A short article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Tuesday May 1, 1934, page 12, reads in part: “Lightman (MALCO, ed.) interests are negotiating for two theaters in Jackson, Tenn.; the Hauber owned by O.C. Hauber, and the new house built by J.C. Felsental on the site of the old State. Another Jackson theater, the Paramount, is already operated by Lightman for the Paramount company.”
The article also mentions the Lightmans “remodeling and redecorating” of the Memphis Strand Theater.
50sSnipes, Yes. If you’ll compare the photo of the Lyric uploaded today, with the photos of the Jackson Tennessee MALCO (https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15335), you’ll see that it’s the same building. MALCO bought the hall in or around 1936. They already had the Jackson Paramount at that point.
During the 1920s and ‘30s, MALCO, the company, was expanding aggressively over West Tennessee, and the surrounding states. The Morris Aaron Lightman Company, often bought existing theaters and renamed them MALCO.
The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ records the Henry Pilcher Son’s Company built their opus (serial number) 1073, a II/9 straight pipe organ for the Lyric Theatre in 1920, costing $4,800. By contrast, the comparable Wurlitzer unified II/9, style 160, cost $11,000 in 1920.
The installation of the Pilcher happened +/-7 years after the Lyric opened. What instrument or instruments accompanied the silent films before the Pilcher organ was installed is, as yet, unknown. Pilcher’s organs were not compact and, unless it replaced a previous, unknown pipe organ, significant alterations to the building would have been required.
The choice of Pilcher to build an organ for the Lyric is unusual.
Pilcher was a respected, mid-market, pipe organ builder in Louisville Kentucky. Their market was churches and civic auditoriums where traditional pipe organ design was prioritized. Though they did build organs throughout the country, their primary market was the mid and deep south. For reasons now lost to time, and despite the reported high profit margin on theatre organ work, Pilcher was reluctant to embrace the cinema market. Possibly it was an issue of them wanting to maintain a “higher brow” image. Possibly it was discomfort with the prevailing requirement for unification technology in theatre organs, which they did not embrace at that time. By 1920, the limitations of their theatre installations would have been obvious. Consequently Pilcher only built about 31 theatre organs, out of their total output of about 1,980 instruments. Only 2 of their theatre organs were built after 1921. None of their theatre organs are known to survive.
The Billiken, built in 1957, remains in operation as of May 2025 with a single screen, and digital projection. The auditorium is a simple box with sound absorbent tiles on the walls, and a featureless black ceiling. The auditorium appears to be largely unchanged since its construction. It has no architectural embellishment, unusual light fixtures, or even decorative curtains.
There is a concrete stage with a significant thrust allowing the auditorium to be used as a large lecture-hall-style. There is no fly space so the movie screen is dead hung and has adjustable side masking, allowing a full range of aspect ratios from Academy Standard, to Cinemascope. The stage has no wings. A row of rooms upstage from the screen may have been conceived of as dressing rooms, but there is no evidence that they were ever used for anything other than storage. There is a main house curtain of simple navy blue (or it may be black) The auditorium floor has a reverse curve as it approaches the stage. The seats are neither original, nor brand new. The booth has four projection ports (with the companion operator ports, total of 8 openings) and a single follow-spot port. There is an additional port which might have been for a re-wind room, but most of the original booth partition walls have all been removed so the original configuration is hard to establish. The booth now contains only single digital projector and the space is largely used as the manager’s office.
The exterior and lobby were renovated in 2018-2019. The lobby appears to have been stripped to bare walls and rebuilt. All the fixtures are new and clean, but unremarkable. The restrooms (one on each side) are all-new, A.D.A. compliant and spotlessly clean.
The space behind this door and window is an “L” very roughly 10 feet wide and 25 feet deep. It might be clearer to say that the lobby is 10 feet wider than the rest of the building. With the main box office between the main pair of doors, this might have been a Jim Crow era, segregated box office and entrance to a tiny balcony. Purely conjectural on my part. W.D.
