Eltrym Historic Theater

The Eltrym Historic Theatre is no longer in danger of being closed. An agreement was reached to install sprinklers! This wonderful theatre will continue to operate and be the jewel of our Baker City community.

I am in Baker City today presenting a live Murder Mystery at the Geiser Grand Hotel. Naturally I walked over to this historic theatre and, lo and behold a nice man on a ladder was changing the marquee. He is the new manager and is relocating here in the magnificent high desert city. Talk about a dream job! I introduced myself and he let me look inside. The lobby still has vestiages of its 1940s past but the rest of the theatre had been modified to make a comfortable three screen venue. It is good to tour old theatres and I encourage all CT members to visit old theatres and report their findings here.

Originally opened as the Eltrym Theatre with 585 seats.

The theater owner is still in a dispute with the city about installing a full sprinkler system in this theater. Check out this newspaper story:
http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=3636

The name spelled backwards is Myrtle. Perhaps the original owner came from Brooklyn or Queens, NY.

The Eltrym was built in 1940 (not 1943) by Mr. Buckmiller (or Buckmaster) and named after his wife, Myrtle. It replaced the old Clarick Theater (formerly the Baker Opera House) which burned to the ground in November, 1937. Upon its completion, Baker once again had three movie houses--the Eltrym, the Orpheum, and the Empire. The Orpheum was gutted by fire in September, 1943, and remained a burned out shell during the war years. It was rebuilt as the Baker Theater in 1948, and opened in December of that year. The first movie shown in it was "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid."

Here is the latest on the closure, hot off the presses (or at least lukewarm):
http://tinyurl.com/zdvot

This is from August 11:
http://tinyurl.com/m9yzy

The Eltrym theater is set to re-open on May 4th, 2007. An agreement was reached to install fire-resistant doors (instead of sprinklers).

Here is a 2008 photo.

Perhaps function should be first-run movies as opposed to movies, no description.

Your right, it should be first run movies.

This is another photo of the Eltrym Theater. This theater really stands out.

Style should be Pepto-Bismol.

Would that be Pepto-Bismol Revival? I'm still waiting for the function to be changed to first run movies before this becomes a second run theater. :)

Another 2008 photo is here.

1981 Photo

1987 Photo

Here is a 1953 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cgm5mz

It's amazing how these photos just happen to land in your Photobucket account. They must be magnetic.

1992 photo of the Eltrym Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c37%2c3%2c-1&catpagesize=25&ProductID=29556

The Eltrym Theater opened on June 27th, 1940 and had 700 seats. The first film shown was "Ghost Breakers" starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. The theater was built by Frank Buckmiller and Freeman Geddes and was named in honor of Frank's wife, Myrtle, who passed away before the theater was finished. The architect was Day Walter Hillborn from Vancouver, WA.

This is a 2009 photo.

Here is another photo probably from 2005.