Auditorium 1970
This photo, taken in the 1970, shows the Theatre Proscenium in all of its
splendor.
Note the hand-painted Spanish garden scene on the asbestos fire curtain.
The curtain is but one more piece of the ornamentation designed to recreate the
atmospheric sense of a Spanish Andalusian Garden, and still hangs in the Orpheum today!
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Auditorium 1922 Another photo of the front of the auditorium.
Note the vast amount of hand crafted detail, almost all of it plaster, in the proscenium,
the columns and across the ceiling. This photo was taken in 1922.
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Auditorium side view Again from 1922, this photo looks east across the
auditorium
and shows a number of ornamental and decorative features that were lost over the years.
The ceiling fans, the ivy that drapes over the side walls and the small feathered birds
that once
looked down on the Theatre are no longer in place. However,
the current restoration efforts will
attempt to bring much of this ornamentation back. |
Exterior 1922
This exterior photo of the Theatre and the
office building, taken in 1922,
shows the original vertical Orpheum sign in profile.
The art deco marquee,
first installed in 1940, has been reproduced and was
lit for the first time on March 23, 2001.
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Vestibule Box Office
Jack Webb stands guard over the ticket booth
in this shot from 1952.
During this time, the Orpheum was primarily a first-run movie house.
The ticket booth has been replaced with an exact replica of the original Circa 1922,
and includes modern amenities such as computer and fax lines.
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In the ticket booth
An unidentified ticket taker smiles out from the
booth (Circa 1950).
Sellout crowds for first run movies were
common place and it was not surprising to see lines stretching out along Broadway.
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The Theatre Bar
Circa 1930, these men enjoy a drink at the Orpheum Bar.
The bar was actually a prop used to promote the movie
shown on the poster in the background.
Gentlemen were encouraged to remove their hats once they entered the Theatre proper.
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Vestibule Box Office
Here is a view of the Vestibule Box Office from 1922,
just after the Theatre opened. Notice the ornate patterned floor that was original to the Theatre.
This floor was subsequently covered by terrazo but has now been replaced with the new tile floor
Circa 1922
that you see today.
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