To follow up on the my post from April 14, 2025: careful examination of the photos and Google Earth show that the single door at the left side of the entrance opens into a space approximately 10 feet wide and 25 feet deep. That’s just big enough for a short steep stairway to a Jim Crow era segregated balcony. The practice would not have been uncommon at the time and place of the theater’s opening, though the balcony would have been very small and it would seem there was no secondary egress. Note, this is pure conjecture on my part.
Thirty five years after seeing the Mart Theatre, a business trip took me through Calhoun City, Mississippi in April 2025. It is disappointing to see the interior, roof and floor, completely, utterly gone. Nothing remains except the 4 exterior walls, and 4 tragic emergency exit doors on the back. The buildings on either side are in a similar condition.
The last advertisement for The Mart I found was at the end of 1977. I found no ads in 1978 or afterwards. The line-up of films is sad, with X-rated films on the days leading up to Christmas followed by 3 days of “The Bad News Bears Breaking Training.” Then the last shows were an X-rated double feature on New Years Eve: “The Innocence of Susan” and “Love Lips.” After that last change-over bell, it looks like the arc lamps were shut off for good, the last of the film cans were sent back to the distributor, the last of popcorn went home with the manager who started looking for a new job a couple of days later.
It’s a story that played out in thousands of small towns all over the country.
A Stolen Life was released in July 6, 1946 and played at Milwaukee’s Warner Theatre (downtown) and was held over for an extra week. That dates this photo to soon thereafter. Probably late July or early August 1946.
The building was inundated to the tops of the storefront windows when the North Toe River overflowed during the aftermath of hurricane Helene, September 28, 2024.
Robert, Good that it’s open and running and has had a major renovation, but there was no masking? They spend millions on a restoration and don’t have anyone who understands Presentation 101? <<>> Since you were there, how have they changed the seating so that it’s roughly 30% of the original capacity?
There is an advertisement for The Princess Theatre, Columbia, Tennessee, from Crescent Amusement for the motion picture “The Heritage of the Desert” with Bebe Daniels in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper on March 2, 1924, page 43.
There is a 1 paragraph mention of the Bell Theatre opening in the Nashville Banner, Tuesday September 7, 1915, page 14
SPRINGFIELD’S NEW THEATRE
Special to the Banner
Springfield, Tenn., September 7,-
Springfield’s new theatre, the Bell, opened for business Saturday. (September 4, 1915 ed.) The new playhouse is operated by M. Sherry and Steve Holland of Nashville. Although it is to be chiefly a motion picture and vaudeville house, it has been equipped for road shows also.
The Vitrolite front was intact and in good condition up to about 1980, though the theatre had been closed for about 20 years. The marquee was gone in the 1960s. Likewise there were no “blue mirrors extending forty feet in height” at that point, though there was a stylized monogram P in the upper center.
The Nashville Banner newspaper, October 5, 1926 page 12 reports:
Lebanon, Tenn. Oct 5 - (Special.) The Princess theater, Lebanon’s new $50,000 theater, built by the Crescent Amusement Company of Nashville opened here Monday night with Colleen Moore in “It Must Be Love.”
It is claimed by the management that the new theater is the most complete and the most artistic theater in any town in the state the size of Lebanon. The seating capacity is 800, a balcony being provided for colored people seating 150.The theater is provided with upholstered seats and special lighting effects and cooling system. A new heating plant has also been installed.
John Hatcher, manager of the Howard theater (about a block north, ed) for the past two years, will be in active charge of the new Princess.
The Nashville Tennessean newspaper for Sunday, February 21, 1926, page 13 reported on a conference of Crescent Amusement Company theater managers with company president Tony Sudekum. The group photo lists the attendees and their respective theaters.
The manager of the Springfield, Tennessee Princess Theater is listed as Vernon Rinehart.
From the Nashville morning newspaper “The Tennessean,” September 6, 1927 page 3
NEW PRINCESS THEATER AT CLEVELAND OPENED
Special Musical Program is given by Cole
Cleveland, Tenn., Sept. 5 - The new Princess theater was officially opened today. The picture presented is “Convoy” and there was a special musical program by Leon Cole of Nashville on the fine, golden voice Kimball pipe organ.
