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Heilig Theatre photographs collection, 1888-1929

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Heilig Theatre (Portland, Or.)
Title
Heilig Theatre photographs collection
Dates
1888-1929 (inclusive)
1901-1929 (bulk)
Quantity
3.35 cubic feet, (2,005 photographic prints and circa 50 photomechanical prints in 11 oversize boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Collection Number
Org. Lot 76
Summary
Publicity photos supplied to the Heilig Theatre in Portland, Oregon, to advertise performances of traveling road shows, music, dance, and motion pictures appearing from 1904 to 1929. Many are actors' portraits and most show costumed performers on stage or in scenes from movies.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by the Performing Arts Fund of the Oregon Historical Society, and through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

David Belasco, a vaudeville actor and circuit booker, commissioned the first Heilig Theatre in Portland, Or. Built by John E. Blazer and Richard Martin, Jr., in the area of Fourteenth Avenue and Washington and Burnside streets in Portland, the 1,800-seat Columbia was completed July 18, 1904. In the spring of 1906, after the closing of the Marquam Grand Theatre in Portland, Calvin Heilig leased the Columbia, booking both Broadway and local shows. Not long after, the Columbia was renamed the Heilig Theatre.

When Mayor Lane had the building condemned in 1909, Calvin Heilig began construction at a new site on the corner of Taylor and Broadway in downtown Portland. The new Heilig Theatre opened October 10, 1910, featuring live theatre and vaudeville. Designed in Romanesque style by E.W. Houghton, the new Heilig accommodated nearly 1,500 patrons. In 1929, the Heilig's management made the switch from live theatre to cinema and changed its name to the Hippodrome. In the 1930s, the movie house underwent several name changes, becoming the Rialto, the Music Box, and finally the Mayfair.

The Mayfair showcased both movies and live theatre until its purchase in 1953 by Evergreen Theatres. This company did extensive renovations, reopening the theatre as the Fox in August 1954. Another movie house, coincidentally called the Music Box, was added to the existing Fox building in January 1960. The last movie was shown at the Fox in 1990, although it continued to book cable sports events, live concerts and film festivals until its final closure in 1997. At that time, the building that had been home to the historic theatres was demolished to make way for the new Fox Tower, which opened in 2000 with a Regal Cinemas multiplex.

Calvin Heilig (1862-1941) was born in Pennsylvania. He worked his way west as a carbuilder and clerk for a railroad company. In 1889, Heilig settled at Tacoma, Washington, where he bought his first theatre in 1893. A year later, he purchased another theatre in Seattle, Washington, and by 1895 he was manager of the Marquam Theatre in Portland, Oregon. By the end of his career, Heilig had owned more than two hundred theatres in seven states.

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Content Description

The largest part of the collection consists of publicity photographs of actors, actresses and productions supplied to the Heilig Theatre for advertising purposes, dating from 1888-1929. Many were published in Portland newspapers. A number of actors and actresses featured in these photographs formed their own companies, booking them with various national circuits, and among such companies represented in this collection are those formed by Ethel Barrymore, David Belasco, and Olga Nethersole. Also appearing at the theatre and represented in the collection are Anna Pavlova and the Ballet Russe, as well as other ballet companies and dancers, operatic singers and instrumental musicians, and nationally prominent minstrel and comedy companies. Some of these photographs are autographed. The collection includes a smaller group of movie stills, including scenes from silent films, bible films, and from "Scott's Antarctic Expedition," a 1913 movie about Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition. Some of the movie images are photomechanical prints; most of these are color.

Among the many photographers represented in this collection are Apeda Studio and White Studio of New York, N.Y.; Corry A. Bushnell of Portland, Or.; Fred Hartsook and A. Louis Mojinier of Los Angeles, Calif.; and Moffett Studio of Chicago, Ill.

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Other Descriptive Information

Titles not in italics are represented in the portrait section only.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Heilig Theatre Photographs Collection, Org. Lot 76, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in the following series:

  • Series A: Female performers, 1901-1926 and undated
  • Series B: Male performers, 1888, 1901-1923 and undated
  • Series C: Autographed portraits to Marc Bowman, 1928
  • Series D: Theatrical productions, circa 1901-1929 and undated
  • Series E: Motion pictures, 1912-circa 1922
  • Series F: Heilig Theatre building, 1910 and undated
  • Series G: Unidentified and other groups and productions, 1919 and undated

Acquisition Information

Photograph accession no. 000U039

Separated Materials

The following material was separated from this collection and is available elsewhere in the Oregon Historical Society:

Performing Arts Collection, Mss 1523

Bowen, circa 1920, Art on Paper Collection, Mss 5359

Post Card Collection (Photograph Collection)

Bibliography

Broadway Photographs: Art Photography and the American Stage, 1900-1930, Dr. David S. Shields, University of South Carolina, http://broadway.cas.sc.edu

Internet Broadway Database, http://www.ibdb.com

Sayre Theatrical and Vaudeville Perfomers Database, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections, http://db.lib.washington.edu/sayre/

Related Materials

The following material is related to this collection and is stored in other repositories:

J. Willis Sayre Photographs, University of Washington, Seattle

Film Stills Collection, TC021, and Theatre Photographs Collection, TC090, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey

White Studio Theatrical Photographs, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, T-VIM 1956-002, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

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Detailed Description of the Collection