Opened: April 19, 1909. The August 1912 issue of The Theatre Magazine noted that on opening night one of the attractions was film footage of pre-fire San Francisco. This postcard view is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. Glenn Koch also has a version of the card in his collection that he shared on the BAHT Facebook page. Gerald DeLuca has a copy of the card on Photobucket where he notes that his was postmarked 1912.
It was on the south side of the street between Powell and Stockton. Right behind it on Ellis was the Cort Theatre. Across the street was the Gaiety, later known as the Hippodrome and Union Square. The original format was vaudeville twice a day, with all seats reserved. This was the fourth theatre in San Francisco to bear the Orpheum name. The circuit at the time was controlled by by Morris Meyerfeld, Jr. Martin Beck was the circuit's general manager. In 1909 they had theatres in twenty seven cities.
The theatre was a replacement for the 1st Orpheum Theatre, a building lost in 1906 that had been on the site since 1887. Between 1906 and 1909 the circuit had two temporary homes. Initially they were at the Chutes Theatre in Chutes Park at 10th and Fulton. It was renamed the Orpheum during their tenure. Starting in March 1907 the circuit was in a new theatre on Ellis St. After the return to downtown that house was renamed the Garrick Theatre. In 1922 the circuit built the Golden Gate Theatre for their Orpheum Jr. policy. In 1929 they took over the 1926 vintage Pantages on Market St., renaming it the Orpheum.
The new building got extensive coverage on the Sunday April 4 editions of the S.F. Examiner (p.67) and the S.F. Call (p.5). Following the opening the April 20 S.F. Call devoted most of page 21 to the event.
Stage specifications:
Proscenium width: 38'
Stage depth: 32'
Depth of "one": 10'
Stage wall to wall: 90'
Grid height: 72'
Sets of lines: 80
Number of dressing rooms: 20, showers available
Orchestra size: 16
Power: Both AC and DC.
Stage depth: 32'
Depth of "one": 10'
Stage wall to wall: 90'
Grid height: 72'
Sets of lines: 80
Number of dressing rooms: 20, showers available
Orchestra size: 16
Power: Both AC and DC.
The stage data comes from the 1919 edition of "Vaudeville Trails Thru the West." It's on Internet Archive. Thanks to Mike Hume for spotting it. They note the next stop was usually Oakland. Take the Key Line ferry and then on the Oakland side get the 12th St. streetcar.
Architects: G. Albert Lansburgh & Bernard J. Joseph. This may have been Lansburgh's first theatre.
Mr. Lansburgh unveiling his creation. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing the drawing from his collection.
A drawing of the new theatre appearing in the 1907 book "Modern San Francisco." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the drawing for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
A portion of the facade elevation. Thanks to Morgan Conolly for posting it on the San Francisco History Facebook page as a comment to a photo of the pre-1906 Orpheum.
A main floor plan that appeared in the February 4, 1914 issue of The American Architect. It's on Internet Archive. On the previous page there's a facade view, although the magazine identifies it as the Orpheum in Los Angeles.
Also see a very murky floorplan for the building that appears with "Some Novel Features of a Strictly Fire-Proof Theater Building," an eight page article by Lansburgh in the June 1909 issue of The Architect and
Engineer. The six photos with the article fare somewhat better in the reproduction of the issue on Internet
Archive.
Seating: 2,200 originally. It was a two balcony house. 2,500 was the number noted in early newspaper accounts.
Ready to pick your seat? Thanks to Bob Swanson for finding this main floor seating chart for a post on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page.
A first balcony seating chart from the 1915 edition of the San Francisco
Bluebook. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing this image from a copy of the
book that's in his collection.
"The Flower of Vaudeville." It's an ad for the theatre appearing in the December 12, 1909 issue of the San Francisco Call. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.
A lovely poster for Sarah Bernhardt's appearance in 1913. Thanks to Glenn Koch for locating it on the Swann Auction Galleries website. It sold for $625 in 2019.
A January 1, 1916 ad that appeared in The Argonaut for a program starring Lillian Russell. Included was the film "Uncle Sam at Work," a special for the Orpheum circuit. Thanks to Bob Ristelheuber for finding the ad for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
"The Ingenues" in front of the Cliff House advertising their November 1926 appearance. It's a photo appearing on the Open SF History Project website.