This addition to Cleveland’s business houses is bing made by the Crescent Amusements Company of Nashville of which Tony Sudekum is president.
Attention to the theatre is commanded by the attritive front of the building with its electric sign of 600 lights. The sign includes three in one, the largest across the front of the marquisa (sic!) and one across each end. In the lobbies an artistic effect has been introduced by the decorators. The outside lobby with tiled floor has walls decorated in harmonies colors.
The inside lobby harmonizes with the outer lobby in decorative scheme and is lighted by chandeliers of bronze design. The motif of the interior decorations is similar to those used in the leading theatres of America carrying out the ideas of the Crescent Amusement Company’s own decor * -ator. Mural decorations are in * panel effect with the outstanding color being blue. The ceiling is *(word indecipherable, possibly ‘festooned’) in brown and the lighting is both from ceiling and candle effects for the walls, making a most artistic arrangement.
The wings are hung with heavy blue drapes, trimmed with dull gold fringe. Similar drapes are used for the stage curtain. The seats are the latest improved theatre chairs with cushions and backs of leather and are the last word in comfort. An orchestra pit provides space for both the organ and an orchestra.
The Princess was erected by the Summer Construction Company for the Crescent Amusement Company at a cost of $100,000.
Note: the asterisks show the position of obvious printing errors in the newspaper article where lines of text are placed incorrectly and a couple of words are too faint to read. The text written here is my best guess.
From Nashville’s morning newspaper “The Tennessean” August 7, 1927 page 7:
New Sudekum Playhouse Nears Completion
Cleveland, Tenn., Aug. 6 - With the arrival here of the $10,000 pipe organ for the new theater being built by the Crescent Amusement Company of Nashville the handsome show house being erected takes a forward step towards its completion for a formal opening on Labor Day September 5.
Tony and Harry Sudekum, president and secretary by the company, were in Cleveland Wednesday being accompanied by the company’s interior decorator, who started work on the interior of the building immediately. As soon as the interior is completed the organ will be installed by R. J, Hatch, expert organ builder, who manages all work of this kind for the Crescent company.
The organ is a two manuel with electric action and has, in addition to the regular stops chimes, xylophone, orchestral bells, and harp attachment.
And while we’re at it, I found that the Capitol’s organ was built by local pipe organ serviceman James Rufus Hatch. Crescent Amusement and Tony Sudekum apparently never invested in top brand organs. Mr. Hatch had moved to Nashville in 1922 from Saint-Hyacinthe Quebec where he learned the organ trade. It is reasonable to assume he worked for Casavant Freres located there, which was (and still is) one of the most respected pipe organ building companies in North America. However, there is precious little record of any work that Mr. Hatch did beyond this one installation.
Based on the newspaper accounts that the Capitol was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Saturday March 16, 1929, the last film to play there would have been the now lost silent film “Dream of Love” starring Joan Crawford and Nils Asther. The newspaper advertisement on Friday March 15 indicates it was accompanied by “Hoods Orchestra.”
Excerpts from the Nashville Banner newspaper, March 16, 1929, page 1
UPTOWN FIRE CAUSES DAMAGE OF $300,000
Capitol Theater Destroyed – Station WBAW and Other Tenants of Odd Fellows’ Building Sustain Losses – Firemen Hurt
Damage caused by the fire which started about 1 a.m. Saturday beneath the stage of the Capitol theater, at Sixth and Church, and ate its way through the four-story Odd Fellows building, may exceed $300,000.
The entire interior of the Capitol theater proper was destroyed leaving only the steel cross beams of the theater above the mass of charred debris that covered the first floor of the building. At 6 a.m. thin lines of smoke still arose from the maze of wreckage piled over the seats of the theater, and firemen, despite the danger of the floors above caving in, were digging through the tangled mass, in an effort to put out the smouldering (sic) embers.
