The Baker Orpheum Theatre

Coming Soon!

A Community Hub for Performing Arts and Home of Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre (EORT)

Fulfilling a Dream!

Acquisition

For years, Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre (EORT) and local musical groups have had to perform in school cafeterias and inadequate rented spaces in Baker City, a town of 9,800. But those days will soon draw to a close.

For much of his life, Baker City resident David Burris longed to restore the downtown Baker Orpheum Theatre to its former glory. "I went there as a little boy a lot. I spent a lot of time at the theater, and it was always my dream to bring it back," David says. Built in 1889, the Orpheum operated as a theater until competition from TV and drive-in movies brought closure in 1956.

Sixty years later, the historic building came up for sale, and David gave EORT the money to buy it. Early funding by Leo Adler Community Fund, OCF and The Ford Family Foundation provided a feasibility study, interior demolition and asbestos abatement; with other grants and local funds, the theater is ready for structural upgrades.

David set up a donor advised fund through OCF as the heart of his gift. "David wanted to ensure that once it's built, we can attract touring artists with national reputation," says Aletha Bonebrake, EORT board member and OCF Eastern Oregon Leadership Council member. "His donor advised fun will underwrite the cost of the artists to make tickets affordable for our community."

Baker Theatres and Performing Arts Narrative History

Rust's Opera House - Baker City Downtown

Baker City has, for the entirety of its existence, placed a premium on the performing arts, as entertainment, as culture, and as commerce. A small book published for the town’s centennial celebration in 1974 claimed that “Baker’s first settlers…were not just interested in ravishing the land for gold but planned and built a community based on the needs for cultural living.”[1]

[1] 100 Years of Baker City, 1874-1974 (Baker Printing and Lithography, 1974), p. 40.

Rust Hall and Pacific Brewery from 1898 Souvenir Edition

The earliest establishments for the arts in Baker City were certainly the creation of savvy businessmen, likely grown from the stages in saloons and bars and expanded and elevated to meet the demands of their increasingly settled clientele. The best-known and longest-lived of these was Rust’s Hall (alternatively known as Rust’s Opera House) a large wooden structure that stood on the east side of Main Street between Broadway and Washington in the space now occupied by the parking lot of the U.S. Bank. Rust’s Hall was connected to the Pacific Brewery next door and was owned and operated by the owner of the brewery, Henry Rust. Built in the early 1880s, it was an “elegant” building that, like many venues at the time, hosted high and low art seemingly indiscriminately.[1]From dancing girls to minstrel shows, from a local production of Snow Whiteto Goethe’s Faust, Rust’s was an establishment visited by players of all stripes and patronised by all strata of Baker society.[2]Indeed, the town took such pride in it that it was featured in the Souvenir Editions of the Morning Democrat until it burned down in 1898.[3]

[1] Ibid.

[2] Loy Winter Wisdom, Memories: Ninety Years of Baker City(Baker Printing and Lithography, 1976), p. 16. “Rust’s Opera House: One Mysterious Night”, Bedrock Democrat, 13 May 1895.

[3] For example, Souvenir Edition, Baker Morning Democrat, 20 May 1898, p. 14.

The demise of his Opera House may have been unfortunate for Mr Rust, but its destruction could be considered a boon for the town as a whole, for it left a vacuum in a town of growing commercial and cultural importance. Stories vary as to the beginnings of the Baker Opera House,[1]but there is no

doubt that it excelled all other venues for miles. A project of George L. Baker (later mayor of Portland) and the Heilig Theatre Co., it was intended to serve as an intermediary stop for entertainers travelling between Salt Lake City and Portland, where the Heilig Company also operated theatres. Because of these cosmopolitan connections, the Baker Opera House brought some of the greatest performers of the era to Eastern Oregon. The opening night act, for example was the great English Shakespearean actor Frederick Warde and his theatre troupe performing their signature Elizabethan comedy, “The Duke’s Jester”, with a cast that included a teenaged Douglas Fairbanks, later immortalised for his swashbuckling roles on the silver screen. [1]

[1] See chapter II of Eric L. Flom’s Silent Film Stars on the Stages of Seattle: A History of Performances by Hollywood Notables (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2009).

