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| Moving Picture World, 04-November-1922 |
In November, I missed the chance to note the 100th anniversary of the opening of San Francisco's Alexandria Theater. The Alexandria was the largest theater in my old neighborhood, the Richmond District. I remember going with my family to see Cromwell (yech) and Oliver! I was so young that I started to sing along with the music until someone told me to shut up.
In 1941, the theater was redecorated in the Streamline Moderne style. Most of the Egyptian decorative elements were removed. I'm sorry they didn't leave the cats.
Years later, after the balcony and loge had been converted to separate theaters, my fiancé, (now my wife) and I saw a Disney revival in the balcony while a Star Wars movie played in the main house. We could hear the loud parts very clearly.
I always enjoyed looking at the Alexandria's tall blade sign from my parents' back window.
The theater closed in 2004 and has been gutted and converted into an "aquatic center."
San Francisco has Attractive Egyptian
Theatre in the Alexandria
The Alexandria, an Egyptian theatre, dedicated November 26, was built at a cost of $350,000. It is at the corner of Eighteenth Avenue and Geary Street, in the new "Million Dollar Business District" of San Francisco. George A. Oppenheimer and Alex E. Levin are the owners.
The Alexandria Egyptian Theatre introduces a new idea in theatre construction. At the entrance of the theatre are two guarding Sphinxes. The floor of the outer foyer is laid with big stone blocks carved in conventional Egyptian designs. Rameses heads topping pilasters in the main auditorium have niches cut out for alabaster jars from which are produced diffused lighting effects. The winged circle is used in the decorative scheme.
At either side of the motion picture screen are huge columns, and projecting over it is a canopy suggestive of Cleopatra's time. All seats are on one floor. The theatre accommodates 2,000 people. Loges and boxes are in a section which inclines easily from about the center of the auditorium to a comfortable altitude at the rear. The absence of the balcony gives the auditorium the effect of spaciousness and contributes to the efficiency of ventilation.
It is the stage which registers the impression of "something different" in the Alexandria Egyptian Theatre. The curtain is cloth of silver with a delicate pink background, which scintillates to a myriad of tints with the change of lights.
An innovation is the modern stage device which, under the control of hidden machinery, slides out over the orchestra revealing a special stage setting of black and gold. This set. used the opening night for the re-introduction to San Francisco of Ben Black's band, created something like a sensation among the patrons of the theatre.
The stage, at the right and left, is flanked by huge Egyptian columns. From the proscenium arch projects a silken canopy. On the supporting brackets are images of the sacred Egyptian cat.
In the Alexandria, Alex E. Levin achieves a life-long ambition. It was his conception. He has grown up with the motion picture business, and all during the construction of the Alexandria he poured into the enterprise experiences necessary to make it the success it is. His energy and inspiration adding to the magnificence of the theatre.
George A. Oppenheimer represents the type of man who chooses to put wealth and brains into the motion picture business. As head of the organization, George A. Oppenheimer, Inc, he is distributor in California, Nevada, Arizona and the Hawaiian Islands for Warner Brothers "Classics of the Screen."
Reid Brothers, builders of many San Francisco theatres, were the architects.
As a special feature for children the Alexandria presents the fairy tales made for youthful eyes with a cast of 1,300 children. "The Kiddies' Matinee," Saturday afternoons, is one of the ideas for which Alex Levin is known, his claim of having been the first San Francisco theatre manager to introduce the children's matinee with special films and entertainment suitable for the younger patrons being substantiated by the motion picture-loving public.
The Alexandria is equipped with a Wurlitzer organ which rises from the orchestra pit. Frederic Rowley is the organist. Ben Black's Band introduced a new song, "Alexandria," written for and dedicated to the theatre, on the opening night.
Mirrors reflecting each interesting architectural design and setting, the Egyptian jar which bubbles over with refreshing drinking water at the touch of a spring, and each detail of the Alexandria Egyptian Theatre all tend toward pronouncing this beautiful new San Francisco theatre as "The motion picture theatre with a personality." -- Gross
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| Moving Picture World, 04-November-1922 |
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| San Francisco Chronicle, 26-January-1924 |