The rear section of the building was burned to the fourth floor, leaving the second and third floors hanging perilously above the interior of the theater, supported by buckled beams and framework, most of which was partially burned…
…Capitol Theater, leased by the Crescent Amusement Company, including Vitaphone equipment, ventilating system and $35,000 pipe organ, damaged $100,000…
…The organ, one of the largest in the South (typical hyperbole, ed.) fell a victim to the fire shortly after it started. It was valued at $35,000 and was practically demolished. The long pipes, running almost two stories, were standing, but were bent and charred. The Vitaphone equipment, recently installed, was demolished, leaving only a shadow of black framework. The damage to this, together with the dame to the ventilating system of the theater, was estimated by Tony Sudedum at $90,000. The projecting equipment of the theater received considerable water damage and is said to be unfit for further use. Considering the equipment and accessories, the damage was said to be at least $100,000…
…Firemen were of the opinion that the building may be condemned as several of the steel beams had buckled, leaving the brick walls of the building without strong support. Parts of the upper floors swung downward, hanging apparently in the air, supported by two-by-fours that creaked under the strain.
The seats of the theater were literally covered with the fixtures that had adorned the theater, burned and charred framework that had crashed upon them, and with office supplies of all kinds that had tumbled with the floors.
Although origin of the fire is not known it is believed that it started from defective wiring beneath the stage of the theater. The stage, with the organ of the theater, were the first victims of the flames. No official statement on the cause of the fire was given out, but firemen of the first companies to arrive at the scene expressed the belief that it was the wiring under the stage that had first become ignited…
Originally the marquee had a flat extension over the storefront to the east. It didn’t have a letterboard on it. What I remember is green and white steel with horizontal neon. The building’s upper story was clad in steel similar to what’s on the walls in the lobby. That all came down sometime after Martin left the building.
In context, in the late 1970s a couple of buildings on the square which had been “modernized” in the 1950s, had their cladding removed to reveal the victoria detailing. Unfortunately someone decided that the cladding on the Capitol and nearby Princess needed to come off too, not realizing there was no ornate brickwork underneath. Both buildings have since been painted to make some effort to replicate the original design.
A short article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Tuesday May 1, 1934, page 12, reads in part: “Lightman (MALCO, ed.) interests are negotiating for two theaters in Jackson, Tenn.; the Hauber owned by O.C. Hauber, and the new house built by J.C. Felsental on the site of the old State. Another Jackson theater, the Paramount, is already operated by Lightman for the Paramount company.”
The article also mentions the Lightmans “remodeling and redecorating” of the Memphis Strand Theater.
50sSnipes, Yes. If you’ll compare the photo of the Lyric uploaded today, with the photos of the Jackson Tennessee MALCO (https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15335), you’ll see that it’s the same building. MALCO bought the hall in or around 1936. They already had the Jackson Paramount at that point.
During the 1920s and ‘30s, MALCO, the company, was expanding aggressively over West Tennessee, and the surrounding states. The Morris Aaron Lightman Company, often bought existing theaters and renamed them MALCO.
Regarding the organ at the Lyric Theatre.
The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ records the Henry Pilcher Son’s Company built their opus (serial number) 1073, a II/9 straight pipe organ for the Lyric Theatre in 1920, costing $4,800. By contrast, the comparable Wurlitzer unified II/9, style 160, cost $11,000 in 1920.
The installation of the Pilcher happened +/-7 years after the Lyric opened. What instrument or instruments accompanied the silent films before the Pilcher organ was installed is, as yet, unknown. Pilcher’s organs were not compact and, unless it replaced a previous, unknown pipe organ, significant alterations to the building would have been required.
The choice of Pilcher to build an organ for the Lyric is unusual.
Pilcher was a respected, mid-market, pipe organ builder in Louisville Kentucky. Their market was churches and civic auditoriums where traditional pipe organ design was prioritized. Though they did build organs throughout the country, their primary market was the mid and deep south. For reasons now lost to time, and despite the reported high profit margin on theatre organ work, Pilcher was reluctant to embrace the cinema market. Possibly it was an issue of them wanting to maintain a “higher brow” image. Possibly it was discomfort with the prevailing requirement for unification technology in theatre organs, which they did not embrace at that time. By 1920, the limitations of their theatre installations would have been obvious. Consequently Pilcher only built about 31 theatre organs, out of their total output of about 1,980 instruments. Only 2 of their theatre organs were built after 1921. None of their theatre organs are known to survive.
