Bijou Theatre

For years the Bijou operated as a grind house 10:00 am to 11:30 pm. New double feature program every day. Price for all seats was 25 cents. Worked many a shift in the projection booth. Booth was located on the first balcony. The second balcony, which contained only benches had been closed for many years. Theatre had one of the largest cinemascope screens in the area.

Here is another photo of the Bijou.

The Bijou Theatre is listed under Minneapolis in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. It’s listed as “Bijou Opera House” in the summary and as “Bijou Theatre” in the main body of the page. The lessee and manager was Jacob Litt. It had 700 seats in the orchestra, 500 in the balcony and 800 in the gallery, total 2,000. (probably rounded up). Admission ranged from 15 cents to 75 cents; the house was on the ground floor and had both gas and electric illumination. There were 8 in the house orchestra. The proscenium opening was 33 ½ feet wide X 33 feet high, and the stage was 33 feet deep. There were 7 hotels for show folk, and 4 daily newspapers. The 1897 population of Minneapolis was 200,000. Two other theaters in town listed in this Guide were the Lyceum with 1,796 seats and the Metropolitan Opera House with 2,000 seats.