Clemmer Theater 1925 - Spokane, WA
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T0SHEA
N 47° 39.428 W 117° 25.517
11T E 468066 N 5278280
Renamed for the fourth time in 1996, this theatre now bears the name of home town boy, Bing Crosby.
Waymark Code: WMJQHA
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 12/18/2013
Views: 2
These are three historically noteworthy advertisements. They advertised movies playing at the Clemmer Theater when Bing Crosby's singing career was just getting underway. The Clemmer Theater, in 1925, was Bing Crosby's first professional gig, singing and acting between movies, as a member of
The Clemmer Entertainers. Note the name
Crosby on each of the ads. From the Clemmer, he went to Hollywood, the rest being history.
The Clemmer Entertainers
The live stage shows listed in the movie ads below were an experiment to draw audiences to Spokane’s Clemmer Theatre. They took place through the summer of 1925 and were Bing Crosby’s first true professional entertainment experience. Bing and Al Rinker were two members of a revolving troupe of young singers who planned and performed the acts. This troupe chose the songs, designed the sets and faced a live audience three or four times a day -- so it was an intensive experience in entertainment. The live shows were based on the themes of the movie that was showing.
From Bing at The Clemmer
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.
