The Fox Theatre was a 4,651-seat

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

located at 1350

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The theater was designed by the noted theater

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Thomas W. Lamb Thomas White Lamb (May 5th, 1870 – February 26th, 1942) was a Scottish-born, American architect. He was one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century. Career Born in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, Thomas W. La ...

. Opened in 1929, the theater operated until 1963, when it was closed and demolished.

History

The Fox was built in 1929 by movie pioneer William Fox as a showcase for the films of the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film ...

along with elaborate stage shows. It was one of a group of five spectacular

Fox Theatres Fox Theatres was a large chain of movie theaters in the United States dating from the 1920s either built by Fox Film studio owner William Fox, or subsequently merged in 1929 by Fox with the West Coast Theatres chain, to form the Fox West Co ...

built by Fox in the late 1920s. The others were the Fox Theatres in Brooklyn,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. The Fox Theatre opened on June 28, 1929, with the premiere of ''

Behind That Curtain ''Behind That Curtain'' (1928) is the third novel in the Charlie Chan series of mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers. Plot summary It is set almost exclusively in California (as opposed to Chan's native Hawaii), and tells the story of the form ...

'', a

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

movie produced by William Fox, directed by

Irving Cummings Irving Caminsky (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American movie actor and director. Career Born in New York City, Cummings started his acting career at age 16 in ''Diplomacy''. His Broadway, performances included ''In the Long R ...

, and starring

Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...

and

Lois Moran Lois Moran (born Lois Darlington Dowling; March 1, 1909 – July 13, 1990) was an American film and stage actress.

. The theater was closed from October 20, 1932, to April 1, 1933, due to financial difficulties. On June 28, 1959, a 30th anniversary celebration took place with the screening of the

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

film ''

Say One for Me ''Say One For Me'' is a 1959 American comedy musical film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner. ''Say One for Me'' was listed in the 1978 book ''The Fifty Worst Films of All Time''. Stella Stev ...

'' with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

. On March 5, 1960, a series of organ concerts on Saturdays at midnight began, in an attempt to increase business and keep the theater open.

Closing and demolition

Declining attendance and revenue had been an issue for the Fox since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but had become more pronounced by the late 1950s, with the expansion of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in that decade. The question of the

City & County of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

buying the Fox and its land was put before the voters on November 7, 1961, as Proposition I. Requiring only a simple majority, the measure was overwhelmingly defeated with a NO vote of 59.2%. On February 16, 1963, the theater closed after the Farewell to the Fox benefit concert featuring Hollywood actors and theater performers such as

Jane Russell Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films. Russell moved from th ...

and Tiny James. Longtime Fox Theater performer Everett Forbes Nourse was the last organist to play at the theater during the concert. The concert was released in two parts on

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...

and later on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

. The theater was demolished in July 1963. Now located at the site is Fox Plaza at 1390 Market Street, a high-rise building with offices and apartments (no relation to the famous Fox Plaza in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

). The Fox Special Wurlitzer organ was salvaged from the theater and installed in the Frank J. Lanterman estate in

La Cañada Flintridge, California La Cañada Flintridge, commonly known as "La Cañada" (Spanish for "The Canyon"), is a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, California. Located in the Crescenta Valley, in the western edge of Southern Califor ...

. Upon Lanterman's passing, the large 4-manual 36-rank organ was bought by the Disney Company and installed in the restored

El Capitan Theatre El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as th ...

in Hollywood, California.

External links

Fox Theatre website by theatre historian

Fox Theatre at Cinema Treasures

References

{{Coord, 37.77681, -122.41761, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Cinemas and movie theaters in California Movie palaces Demolished theatres in California Former cinemas in the United States Demolished buildings and structures in San Francisco 20th century in San Francisco Market Street (San Francisco) Event venues established in 1929 Buildings and structures demolished in 1963 1929 establishments in California 1963 disestablishments in California Thomas W. Lamb buildings

History

Closing and demolition

See also

External links

References