Ambassador Theatre
411 N. Seventh Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
411 N. Seventh Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 59 comments found
KenRoe: Thanks for this information!
According to the Theatre Historical Society of America, the organ remained in the theatre until the 1970’s, although it was not in a playable condition. It was removed by motor magnet Fred Pillsbury and placed into storage, where it deteriorated even further. After passing through several more hands, in 2006 it was in the possession of organman Ken Crome in Reno, Nevada, in poor condition, but complete.
Jeb: Thanks for your theatre passion regarding this theatre at such a young age. If only it could have been saved…it should have been!
And what happened to the organ that is mentioned in its history??
And after clicking on the large b/w photo posted I saw more photos of this absolutely beautiful theatre! Why wasn’t it saved and dare I ask….what is on that former theatre site now?
“was constructed to with-stand earthquakes and the demolition took longer than anticipated.” Glad the ole gal made the demolition of her as hard as she could!
hello, my name is jim, I want to tell you my ambassador story. first, my spelling is off, I appologize, 1970’s catholic school phonics. whatever. in 1982 i became fascinated in the ambassador at the age of 12. I dont know why. We would visit family in the city and pass through downtown and hear story’s of that building or this building. the ambassador caught me. I couldn’t get enough of my folks personel recounts of the place, in a book store i bought a copy of mary bagleys book “the front row, missouri’s grand movie palecs. I got her info and contacted her and asked if she would be interested in forming a non- profit group to save the ambassador. I was 13 years old. what the heck did i know about historic preservation, or fund raising? NOTHING. but i was passionate about the place for GOD knows why and I couldn’t be more proud pf all the pubplicity that we got the ‘ole girl, befoe she went down. I was at city hall for the hearings, i was at the clearense auction, I have a hundred pictures that I want to scan and make a web sight to dedicate to the place to make my memories public.
Described in this 1926 trade article: Boxoffice
We might as well ignore the fact that Stanley Warner’s five-year sublease of Ambassador ended in February 1959. Besides, what other Cinerama films were in the can after “South Seas Adventure”? The theatre was hardly abandoned and reopened in August with a subrun of “South Pacific.”
As for the Lindell Blvd. Cinerama house, it was not even announced until May 1962 that it was to be erected.
“In 1960, the Cinerama, the first major theater built since the Fox Theatre in 1928, went up at 4218 Lindell…”
That theater opened in 1963, not 1960.
The Ambassador Theatre annual of the Theatre Historical Society (Copyright 2007) includes: “No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of THS.
Sad loss to the US along with the Fabulous Fox in SF and the Roxy in NY. Terrible losses – there were others too, but these 3 were the most important.
Has anybody ever compared the Ambassador to the Chicago Oriental? Many architectural lines in the auditorium are identical.
Chuck1231, could you re-post the Dr. Zhivago picture you added on April 10, 2005? Right now in order to see it one has to log into your photobucket account.
The National Register of Historic Places nomination form was most interesting to read….did the Ambassador receive that honor before it was demolished? The written description of this theatre was very complete and gave one a sense of actually seeing it with their own eyes. And to read the words of one reporter was a sad commentary about the demise of a great theatre….“theaters don’t die in St. Louis, they become parking lots”.
Thanks goes to a lady photographer by the name of Toby Weiss who took photos that can be viewed @ http://www.builtstlouis.net/ambassador01.html
“The area the Ambassador once stood on is now a plaza for a large bank that was next door.” Such a shame!
Interesting to read about the signature wall of fame. Was it saved during demolition?
Howard B Haas: My source for saying the Ambassador was Spanish Renaissance was, among may others, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of August 22, 1926. Rapp & Rapp did have a French Renaissance style theatre in St. Louis, the St. Louis Theatre, now Powell Symphony Hall.
Yes Chuck, I should have specified which Fox Theatre I meant. Since we were discussing a theatre in Saint Louis I figured it would be taken for granted. Thanks for clarifying that.
JAlex, what’s your source for that assertion? All sources that I read online state French Renaissance. Naylor’s hardback book specifies the lobby is “French palatial.”
Seymour, thank you for posting that photograph, but that is the box office of the Fox Theatre. You can tell by the gryphons on the door handles, and can faintly make out the word “FOX” painted on the box office glass. If you could re-post the photo at the Fox page it would be a nice addition to the comments there.
“French Renaissance” was not the style of the Ambassador. Spanish Renaissance is the correct style, with the theatre having a flavor of a Spanish festival.
May, 1957, boxoffice view from LIFE Photograph Collection,
View link
If anyone has access to the THS Annual No. 33 2006 the entire book is dedicated to the Ambassador Theatre. It pretty well covers its history from beginning to end with tons of detail and photos from cover to cover.