The Blue Mouse Theatre was named after a lounge in Paris, France. The opening night feature was The Green Goddess (1923). A headline in The Tacoma News Tribune called the theater the “Finest Suburban Theater in the Northwest.” A newspaper account of the opening night event stated that “every one of the 420 seats was occupied and a good sized overflow greeted the management.”

By 1925 the theater was owned by Sanstrom and Davis.

In 1932, the theater was purchased by Will Conner and renamed the Proctor Theatre. In 1972, Conner sold the theater, which was renamed the Bijou Theatre in 1980.

In 1993, a small group of preservationists reacted to a plan to ‘readapt’ the theater into office space, and joined together to purchase and restore the property. The group organized under the name The Blue Mouse Associates. Under layers of paint, wood veneer and glass tiles used to remodel the building exterior in the 1930s and 1940s was discovered the original Craftsman-style woodwork, stucco, brick pillars, globe light sconces, polished marble terrazzo, and original mahogany doors. A renovation of the interior revealed much of the theater’s original architecture — Craftsmen staircases, a chandelier surround, an ornate trellis around the proscenium arch, decorated capitals atop sidewall columns, and Tiffany-style glass exit signs.

References: FilmYearBook-1926 p. 590 : FilmDaily-19251109 p. 2 : with additional information provided by Jane Pulliam.