[1] Either a group of artistically-inclined citizens conceived of it and approached G.L. Baker, who then involved the Heilig Co. and encouraged local investment, or Baker approached the town because it was ideally located on the railway between SLC and Portland. In either case, its success was dependent upon the investment and belief of local businesspeople. The Heilner family were major investors, and a young Sanford Heilner even edited and published an amateur newsletter detailing goings-on at the Opera House for a few years in the 1900s. See Helen B. Rand, Gold, Jade, and Elegance(Baker, Ore.: Record Courier Printers, 1974), pp. 66-68.

Over its nearly 40-year history, the Baker Opera House, under its various names, hosted many other illustrious artists – the contralto Elsie Baker performed there, as did the Sousa Band, and in 1919, the Irish tenor Chauncey Olcott was in residence for one night only, performing his beloved musical “Macushla”.[1]But like Rust’s before it, the Opera House was hardly reserved for highbrow performance. Between the greats of the early twentieth-century stage, Baker audiences filled its 1200 seats to see a variety of vaudeville players, high school graduations, Fourth of July speeches, and religious revivals. The fraternal organisations used the Opera House stage for their ceremonies and to host guest speakers, and local music teachers would often hold recitals there to impose a sense of grandeur on the proceedings. When it became clear that moving pictures were the wave of the future, a screen was hung, a projectionist and a pianist hired, and machines installed on the back of every seat that would dispense a bar of chocolate upon insertion of a coin.[2]

[1] “Elsie Baker the Noted Contralto is Coming”, Baker Morning Democrat 27 September 1917. Rand, Gold, Jade, and Elegance, p. 66. “Chauncey Olcott Next Wednesday”, Baker Morning Democrat, 3 December 1919.

[2] Rand, Gold, Jade, and Elegance, p. 65.

[1] See chapter II of Eric L. Flom’s Silent Film Stars on the Stages of Seattle: A History of Performances by Hollywood Notables (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2009).

The first decades of the twentieth century were a time of cultural explosion in Baker City. Founded around the time the Opera House was built, the Alpha Club was responsible for the establishment of the public library and also promoted and funded the efforts of local musicians and thespians, including the Shakespeare Committee, which brought local amateurs together for an annual production.[1]Similarly, the McDowell Club was formed to promote local musical efforts, and was responsible for several musical productions yearly, including the occasional Gilbert and Sullivan.[2]The Baker Concert Band (also known as the White Swan Band) was very active, and performed

locally and regionally to great acclaim.[1]Lyceum shows were held regularly in the high school auditorium, and when the Chautauqua came to town every summer, the big tent erected on the old high school grounds on the corner of Broadway and 5th Streets was hardly large enough to hold the crowds that descended upon it.[2]Even the Armory, then located on the northeast corner of 4th and Broadway Streets, was frequently called into service for performances from local chorales to travelling dog circuses.

[1] See photo description 1981.1.1718 from Baker County Library Digital Archive (BCLDA), which references an untitled booklet as a source.

[2] Wisdom, Memories, p. 7. Also see Morning Democratadvertisements for 19 February 1918, 2 June 1918, and 1 February 1920

[1] 100 Years of Baker City, 1874-1974 (Baker Printing and Lithography, 1974), p. 40. For the first convocation of this committee, see “Shakespeare Committee will hold meeting this afternoon”, Baker Morning Democrat, 10 March 1916.

[2] Loy Winter Wisdom, Memories: Ninety Years of Baker City(Baker Printing and Lithography, 1976), p. 16.

Obviously, in a town of Baker’s size and activity, one theatre would hardly be enough to suit every citizen’s tastes, nor would it be large enough to seat them all. The Baker Opera House may have been the most illustrious, but it was not the only venue. In addition to the Opera House (which was renamed the Baker Theatre in the mid-1910s and the Clarick Theatre in the late 1920s), there were three other theatres downtown that achieved a degree of permanence in Baker City: the Empire, located on the east side of Main Street between Broadway and Washington; the Grand, located on the southeast corner of Court and Main Streets; and the Orpheum, on the west side of Main Street between Court and Valley. [1] It is difficult to establish exact dates for the openings of any of these; none of them appear to have been purpose-built as theatres, and in any case, the historical record varies when it comes to their construction dates. The building that housed the Empire may have been built in 1890, although photos dated to approximately that year cast doubt on this date. The quaint building that was once the Grand, although dwarfed by the larger structures that surround it, is likely the oldest of the three, dating to 1867. The Orpheum may date to 1889, although as a result of multiple expansions, renovations, and a catastrophic fire, the building that currently stands at 1821 Main St. bears little resemblance to the original structure.

