This vintage ad, since it has the words "Remodelled, Redecorated, Refinished, Rejuvenated" and it advertises the Clemmer Theater, would likely have been a handbill produced by Universal Studios, after they purchased the theatre in 1925. In 1929, when they resold the theatre, it was renamed
The Audian.
Beginning in 1915 as the Clemmer Theater, it has, at various times, also been named The Audian, The State, The Met, and The Bing Crosby. At present the Bing Crosby Theater seats 744 people with an additional 12 wheelchair accessible seats. Constructed in the first wave of new theatres built to show moving pictures, this theatre was extant before several more famous theatres, such as Los Angeles' Million Dollar Theater (1918) and Grauman's Chinese Theater (1922). It was built by owner August Paulsen, a Swedish immigrant who struck it rich in Idaho's silver mines, and showman Howard S. Clemmer, operator, in the same year that D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" premièred.
Sold to Universal Studios in 1925, it was again sold in 1929 to a Spokane owner who renamed it
The Audian. It remained in business under that name until closing as a movie theatre in 1985. Purchased by the Metropolitan Mortgage Company, it was completely remodelled and reopened in 1988 as a theatre for live performances under the name of Metropolitan Theater of Performing Arts, or
The Met. The Metropolitan Mortgage Company went out of business in 2004, selling the theatre to another local businessman, Mitch Silver. In 2006 a citizens' group convinced the owner to change the name to the
Bing Crosby Theater to honour local singing legend
Bing Crosby.
In February of 2012, the theatre was
purchased by GVD Commercial Properties, Inc. Today the theatre offers both movies and live performances, including plays, ballet, stand-up comedy, musicals, concerts and documentaries. The building has been placed on the City of Spokane's Register of Historic Places and on the
National Register of Historic Places.