1238 McAllister St. | map |
Opened: June 30, 1906, just two months after the earthquake. The photo is one from 1906 appearing
on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. There's also a version of it in the San Francisco Public Library. It was also published in the San Francisco Examiner for October 21, 1906. "Hoity Toity," the show advertised on the posters, opened September 10.
The
Davis Theatre was one of many quickly built venues springing up after the
earthquake in the Fillmore, one of several districts functioning as a new downtown. The theatre was on the north side of the street between Fillmore and
Steiner. The operator was Sam Davis, a city supervisor.
Seating: About 1,150
The seating chart for the theatre. Thanks to Kevin Walsh for the find. It was a post of his on the BAHT Facebook page. It's from a from a 1908 guidebook to the city but by then the theatre had already closed.
Architect: Who needs an architect? The walls were cloth-covered wood. The ceiling was canvas.
"It was a welcome, if humble, venue to entertainment deprived San Franciscans. It closed within a couple of years, as bigger and better sites were erected in the nearby Fillmore district, but for a time, it paid more than its share of dues by helping the shattered citizenry forget their woes."
"Clever Actress" Gertrude Eulalie was the star of "The Sparkler," the theatre's opening show:
Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this July coverage of the initial production. He included this in a thread about the theatre on the Ken's Movie Page Facebook group.
An August 1906 card published by I. Scheff & Brothers. The signage for the
Davis is down in the next block, in the center of the image. Thanks to
San
Francisco history buff and card collector Steve Ness for sharing this
card from his collection. It appears on the San Francisco Postcards section of his website. It's indexed as Scheff 94. The poster on telephone pole at the left advertises the show "Fiddle-Dee-Dee," which played at the Davis between July 30 and August 19, 1906.
A photo of the Davis that appeared in an October 1906 souvenir program for the Colonial Theatre, a house
later known as the President.
It was part of a portfolio honoring theatres lost in the fire and
earthquake plus a few of the hasty replacements. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing the program from his collection. See his post on the
BAHT Facebook page for 26 more images from it.
It was declared it a "Trap of Death" in a March 29, 1907 story from the S.F. Call:
Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the article.
There was more trouble for the theatre in March 1907 with an uprising of the Irish community when they objected to their portrayal in the Kolb and Dill show "The Hells of Avenue A." And, of course, the complaints continued about the theatre's unsafe conditions:
Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the article.
This photo from the SFMTA Archive,
spotted by Art Siegel, shows a view of track work on McAllister Street
on April 25, 1907. The Davis is up the street on the right.
A detail from the picture above, provided by Art Siegel, shows the
theatre with signage for the upcoming Kolb & Dill production of "Pousse Cafe."
This photo from the Jack Tillmany collection was taken in May 1907. The "Kolb and Dill"
sign, advertising the German dialect comedy team appearing in the show "Lonesome Town," isn't backward -- at
night it would swing out onto the sidewalk. Smaller versions of the photo can be seen on Cinema Tour and on page 100 of "Theatres of San Francisco." Jack comments:
"Sam Davis was a member of the SF Board of Supervisors and got a lot of
flack from the SF Call about the unsafe conditions there. The building
was built with redwood boards, covered on the inside with red burlap,
and the ceiling was a canvas tent top."
A September 1907 photo from an anonymous collector appearing on the Open SF History Project website. The theatre had done some work on their signage. When they opened, their "Davis" sign was mounted lower. Two men pose in front (the same two in the May 1907 picture above), and another in a buggy on the street. Posters advertise Jack Golden, who opened on September 9, 1907.
Another photo on the Open SF History Project website,
taken down the block to the east, shows what appears to be the same men
posing, with the theatre in the distance bearing posters for the Jack
Golden engagement, on or around the same date as the previous shot.
A detail from the picture above, supplied by Art Siegel.
An October 1907 ad for political rally supporting S.F. mayoral candidate Daniel A. Ryan. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for his Ken's Movie Page Facebook thread.
Closing: The December 1, 1907 Chronicle announced
the closure of the Davis Theatre as a result of the fire inspection of
the day before, November 30. The page is on Newsbank. The theatre was closed immediately and it cancelled performances that day.
The article notes that the Lyceum, Novelty, National and Empire would be making improvements in order to stay open including creation of a foyer at the rear of the house, making aisles wider, affixing the seats to the floor, metal-lining the auditorium and dressing rooms, and adding exits. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the article.
More information: See the
Fillmore District album on the BAHT Facebook page for photos of many other theatres in the area.
Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on
Google Books. It's available from
Amazon or your local bookseller.
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