![]() ^ Boston Almanac and Business Directory.Most of what remained of the Bijou building was demolished in 2008, but Emerson College bought the property and plans to make the Bijou and Paramount Theatre into theatres and dormitories. The Bijou was razed to the orchestra and stage floors, which became the roof of the stores below. After the tragic 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire (492 deaths), Boston heavily enforced new fire laws, and since the Bijou did not have adequate exits, it was forced to close. Keith Theatre (later the Normandie and Laffmovie) and the newer Keith Memorial (later known as the Savoy and is now the Boston Opera House). Since it was on the second floor, the exits led to the lobbies of the two surrounding theatres, the B.F. It also was unique for the fact that it did not have a traditional exit to the outside. ![]() The Bijou was the first theatre in the United States to be elementarily lighted by electricity, which Thomas Edison personally installed and supervised. The Bijou was a distinct theatre for a couple of reasons. The Bijou would later be named "Bijou Dream" when it became a movie house in 1927, and also became known as Intown sometime after that. In 1901, it was renamed the "Bijou Opera House". On March 24, 1894, Keith opened a theatre next the Bijou named "B.F. By September 27, 1886, the theatre became owned by B.F. Gilbert ( Gilbert and Sullivan) comic opera Iolanthe. The new theatre opened on Decemwith the Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe at the Bijou, 1884 ![]() The Bijou officially opened on December 18, 1882. Vokes would relinquish his share, and Tyler would replace him with E.H. Tyler (who also ran The Park Theatre) and by Frederick Vokes, who had renovated the Gaiety, and wanted to rename it the Bijou Theatre. It was also named The Mechanics Institute, Melodeon Varieties, and the New Melodeon. In 1878, the name was changed to The Gaiety. The building was constructed in 1836 as The Lion Theatre, and in 1839 was renamed The Melodeon. It is currently a pending Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission. The Bijou "closed 31 December 1943 and was razed in 1951." The building's facade still exists. Around the 1900s, it featured a "staircase of heavy glass under which flowed an illuminated waterfall." Architect George Wetherell designed the space, described by a contemporary reviewer as "dainty." Proprietors included Edward Hastings, George Tyler, and B.F. In recognition of their architectural and historical value, both the building and the theater were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.The Bijou Theatre (1882–1943) in Boston, Massachusetts, occupied the second floor of 545 Washington Street near today's Theatre District. In the following decades, at various times, the theater served as a venue for traditional stage performances, vaudeville, and a second-run and pornographic movie house, as well as a commencement stage for the city's African-American high school.Īmong those who have graced the theater's stage over the years are the likes of the Marx Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie, John Philip Sousa, the Ballets Russes, Ethel Barrymore, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, John Cullum, and Houdini. In 1909, it had a new lobby cut through from Gay Street to accommodate the Bijou Theatre which opened its doors for the first time on March 8, 1909. Following the war, the hotel became the center of Knoxville's Gilded Age extravagance, hosting lavish masquerade balls for the local elite. During the Civil War, the Union Army used the building as a hospital for their wounded. It was built by Irish immigrant Thomas Humes (1767–1816) and his descendants and quickly emerged as a gathering place for Knoxville's wealthy. ![]() The hotel itself dates back to 1817 and was modified in the 1850s. The Bijou Theatre is housed in the Lamar House Hotel building and is located in the rear wing thereof which was added in 1909.
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