Ritz Theatre
18 W. Fourth Street,
Tulsa,
OK
74103
18 W. Fourth Street,
Tulsa,
OK
74103
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 33 comments
Grand opening ad:
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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Though not yet proven, it has been said that this is a photo of the Ritz basement smoking room,
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This photo is entitled “Tulsa Schools, Theatres, and Eateries of the 1930’s”,
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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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Sepia toned auditorium detail shot …
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1942 exterior shot, notice smartly uniformed ushers practicing crowd control -
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The Eberson archives at the Wolfsonian in Florida have 24 design drawings of this theatre by Eberson dated 1925.
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?
Tulsa Symphony Orchestra performing on Ritz stage…
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/C0127.jpg
acer42:
Have you also looked at the (Tulsa) Orpheum and (OKC) Orpheum pages? These were some of Eberson’s earlier works.
Thanks “OrpheumDennis” for responding to my post. I’m so glad that you can confirm that John Eberson designed the Ritz. I’m a member of the Theatre Historical Sciety and will suggest that someone (maybe me) do an article on this unknown Eberson atmospheric theatre. There are a number of Eberson atmospherics that are “lost” as far as photos are concerned. I was friends with Mike Miller who knew Drew Eberson (John’s son) and had obtained many photos of his father’s designs. John made it a point to have his theatres extensively photographed. Mike shared those photos with me although the Ritz was not included. Most of the photos were of theatres designed after 1926. The photos of the Ritz’s mezzanine area shows two features in common with other Eberson theatres. The water fountain on the left is IDENTICAL to the one in the Omaha Riviera (1927) and the Chicago Capitol (1925). The ceiling in that area is also identical (but in a smaller scale) to the ceiling in the Chicago Capitol’s foyer area. It’s great to discover a “new” Eberson theatre, and a nice one too.
I worked at the Orpheum (one block east of the Ritz) from June 1965 to January 1970. The advertising manager for our theatre chain, Bud Patton, had worked for years for Ralph Talbot Theatres, who at one time operated the Ritz, Orpheum, Majestic and Rialto. According to him, the Ritz was 1600 seats (I’ve seen it listed between 1500 and 2000), and there was never any question that the theatre was designed by John Eberson. I suspect that Saunders designed or decorated rooms for the fairly large Ritz Building, but he was NOT the architect for the theatre—Eberson was. The theatre closed in 1960 and was torn down the same year. The rest of the building remained until 1973 and a flower shop owned by James Maxwell (a one-time Tulsa mayor) occupied what was once the theatre’s outer lobby. The 4 manual/17 rank Robert Morton was purchased by an organist from Richardson, Texas and installed in his home. Curtains, rigging and stage flats from the vaudeville era went to Nathan Hale High School. The Ritz vertical sign was one of the most spectacular I’ve seen. It combined multicolored bulbs AND neon and the entire cycle must have taken 30-45 seconds to go through the complete cycle, or so it seemed when I was a kid.
After viewing the photos of the Ritz Theatre for the first time, I’d bet my life that John Eberson either designed this theatre or had a lot to do with its decoration. It has all the signature marks of an Eberson design, including the exact same features used in many of his other theatres. It’s my opinion that Edward Saunders designed the office building that incorporated the theatre, but not the theatre itself. I’ve been studying theatre architecture for years and photos of this theatre were unknown up until now. I was always suspicious that Eberson may have designed the theatre since in 1926, he pretty much was the only architect designing atmospheric theatres. Other architects didn’t start doing them until late 1927 and 1928. Now that these photos have surfaced, more may be learned about this lost gem.
From Tulsa Library’s Beryl Ford Collection come these Ritz auditoirum images -
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B4009.jpg
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B4011.jpg
Partial view of the pipe organ. Ben Hall’s book “Best Remaining Seats” has a wonderful shot of this instrument -
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B2662.jpg
Could one of the reasons the Ritz met an early demise was because it sat on the most valuable real estate in downtown Tulsa?
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B1522.jpg
Ritz traveling poster ad poster,
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B7376.jpg
Two other 1940s scenes, this one looks as if it were taken by dawn’s early light,
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1708.jpg
and an unusual 1957 view as seen from the Akdar Theatre block,
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/B0623.jpg
In this 1927 aerial view can be seen the (foreground) Majestic, (center) Ritz, and (background) Akdar,
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1573.jpg
c1940 exterior view
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1483.jpg
Grand opening promotional photographs, c1926 -
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A0079.jpg
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1382.jpg
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1383.jpg
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1381.jpg
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/A1380.jpg
After looking at the interior photos of the Ritz Theatre on the BFC site, I can’t help but wonder if John Eberson had something to do with designing this auditorium. It sure carries his style.
Another reason I suspect this may be an Ebersonian work is that I remember my grandparents mentioning a stuffed parrot suspended from a swing inside the auditorium. They also talked about a colorful stuffed peacock in front of an organ grill. And what about all those stuffed doves?
On above mentioned Tulsa Library/BFC Collection, good images of the Majestic, New Orpheum, and RITZ can be seen under listings for “4th & Main”, and (of course) under “Ritz Theatre”.
Antique postcard entitled “Heart of City by Night” illustrates Majestic and Ritz roof signs. Most all buildings in site were demolished in the 1970s,
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Above mentioned Beryl Ford Collection now is in alphabetical order. Ritz Theater photos can be found under these headings; “4th and Main”, 1950, “Pythian Building”, and “Ritz Theater”.
These image numbers are constantly changing due to the fact that the Beryl Ford Photo Collection is still under construction.
This week Ritz Theatre pictures are on page 27-image 317, page 28-images 326 & 327. You’ll cerntainly enjoy browsing these vintage photographs!
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/BFC/index.htm