by Dennis Wolf
The Beginning of the Orpheum
The Orpheum Theater today is located at 203 South Main Street, on the southwest Corner of South Main Street and Beale Street. That corner has been the location of a grand theater since the Grand Opera House opened there in 1890. Before then, the site was the location of the home of a local grocer, William McKeon, from 1838 to 1852, and then the C.B. Bryan and Son Coal Yard, from 1852 until 1889. The Grand Opera House was marketed as the classiest theater outside New York City (Figures 1 through 4). Vaudeville and opera acts graced the Grand’s stage.[i]
Figure 1 – the Grand Opera House in 1890[ii]
The Grand became part of the Orpheum Circuit in 1907, and the theater became known as the Orpheum. The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters founded in 1886. The Orpheum was a major stop for theatrical companies and concert tours. Sarah Bernhardt, Milton Berle, Harry Houdini, and John Philip Sousa all performed at the Orpheum.[iii]
The company operated a number of other Orpheum theaters through 1927. In 1927, it became part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, which ultimately became the Radio-Keith-Orpheum corporation, more commonly known as RKO.[iv]
Figure 2 – Undated Postcard of the Orpheum
Figure 3 – Undated 1907 or Later Nighttime Photo of the Orpheum
Figure 4 – Orpheum Theater – Summer 1910[v]
The four-story building had been completed in 1889 at a cost of $100,000 ($1,845,644 in 2025 dollars). Theater operations occupied most of the building, but the Tri-State Manufacturing Company, which made women’s dresses and aprons, rented the second, third, and fourth floors at the front of the building.
The theater was four stories high with a basement, as shown in the 1897 Sanborn Fire Insurance map in Figures 5 and 6. It was made of brick and Bedford limestone, with metal cornices and a slate or tin roof. It had both gas and electric lighting when built and was converted to all-electric lighting in 1899.
A firewall separated the building into fire zones. The internal fire protection was typical of the day. There were two water barrels and four fire pails in the basement. Each floor and the basement had a hose connection and 50 ft. of 1½-inch fire hose. Though automatic fire sprinkler systems had existed since 1874, the building was not protected by one.
Afterhours security consisted of a night watchman who made rounds of the building every hour, clocking in at three A.D.T. alarm boxes on his rounds. Memphis fire alarm box 16 was outside the building on the corner and was connected directly to the Memphis Fire Department (the box can be seen on the corner post in Figure 4).
The building was used for purposes other than a theater. The space at the front of the building was leased to businesses and other tenants. As noted on the Sanborn map, in 1897 the Chickasaw Guards occupied the second, third, and fourth floors. Between 1890 and 1923, the theater also hosted a ballroom on the second floor. At the time of the fire in 1923, those floors were occupied by the Tri-State Manufacturing Company. Tenants on the ground floor included a sewing machine vendor, a soda fountain, and a barber shop.
Figure 5 – Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from 1897
Figure 6 – Detailed Layout of the Grand Opera House
The Fire
During the week of Oct. 14, 1923, vaudeville was featured at the Orpheum. Miss Blossom Seeley, known for her dance routine, Miss Syncopation, was the headline performer among the seven acts of each performance. An interesting note for that time: When vaudeville was a major form of entertainment, ticket prices for matinees ranged from 15 cents to 50 cents ($2.77 to $9.23 in 2025 dollars); tickets for evening performances ranged from 15 cents to $1.50 ($2.77 to $27.68), U.S. tax additional.[vi] On Oct. 16, 1923, at 11:16 p.m., shortly after the theater closed following a performance, a fire was discovered by the building’s superintendent, Charlie Toler.
The fire started in a third-floor workshop on the Beale Street side of the building and spread rapidly throughout the building. The patrons had left by then, and just a few stagehands were present.
The fire department responded immediately with eight fire engines, two truck companies, and the Water Tower. Within 10 minutes of the discovery of the fire, firefighters had six streams of water pouring into the building. There was a strong wind blowing at 14 mph, which pushed the fire throughout the building and over the firewall extensions on the roof to adjoining roof sections.
