Ed Mirvish Theatre
244 Victoria Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B 1V8
244 Victoria Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B 1V8
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 39 comments
Now that the Mirvish is primarily a live event venue, they. look to be harkening back to their movie theatre days.
During the performances of “Chicago”, popcorn was being popped fresh and sold in the lobby. Photo uploaded.
The Imperial was also the first movie house in Canada to have CinemaScope on October 23, 1953.
reopening as Imperial on July 5th, 1930.
the 1986 coup
Cineplex Odeon coup of Imperial 6 Sat, Jun 14, 1986 – 5 · National Post (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Ed Mirvish was really a champion of theater in Toronto. He even built a theater so that the helicopter could fly in Miss Saigon.
The Wikipedia page has quite the intriguing history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Mirvish_Theatre?fbclid=IwAR0or0JkaBusnGNx3g3etIViC6qfMUqqovepWH1S6NP_HsfPzDTFe9e7RYw
Link with photos of the Imperial and other theatres.
https://tayloronhistory.com/2013/02/26/torontos-lost-movie-theatresthe-downtown-theatre-on-yonge-st-south-of-dundas/
1964 postcard of Yonge Street added, Imperial Theatre to the right of center.
Sorry, my mistake, I thought it was.
As you can see, telliott, it now is. But the last name used it not always the case on CT, for whatever reason.
Shouldn’t this now be listed as the Ed Mirvish Theatre? Name was changed over 2 years ago.
Actually, no. As previous comments indicate, the historical main entrance to the Pantages was on Victoria Street; the Yonge Street entrance was actually a later addition (although constructed a long time ago now and well-blended architecturally into the original design). The Yonge Street entry actually takes one over O'Keefe Lane and then into the the original main foyer. Because Yonge is such a main thoroughfare, it is easy to assume the Yonge Street entry always was the main entry, especially if you are among those who recall the theater in its days as the Imperial 6 cinema.
Is not the main entrance on Yonge Street, 263?
Another name change …
Ed Mirvish Theatre
I uploaded the 1973 grand opening ads as Imperial Six as well as the 1987 reopening ad as the Pantages. I also uploaded an plan of the 1986 Dubinsky-Cineplex coup over Famous Players.
Wall St and Die Hard would have been amazing in this glorious space ;–)
Since we re-branded to Silent Toronto last summer, here’s the new URLs to some of our features on the Pantages/Imperial/Imperial6:
A Zardoz lobby card from 1974
The Imperial Drabinsky
Extreme Usher: The Imperial Six — by Gerry Flahive
Always cool and comfortable at the Pantages(talking pictures arrive)
Nice photo CWalczak.
As the Imperial, showing ‘The Godfather:’ View link
When Cineplex Odeon ran it as a one-screen theatre, here were some of the theatre’s engagements:
Wall Street
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
Colors
Die Hard in 70mm (the final movie played at the theatre)
The Imperial was the first movie house in Canada to show a film produced in the wide-screen CinemaScope process. And it was one of only a handful of cinemas in the world equipped with large format VistaVision projectors. One of the others was the Paramount in New York. This is not surprising, since VistaVision was Paramount Pictures' big-screen system and they controlled both the Paramount in NY and the Imperial in Toronto.
such a gorgeous theatre, wish I could have experienced it as a movie house, I have always been there to see various theatre shows over the years.
The Imperial/Pantages has recently been featured at 32 Elvis Movies. Have a look at an opening week flyer for the Imperial Six and a great ad for the premiere of Mae West’s SHE DONE HIM WRONG!
I remember the week before the “new” Imperial Six opened, they had an open house where the public could walk in and look around to see all the new theatres. I went twice that week and despite the garish colours (remember this was 1973) it was quite impressive to see how they were able to create all these cinemas in the old building. Through the years I was able to see films in all 6 cinemas several times. It was then downtown Toronto’s major “multiplex” theatre. It was done about 4 years after the old Loew’s Uptown had been divided into 5 screens.
Cinemas 5 & 6 in the old orchestra section of the original Imperial. Cinemas 3 & 4 were in the old backstage area of the theatre and were reached by a glass enclosed walkway on the side of the building from the main lobby.