Blue Mouse Theatre
2611 N. Proctor Street,
Tacoma,
WA
98407
2611 N. Proctor Street,
Tacoma,
WA
98407
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Another article:
Blue Mouse theatre reopening 04 Feb 1994, Fri The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington) Newspapers.com
Reopened as Bijou on December 5th, 1978
Bijou theatre reopening 08 Dec 1978, Fri The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington) Newspapers.com
This opened on November 13th, 1923 as Blue Mouse (Proctor). Grand opening ad posted.
It was reported in the July 29, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News magazine that John Hamrick, head of The John Hamrick Circuit in Seattle, Portland, and Tacoma, announced last week he had just completed negotiations for the installation of Vitaphone in his Blue Mouse Theatre in Tacoma. In the next week’s issue of August 5, 1927 it was reported that, at The Blue Mouse, the first week of “Dearie” and a four-act Vitaphone show attracted better than average houses. The picture was only fair in its audience appeal; the Vitaphone subjects headed by John Charles Thomas and Vivenne Segal were the least attractive of any used so far this season, with the exception of the headliners named.
An article about the launch of the fund-raising drive can be found here.
Help Save The Blue Mouse Theatre We must convert to digital projections
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1355844229/help-save-the-blue-mouse-theatre
Hi Mark, The Blue Mouse will switch to digital, We plan on kicking off a fund raiser to help fund this huge expense
I am wondering about the fate of this theatre with the demise of 35mm projection.
The Proctor Theatre is the Blue Mouse, The theatre has changed hands over the years and bought out by some investors in 1993 and returned it to it’s original name Of blue mouse then and is still operating
Everyday.. Last year we were put on Washington state Historic Listing and most recently the National Historic registry
When I was stationed at nearby Ft. Lewis in 1963-64, I used to go to this theater for the latest Ingmar Bergman films like “Winter Light” and “The Silence”. At that time, it was called the Proctor. Great little moviehouse, and a nice place to take a date as well.
Strange name but cool.
I recently wrote an article about this theater for a website called Neighborhood Life. (www.neighborhoodlife.net) You’ll see a photo of the Blue Mouse on the opening page and can click there. It’s also the first article on the “Features” page. Please take a look.
View link
If you cant click/ Copy and paste link to view pictures of Blue Mouse
Exterior and Interior
Enjoy
Yes the Mice appear to be running across the top of the marquee
and If the photo Load worked I could load a bunch of pictures
It seems to be doing pretty well showing good second-run movies. The Blue Mouse also hosts a small international film festival each year.
Since there is no real competition nearby could the Blue Mouse book family-friendly or decent mainstream first run fare (like the Columbia City Cinema in Seattle)?
No, just the two in Tacoma. I will add this one. Thanks for the info.
There was another Blue Mouse in Seattle, according to this suit. How many mice were there anyway?
http://tinyurl.com/y5rptt
Aside from local libraries and historical societies and the morgues of newspapers, your best bet is the Theatre Historical Society of America at www.historictheatres.org and click on their ARCHIVE link for information. An E-mail to their Ex. Dir. Rich Sklenar may be of preliminary help. Best Wishes.
I used to frequent this theatre as a teen in the ‘80’s when it was known as the Bijou. It had seen better days and the presentation quality was lacking, but it was a wonderful friendly neighborhood sort of place to see a double feature. I am glad to hear that it has been fixed up and is in good hands (with stereo sound to boot!). I hope to visit next time I am in Tacoma. Does anyone have any pictures of the interior before and after the restoration?
For the story behind the BLUE MOUSE chain, and the name, click on this page: /theaters/6589/
My great great aunt Ada Besaw was a janitor for many many years at the Blue Mouse Theater. She retired in 1953 when she was 75 years young. She was a wonderful and caring person.
The Blue Mouse has a GREAT website www.bluemousetheatre.com .The Blue Mouse was originally built as the Blue Mouse Junior to distinguish it from the ‘grander’ Blue Mouse in downtown Tacoma, Seattle and Portland. But the junior ‘won’ as it’s the only Blue Mouse left. It was called the Blue Mouse until the late 20’s and the present owners, Blue Mouse Associates, gave it back it’s name ten years ago. As far as the old chairs (from the 40’s and 50’s)….there are still a few of them stored in the theater…they are small and not comfortable. The new seats are very comfortable and large so the number of seats in the theater has been reduced from nearly 300 to 221. Great theatre. Come to Tacoma sometime.
I TRYED TO CONTACt the theater be for no luck.by the way dose any one know where the the old chairs went to?BERT E MAIL
Charles, you are correct. I put that info into the “Add Theatre” page, but it didn’t show up. While we’re at it, the theatre is in the Craftsman style, its one floor (except the restrooms), no balcony and it was reseated about 2 years ago. Also, it may have been part of a small local chain in the 20’s or 30’s as there were several varieties of Mice and Bijous in the area.