New photo uploaded today showing this hall was later renamed MALCO. It might be appropriate for this page and the MALCO page to be merged.
The Billiken, built in 1957, remains in operation as of May 2025 with a single screen, and digital projection. The auditorium is a simple box with sound absorbent tiles on the walls, and a featureless black ceiling. The auditorium appears to be largely unchanged since its construction. It has no architectural embellishment, unusual light fixtures, or even decorative curtains. There is a concrete stage with a significant thrust allowing the auditorium to be used as a large lecture-hall-style. There is no fly space so the movie screen is dead hung and has adjustable side masking, allowing a full range of aspect ratios from Academy Standard, to Cinemascope. The stage has no wings. A row of rooms upstage from the screen may have been conceived of as dressing rooms, but there is no evidence that they were ever used for anything other than storage. There is a main house curtain of simple navy blue (or it may be black) The auditorium floor has a reverse curve as it approaches the stage. The seats are neither original, nor brand new. The booth has four projection ports (with the companion operator ports, total of 8 openings) and a single follow-spot port. There is an additional port which might have been for a re-wind room, but most of the original booth partition walls have all been removed so the original configuration is hard to establish. The booth now contains only single digital projector and the space is largely used as the manager’s office.
The exterior and lobby were renovated in 2018-2019. The lobby appears to have been stripped to bare walls and rebuilt. All the fixtures are new and clean, but unremarkable. The restrooms (one on each side) are all-new, A.D.A. compliant and spotlessly clean.
The space behind this door and window is an “L” very roughly 10 feet wide and 25 feet deep. It might be clearer to say that the lobby is 10 feet wider than the rest of the building. With the main box office between the main pair of doors, this might have been a Jim Crow era, segregated box office and entrance to a tiny balcony. Purely conjectural on my part. W.D.
To follow up on the my post from April 14, 2025: careful examination of the photos and Google Earth show that the single door at the left side of the entrance opens into a space approximately 10 feet wide and 25 feet deep. That’s just big enough for a short steep stairway to a Jim Crow era segregated balcony. The practice would not have been uncommon at the time and place of the theater’s opening, though the balcony would have been very small and it would seem there was no secondary egress. Note, this is pure conjecture on my part.
Thirty five years after seeing the Mart Theatre, a business trip took me through Calhoun City, Mississippi in April 2025. It is disappointing to see the interior, roof and floor, completely, utterly gone. Nothing remains except the 4 exterior walls, and 4 tragic emergency exit doors on the back. The buildings on either side are in a similar condition.
The last advertisement for The Mart I found was at the end of 1977. I found no ads in 1978 or afterwards. The line-up of films is sad, with X-rated films on the days leading up to Christmas followed by 3 days of “The Bad News Bears Breaking Training.” Then the last shows were an X-rated double feature on New Years Eve: “The Innocence of Susan” and “Love Lips.” After that last change-over bell, it looks like the arc lamps were shut off for good, the last of the film cans were sent back to the distributor, the last of popcorn went home with the manager who started looking for a new job a couple of days later.
It’s a story that played out in thousands of small towns all over the country.
A Stolen Life was released in July 6, 1946 and played at Milwaukee’s Warner Theatre (downtown) and was held over for an extra week. That dates this photo to soon thereafter. Probably late July or early August 1946.
The building was inundated to the tops of the storefront windows when the North Toe River overflowed during the aftermath of hurricane Helene, September 28, 2024.
Lonesome Luke, a.k.a. Harold Lloyd before he created his “glasses” character, made a number of films largely copying Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp.
That isn’t the Memphis Orpheum.
Random capitalization, literally set in granite.
Robert, Good that it’s open and running and has had a major renovation, but there was no masking? They spend millions on a restoration and don’t have anyone who understands Presentation 101? <<>> Since you were there, how have they changed the seating so that it’s roughly 30% of the original capacity?