[1] Other establishments came and went irregularly. In the early years of the twentieth century, those businesses that lacked stable financial backing saw a great deal of turnover, and newspaper advertisements indicate that theatres were no exception. The Columbia, the Savoy, and the Nichols Opera House seem to have been among those that did not survive more than a year or two.responsible for the establishment of the public library and also promoted and funded the efforts of local musicians and thespians, including the Shakespeare Committee, which brought local amateurs together for an annual production.[1]Similarly, the McDowell Club was formed to promote local musical efforts, and was responsible for several musical productions yearly, including the occasional Gilbert and Sullivan.[2]The Baker Concert Band (also known as the White Swan Band) was very active, and performed

[2] Loy Winter Wisdom, Memories: Ninety Years of Baker City(Baker Printing and Lithography, 1976), p. 16.

All three theatres began life as vaudeville stages; likely independently owned for their first years of life, the Orpheum, and likely the Grand and Empire as well, were acquired by the Heilig Theatre Company and thus added to the Orpheum Circuit. Based in San Francisco and ruled with an iron first by Morris Meyerfield, the “Rockefeller of Vaudeville”, the Orpheum Circuit contracted vaudeville players for a season and sent them on a predetermined tour of affiliated theatres on the West Coast.[1]Each season featured a few big-name performers, like Elsie Baker and Vernon and Irene Castle, supplemented by a host of lesser known acts: George Fawcett, the Mullaly Sisters, the

Rhythm Ramblers, and countless others whose reputations have been lost to history.[1] Although popular wisdom has it that motion pictures killed the vaudeville star, the truth is that vaudeville coexisted with the movies for quite some time before losing the battle. In fact, for a time, the Baker theatres advertised two kinds of attractions: “On the Stage” and “On the Screen”.[2]Often a live performance would be followed by a two- or three-reel comedy, or if the attraction were a musical one, the performers might provide the score for a film exclusively licensed to Orpheum theatres.[3]

The theatres were also a venue for the people of Baker City to engage with current events. In a time before television and in the fledgling days of radio, a newsreel offered an opportunity to put faces to names and get a look at the world beyond Eastern Oregon. But other current attractions were also available: the Empire and Baker Theatres frequently showed college football games the weekend after they were played – although everyone in the audience already knew the scores, seeing it on the screen offered an unparalleled immediacy.[4] The Saturday Evening Post produced a series of feature-length “Human Document Stories” on current political and cultural figures that were well-received in Baker City, and as examples of the educational and edifying uses to which film could be put, helped to justify the existence of the cinemas.[5]During election seasons, political debates were held on their stages, and the Baker Theatre was at least once adapted as a wrestling ring so that local audiences could watch the defending local champion, Ad Gustavo, grapple with a challenger from Salt Lake City.[6]

[1] Motion Picture News, 1 March 1930, p. 31.

[2] See http://www.oregonicons.com/paintyourwagon.htm. The creator of this website has solicited and curated accounts of the making of Paint Your Wagon and has a number of behind-the-scenes photos, videos, and memories.

[3] Jan Kirby, “History of the Organisation”, (Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2003).

[1] Wisdom, Memories, p. 18.

[2] “Theater History”, http://www.eltrym.com/content/Theater+History. Retrieved 14 January 2020.

[3] “Fire Destroys Orpheum Theatre; Loss $40,000”, Baker Democrat-Herald, 15 September 1943.

[4] As early as 1903, upon learning that an eastern newspaper was circulating reports that gold had been discovered “in the streets of Baker City”, the Morning Democrat quipped that “the time seems opportune to revive for the benefit of our eastern friends those pictures of the desperate west where we all carry six-shooters in our belts and bowie knives in our boots”.

[5] Robert J. White, Sagebrush Heritage: Early Memories of a Homesteader Kid (Baker Printing and Lithography, 1987), p. 69.

[1] For a more complete history of the Orpheum Circuit and vaudeville as a business in the early twentieth century, see Arthur Frank Wertheim, Vaudeville Wars: How the Keith-Albee and Orpheum Circuits Controlled the Big-Time and its Performers (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

[2] See examples from the Morning Democrat and Democrat Herald.

