The Beacham Theatre is a cinema built in 1921 by Braxton Beacham Sr. in the city of Orlando, Florida. The current address of the theater is 46 North Orange Avenue, and it is located at the southwest corner of Orange Avenue and Washington Street. The building's current lack of impressive architecture is offset by its significant cultural history. The Beacham Theatre was considered an important contributing structure when the Downtown Orlando historic district was created in 1980 and the building was granted local landmark status in 1987."The Beacham Theatre," City of Orlando, Historic Preservation Board
The Beacham was once part of the vaudeville circuit and hosted celebrity acts such as John Philip Sousa, the Ziegfeld Follies and W.C. Fields, whose signature was once visible inside a dressing room. In the eras of silent film and Classical Hollywood cinema, the Beacham was operated as a movie theater that used then-current state-of-the-art motion picture technology.
The Beacham, as it is currently named, has since been used as a series of concert venues and nightclubs thus saving it from demolition. The Beacham Theatre was once home to the internationally recognized late-night underground discotheque Aahz, a notable early component of the US electronic dance music movement in the early 1990s.
History
Construction
The Beacham Theatre was constructed in 1921 by Braxton Beacham Sr., who had previously owned three other Orlando theaters and had served as Mayor of Orlando during 1907. In 1917 Beacham paid approximately $17,500–$20,000 for the property one block southwest of his stately residence on Jefferson Street after Orlando's citizens voted to pave the road to the cemetery instead of purchasing the old jail. The property he purchased had formerly served as the jail for Orange County since about 1873. With a $200,000 investment, the former jail building was torn down in 1919 and Beacham developed a series of connected building units along the west side of Orange Avenue between Washington Street and Oak Street (now Wall Street). The new building was then known as "Beacham's Block" and is now known as the Beacham Building. The location of Beacham's theater was precisely where several condemned prisoners were executed by hanging. According to local folklore, the Beacham Building is reportedly haunted.
The Beacham Theatre was constructed to have excellent acoustics. The Beacham's auditorium features "square columns adorned with feathered capitals that climb gracefully to a high ceiling decorated with rectangles of intricate plasterwork." When constructed, the theater was outfitted with draperies that covered the plaster walls. The draperies had "mild tan figures delicately woven into the broad white field with an occasional soft blue figure" that were selected by Mrs. Roberta Holland Beacham, wife of Braxton Beacham Sr.
Beacham outfitted his theater with innovative state-of-the art equipment from the Southern Theater Equipment Company of Atlanta. The Beacham's box office in the lobby featured both an automatic admission ticket vending machine dispenser and ticket chopping machine. A decorative marquee that was unique in Florida extended toward the street and featured an electric changeable sign that flashed the daily program. Two Powers 6B type "E" projectors were supplied by the N Power company of New York. The Midas Gold film screen was made especially for the Beacham. A medium-sized pipe organ from the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut, was purchased and installed at a cost of $15,000. The organ, Opus 1034 with 3 manuals in a center console, 24 ranks of pipes and 24 stopsAustin Organs Database, retrieved October 14, 2016. was played by both Mr. Herman Stuart and Mrs. Roberta Branch Beacham, wife of Braxton Beacham Jr. to accompany silent films and vaudeville acts. Typhoon cooling and ventilating equipment was installed in the theater. The Beacham Building's construction featured numerous fireproofing and fire safety measures. When the theater opened, the auditorium had an operating capacity of 1400.
Tunnels from the theater stage trap ran into the basements of two nearby hotels. The tunnels had low ceilings and were sealed during new construction in the early 1980s. The tunnels extended south into the San Juan Hotel, where Mr. Beacham happened to have had an office, and then east under Orange Avenue into the Angebilt Hotel. Historians reason that the purpose of the tunnels may have been either for vaudeville performers to enter the theater from their hotels without being mobbed by crowds, or the tunnels could have been used for the storage and transportation of alcoholic beverages during prohibition as has been discovered at some of the other theaters in the Central Florida area.
Vaudeville and Silent film era
On December 9, 1921, Orlando's premier vaudeville and movie house opened by showing The Wonderful Thing, starring Norma Talmadge, a Pathé News newsreel, and Buster Keaton's The Boat.Act Two: A Beacham History. 1985. Celebrity Dinner Theater. The Beacham Theatre was originally the only independent theater in Orlando. However, the next year, in 1922, Beacham leased his theater to Mack Sparks of the Sparks Theater Company chain.
The senior Braxton Beacham died in 1924 after a long illness, and Roberta Holland Beacham died soon after in 1926. Their estate and real property were left to their children, Norma K. Hughes, Roberta Augusta Rogers, Braxton Beacham Jr., and his wife Roberta Branch Beacham.
