Alexander Pantages papers, 1902-1903

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Pantages, Alexander
Title
Alexander Pantages papers
Dates
1902-1903 (inclusive)
Quantity
13 letters ; 1 photograph (photostat, neg.)
Collection Number
0331 (Accession No. 0331-001)
Summary
Photographs and letters of Pantages, who owned a chain of theaters on the Pacific Coast during the early 20th century
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Access restricted: For terms of access, contact Special Collections.

Request at UW

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Alexander Pantages was born in 1867 on the island of Andros, Greece. After having been at sea for two years he disembarked in Panama and spent some time there helping the French to dig the Panama Canal, but after contracting malaria he was warned by a doctor to move to cooler climates. He headed north, stopping briefly in Seattle but eventually settling in San Francisco where he worked as a waiter and also, briefly and unsuccessfully, as a boxer. He left San Francisco in 1897, and made his way to Canada's Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush, ending up in the mining boom-town of Dawson City. In 1902, Pantages left Dawson and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he opened the Crystal Theater, a short-form vaudeville and motion picture house of his own. In 1904, Pantages opened a second Seattle theatre, the Pantages; in 1906 he added a stock theater, the Lois, named after his wife. By 1920, he owned more than 30 vaudeville theatres and controlled, through management contracts, perhaps 60 more in both the United States and Canada. These theatres formed the "Pantages Circuit", a chain of theatres into which he could book and rotate touring acts on long-term contracts. He was known as a tireless operator and a particularly ruthless one. In 1929 he was accused of raping a 17-year-old dancer named Eunice Alice Pringle; the negative publicity led to the selling of his operations and he ceased to be a force in exhibition or vaudeville ever again. Pantages died in 1936 and was interred in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Letters, 1902-03, 1920, 1922. Photograph of Pantages.

Nine letters are from Pantages to "Klondike Kate;" 3 letters from her(?) to Eddie Milne and Thomas D. Page; 1 letter from Tozier to Pantages.

See Theodore Saloutos, "The Greeks in the U.S." Harvard University Press, 1964. Saloutos used these letters.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Filmed from originals in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer library, 4/29/1963.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Pantages, Alexander, 1867-1936--Archives
  • Pantages, Alexander, 1867-1936--Correspondence
  • Pantages, Alexander--Archives

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Rockwell, Kathleen Eloisa, 1876-1957 (creator)
    • Tozier, LeRoy (creator)