[3] Vaudeville troupes would sometimes travel with the reels to be shown with their performance so that the content of the film could be suited to that of the live show. These films, which were exclusive but generally had low production values, added value to the shows at little expense to the Orpheum Circuit.

[4] See, for example, “Tulane vs. U.S.C.”, Morning Democrat, 29 January 1932.

[5] Theatre advertisements, Morning Democrat, 1 January 1916.

[6] “Baker Theatre: One Night Only Big Wrestling Match”, Baker Morning Democrat, 20 November 1919.

[7] Shelley Stamp, Movie-Struck Girls: Women and Motion Picture Culture after the Nickelodeon (Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 109-110

[8] Wisdom, Memories, p. 18. See, for example, a Clarick Theatre ad in the Baker Democrat-Herald, 28 January 1932: “Tonight! Two Tons Red-Glow Coal Given Away by Schreeks Ice & Cold Storage Co.”

[1] Epes W. Sargent, “Origin of the Orpheum Circuit”, Variety115 no. 6 (24 July 1934): p. 49.

During their heyday as cinemas, the Baker Theatres, which changed hands multiple times but by the early 1930s were consolidated under the leadership of Frank and Myrtle Buckmiller (whose name lives on at the Eltrym) commanded the attention of Baker City audiences with a variety of attractions. Each theatre advertised multiple features each week, in addition to the ever-popular serials, The Perils of Pauline to Flash Gordon.[7] Prize nights and bank nights offered theatre-goers the chance to win prizes—anything from sets of china to loads of coal—or cash.[8]Local personalities were also a draw for audiences: at the Grand and the Orpheum, the house manager, Mr. Hager, would stand up on stage and sing between reels, and at the Empire, silent films were accompanied on the organ by Mr. Brush, a teacher and local favorite.[1] Like the rest of Baker City’s downtown, the theatres were continually plagued by fire, but were rebuilt again and again – their popularity certainly justified the trouble and expense. Both the Grand and Orpheum suffered several small fires between 1910 and 1930, but were quickly renovated and reopened. The destruction of the Clarick in November 1937 was the most complete and the best-documented of the theatre fires, and the whole town turned out to watch its prized Opera House come down. Although the Clarick was never rebuilt – perhaps the owners felt it could not be replicated – the Eltrym was built as a replacement and opened in June 1940 with the Oregon premier of the Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard film The Ghost Breakers.[2]The Orpheum caught fire a final time in 1943, and the entire interior was consumed by a late-night blaze that scorched neighbouring businesses but left its four exterior walls standing.[3]Because of the difficulty of acquiring building materials in wartime, the theatre was not rebuilt until 1948, when it was renamed the Baker Theatre. However, just as the arrival of motion pictures had hastened the demise of the vaudeville stage, television was about to strike a blow to the movies, and business at the new Baker Theatre failed to boom. After half a decade of declining attendance, it closed its doors in the mid-1950s and joined the Empire and the Grand in their new lives as ever-rotating series of retail shops and cafes. Interestingly, Baker City has occasionally been a destination for filmmakers, who came to “the last frontier” to film their mythic tales of the Old West. The newspapers joked about the persistence of that legend, which was long-dead by the time Hollywood was even thought of, but there is no doubt that a variety of sweeping landscapes in close proximity to abundant lodging, power, and facilities were an attractive package deal for producers seeking verisimilitude.[4]An early Art Mix B-picture western was filmed on the east edge of town in the 1920s, with the cameras taking care to avoid making the city dump and slaughter-yards a backdrop for daring stagecoach races and shoot-outs. A Baker City memoirist remembered that the film’s premier was held at the Clarick Theatre (formerly the Baker Opera House) to promote it.[5]Several years later, cameras returned to Baker County when Raoul Walsh used it as one of the locations for his 1930 epic of Manifest Destiny, The Big Trail, starring a young John Wayne in his first leading role.[1]In the late 1960s, Baker City, which was not quite as bustling then as it had been in the 1930s, received a jolt when Hollywood once again descended, this time bringing Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, Jean Seberg, and dozens of carpenters to create an alternate reality in the Eagle Caps for a summer.[2]