clothing of Thomas Newman, one of the theater employees. Leroy Nichols, 15 years old, opened fire on Whiteford Volles, 17 years old, assistant operator at the Walnut. Four shots failed to take effect, and Volles grappled with the boy doing the shooting. In the scrap that ensued Nichols discharged the gun into his own leg, and was removed to a drug store and later to the hospital. The police at last arrived and captured a few of the youngsters, who were taken to the Juvenile Court on Monday. Very few of the patrons of the theater became aware of the disturbance, although it caused a good deal of excitement on the streets. Trouble has been experience on one of the two occasions at the suburban theaters by young hoodlums, but his is one of the first cases in the downtown district.
From “The Moving Picture World” May 15, 1915: The New Empire Theater, Winchester, VA., was built through the public spirit of W.H. Baker, the noted chocolate manufacturer, at a cost of $50.000, and is evidence of his broad interest in the welfare of his home town. The house was designed by J. Henkel Henry, vice-president and secretary of the Empire Amusement Corporation of Winchester, lessees of the structure. The work of construction was personally supervised by Mr. Henry.
Before entering the picture business, Mr. Henry owned and successfully managed a skating rink on the site of the Empire. When the skating rage decreased, the rink was converted into a picture and vaudeville house, which Mr. Henry conducted up to about two years ago, when the structure was destroyed by fire. The Empire was then erected upon the site, and it is one of the finest theaters of its kind for a town the size of Winchester.
The stage is fully equipped and can handle the largest traveling show, it being 35 feet deep, 60 feet across and 60 feet to the gridiron. in the dressing rooms there is hot and cold water, and gas as well as electricity. Each room is well ventilated. The Empire is among the first theaters to use the automatic sprinkler system. The drop curtain is asbestos.
The booth is unconventional in shape; it resembles in appearance a small cottage. The port holes of the booth have been banked and painted so that they bear a similitude to real cottage windows. The roof is gabled, and the flue running to the roof of the theater proper carrying off the heat looks like a chimney and accentuates the illusion of the booth being a cottage. The operating room is practically fireproof. The exterior is pebble dashed. It is fitted with all conveniences.
The indirect lighting system is used. The floors are carpeted, and the walls and ceilings are adorned with rich frescoes. The most attractive painting is directly over the proscenium arch and represents the people of Winchester appealing to George Washington for the protection against the Indians.
The Empire was dedicated Christmas Day, 1913, and has been making considerable profit since that date under its efficient management. The admission prices are usually 10 and 20 cents. The better class of road shows and vaudeville are run intermittently, but pictures are the principal form of amusement.
There are Sanborn maps on line for Memphis TX for 1908, 1914, 1920, 1924 and 1931. None show a theatre on Noel Street, which narrows the Ritz’s construction date a little.
The 1914 and 1920 Memphis Texas Sanborn maps show an unnamed cinema at 613 Main Street. It is indicated as being 1 story, 16 tall, but is a half-block deep. These same maps show 611 Main Street as a tiny frame building.
In the 1924 Sanborn Map, 613 is auto sales and service. The little frame building at 611 is still in use as a retail space.
The 1931 Sanborn shows 613 is still auto sales but 611 is now a half-block long cinema, 1 story, 16 feet tall.
These same maps also show a cinema at 507 Main Street, slightly wider and taller which I suspect is the Princess Theater. Moving Picture World magazine for June 12, 1915 describes that theatre as being “2 stories tall” which is the same information seen on the Sanborn map.
This is the long way around to a hypothesis that The Texas was built sometime between 1924 and 1931.
Apparently the Barton organ was sold to the Emmanuel Evangelical United Brethren Church, in Appleton, and though rebuilt and moved, remains there and in use.
Moving Picture World March 11, 1922 page 216
“Appleton, Wis. Theatre Installs Barton Organ”
“F.W. Fisher who owns a string of theatres comprising the cites of LaSalle, Ill., Kewanee, Ill., and Madison, Wis., recently purchased the Grand Opera House building in Appleton, Wis. Dan Barton of Bartola Musical Instruments Co. has personally laid out an organ installation for him which promises to be one of the finest in the state. A large model Barton organ will be installed in the proscenium. The instrument will have a special instrumentation which will provide all orchestral effects.Mr. Fisher’s entire circuit of theatres is equipped with Barton Musical Instruments.”
The hyperbole is charming as the Barton organ installed here was 2 manuals, 9 ranks, very much a comfortable, modest organ as theatre organs went. And as with most theatre organs, it apparently went as soon as talkies came along.
Snow White with Marguerite Clark in the title role opened nationally on December 25, 1916. It would have gotten to Knoxville later that winter. Note the people in the photo are in winter attire.