Music Hall Theatre
702-710 Olive Way,
Seattle,
WA
98101
702-710 Olive Way,
Seattle,
WA
98101
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 18 comments
This beautiful theatre was always dramatic and elaborate. The lobby was large and had stained glass all over. Like a fantastic fantasy movie set just walking in. Saw many films there and it was called The Music Hall most of it’s years. Should still be part of Seattle’s theatre district.
Grand opening ads from April 19th, 1929, May 4th, 1934 and May 26th, 1967 has been posted here.
I’ve created a face book page for the follies. I was a dancer.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-McGoverns-Musical-Hall-Follies/118880894826951
I saw BULLITT there 1st run.They had a movie Mustang in the lobby.Very sad about this place going down.
I worked at the Music Hall in its last sad incarnation under Jack McGovern in 1983. It was the absolute end of an era, and I’m glad I could hop on for a time. I helped get dancers into the old organ elevator that raised them onstage.
The house was famous for two ghosts: a construction worker with a hardhat way up on the balcony, and a woman who screamed in the lobby after hours.
RIP
Demolition photo from 1992: View link
A history of the theater from opening to closing can be found here:
View link
I was lucky to get to see this theatre just before it was demolished. I had just moved to town and went by it everyday while looking for a job. I took some photos of it during the demolishion. I went by almost every day and watched the building slowly come down. It was a SOLID building! It wasn’t easy for the men to bring down. A fighter till the end. Two of the original urns that decorated the roof of the building were recently placed in a park just a few short blocks from where the theatre once stood. The park is next to I-5 on Pine.
Here is a 1932 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lglc8
The Music Hall Theatre was once operated by Evergreen State Amusement Corp., which was one of the subsidiaries of Fox Theatres and later National General Theatres.
This link has 62 photos:
View link
grand grand
My big memory of this house was “BULLITT” with one of the movie cars in the lobby.It was a grabd place that,like others,should have been saved.Seattle has lost so much,including the Bon Marche.
This theater was also known as the Rex.
I was very sad when they decided to tear down the Music Hall. I do not think enough was done to save it. This sort of thing seems to happen a lot in Seattle these days. A lot of old, historic buildingsthat are worth saving have been coming down in the past 15 years. The Music Hall was a definate treasure that should have been saved.
In the 1970’s this theater was known as “Jack McGovern’s Music Hall” run by a local restauranteur and night club owner. They had a revue show, “The Follies” which ran for several years. The theater also hosted many celebrity appearances; Bob Hope, The Mills Brothers, etc. during the early 80’s. A great venue that was sad to see torn down.
A local historian/scavenger bought all of the important pieces of the theatre’s facade. They were stored in a field until roughly 2001 when they were auctioned off to the general public.
The Music Hall Theatre seated 2282 people.