Tiz-It Theatre

The Princess Theatre opened its doors on October 9, 1909 with the films “The Freebooters” and “Pippa Passes” plus a musical performance by Ms. Ethel Wenlock of Toronto singing “Hello! Angel Faces”. It originally housed 250 seats, although it was originally planned to be built with 800 seats.

After closing in January 1915 for a month, the Princess Theatre reopened as the Tiz-It Theatre on February 20, 1915. This weird and wacky name of a theater that operator Herbert Clayton had formulated a strategy calculated to generate interest. Over the previous weeks the manager had combined with the Examiner in a contest to give the theatre a new name. “Get on your thinking cap, Send in your name!” suggested the paper. The lucky winner would get five dollars.

Out of some 500 names said to have been pulled in from such places as Welland and Hamilton, and as far away as New York City, a committee led by Clayton selected the winner: Ms. Sadie Thompson of 649 George Street, and her suggestion, “Tiz-It.” She might well have been inspired by an advertisement that was appearing regularly in those same months for a foot-care product called “Tiz.” In any case, she could collect her prize by dropping into the new theatre.

After a one-week policy change featuring films from the “Blue-Bird” (Bluebird Photo Plays Inc.) company, based in New York and associated with the larger Universal corporation, the Tiz-It Theatre closed on May 26, 1917, and the former theatre was turned into a cafe called the Paris Cafe, which operated for many decades.

Real Thai Cuisine now occupies the former theater/cafe.

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