The Egyptian Theatre is a historic

movie theatre A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

Coos Bay, Oregon Coos Bay () is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. It shares Coos Bay with the adjacent city of North Bend, Oregon, North Bend. Together, they are often referred to as ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

The Egyptian was built by Charles Noble, a descendant of one of the area's first settlers, in 1922. He spent $200,000 to convert the garage into the theater in 1925. The building was designed by

Lee Arden Thomas Lee Arden Thomas (1886–1953) was an architect in Bend, Oregon, Bend and Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States. He graduated in 1907 from Oregon State University.George P. Edmonston JrUp Close and Personal: Campus TourOregon State Un ...

and Albert Mercier and includes piers decorated with

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

blossoms,

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

ceiling lights in the form of hooded

cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

s, and stairways with

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

statues. The main theatre seats 770 and is an example of the

Egyptian Theatre Egyptian-style theatres are based on the traditional and historic design elements of Ancient Egypt. The first Egyptian Theatre to be constructed in the US – which inspired many of the identically-named theatres that followed it – was Graum ...

style of

Egyptian Revival architecture Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's French campaign in Egypt and Syria, invasion of ...

that was popular in the early 20th century in the U.S., especially following the 1922 discovery of the tomb of

King Tut Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

. The theatre also has all of its original

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

backdrops. The theatre originally had one screen but the balcony was converted to house two screens in 1976, increasing the seating capacity to 1,000. In 2000, the Egyptian housed the only

theatre organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements of ...

still in its original theatre in Oregon, a 4/18 Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. In 2010, it was one of four remaining theatres in the Egyptian Revival style in the United States and began inviting the community to use the facility for meetings, concerts, plays, and other events. The building was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 24, 2010. With unfunded $3 million renovations needed, the theatre was one of ten entries on the

Historic Preservation League of Oregon History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

's Most Endangered Places in Oregon list in 2011.

References

External links

The Egyptian Theatre
at cinematreasures.com

from exithere.net
Color photo of The Egyptian
by John Varley's wife Lee (several interior shots on their website as well) {{National Register of Historic Places Egyptian-style theaters Coos Bay, Oregon Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Egyptian Revival architecture in the United States Buildings and structures in Coos County, Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Coos County, Oregon 1925 establishments in Oregon Oregon's Most Endangered Places

History

See also

References

External links