Ritz Theatre

18 W. Fourth Street,
Tulsa, OK 74103

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Additional Info

Architects: John Adolph Emil Eberson, Edward Watkins Saunders

Styles: Atmospheric, Italian Renaissance

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Ritz Theatre

Located in an eight story office block designed by architect Edward Watkins Saunders, the 1,600-seat Ritz Theatre was designed in an Atmospheric/Italian Renaissance style by architect John Eberson. It opened on May 11, 1926 with Richard Dix in “Let’s Get Married” and was equipped with a Robert Morton 4 manual 17 ranks organ which was opened by organist Wade Hamilton. It was closed in 1960.

The auditorium was demolished in 1963 and the site became a parking lot. The office building was demolished in 1973.

Contributed by Graeme McBain

Recent comments (view all 33 comments)

seymourcox
seymourcox on July 26, 2007 at 6:32 pm

Tulsa Symphony Orchestra performing on Ritz stage…
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/C0127.jpg

acer42
acer42 on July 26, 2007 at 10:38 pm

Seymour:

Yes, I have seen a photo of the Tulsa Orpheum. John must have had an Oklahoma connection. I’d be interested in seeing more photos of Eberson’s Oklahoma work since good photos of these theatres have been relatively unknown until now. Any detail photos of the Ritz?

atmos
atmos on July 31, 2007 at 8:14 am

The Eberson archives at the Wolfsonian in Florida have 24 design drawings of this theatre by Eberson dated 1925.

missmelbatoast
missmelbatoast on September 9, 2007 at 11:04 pm

1942 exterior shot, notice smartly uniformed ushers practicing crowd control -
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seymourcox
seymourcox on September 27, 2007 at 8:44 pm

Sepia toned auditorium detail shot …
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Rodney
Rodney on October 25, 2007 at 6:37 pm

Used inside the four-million-dollar atmospheric Casa Bonita Restuarant were many decorative details salvaged from both the Ritz and Orpheum. Pimk clouds were projected onto a violet plaster sky by the Ritz Brenograph. This fabulous eatery was also a quisi cinema in that the amusement arcade had a miniature kiddie theatre that presented continuous cartoons.
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and
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missmelbatoast
missmelbatoast on July 20, 2009 at 7:31 pm

This photo is entitled “Tulsa Schools, Theatres, and Eateries of the 1930’s”,
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missmelbatoast
missmelbatoast on July 20, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Though not yet proven, it has been said that this is a photo of the Ritz basement smoking room,
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seymourcox
seymourcox on November 18, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Here is a theatre pipe organ much grander than the one played inside the Ritz Theatre, but both instruments were produced by Robert Morton –
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