Pantages Theater

708 Hennepin Avenue,
Minneapolis, MN 55403

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Showing 1 - 25 of 28 comments

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on May 22, 2020 at 7:53 am

I know doctor doolittle was remade many times but not sound of music which has been remade as a live version.

bufffilmbuff
bufffilmbuff on May 21, 2020 at 10:18 pm

Bill Huelbig’s is correct about the preview of DOCTOR DOOLITTLE as mentioned in THE STUDIO. Fox had done a similar preview for SOUND OF MUSIC at this theater and regarded it as good luck to preview there. Obviously DOCTOR DOOLITTLE was no SOUND OF MUSIC. But did it also roadshow at the Pantages?

Coate
Coate on June 26, 2017 at 1:17 pm

New Showcase Presentations in Minneapolis article includes mention of the numerous 70mm (and roadshow) engagements here at the Mann and other Twin Cities area cinemas.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 15, 2017 at 11:34 am

Also a grand opening ad as Pantages from October 29th, 1916 in the photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 15, 2017 at 11:29 am

Also another grand opening ad in the photo section for the Pan

rivest266
rivest266 on January 15, 2017 at 11:29 am

Opening as Pan Theatre

Found on Newspapers.com

rivest266
rivest266 on January 15, 2017 at 9:54 am

Ted Mann article

Found on Newspapers.com

and

Found on Newspapers.com

rivest266
rivest266 on January 15, 2017 at 9:47 am

Grand opening ad in the photo section.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 24, 2015 at 6:24 pm

1987-88 photo added © James Orndorf.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 20, 2015 at 9:55 pm

Great 1977 photo added courtesy of William Burleson.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 20, 2015 at 9:20 pm

Winter `68 partial marquee photo added. Photo credit Denny Schwartz, courtesy of Gary Schwartz.

Coate
Coate on March 24, 2015 at 12:37 pm

It was 50 years ago today that “The Sound of Music” premiered at the Mann. With a reserved-seat run of 95 weeks, it’s almost certainly the long-run record holder for this venue. (Anyone know of something that ran longer?)

Also, on a related note, I would like to mention my new 50th anniversary retrospective for “The Sound of Music” can be read here. It includes a film historian Q&A and a list of the film’s roadshow engagements. I hope fans of the movie and/or theater buffs enjoy the article.

Redwards1
Redwards1 on September 21, 2014 at 2:48 pm

Like it or not, the huge silver & lavender tiered curtain Ted Mann installed over the proscenium opening was one of the most spectacular ever created, with color intensity increasing gradually from the pale center to its left & right edges. He followed Boston’s Ben Sack playbook, remodeling old downtown theatres into first-run 70mm roadshows.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on April 1, 2010 at 1:17 pm

There is a picture of the theater as the RKO-PAN here: View link
The theater’s official gallery page has many pictures of the theater over the years; it is here: View link

zimmee66
zimmee66 on January 15, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Back in the 80’s I had friends who lived in this building, quite illegally. It was by then a half abandoned third-rate office building.

My friends had to pretend that they were “artists” with “studios” (they were, actually)—but slept there too. The problem was, there were no showers, and only a regular office type bathroom down the hall.

The mann company screening room was still intact, but Mann were simply waiting for the city to buy them out. and didn’t care a whit what happened to any of it.

JohnFaust
JohnFaust on August 2, 2007 at 3:27 pm

Mr. Besse is absolutely correct. Thank heavens for all the theatre owners in so many US cities that “modernized” these theatres in the 50s and 60s so they could be fully restored — and truly upgraded — for our current appreciation and use. Think of the Cutler Majestic (Emerson College) in Boston, for example!

KJB2012
KJB2012 on August 2, 2007 at 3:06 pm

I must come to the defence of Ted Mann. It’s true Mann had no interest in restoring his cinemas back to the world of the 1920s. But one needs to remember the times. The 1950s and 60s were an age when anything old and classy was targeted to be razed.
No where was this more true than in the movie house business. Mann took over the Shubert in 1957 (it was called the Alvin in those days). He renamed it the Academy and equipped it for Todd-AO. Yes he ripped out the old 1910 boxes and all.
He did the same with the Pantages in 1961 (then called the RKO Pan).
But the bottom line was that Mann kept the theatres of downtown Minneapolis alive during a decade when the wrecking ball was just around the corner.
From what I read, there was NO INTEREST in Minneapolis in restoring any buildings in the 1950s and 60s.
Had Mann not done the remodels et al, I expect that the Shubert, Pantages, and Orpheum theatres would have been razed by the end of the 1960s. I haven’t read about any other Minneapolis theatre owners much interested in the downtown scene.
So even though Mann didn’t plan it this way, Minneapolis today has the Orpheum, State, Pantages and Shubert because he kept downtown alive long enough for the houses to survive into the age of restoration.
So I think we should give Ted Mann credit for that.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on January 11, 2007 at 3:51 am

John Gregory Dunne’s book about 20th Century Fox in the mid-1960’s, “The Studio”, features a long and hilarious account of the first preview of the 1967 “Doctor Dolittle” at this theater. The Fox executives came to realize they had a real stinker on their hands, but so much money had been spent on the picture that no one was about to (or allowed to) admit that.

Life's Too Short
Life's Too Short on January 10, 2007 at 7:14 pm

I have a feeling that I might get run out of here for saying so, but I think the 1957 lobby is pretty cool. I’m sure the original was as well. But this is not a bad redesign.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 4, 2006 at 7:43 pm

Starring the immortal Tempest Storm as Herself. I miss Russ Meyer. I saw Attack of the Supervixens when I was 12, sitting on the railroad tracks behind my local drive-in (See Absecon Drive-In on this site). It was an educational experience.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on July 17, 2005 at 1:31 am

The local Minneapolis architectural firm Kees @ Colburn were responsible for the design of the Pantages Theatre when it first opened in 1916. The style was described as French Renaissance and it had a seating capacity of 1,600.

In 1922 architect B. Marcus Priteca re-designed the theatre and added a large glass dome to the centre of the ceiling in the auditorium. This interior was ‘modernised’ in 1946 when the theatre became the RKO Pan.

budyboy
budyboy on July 16, 2005 at 12:52 pm

There is a pix of the downtown Mann in the book Show Houses: Twin Cities Style by Kirk J. Besse. ISBN 1-883141-02-8. I just bought a second hand copy off Amazon.

The photo is on page 118. It shows Ted Mann in front of the theater where The Sound Of Music is showing in its second year.

JohnFaust
JohnFaust on June 4, 2005 at 3:22 pm

Here are some wonderful shots of the newly restored Pantages.
View link
Does anyone have any pix of this theatre when it was the MANN
and where Sound of Music ran for years?

It’s hard to believe it’s the same space

Sean Ryan
Sean Ryan on February 19, 2004 at 11:44 am

1920s pic-
View link This shows the recently replicated vertical. The beaux arts glass and iron marquee was not replicated, rather they opted for a modern one.

A later marquee-
View link

The horrible lobby redesigned by Jack Liebenberg. All of that aluminum in shades of blue and gold-
View link

1957- You can see the whole scope of the Stimson bldg. It does look very odd because it lacks its intended upper floors-
View link