Another shot of the Ingenues and their bus, this time with more of the Sutro Baths entrance. It's from the Peter Mintun collection and can also be seen on the Open SF History Project site. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for passing it along. He comments: "They were an all female pop orchestra of the 1920s who made a couple Vitaphone shorts in 1928 including "The Band Beautiful." That one has survived, been restored, and has gone viral. Peter has been researching the individual members, and I've been posting images of them on IMDb."
In 1927 Orpheum, largely with theatres on the west coast and in the midwest, merged with the
east coast circuit of Keith-Albee forming K-A-O.
The theatre started running feature films on a regular basis in 1928. The January 21, 1928 issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World noted: "...The San Francisco Orpheum, one of the first theatres anywhere to offer vaudeville, has changed its policy and is now presenting feature photoplays in conjunction with vaudeville, with two shows daily. A Wurlitzer organ has been installed..." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the article for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
A program from the Orpheum. It's a cover they used in many of their theatres. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this one from his collection. Gary Parks has five programs using this cover in his collection and notes that they range from March to October 1928. A copy of the cover from a show at the San Francisco Orpheum in 1919 is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. Also see a different cover used by the Oakland Orpheum in 1914.
Well, the feature film policy announced in January 1928 wasn't a success. While other vaudeville theatres around the country were relying more and more on feature films, the Orpheum was going back to a vaudeville only policy. But they decided to reinstate smoking privileges. The article appeared in the November 17, 1928 issue of Motion Picture News. Thanks to Bob Ristelheuber for finding the story for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
The theatre got a page in the opening program for a new Orpheum in Memphis in November 1928. Historic Memphis has the full program on their site. At this point they didn't know they were going to squeeze Alexander Pantages and get his almost new Market St. house and turn it into an Orpheum. Here they're talking about building a new theatre like the one Lansburgh had done from them in 1926 in Los Angeles. The program text reads:
"The Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, is the parent of the great chain of Orpheum Circuit theatres, now a part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Circuit, and consequently its history has a particularly sentimental and interesting value. The original Orpheum Theatre was opened June 30, 1887, on the site of the present Orpheum. It was very different from the splendid structure of the present, but was enormously popular until destroyed by the great San Francisco fire of 1906.
"The incomparable location, however, led to the present Orpheum being built upon the same ground. It is an elaborate theatre seating 2,200 persons, and has always been one of the most important of the chain. The theatre is held in the highest esteem by San Francisco theatregoers, and both land and building are owned by the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Circuit. A new theatre, the duplicate of the new Los Angeles Orpheum, will soon be added to Keith-Albee-Orpheum holdings in San Francisco."
The references in the Memphis program to the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit were already obsolete. In October 1928 Joe Kennedy and
Robert Sarnoff of RCA had come along and merged Keith-Albee-Orpheum into a combine called RKO. Realizing that sound films were the thing of the future, Joe had earlier merged RCA Photophone, newly in the business of making sound equipment, with his Film Booking Office. Then he had gone looking for theatres both for RCA to wire and as venues for his films to be shown in.
Orpheum sells the property: An item in the March 9, 1929 issue of Motion Picture News noted:
"Old Frisco House Will Shortly Be 'Dark' -- San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre on Farrell street [sic] between Powell and Stockton for more than a score of years, will desert the old stand. On April 19, it was definitely learned, the famed showhouse will be 'dark.'
"It will light up again, however, as Klaw and Erlanger will take over the house for its productions, now being exhibited at the Columbia. In that event, some four or five months will be required to remodel the theatre. Orpheum vaudeville and movies will, after the April closing, be shown at the Golden Gate Theatre..."
The Golden Gate, a house the circuit built in 1922, was already running vaudeville with their films in the "Junior Orpheum" format. Presumably the article meant that the Golden Gate shows would be upgraded with more "A list" acts. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the Motion Picture News article for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
After a
bit of remodel work it reopened on March 10, 1930 as the Columbia Theatre, a home for touring Broadway shows. Earlier the Columbia name had been on the Tivoli Theatre on Eddy St. and, before that, on the theatre now known as the Geary.
The cover of the program for the 1931 show "Typhoon." The program is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.
It was running as Erlanger's Columbia until 1934. After Klaw and Erlanger got out, the former Orpheum was used as a burlesque house called Minski's Columbia.
