Blue Mouse Theatre
1131-1133 Broadway,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
1131-1133 Broadway,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: John Hamrick Circuit
Previous Names: Apollo Theatre, Paramount Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Apollo Theatre opened on June 29, 1914 with Mary Pickford in “Ramona”. Organist Paul Engell played the organ (unspecified make). Eight years later, it re-opened with Harry Myers in “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” on April 15, 1922 as the Blue Mouse Theatre, operated by theatre chain founder John Hamrick. The Blue Mouse Theater was the first theatre in Tacoma to show “talkies” running Al Jolson in “The Jazz Singer” in January, 1928.
Its sister theatre, the Blue Mouse “Junior” opened on Proctor Street in 1923 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). The Blue Mouse Theatre was closed on April 23, 1957 with William Holden in “The Proud and the Profane” & Jeff Chandler in “The Toy Tiger”. It was demolished in 1960 to make way for a new street escalator.
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This theater was also known as the Paramount in the 1920s.
The Blue Mouse got an Art Moderne makeover in the mid 1930s, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of March 9, 1935. A photo shows the new facade, featuring a building-wide marquee that sported the name “John Hamrick’s BLUE MOUSE Theatre” with Blue Mouse in block letters and the rest in cursive script, all set with neon. The article says that the entire project was handled by a theatrical outfitting company from Seattle called B.F. Shearer Company.
This is circa 1940s, I think:
http://tinyurl.com/knhlpn
Opened as Apollo on June 29th, 1914. ad posted.
Reopened as Blue Mouse on June 29th, 1922.
Sadly, even the building is no longer there.
Closed April 23, 1957 with “Proud and Profane” and “Toy Tiger”. Voters approved of the 12th and 10th Street pedestrian escalator plan that allowed the City of Tacoma to condemn the theater property and a stationery store at 10th Street. The Blue Mouse was exterminated after a salvage sale in July of 1960.