Empress Theatre
3616 Olive Street,
St. Louis,
MO
3616 Olive Street,
St. Louis,
MO
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Empress Theatre was built in 1913 as a vaudeville house and then became a legitimate theater. Located on the south side of Olive west of Grand, it eventually became a movie house when vaudeville declined and then reverted to live theater.
The classic front with its arched windows and floor-to-ceiling glass facade for the first story gave a majestic impression.
After vaudeville declined, the Empress' management started a resident stock company in 1952. The company eventually proved unsuccessful, although in some seasons the playhouse made money. The end of its second stock season in April 1953 showed an unusually high profit. Although the playhouse had lost $35,000 the year before because of improvements and remodeling, it was able to pay this back and then some.
A typical season for the Empress would be one with 27 plays, Owned by the Ansell Brothers, the legitimate theater managed the profitable second season by cutting corners and upping the admission from $2 to $2.50. The brothers also reduced the average fee for a visiting star from $6,500 to $1,800 – which ultimately may have caused their downfall.
At the end of the 1953 season, the play that brought in the most box office receipts was “Claudia”, earning $18,500, followed by “Tobacco Road”. “Theatre”, starring Kay Francis, brought in the least amount of money – $6,500. That season television stars such as June Lockhart and Jackie Kelk played there.
The Ansells had big plans for their next season and wanted to introduce musicals to their repertoire.
However, after four seasons, Joseph and Louis Ansell had to close the doors of the Empress for the last time on live theater. The Empress had lost $200,000 during the last two seasons. The Ansells claimed it was hard for St. Louis to support legitimate theater — but not so. The Muny and the American were thriving at this time. Critics attributated the theater’s failure to the inability to attract big name stars.
The theater installed a large screen and went to motion pictures and thrived until the mid 60’s running first and second-run movies.
The Empress is one theater many St. Louisans remember, although it was closed and demolished in the late 60’s.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
In the 1950’s, Debbie Reynold appeared there in a play. I had a client who had an autographed copy of the playbill from when she went to see her.
JamesGrebe
The dates Debbie Reynold played the Empress were 3/2/54 to 3/14/54 and the play was, “GiGi"
On the plabill it says simply Olive at Grand
In 1921 the Klilgen Organ Co installed a 2m/10r instrument in the Empress that was formerly in the Empress Theatre in Kansas City MO
JamesGrebe
Under Skouras Bros. management, theatre was renamed MIDTOWN in Nov.1928 and first film shown was Jolson’s “The Singing Fool.” With high competition in the area, however, the film policy ended in March 1929. Theatre then was known as the MIDTOWN-EMPRESS and the major use was by the Woodward stock company. Theatre reverted to the EMPRESS moniker in 1933 when the Ansell Brothers took over management for a 2nd-run film policy.
JAlex are you saying that the Empress while under Joseph and Louis Ansell did not have a resident stock company for live theatre in the early 50’s? Really curious.
I did not say that. I was just adding some information that had not been mentioned before—specifically the era when the theatre was known as the MIDTOWN. The Ansells operated the theatre as a 2nd-run movie house until Dec. 18, 1951 with the stock-company policy beginning Jan. 8, 1952.
Architectural design by firm of Clymer & Drischler.
Opened February 2, 1913.
Demolished late 1970.
Do any interior photos of this theatre exist? Where do you suggest looking?
There is a small park or plaza part of St. Louis University on the corner of Grand and Olive where Garavelli and part of the Empress stood. There is also a parking garage for the Scottish Rite Temple where part of the Empress once stood.