Status: The theatre closed in 1937 and was demolished in 1938. The site is now part of the Ellis-O'Farrell Parking Garage. The south end of the garage encompasses the site of the Cort Theatre.
The Orpheum in the Movies:
We get a look at the signage on O'Farrell St. about 40 minutes into "Westbound Limited" (Film Booking Office, 1923). Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the screenshot. The Hippodrome on the left is a theatre that was later known as the Union Square.
Jack notes that much of Erich von Stroheim's "Greed" (MGM, 1924) was filmed in San Francisco. Participants in the story take in a show at the Orpheum and there are scenes actually filmed there. It's available on DVD.
RKO moves on:
RKO was still talking about plans for a big new theatre, first mentioned in 1928. This item in the March 2, 1929 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World mentions the earlier sale of the Orpheum. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the article for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
RKO never built that big new theatre -- and they didn't have to. RKO grabbed the lease on the Pantages Theatre on Market St. at a fire sale price and renamed it the RKO Orpheum. It's still called the Orpheum but RKO didn't last long as a tenant. At the end of 1932 the company was in foreclosure and they bailed on the lease.
Interior views:
A lobby view from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A detail of the decorative plasterwork for the center of the proscenium arch before installation. It appeared in the 1910 book, "San Francisco, The Metropolis Of The West," available on Internet Archive.
The top of the proscenium in 1909. It's a photo in the San Francisco Public Library collection.
A slightly wider look at the top of the proscenium. The photo was a find by Bob Ristelhueber for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. It's one of six photos that appeared with "Some Novel Features of a Strictly Fire-Proof Theater Building," an eight page article by Lansburgh in the June 1909 issue of The Architect and Engineer. It's on Internet Archive.
A 1910 look across the auditorium. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection appearing on the San Francisco Public Library website.
A ceiling view that appeared with "Some Novel Features of a Strictly Fire-Proof Theater Building" in the June 1909 issue of The Architect and
Engineer. It's on Internet Archive.
A closer look at the main ceiling dome. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection appearing on the San Francisco Public Library website.
A house right main floor box in 1912. Thanks to Matt Weimer for finding the photo. He notes: "It shows the famous anthropologist Dr. Alfred Kroeber (back row, with beard) taking Ishi, 'the last Yahi' (front row, left), out for an evening of entertainment at the Orpheum in 1912." The photo is in the UC Berkeley Library collection.
1930 auditorium views:
A newspaper clipping with a photo looking to house right after the Erlanger redecoration in 1930. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A higher resolution, but somewhat cropped, version of the photo in the clipping above. It's a Chronicle photo appearing with "The big screen, no not your TV: over 100 years of San Francisco Theaters," a March 2016 SF Gate photo portfolio.
A closer look at the house right sidewall mural up in the 2nd balcony after the house had been redecorated. It's a March 1930 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A 1930 newspaper photo looking across the 2nd balcony to house left. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
On the main floor looking up at a portion of the the two balconies in March 1930. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
More exterior views:
Framing rising for the new building. It's a July 30, 1908 photo. Thanks to Morgan Conolly for adding it as a comment to a photo of the ruins posted on the San Francisco History Facebook page.
The carved ornament that would grace the arch at the top of the facade, before its installation. The photo appeared in the 1910 book, "San Francisco, The Metropolis Of The West," available on Internet Archive. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
A postcard of the new $1,000,000 theatre postmarked in 1910. Thanks to Chelsea Nic Cormaic for sharing the card from her collection on the Facebook page San Francisco Remembered.
A detail of the ornament at the top of the facade. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A view along the facade of the new theatre toward Market. St. The caption tells us that it cost $1 million. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection. He notes that the posters say "April" so the photo probably dates from near the theatre's April 1909 opening. There's a version of the image on the San Francisco Public Library website.
Another early photo looking toward Market. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A postcard with moon from the Jack Tillmany collection. Gary Parks comments: "What was the photographic retoucher/tinter thinking when he 'cut off' half of the outer flange of the arched facade top of the theatre?!"
A photo from Glenn Koch's collection posted on the BAHT Facebook page. He comments: "It is believed that this photo of the Orpheum Theater on O'Farrell Street dates from fall of 1909 as the banners stretched across the street are consistent with those that were used during the City's Portola Festival."
