Orpheum Circuit, Inc.

Orpheum Circuit, Inc. was a company started by Martin Beck who owned a series of vaudeville theatres and motion picture theatres.

Orpheum Circuit, Inc. was incorporated on December 22, 1919, under the laws of the State of Delaware with a perpetual charter. It was organized to carry on the theatrical and amusement business, and in accordance with the terms of its charter would provide all types of public entertainment and be authorized to operate and maintain amusement enterprises of all kinds. It was organized as a holding company to acquire, and did acquire, by the issue of 549,170 shares of its common stock and 58,800 shares of its preferred stock in exchange all or substantially all of the capital stock of 45 vaudeville theatres located in 36 cities throughout the United States and Canada and a large interest in two vaudeville circuits now operated by the Orpheum Circuit Inc. The company also owned 6,004 shares (par $100) of the 13,890 shares outstanding of B.F. Keith New York Theatres Company.

In 1928 the company merged with the chain of theatres owned by Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee II to form Keith-Albee-Orpheum. In a few months this organization became the major motion picture studio Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO).

The oldest remaining theater of the Orpheum Circuit is the Palace Theater in downtown Los Angeles. [Caption for photo of Palace Theater in "Vintage Movie Palaces" slideshow, The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2008 from http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-et-theaters22jul22-pg,1,2983973.photogallery?index=17] The Palace, built in 1911, is one of the theaters in Los Angeles' historic Broadway Theater District. [Ibid.]

Theatres still operating

* The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia
* The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California
* The Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska
* The Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California
* The Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee
* The Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana
* The Orpheum Theatre in Portland, Oregon
* The Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, Arizona
* The Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, Arizona
*The Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Orpheum Theatre is an Off-Broadway theatre located in New York City's East Village.

Management

*Martin Beck, Chairman
*Marcus Heiman, President
*J.M. Finn, M. H. Singer and Mrs. C.L. Kohl, Vice-Presidents
*B.B. Kahane, Secretary and Treasurer

References