History of the Orpheum

Vaudeville House and Cinema

The Orpheum opened in 1927 as Vancouver’s finest and largest vaudeville house, providing a popular mix of live and screen entertainment. It was actually the fourth in a series of Vancouver theatres which derived their name from the Chicago-based Orpheum Circuit. The theatre boasts a flamboyant Spanish Baroque style (also referred to as Moorish) with exuberant arches, tiered columns and interlaced mouldings executed in marble, travertine, cast stone and plaster. The Orpheum originally seated 2,800 theatre-goers on two levels and was constructed of reinforced concrete and structural steel, with the largest balcony girder weighing in at 28 tons.

The first performance on November 7, 1927 was a variety show, a showing of The Wise Wife and music by the house orchestra and the magnificent Wurlitzer organ. The official opening was the following night.

Architect B. Marcus Priteca (1890-1971), a Scot by birth and an American by choice, also designed the Vancouver Pantages (1916-17), as well as the Majestic, the Beacon and the Odeon Hastings. Priteca’s design for the Orpheum was more exotic than his typically more staid and very white “Pantages Greek” manner, and in keeping with the tendency in the late 1920s for theatres to turn to elaborate architectural evocations of distant lands. While the exterior of the building is of interest from the point-of-view of urban design, it is the interior public spaces that display the marvellous heritage character of the Orpheum.

Famous Players took over management of the Orpheum in the early 1930s when the onset of the Depression and the advent of “talkies” forced the entertainment industry into a series of reorganizations. As a result the Orpheum became primarily a movie theatre for first-run shows.

The loss of vaudeville may have been mourned, but it did not diminish the importance of the Orpheum on Vancouver’s entertainment scene. From 1935 to 1969, the Orpheum was managed by Ivan Ackery, a born entertainer who revelled in transforming the everyday into the extraordinary. Under his management, the Orpheum continued to be used for live entertainment as well as cinema. Touring concert, ballet and dramatic performers appeared on the stage as well as local talent, including the VSO and numerous film stars, comedians and other popular entertainers.

One of the more memorable local figures who played a role in the Orpheum’s history during this period was June Roper. An accomplished classical ballerina, Roper arrived in Vancouver in 1934 and opened a ballet school next door to the Orpheum. From 1936 to 1941 her pupils staged short performances in advance of the feature films showing at the Orpheum. The theatre was also the home of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concerts from 1930 to 1932 and again from 1938 to 1958 when it moved to the QET.

Famous Players made a number of incremental changes to the Orpheum during its tenure. These began in 1937 with the addition of acoustic tiling to the ceiling and rear wall of the audience chamber. In 1941 a major overhaul of the audience chamber saw the installation of new carpets, seats and ‘hearing aids.’ In 1948, a new 50-foot-high vertical sign increased the theatre’s visibility along Granville Street.

[top]

‘Save the Orpheum’

By 1969, the Orpheum’s days appeared numbered. Cinema was facing heavy competition from television, and Famous Players was looking for ways to increase the return on its valuable downtown real estate. The planned conversion meant turning the large theatre into a multiplex. Rhonna Fleming a Community Arts Council (CAC) volunteer discovered the plans for the Orpheum when she began documenting its history in 1972. This was the beginning of the ‘Save the Orpheum’ campaign.

The CAC co-ordinated a feasibility study to see whether the Orpheum could be used as a ‘further civic theatre’ to supplement the QET and the Playhouse. Establishing its acoustic suitability as a concert hall was the most important aspect of the study, indicating the suitability of the Orpheum as a concert hall suitable to the presentation of classical music.

A number of recommendations were made to adapt the Orpheum to meet the needs of the Symphony. These included the extension of the stage over the orchestra pit, removal of the proscenium arch and installation of a permanent orchestra shell.

The ‘Save the Orpheum’ campaign raised $432,000 and governments provided the rest.

[top]

Rehabilitating the Orpheum

The object of the rehabilitation work on the theatre was to ‘restore the quality of the original décor.’ This meant respecting the charm of the building while altering and improving it.

In practical terms, the scope of the work called for refurbishing existing wall and ceiling finishes, altering the proscenium arch, construction a permanent orchestra shell, enlarging the stage, constructing a new floor in the stage loft, reupholstering the seating, adding new sound systems and stage lighting systems, providing a mechanical cooling system and altering various areas to accommodate the proposed activities.

Perhaps the most notable change was the installation of a mural in the 60-foot plaster dome. The mural, designed and painted by Tony Heinsbergen depicts Orpheus, the mythical embodiment of music (and the source of the name ‘Orpheum’).

Of equal importance to the appearance of the house and lobbies was the decorative plasterwork. This was especially true on stage, where the installation of a fixed steel-and-plaster acoustical shell constituted a major change. The architects chose to mitigate the change by replicating decorative elements found in the auditorium. Skilled plasterers took castings from existing elements and made copies for the shell. They also repaired damaged components of the decorative plasterwork in the rest of the building.

Like many theatres build in the early twentieth century, the Orpheum boasted a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, which accompanied silent movies. The organ was still in place when renovations began. The Vancouver Organ Society and the Puget Sound chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society wanted to see the organ retained and succeeded in raising the funds to restore the organ. The Orpheum is the only theatre in Canada to keep its Wurlitzer in its original location.

The Orpheum officially reopened on April 2, 1977, with a gala event featuring the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

[top]

Architectural Significance

• The Orpheum was Vancouver’s largest and most ornate vaudeville/movie palace from the first half of the 20th century and is the only one of its scale in Vancouver to survive.
• The Orpheum is an excellent example of the highly decorative vaudeville/movie palace, popular in Canada and the U.S. in the 1920s, and one of relatively few in Canada.
• The Orpheum provides a rare example of the Spanish Baroque (Moorish) Revival style, an uncommon mode in the eclectic vocabulary of 1920s architects.
• The Orpheum’s architect, B. Marcus Priteca, is recognized as the most accomplished theatre designer of his era in the American Northwest and Western Canada. This is the only surviving Canadian theatre designed by Priteca.
• The Orpheum has strong contextual value for being an anchor building in Vancouver’s ‘Theatre Row.’

[top]

Historical Significance

• The Orpheum has a long association with the performance of classical music in Vancouver with important local groups, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
• The Orpheum is closely associated with the history of cinematic and live entertainment in Vancouver. The Orpheum was for many years one of the few venues in Vancouver available for both local and international performers.
• The Orpheum is associated with figures of considerable local importance in the entertainment industry and a variety of performers and impresarios.
• The history of the Orpheum’s use reflects broad patterns of change in the mass entertainment industry in North America, first for vaudeville, then for cinema, and subsequently as a civic theatre.
• As one of three municipally-owned and operated theatres, the Orpheum is associated with the idea, established with the construction of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, that such facilities are an important endeavour for the City of Vancouver.

[top]