A view along the facade toward Powell St. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection. Note the oval swing-out sign on the upper left corner of the facade. It
had previously hung on the interim theatre built for the circuit on
Ellis St. in the Fillmore District. That theatre was renamed the
Garrick when Orpheum left.
A postcard looking west from the Jack Tillmany collection.
This view of the "New Orpheum," complete with flag, appeared appeared in the 1910 book, "San Francisco, The Metropolis Of The West," available on Internet Archive. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
This cropped version of the image used for Glenn's postcard appeared in a Terry Helgesen scrapbook that's now in the Ronald W. Mahan Collection. Thanks for sharing it, Ron. Note the word "Vaudeville" below the sculpture on the pediment. The photo made an appearance in the January 1912 issue of Architectural Record.
An early look at the theatre's marquee. It's a photo that appeared with "Some Novel Features of a Strictly Fire-Proof Theater Building," an eight page article by Lansburgh in the June 1909 issue of The Architect and Engineer. There's also a version of this one from the Jack Tillmany collection on the San Francisco Public Library website.
A c.1910 look toward Market St. It's a photo from an anonymous collector appearing on the Open SF History Project website. The photo also appeared with a November 2016 SF Gate story "Rare, unseen photos from the Chronicle's morgue..." The Mayor's office (their source for the photo) thought this was 1915. If it were, the Gaiety Theatre would be in that vacant lot on the left just beyond Tait's Restaurant. Tait's is in the building that's a rebuilt version of what pre-1906 had been Fischer's Theatre.
A c.1912 view toward Market. It's a photo on the Open SF History Project website.
An
April 29, 1913 shot from a scrapbook of Hamilton Henry Dobbin where he
notes "Bursting of a watermain causing the street to cave dropping
automobiles and teams into the excavation."
That's the 1909 Orpheum across the street. We're in the lot that in
1914 would become the site of the Gaiety Theatre, later called the Union Square. The California State Library has two slightly different
versions of the photo.
Another view from across the street where the Gaiety would soon rise. Note the fence at the sidewalk line. This appeared in the February 4, 1914 issue of The American Architect where they have it identified as being the Orpheum in Los Angeles. It's on Internet Archive with a floorplan on the following page. A smaller version of the photo can be seen on the San Francisco Public Library website.
An early view that's interesting because of the position of the vertical at the far end of the facade. When they opened in 1909 the theatre didn't have any signage to speak of. T
hen the little oval sign that had been on their Ellis St. house appeared, then this vertical. Sometime later the vertical was rehung in the center of the facade with a readerboard underneath. The photo is from the San Francisco Public Library.
A November 1926 photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appearing on the Open SF History Project website. We're looking west on O'Farrell toward Powell St. with the Orpheum on the left and the Union Square Theatre on the right.
For a week in June 1927 the headliners were Florence Moore, Joe Frisco, Jack Benny, Jo Mendel and the Pep Band. It's a photo from the San Francisco Public Library.
The Orpheum signage appears on the far right in this mid- to late-20s photo from the Emiliano Echeverria / Randolph Brandt Collection on an Open SF History Project page. We're looking toward Market St. from Powell. The theatre across the street is the Union Square.
A March 1930 photo looking west on O'Farrell. The theatre on the left with the signage saying Erlanger's Columbia is the rebranded 1909 Orpheum. Across the street is the Union Square Theatre with the Alcazar seen down in the next block. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo from his collection.
A June 10, 1930 photo of the theatre as the Columbia appearing on the Open SF History Project website.
A c.1934 view west from the Jack Tillmany collection. The protruding readerboard across the street is on the Union Square / Filmarte Theatre.
A detail from the c.1934 photo. Gary Parks comments: "I see the 'swing out' readerboard pulled up tight to the facade. The deco building at the far left of the photo makes an interesting contrast to the then-outmoded theatre facade."
More information: The Cinema Treasures page about the theatre is indexed as Minski's Columbia.
The San Francisco Historical Society publication Argonaut had an article "House that Vaudeville Built" in their Summer 2013 issue. There was also some coverage in the Winter and Fall 2014 issues.
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.
Orpheum ephemera:
A paperweight in the Gary Parks collection. He notes that it's something he got from Mark Santa Maria in the 1990s. It's 2 3/4” x 4 1/8".
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