Florida and Orlando were on what was referred to by vaudeville performers as "The Straw Hat Circuit." The Beacham Theatre was included on the Alexander Pantages, Orpheum, and Keith-Albee vaudeville performance circuits (later combined as the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit).
Manager Harry Vincent started several promotions at the Beacham Theatre in the summer months of the mid-1920s that included Bank Night, Amateur Night, and Country Store Night, which was supported by dozens of local merchants. An advertisement for the Beacham in 1925 says, "Don't talk about the hot weather. Beat the heat in a Beacham seat. 'Kum Keep Kumfy Kool at the Beacham' is known to many and you won't enjoy yourself until you too get into the line that leads to comfort."What's What, Here and There as Recorded by "Bobby" (1925) magazine. Theatrical section via LMS, Orange County Public Library. Orlando.
Frank Bell served as manager of the theater with organist Herman Siewart and Ken Guernsey leading the community sing-along at open forum meetings that were held for several months during the winter on Sunday afternoons.
The Beacham's "exploitation director" Frank H. Burns often designed and created large elaborate standing displays that decorated the facade and lobby of the theater to advertise new film features. The iconic displays that Burns created for the Beacham Theatre were sometimes complete with coordinated costumes for the employees.
In 1928 Vitaphone and Movietone "talkie" equipment debuted during the city's first "Progress Week" during the last week of August. "The queen of the vamps," actress Theda Bara, was in appearance at the Beacham as students from Orlando High School sneaked into the balcony via the fire escape. Sound was provided by two gramophone discs that accompanied each film. Both phonographs were played simultaneously in case the needle skipped during a film. Output could be easily switched so that the film's sound could remain in synchronicity with the picture. William Booth succeeded Frank Bell as manager of the Beacham after Bell was transferred in 1928.
The city's "Sunday closing law" was repealed by voters in 1929 by a majority of only 59 votes. Movie theaters and other businesses in Orlando were then permitted to operate seven days a week. All of Orlando's theaters, including the Beacham, celebrated by showing free films until late into the night.
End of the vaudeville and silent film era
Interest in silent films began to diminish in 1929 and they were gradually phased out and moved into obsolescence. On Thursday evenings at the Beacham for the Bank Night promotion, $200 was raffled with prizes of $50. On Saturday, December 24, 1931, and on Wednesday, September 28, 1932, a brand new $325 Austin 7 Sport Roadster was given away. Vaudeville acts continued touring at the Beacham for several more years until approximately 1933. Homer Fuller served as manager of the Beacham during the end of the eras of silent films and vaudeville.
In 1933 following a bitter lawsuit against Orlando Enterprises over nonpayment of the lease for the building that had been originally negotiated with the senior Braxton Beacham in 1924, the theater was closed for almost three weeks. $8000 in back taxes on Beacham's building was due. Beacham Jr. claimed the closure was deliberate and malicious and sued for $100,000. Two separate judgments were entered against Orlando Enterprises Inc. for $2291.67 each and a payment agreement was reached. Litigation was then withdrawn.
As a result of the suit the lease was not renewed and Beacham's theater again became Orlando's only independent cinema.Beacham Movie Line Up in September 1933 (April 18, 2013), retrieved February 9, 2017 In the same year, the theater was soon leased Florida State Theaters. Harry Vincent was named manager of the reopened theater in 1933; however, soon after, Vernon D. Hunter became the theater's manager and remained in that role for the next two decades.
First-Run Movie era
In August 1937 the Orlando Police Department raided the Beacham Theatre. All of the equipment for the Bank Night marketing promotion was seized after authorities declared it to be a lottery.
The Yearling was filmed locally in 1946 and the Beacham's projectionist Byram McGee served as an electrician and steward on the film production. Mcgee's wife Lois acted in the role of Ma Forrester and was also the production's wardrobe supervisor. Numerous other local technicians were involved with making the film.
The Orlando Story, filmed by Don Parrisher Motion Picture Productions of New York, contained images of daily life in Orlando. The movie was heavily promoted locally and was shown at the Beacham over three days in August 1949.
In December 1949 The Tom Thumb Follies staged radio broadcast performances at the Beacham. When a Santa Claus from the Elks Lodge lifted one young elf into the audience for the last verse, the smell of bourbon whiskey caused her to ponder, "I wasn't just sure where the night's polka would land us. Maybe Oz?"
After an extensive remodel, CinemaScope equipment was introduced at the "New" Beacham Theatre in 1954 with the addition of stereophonic sound, new projection lenses, and a wider screen. CinemaScope had its debut at the Beacham on January 7, 1954, for a two-week showing of the film The Robe. Vernon D. Hunter retired after 20 years as manager of the Beacham Theater. Walter Colby became the executive director of several Orlando theaters including the Beacham.
Braxton Beacham Jr., died in 1961.