There is an advertisement for The Princess Theatre, Columbia, Tennessee, from Crescent Amusement for the motion picture “The Heritage of the Desert” with Bebe Daniels in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper on March 2, 1924, page 43.
There is a 1 paragraph mention of the Bell Theatre opening in the Nashville Banner, Tuesday September 7, 1915, page 14
SPRINGFIELD’S NEW THEATRE Special to the Banner Springfield, Tenn., September 7,- Springfield’s new theatre, the Bell, opened for business Saturday. (September 4, 1915 ed.) The new playhouse is operated by M. Sherry and Steve Holland of Nashville. Although it is to be chiefly a motion picture and vaudeville house, it has been equipped for road shows also.
The Vitrolite front was intact and in good condition up to about 1980, though the theatre had been closed for about 20 years. The marquee was gone in the 1960s. Likewise there were no “blue mirrors extending forty feet in height” at that point, though there was a stylized monogram P in the upper center.
The Nashville Banner newspaper, October 5, 1926 page 12 reports:
Lebanon, Tenn. Oct 5 - (Special.) The Princess theater, Lebanon’s new $50,000 theater, built by the Crescent Amusement Company of Nashville opened here Monday night with Colleen Moore in “It Must Be Love.”
It is claimed by the management that the new theater is the most complete and the most artistic theater in any town in the state the size of Lebanon. The seating capacity is 800, a balcony being provided for colored people seating 150.The theater is provided with upholstered seats and special lighting effects and cooling system. A new heating plant has also been installed.
John Hatcher, manager of the Howard theater (about a block north, ed) for the past two years, will be in active charge of the new Princess.
The Nashville Tennessean newspaper for Sunday, February 21, 1926, page 13 reported on a conference of Crescent Amusement Company theater managers with company president Tony Sudekum. The group photo lists the attendees and their respective theaters.
The manager of the Springfield, Tennessee Princess Theater is listed as Vernon Rinehart.
From the Nashville morning newspaper “The Tennessean,” September 6, 1927 page 3
NEW PRINCESS THEATER AT CLEVELAND OPENED
Special Musical Program is given by Cole
Cleveland, Tenn., Sept. 5 - The new Princess theater was officially opened today. The picture presented is “Convoy” and there was a special musical program by Leon Cole of Nashville on the fine, golden voice Kimball pipe organ.
This addition to Cleveland’s business houses is bing made by the Crescent Amusements Company of Nashville of which Tony Sudekum is president.
Attention to the theatre is commanded by the attritive front of the building with its electric sign of 600 lights. The sign includes three in one, the largest across the front of the marquisa (sic!) and one across each end. In the lobbies an artistic effect has been introduced by the decorators. The outside lobby with tiled floor has walls decorated in harmonies colors.
The inside lobby harmonizes with the outer lobby in decorative scheme and is lighted by chandeliers of bronze design. The motif of the interior decorations is similar to those used in the leading theatres of America carrying out the ideas of the Crescent Amusement Company’s own decor * -ator. Mural decorations are in * panel effect with the outstanding color being blue. The ceiling is *(word indecipherable, possibly ‘festooned’) in brown and the lighting is both from ceiling and candle effects for the walls, making a most artistic arrangement.
The wings are hung with heavy blue drapes, trimmed with dull gold fringe. Similar drapes are used for the stage curtain. The seats are the latest improved theatre chairs with cushions and backs of leather and are the last word in comfort. An orchestra pit provides space for both the organ and an orchestra.
The Princess was erected by the Summer Construction Company for the Crescent Amusement Company at a cost of $100,000.
From Nashville’s morning newspaper “The Tennessean” August 7, 1927 page 7:
New Sudekum Playhouse Nears Completion
Cleveland, Tenn., Aug. 6 - With the arrival here of the $10,000 pipe organ for the new theater being built by the Crescent Amusement Company of Nashville the handsome show house being erected takes a forward step towards its completion for a formal opening on Labor Day September 5.
