Lyric Theater

This is a vintage photo of the Lyric Theater.

For a history of downtown Birmingham, AL theatres, go to to birminghamrewound.com.

This past weekend I was at the beautifully restored Alabama Theatre in Birmingham for one of the summer classic movies and featuring the Mighty Wurlitzer. What a day! On a table in the lobby was a handout sheet about the Lyric Theatre which is just across the street but has been closed for some time. This is part of it.

RESTORING THE LYRIC
The Lyric Theatre is now owned by Birmingham Landmarks Inc. Landmarks owns and operates the Alabama Theatre complex. Landmarks' plans are to restore the Lyric Theatre to its former glory and operate the theatre as a performing arts house. The Lyric will seat approximately 1,200 patrons with an excellent view of the stage. In addition, the stage has wing space needed for plays, opera, and musical presentations.

Considering that the Lyric has not been used and has sat idle for many years, the theatre is structurally sound and maintains much of its original decor. The balcony rails, the proscenium and side decorations, fire curtain, and mural "Allegories Of Spring," painted by local artist and interior diesigner Harry H. Hawkins, give the viewer a hint of the Lyric's glory days.

The Lyric Theatre was advertised to open its doors on Jan. 12, 1914. Due to an injunction filed by the Orpheum Theatre (Third Ave. and Seventeenth St.) the Lyric opened Jan. 14, 1914. The dispute centered around the fact that both the Orpheum and Lyric Theatres had a vaudeville booking contract with B.F. Keith Shows. The Lyric would present B.F. Keith Big Time Vaudeville from 1914 until the opening of the Ritz Theatre in 1926. Some of the show business legends to perform on the Lyric stage were Sophie Tucker (during second week the threatre opened) Gus Edward's Kid Kabaret with George Jessel and Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, Buster Keaton with the Keaton Family acrobats, Milton Berle, and Mae West. In the fifties, both Roy Rogers and Gene Autry appeared live on stage at the Lyric.

Changes in ownership and the depression took their toll. From time to time, the Lyric showed lower grade movies and was not the best place to go to see a movie. In the late 50's the Lyric closed its doors. The lobby would be used for retail space and the theatre would be vacant. In 1972, a group of young businessmen reopened the theatre as the Grand Bijou Theatre showing classic movies. After the Grand Bijou closed, the Lyric ended its operation as the Foxy and later Roxy Adult Clnema, now closed.

A Kilgen theater organ opus 3459 size 2/4 was installed in the Lyric Theater in 1925.

This is another vintage view and here is a recent photo

Open House FREE!

Start Date: 6/7/2009 2:00:00 PM
Details
Tours will include the new Hill Arts Center Banquet Hall, the new Hill Center Meeting Room still under construction and tours of the Alabama and Lyric Theatres. Walk on the Lyric stage and walk back in history where the greats of Vaudeville walked.
You will hear music from the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ all afternoon played by members of the theatre organ staff. Our organ crew chief Larry Donaldson will be on hand to answer questions and let you peek into the secret organ chambers to see how it all works. Our Technical Director Jeff Kizziah will be in the projection booth to let you see how the picture gets on the screen. Volunteers will be stationed throughout the theatre to answer questions.

Refreshments will be in the Alabama Theatre and Hill Center. Holly Burrow of the Hill Center will be available to answer questions and provide literature about the new center.

** From the Alabama Theatre Calendar (5/19/09)

Here is a 2009 photo.

I've got a small article up on Bhamwiki about this theater: http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Lyric_Theatre

There are several views of the interior on Flickr as well. http://www.flickr.com/groups/magic_city/pool/tags/lyric/

The current estimate is that a full restoration will cost around $20 million. The major fund-raising push hasn't quite yet been launched, but time isn't the Lyric's friend. Individual donors will help generate support for bigger sponsorships, grants and other funding, so don't be shy about helping out - http://www.alabamatheatre.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

On July 18th, accompanied by two assistants, I had the opportunity extensively photograph the Lyric and Alabama Theater (across the street). The photos were taken to compare and contrast the condition of the two theaters and includes a number of wide angle, long exposure images that bring out the detail and vivid color on the inside of both grand old theaters. I'll post links here to the site the images will be uploaded to. Over 400 photos were taken between the two sites, including backstage, below the stage, storage and mechanical areas, balconies and more. It's taking a bit to sort out.

I was in Birmingham over the weekend, and was surprised to see how abandoned and unkept this section of the city seems to be. It will be hard to get investors to back the Lyric project until the city cleans the area up a bit! The Alabama across the street is beautiful though!

Records show a Kilgen pipe organ opus 3459 at the Lyric.