Orpheum By The Numbers

I love any discussion involving silent film, rattling off its endless minutia, and posing countless, obscure questions. While preparing for The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) last month, I ended an e-mail to Northwest Film Forum Communications Director Ryan Davis with one such question. "How many Seattle theaters exclusively bore the Orpheum name?"

On the evening of December 28 (the 100th anniversary of Seattle’s Moore Theater), I spent several hours at the Virginia Inn, nursing a Guinness and comparing notes with local author and History Link contributor Eric Flom. One topic of conversation was the reuse of theater names, including Orpheum. Some time later, while researching the first Seattle Orpheum, I dropped the aforementioned e-mail question. Ryan put it to NWFF members in the weekly newsletter, at which point I thought I’d better formalize the chronology. NWFF generously posted this document on their blog, "Hot Splice."

In earlier correspondence Eric pointed out a few Orpheum related details I failed to include. The first two theaters, while not part of the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, appear to have simply "co-opted" the popular name, and even though The Moore did change it’s name to Orpheum for a time, it is so strongly identified as "The Moore" that this change is historically insignificant. Eric also explained that "… J. P. Howe was the first manager to bring actual Orpheum Vaudeville …" to town, booking two separate bills at the (3rd and Cherry) Seattle Theater in April 1902.

From my collection and ... The San Francisco Orpheum, March 30, 1924 (ain't it perrrdy?)

Prominent Seattle theater manager John Considine also booked Orpheum Vaudeville at The (1st and Madison) Star Theater around 1905. Considine’s other Seattle theater at that time was the second Orpheum, but ironically, it never presented Orpheum Vaudeville. These tidbits, and the mind-boggling morass of Seattle’s early theater history can be found in a fascinating tome Eric referenced, A History of Variety-Vaudeville in Seattle, by Eugene Clinton Elliott, University of Washington Press 1944. I’m sorry to say it is long out of print, but Seattle Public Library has several circulating copies.

One small correction, the street address of the 5th and Westlake Orpheum is shown on insurance maps as 504-506. During it's existance, Orpheum #6 was always referred to by the intersection.

Completely unrelated ... but, oh man!

Annie sent this link from the SFGate. Fans of repertory film will be fascinated and horrified by this piece from one of the country's best film writers, Mick LaSalle.