| Coliseum Theatre |
Photograph: Silent Era image collection. |
| Address |
500 Pike Street |
| Opening Night Seating Capacity |
2200 |
| Original Theater Owner |
Greater Theatres Company |
| Original Theater Architect |
B. Marcus Priteca |
| Years of Operation |
1916-1990 |
| Type of Musical Accompaniment |
Eight-piece orchestra and Moller theatre pipe organ (1915-1918)
Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ (1918-1950?) |
| Current Status |
Converted to retail store |
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The Coliseum Theatre was a first-run house. The opening night dedication on 8 January 1916, was presided over by actress Anita King. The opening night feature film was The Cheat (1915). The Coliseum originally had a Moller concert pipe organ installed. In June 1918, a Wurlitzer theater pipe organ replaced the Moller. Seattle organist Warren Wright performed at the Coliseum. By circa October 1929, the theater had been sold to William Fox.
Showing 1-5 December 1929, The Viking (1928), with Barbers’ College (1929) and a Fox Movietone newsreel; 6 December 1929, A Song of Kentucky (1929).
The Coliseum was still in operation until the early 1980s, although in serious internal disrepair under the ownership of a Portland, Oregon, theater chain. Remnants of the Coliseum’s former glory are still be to seen by the historically-sensitive eye in the theater’s current incarnation in downtown Seattle, a Banana Republic retail store.
References: FilmYearBook-1926 p. 590 : Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1 December 1929, p. 6E; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6 December 1929, p. 12; Variety-19291106 p. 10 : Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society website.
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