Tony and Harry Sudekum, president and secretary by the company, were in Cleveland Wednesday being accompanied by the company’s interior decorator, who started work on the interior of the building immediately. As soon as the interior is completed the organ will be installed by R. J, Hatch, expert organ builder, who manages all work of this kind for the Crescent company.
The organ is a two manuel with electric action and has, in addition to the regular stops chimes, xylophone, orchestral bells, and harp attachment.
And while we’re at it, I found that the Capitol’s organ was built by local pipe organ serviceman James Rufus Hatch. Crescent Amusement and Tony Sudekum apparently never invested in top brand organs. Mr. Hatch had moved to Nashville in 1922 from Saint-Hyacinthe Quebec where he learned the organ trade. It is reasonable to assume he worked for Casavant Freres located there, which was (and still is) one of the most respected pipe organ building companies in North America. However, there is precious little record of any work that Mr. Hatch did beyond this one installation.
Based on the newspaper accounts that the Capitol was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Saturday March 16, 1929, the last film to play there would have been the now lost silent film “Dream of Love” starring Joan Crawford and Nils Asther. The newspaper advertisement on Friday March 15 indicates it was accompanied by “Hoods Orchestra.”
Excerpts from the Nashville Banner newspaper, March 16, 1929, page 1
UPTOWN FIRE CAUSES DAMAGE OF $300,000
Capitol Theater Destroyed – Station WBAW and Other Tenants of Odd Fellows’ Building Sustain Losses – Firemen Hurt
Damage caused by the fire which started about 1 a.m. Saturday beneath the stage of the Capitol theater, at Sixth and Church, and ate its way through the four-story Odd Fellows building, may exceed $300,000.
The entire interior of the Capitol theater proper was destroyed leaving only the steel cross beams of the theater above the mass of charred debris that covered the first floor of the building. At 6 a.m. thin lines of smoke still arose from the maze of wreckage piled over the seats of the theater, and firemen, despite the danger of the floors above caving in, were digging through the tangled mass, in an effort to put out the smouldering (sic) embers.
The rear section of the building was burned to the fourth floor, leaving the second and third floors hanging perilously above the interior of the theater, supported by buckled beams and framework, most of which was partially burned…
…Capitol Theater, leased by the Crescent Amusement Company, including Vitaphone equipment, ventilating system and $35,000 pipe organ, damaged $100,000…
…The organ, one of the largest in the South (typical hyperbole, ed.) fell a victim to the fire shortly after it started. It was valued at $35,000 and was practically demolished. The long pipes, running almost two stories, were standing, but were bent and charred. The Vitaphone equipment, recently installed, was demolished, leaving only a shadow of black framework. The damage to this, together with the dame to the ventilating system of the theater, was estimated by Tony Sudedum at $90,000. The projecting equipment of the theater received considerable water damage and is said to be unfit for further use. Considering the equipment and accessories, the damage was said to be at least $100,000…
…Firemen were of the opinion that the building may be condemned as several of the steel beams had buckled, leaving the brick walls of the building without strong support. Parts of the upper floors swung downward, hanging apparently in the air, supported by two-by-fours that creaked under the strain.
The seats of the theater were literally covered with the fixtures that had adorned the theater, burned and charred framework that had crashed upon them, and with office supplies of all kinds that had tumbled with the floors.
Although origin of the fire is not known it is believed that it started from defective wiring beneath the stage of the theater. The stage, with the organ of the theater, were the first victims of the flames. No official statement on the cause of the fire was given out, but firemen of the first companies to arrive at the scene expressed the belief that it was the wiring under the stage that had first become ignited…
Originally the marquee had a flat extension over the storefront to the east. It didn’t have a letterboard on it. What I remember is green and white steel with horizontal neon. The building’s upper story was clad in steel similar to what’s on the walls in the lobby. That all came down sometime after Martin left the building.
In context, in the late 1970s a couple of buildings on the square which had been “modernized” in the 1950s, had their cladding removed to reveal the victoria detailing. Unfortunately someone decided that the cladding on the Capitol and nearby Princess needed to come off too, not realizing there was no ornate brickwork underneath. Both buildings have since been painted to make some effort to replicate the original design.