Orpheum Theatre

Happy Birthday! The Orpheum is 90 years old. After 16 months of construction, which began in June of 1920, It opened on October 31, 1921. The Twin Falls Daily News on opening day said the Architect was J.H. Dodd and there was seating for 900. The opening attraction was Mary Pickford in ‘Thru the Back Door.’ The projection room was built with 14-inch concrete walls, making it absolutely fireproof. The T-F-A- chiseled into the upper façade of the building stands for “Twin Falls Amusement.” Some of the known operators were H.H. Hedstrom, its builder, (1921-1931), Publix Theatres (1931-36), Intermountain Theatres (1936-1975) and currently Interstate Amusements (1976-present). Interstate purchased the building in 1976, removed the overhanging marquee and replaced it with one that is flush with the remodeled façade. The Times-News said the carpeting, drapes and seating were replaced and the ticket booth moved inside. It was renamed the Mall Cinema until 1997 when it again became the Orpheum. On October 31, 2011, the attraction Orpheum moviegoers went to see was Justin Timberlake starring in ‘Time.’

Photo is not there anymore.

According to the 1956 Film Daily Yearbook, the Orpheum Theater originally seated 731. The balcony was quite a bit larger than the main floor and could easily have seated about 430-plus.
The Orpheum also had a relatively small stage for occasional live performances. the auditorium itself was very ornate, with a back-lit proscenium arch over the stage and dome-shaped molding in the ceiling.
The Orpheum’s first CInemaScope presentation was “Rose Marie,” in the spring of 1954 — coinciding with the arrival of Twin Falls' first local TV station.
Probably because it was then operated by Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Theatres, the Orpheum frequently played major first-run films abouit the same time they were playing in Boise and Salt Lake City.
“The Ten Commandments” played for nearly three weeks — an unprecedented long-run in a town where most films played for just a week or less.
During the mid-1950s I worked at both the Orpheum and the Idaho as a ticket-taking doorman (in a uniform that looked like Harold Hill’s in “The Music Man”), canged the marquees and assisted the assistant manager when the manager was on vacagtion.
Most of the memorable old Magic Valley theaters have long since disappeared, but the Orpheum is still a commanding presence on Main Street in downtown Twin Falls.