Blue Mouse Theatre
1421 5th Avenue,
Seattle,
WA
98101
1421 5th Avenue,
Seattle,
WA
98101
2 people
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Hi, I am writing a book on John Hamrick and his PNW theaters. I’m looking for any additional photos of the Blue Mouse and his other theaters and any additional records from his companies, including Evergreen. Thanks! Mike Aronson, University of Oregon
I saw the Mutiny on the Bounty at the Blue Mouse. 7Omm. Best screen and sound ever. Music Box had this also I think. I Saw West Side Story there and many other big reserved seat first runners. These two theatres were the choice ones for the big movies. 5th Avenue got lots of them too. Orpheum and Music Hall a few also. Did not seem like the Paramount got many. Coliseum got a few. It was always a first run house. Sound of Music, Rosemary’s Baby, El Cid, played the 5th Avenue. The Blue Mouse did not seem that big but it made up for it by the huge wide screen. Loved the place. Oh and The Music Man played there a long time too. I think Molly Brown may have played the Music Box. I am not sure about that though.
I remember this theatre from the 1960’s. I went to West Queen Anne Elementary, and I have a memory of being let loose here one Saturday afternoon with a ton of other kids to see some old western, I believe (but could be wrong) that it was intended as a “thank you” of sorts for being a safety patrol in the Seattle Public School system. I remember it as an old theatre, huge, with lots of high up balconies. I remember not giving a hoot about the movie, but running around that big, old theatre was such a gas. A very sweet childhood memory.
John Hamrick owned and designed his $350,000 showplace launching on Christmas Day 1920 with “The Furnace.” The glassed-in projection room with Simplex projectors was fashioned after the famous Capitol Theatre in NYC.
The 5th Ave did have 70mm and it was also a roadshow house. I saw Dr Dolittle(what a piece of junk)_and also the 70mm version of Gone With The Wind which was poorly transferred with side and top cut out.
The Blue Mouse was the first Seattle theatre to install 70mm projection. Mutiny On The Bounty was filmed in 70mm Ultra Panavision. The 5th Avenue is a much larger theatre and did not have 70mm capability. They are on the same street, as was the Music Box, also a small venue like the Blue Mouse.
My research shows “Mutiny on the Bounty” opening at the Blue Mouse the week of December 19-25,1962 and “Barabbas” opening the same week at the 5th Avenue.
I believe that “Mutiny On The Bounty” played it’s reserved seat engagement at the 5th Ave theatre in 1962. The replica of the Bounty came into the sound. I was on the ferry back to Bremerton when it passed us. What a beauty
The Blue Mouse had a very large cinemascope type screen and great stereo sound. I saw many films there including The Bounty with Brando and Yellow Submarine. I believe My Fair Lady was at the Music Box. Also had large screen. Both theatres played the biggest first run films in Seattle often. They were fitted out with the biggest screens and the best sound. Blue Mouse was the first sound theatre in Seattle I read.
The architect of the Blue Mouse Theatre was Henderson Ryan. The September 8, 1920, issue of Engineering and Contracting said: “H. Ryan, Architect, will proceed with construction of the Blue Mouse Theatre.”
This opened on Christmas Day, 1920. It went to Sterling in 1965, which had shown adult movies 1971-1972.
it was mary poppins at the blue mouse and may fair lady at the music box
Thanks for the comprehensive list.
Listed below are some of the films which played the Blue Mouse Theater from January 1, 1960 to
Research is from Variety and microfilms of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Dates are the Wednesday of the week that the film opened.
