Lyric Theatre
The Lyric Theatre is a former vaudeville and movie theater located at 1800 3rd Avenue North. During its peak in the late 1910s and early 1920s, the Lyric hosted major touring shows under the B. F. Keith Big Time Vaudeville banner. In later years the theatre was used for cinema screenings, mostly second-run and alternative releases. Vacant since the late 1970s, the structure is currently owned by Birmingham Landmarks and fund-raising is underway for an extensive renovation effort.
History
The development of the Lyric Theatre began when real-estate developer Louis V. Clark purchased three adjoining lots and hired the Hendon Hetrack Construction Company to construct a six-story office building and theatre on the property. Clark formed a partnership with Jake Wells to operate the theatre. Wells already owned and managed a number of theaters across the South, including the Bijou Theatre a block west.
The Lyric opened to the public on January 14, 1914 following a brief legal dispute with the owners of the Orpheum Theatre for the rights to host shows on the Benjamin Franklin Keith Big Time Vaudeville circuit. From then until the completion of the Ritz Theatre in 1926 the Lyric was the grandest Vaudeville hall in Birmingham. Stars such as Sophie Tucker, Gus Edward's Kid Kabaret with George Jessel and Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, the Keaton Family Acrobats (with Buster Keaton), Milton Berle and Mae West appeared on stage.
In the late 1920s the Lyric hosted locally-produced plays staged by the Favorite Players repertory company. On Sunday evenings the theatre was used by the newly-formed Independent Presbyterian Church. The Lyric continued to operated successfully up until the Great Depression. With his funds overextended, Wells lost his chain of theaters and ultimately committed suicide. Ownership of the Lyric reverted to the mortgage company which leased it to the Schubert organization. The Lyric continued to present vaudeville acts, but the Depression and competition from movies and radio led to its decline and closure in 1930 or 1931.
In April 1932, the Lyric reopened as a movie theater. In 1935, the Waters family of Birmingham bought the Lyric and ran it as a second-run movie house with occasional live performances. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers both appeared there in the 1950s. The theatre closed its doors again in 1958.
In 1972, friends and old movie buffs Dee Sloan and Robert Wharton reopened the Lyric as the Grand Bijou, showing classic movies. The Bijou lasted only a short time. A couple of years later, it reopened as the Foxy Adult Cinema and later the Roxy Adult Cinema, before closing again for good in the early 1980s. In 1975, the Lyric's twin fire escapes on 18th Street North were populated by bodybuilders posing for the final scene of Stay Hungry.
In 1993, the Waters family donated the building to Birmingham Landmarks, a nonprofit organization which had taken ownership of the Alabama Theatre across the street from the Lyric a few years earlier. Birmingham Landmarks is currently trying to raise the $20 million that the theater's restoration is estimated to cost. The City of Birmingham has given $200,000 to study what it would take. In early 2009, Birmingham Landmarks began planning to renovate the lobby to showcase the potential of the theatre's rennovation.
Architecture
The Lyric originally had approximately 1200 seats spread across the main floor and two, steep balconies, plus two opera boxes. A gold-leafed and painted asbestos curtain hung on the stage beneath a proscenium featuring a large mural known as The Allegory of the Muses, which was painted by local artist Harry Hawkins. The opera boxes were removed in the 1950s to accommodate wide-screen films. Beneath the stage are a series of dressing rooms, each about eight square feet with sinks in the corners.
The theater interior is currently in disrepair and has no climate control system, leading to further deterioration. It is the only surviving vaudeville theater in Birmingham. Although the theater itself has not been used since the 1970s, the adjoining office building houses operating retail spaces at street-level along 3rd Avenue, including Lyric Hot Dogs and Place Design Studio.
References
- "A Lyrical Development." (June 1993) Black & White
- Hollis, Tim (August 16, 2006) "Showplaces of the South, Part 2." Birmingham Rewound. Accessed July 10, 2008.
- Chambers, Jesse (July 3, 2008) "The voice of the theatre." Birmingham Weekly
- Tomberlin, Michael (January 4, 2009) "Push continues for new projects in Birmingham's theater district." Birmingham News
External links
- The Lyric Theatre website
- Photos of the Lyric in the Magic City Flickr Group