The Baker Stock Company was a theater group based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, United States, active from 1901 through 1923. The company was established by businessman George Luis Baker, who served as its manager from 1901 to 1915.

History

The Baker Stock Company was founded by businessman George Luis Baker in 1901. Its anchor theater, the Baker Theatre, opened in 1902. This location, later known as the Playhouse Theatre, among other names, became a vaudeville house and eventually a

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

; the Baker Stock Company anchor theatre relocated several times during its existence. Historian Gordon B. Dodds notes that the Baker Stock Company was "among the best in the nation" of its kind, and produced theatrical productions for several weeks of each year. Dodds further notes: Among the company's notable actors included local child performers

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and

Rhea Mitchell Rhea Ginger Mitchell (December 10, 1890 – September 16, 1957) was an American film actress and screenwriter who appeared in over 100 films, mainly during the silent era. A native of Portland, Oregon, Mitchell began her acting career in lo ...

;

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;

Herbert Heyes Herbert Harrison Heyes (August 3, 1889 – May 31, 1958) was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1915 and 1956, including the famed 1947 film '' Miracle on 34th Street'', in which he played an ahistorical "Mr. Gimbel ...

, and John Gilbert, who performed with the company as a guitarist. After the company's dissolution in 1923, it was announced by George Baker in the spring of 1926 that a merger was planned with the Forrest Taylor Stock Company, as well as the erecting of a new theater on Portland's west side for an estimated $400,000. With this new facility, the company planned to provide theatrical productions throughout the year. The merger, however, never came to fruition.

Notable players

References

{{authority control 1901 establishments in Oregon 20th century in Portland, Oregon Theatre companies in Oregon