The Place:
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 seats that are wheelchair accessible. 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 honor 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. The building has been placed on the City of Spokane's Register of Historic Places and on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Theater
In the spirit of the movie palace movement, Paulsen spared no expense. Reviewing the theater at its opening, the Spokesman-Review commented "an atmosphere of richness is over everything.' The theater glowed with 1,600 lights. Murals on the walls were painted by Ivar Petersen, the muralist who had a year earlier painted murals is the Davenport Hotel. The acoustical shell over the stage, though built for function as a concentrator of the organ sounds, gave 'an elaborate architectural effect' and 'is the first of such design to be installed in any theater." (Indeed, 90 years later architectural historians surveying the building as a part of statewide survey of old theaters said they had never seen another one like it). A ventilation system continuously pumped stale air out and fresh air in. In the summer the air ran over cakes of ice to cool the building.
The pipe organ "an integral part of pre-talkie movie theaters" was installed by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago. It was a four-manual organ, 'the only one of the kind in a moving picture theater in the Pacific Northwest,' according to the Spokesman-Review article. With hundreds of individual tones issuing from 3,000 pipes filling a space that measured 18 by 40 feet, the newspaper article said, the organ could produce a sound as large as a 40-piece orchestra.
One of the first people to play this organ was Jesse Crawford, later to become the most renowned theater organist of the silent movie era. Crawford, a roaming piano player, "had never played organ before," says an article in the American Theater Organ Society journal, "but when he got a job playing for the Clemmer Theater. . . . which had both piano and seven-rank Estey organ, the die was cast." Crawford was later a feature performer at the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles and the Paramount in New York City.
From the Bing Crosby Theater
The Person
Born Harry Lillis Crosby on May 3, 1903, "Bing" grew up to become one of America's most popular entertainers of all time. In 1931, Crosby launched his hugely popular radio show. He soon started starring in films, winning an Academy Award for Going My Way in 1944. Throughout much of his career, Crosby dominated the music charts with nearly 300 hit singles to his credit. He died in 1977.
Crosby spent his early years in Tacoma, Washington, before moving to Spokane when he was 6 years old. With the move to Spokane came the purchase of a revolutionary device—the phonograph. Crosby loved playing music on the phonograph, especially the work of Al Jolson. Crosby earned his famous nickname around the age of 7; "Bing" comes from a comic strip he adored, "The Bingville Bugle."
Below 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 building has been placed on the City of Spokane's Register of Historic Places and on the
National Register of Historic Places.