Bijou Theatre
164 Exchange Street,
Bangor,
ME
04401
164 Exchange Street,
Bangor,
ME
04401
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The Gem theatre opened on July 3rd, 1902, and became the Bijou on March 28th, 1910. 1910 ad posted.
1957 photo added.
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report for the Bijou – Card # 334. Address is 164 Exchange St. There is an exterior photo taken April 1941. Condition is Good. The report says that it’s over 15 years old and was showing MGM films. There were 649 orchestra seats and 400 balcony, total 1,049. The 1940 population was 29,800.
A 1922 directory lists the Bijou Theatre at 164 Exchange Street.
This web page says that the general plan for the rebuilt Bijou Theatre of 1912 was by architect Wilfred E. Mansur, and the theater interior was designed by Philadelphia theater architect Albert E. Westover.
An article in the July 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Gem Theatre opened in 1909, though some other sources say 1908.
An article by Wayne E. Reilly in the March 27, 2010, issue of the Bangor Daily News said that the Gem, which seated about 600, was taken over by the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit in early 1910 and, after being remodeled, was renamed the Bijou. Keith’s promised to build a new theater for Bangor if the Bijou was successful.
The Bijou was a success, and the circuit kept its promise. Another article by Reilly, from April 15, 2012, tells about the new, much larger Bijou that opened on the same site on April 18, 1912.
The Bijou was demolished in 1973, another victim of the destructive fad that went by the unintentionally ironic name urban renewal.
Nice link Joe,did look pretty nice,also thanks Don, the Graphic Theatre would have a different meaning in those days,LOL.
The Bijou was “The Prettiest Playhouse in Maine” according to the text of their advertisement in the 1914 edition of the Maine Automobile Road Book. There is a photo of the Bijou’s reasonably pretty auditorium.
Thanks for picture ken mc.“DOCTOR ZHIVAGO” was playing there in 1971.
From 1920 a picture postcard view of the Bijou and Graphic Theaters which were across the street from each other in Bangor.
I was looking around the local antique store and purchase an Old Bijou Playbill with local advertisements and if anyones interested i can posts pictures on flickr and link it to hear
Here is a 1956 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2tycn8
The Bijou in Bangor is listed in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac as being part of M&P Theatres (Mullin & Pinanski) of Boston. M&P was an affiliate of Paramount. Other Bangor theatres run by M&P in 1942 were the Graphic, Opera House and Park.