Beaver Theatre

Joe Vogel on May 22, 2009 at 1:55 am

In 1945, the Ritz was bought by Robert J. Mattecheck and Harold Gunness. The new owners planned to remodel the house, according to the December 15, 1945, issue of Boxoffice.

Then the December 10, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that R.J. Mattecheck and Harold Gunness were selling the Beaver Theatre at Beaverton to Harold Fix.

I can’t find any mentions of a Ritz Theatre in Beaverton later then 1945, nor any mentions of a Beaver Theatre in Beaverton before 1949, so the most likely explanation is that Mattecheck and Gunness changed the name from Ritz to Beaver when they remodeled.

There are a few more items mentioning the Beaver in the 1950s, and then nothing for a long time. As early as 1953, the owner was named as J.J. Taggart.

Finally, the September 16, 1968, issue of Boxoffice says that Jay and Joy Taggart had reopened the former Beaver Theatre as an art house called the Film Fair. This is the only mention of the Film Fair I’ve found, so I don’t know of it was successful or not. In any case, if the Ritz and the Beaver were the same house, and there were no later name changes, Film Fair was the last name for the theater.

The last article I mentioned contains these entertaining lines, by the way: “In remodeling the Beaver Theatre here, he decided on an ‘adults only’ policy because of the difficulty in operation. With a general picture policy the small Beaver had become a ‘baby sitting’ operation.” (cue Butthead laugh: huhhuhhuh huhhuhhuh.)

KenLayton on September 23, 2011 at 5:48 pm

Here is a link to a picture of the Ritz/Beaver theater:

http://www.historicphotoarchive.net/scripts/ImageFolio43/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Click_Here_to_view_Photographs&image=0001-C16.ifz&img=0&search=theater&cat=all&tt=ifz&bool=and

chspringer on September 18, 2012 at 8:06 pm

retrorussell, This site generally will list theaters by the last name the operated under. The Portland Paramount can be found under Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and the Beaverton Drive-in is probably listed as the Canyon Drive in. That said, this listing for the Beaver should really be listed as the Film Fair.

chspringer on September 19, 2012 at 2:05 pm

The theater on Barbur operated for only a few years. It was built on the hill side, so when you entered you were at balcony level and had to go down stairs to the main level. Unfortunately the way the building was built it did not meet fire codes for the exits and eventually the fire department made them shut down. The building was demolished shortly thereafter. I don’t remember the exact name of the theater.

javert on March 12, 2013 at 9:14 pm

Retrorussell is correct, the Beaverton drive in and canyon drive in sometimes are confused for one another because they were both in the same city. Canyon had 1 screen, Beaverton had 4, both in Beaverton.