01/01/60 Never So Few
01/20/60 DARK
02/03/60 Ben-Hur
03/01/61 Exodus
05/17/61 Ring of Fire
05/24/61 Two Loves
06/14/61 Dentist in the Chair
06/28/61 Fanny
08/09/61 The Honeymoon Machine
08/23/61 Goodbye Again
09/06/61 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
09/20/61 Come September
09/27/61 A Thunder of Drums
10/18/61 Back Street
11/01/61 Bridge to the Sun
11/22/61 Susan Slade
12/20/61 King of Kings
03/07/62 The Children’s Hour
03/21/62 Judgement at Nuremberg
05/23/62 Black Tights
06/13/62 Merrill’s Marauders
06/27/62 Boy’s Night Out
07/11/62 The Road to Hong Kong
08/01/62 The Music Man
11/07/62 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
12/19/62 Mutiny on the Bounty
05/29/63 Island of Love
06/05/63 To Kill a Mockingbird
06/12/63 Call Me Bwana
06/26/63 55 Days at Peking
07/31/63 Toys in the Attic
08/14/63 Captain Sindbad/The Slave
08/28/63 The Caretakers
09/11/63 Hootnenanny Hoot/Drums of Africa
09/18/63 The Haunting
09/25/63 The VIPs
10/30/63 The Mouse on the Moon
11/06/63 The Incredible Journey
11/27/63 The Wheeler Dealers
12/25/63 The Prize
01/22/64 All the Way Home
01/29/64 Charade
02/12/64 A Global Affair
02/19/64 The Ceremony
02/26/64 America, America
03/04/64 Tom Jones
08/12/64 A Shot in the Dark
11/25/64 The Outrage
12/23/64 Kiss Me, Stupid
01/20/65 Mary Poppins
08/25/65 The Sandpiper
09/29/65 The Third Day
10/06/65 Marriage on the Rocks
10/20/65 Murder Most Foul
11/03/65 Return from the Ashes
11/10/65 Agent 8 ¾/Underworld Informers
12/01/65 DARK
12/22/65 Never Too Late
01/12/66 Where the Spies Are
01/26/65 The Great Race
02/09/66 The Money Trap/Man in the Dark
02/16/66 The Ugly Dachshund
03/16/66 A Patch of Blue
05/25/66 Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
06/01/66 Duel at Diablo
06/22/66 Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
07/13/66 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
10/19/66 An American Dream
10/26/66 Alfie
12/21/66 Penelope
01/25/67 The Busy Body
02/01/67 Three Bites of the Apple
02/15/67 Hawaii
08/23/67 The Bobo
09/20/67 Emily
10/04/67 Point Blank
11/08/67 More Than a Miracle
11/22/67 Clambake/Finders Keepers
12/06/67 The Bank Dick/My Little Chickadee
12/20/67 Fitzwilly
12/27/67 The Penthouse
01/17/68 Far From the Madding Crowd
02/28/68 Bonnie and Clyde
03/13/68 Around the World in 80 Days
04/03/68 No Way to Treat a Lady/Countdown
04/10/68 The Scalphunters
04/24/68 The Party
05/29/68 Half a Sixpence
06/12/68 Villa Rides/Project X
06/19/68 The Odd Couple
11/27/68 Yellow Submarine
12/18/68 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
02/12/69 The Sergeant/The Trygon Factor
02/26/69 Romeo and Juliet
05/28/69 Goodbye, Columbus
09/17/69 Me, Natalie
10/01/69 Alice’s Restaurant
12/24/69 The Arrangement
01/14/70 A Dream of Kings
01/28/70 Gaily, Gaily
02/11/70 Last of the Ski Bums
02/18/70 The Molly Maguires
03/04/70 A Streetcar Named Desire
03/18/70 The Ballad of Cable Hogue
04/08/70 The Lawyer
04/15/70 What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?
05/27/70 The Boys in the Band
06/24/70 The Out-of-Towners
07/29/70 The Christine Jorgensen Story
08/12/70 Guess What We Learned in School
08/26/70 The People Next Door
09/09/70 Marcy/The Sterile Cuckoo
09/23/70 Sunflower
10/14/70 Soldier Blue
11/18/70 Scrooge
12/16/70 Burn!
12/23/70 The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes
01/06/71 Where’s Poppa?
01/27/71 Harry
02/03/71 Dinah East
02/24/71 I Never Sang for My Father
03/03/71 Cold Turkey
03/31/71 A New Leaf
05/05/71 The Priest’s Wife
05/12/71 Mrs. Pollifax-Spy
05/26/71 Bananas
06/23/71 Plaza Suite
07/07/71 Klute
07/28/71 McCabe and Mrs. Miller
10/20/71 Cry Uncle
11/03/71 The Student Nurses
11/24/71 Something Big
12/08/71 Ginger
12/22/71 Star-Spangled Girl
01/05/72 Relations/The Female
02/02/72 DARK
This law suit references the demolition of the Mouse:
http://tinyurl.com/y5rptt
There is a photo of the Blue Mouse and the Music Box on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/ykno6a
The Blue Mouse was built by John Hamrick for his growing chain of theaters in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland Oregon. It was located in Downtown Seattle on “theater row” with the Music Box (another Hamrick house) located across the street, the Coliseum a half block to the north and the Fifth Avenue a block south.
At some point (the date unknown to me), the Blue Mouse became a Sterling (aka SRO) Theater. During the 50s and 60s, the Blue Mouse was one of Seattle’s premiere road-show theaters. My only memory was seeing the marquis across the street from the Music Box. My family was attending Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady was playing at the Mouse. As far as I know, I’ve never been in this theater.
It was torn down to make way for “progress,” a very boring bank tower.