Throngs of spectators arrived on the scene to witness the fire. As the fire burned, the building started to collapse from the top down. First the roof fell, then successive floors collapsed. At midnight, while the lights in the theater still burned and the marquee was still lit with Blossom Seeley’s name (Figure 6), the cupola on the corner of the building fell. This intensified the heat and the spectators, with no need for prompting from the encouraging orders of the police officers, hurriedly moved back.
Figure 7 – The Orpheum Well Involved in Fire[vii]
During the firefighting operations, Lt. Timothy P. Foley, age 52, from Memphis Engine Company No. 4, which was housed at 283 North Main Street, was injured when he was struck by a portion of a falling wall. He was transported by ambulance to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was treated for a cut on his forehead and a broken left ankle.
As the fire burned, firefighters from the Salvage Corps covered the contents of Jim’s Barber Shop, the Orpheum Soda Room, and the Singer Sewing Machine Company with tarps. This prompt work helped save some of their property.
Since the show had just ended 30 minutes before the fire started, the musicians and performers were still nearby. The musicians rushed in and saved as many of their instruments as they could before the fire reached the proscenium arch. The actors braved the flames as well, rescuing as many of their trunks as they could from the first floor before the flames reached that area. However, actors who had dressing rooms on the upper floors could not reach their property.
The stage lights were still on as the musicians and actors tried to save their belongings, but the house lights were off. Flames could be seen high up in the highest gallery. At first, a pall of smoke hung over the stage. As the actors packed their trunks, a policeman reassured them that the fire walls would contain the fire. The flames then grew in size and smoke became denser, flowing in through a trap door in the ceiling. Firefighters from the Salvage Corps had been working hard to cover the seats with canvas tarps. When it became obvious that the fire had breached the fire wall, they worked twice as hard to remove the tarps and evacuate the building.
By now, conditions inside the theater were deteriorating rapidly, and the doorman and policemen were hustling people out of the building and across the street. A few people tried to reenter the building but were prevented from doing so. Then the roof collapsed, and the stage was engulfed in flames.[viii]
While the area of origin, the sewing room on the third floor, was known, the exact origin of the fire was never determined. The fire department conducted a thorough investigation, but Fire Marshal Arnold B. Carpenter ruled the cause was undetermined.[ix]
During the investigation, it was learned that Charlie Toler, the building superintendent, smelled smoke around 9:15 p.m. He said that he inspected the building thoroughly but found no trace of a fire. If the fire did originate at about 9:15 p.m., it smoldered for two hours before it was discovered.
The Tennessee Inspection Bureau and Memphis fire captains had inspected the building in September and found no major hazards or issues. The lighting system had been inspected and found to be in good shape. The possibility of arson was considered, but nothing was found to indicate an incendiary cause. The most popular theory was that rats carried phosphoric matches from a lower floor to the third floor and ignited them by gnawing.[x]
The Aftermath
The fire destroyed the theater building, the Tri-State Manufacturing Company, and other stores on the first floor. The initial loss was estimated at more than $250,000 ($4,614,109 in 2025 dollars). An additional loss of $50,000 was estimated for the props, scenery, stage effects, and other property. Blossom Seeley estimated the loss of her sets and other property used in her act at $5,000, which included a $2,000 ermine wrap. The owners of the Tri-State Manufacturing Company lost their entire stock and equipment and estimated their loss at $70,000. Jim Taylor’s Barber Shop suffered a $1,750 loss.
The Commercial Appeal opined in an article in the Oct. 18 edition that it was fortunate that the fire occurred after the two-hour performance was over, and the patrons had left the theater.
People remembered the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago on Dec. 30, 1903. The Iroquois had opened just six weeks before that fire and was promoted as “absolutely fireproof.” Yet, of the 1,700 patrons in the Iroquois Theater, 602 died and 250 were injured.[xi]
The week before the fire was Fire Prevention Week across the nation. Before every performance at the Orpheum, a speaker had delivered a 4-minute talk about fire safety, urging the cooperation of the public in fire prevention. The newspaper wondered just how many people who heard this message gave serious consideration to his words.[xii]
The New Orpheum
The new Orpheum Theatre was built on the same site as the Grand Opera House/Orpheum Theater. The new Orpheum opened to much fanfare on Monday evening, Nov. 19, 1928.[xiii] Depending upon the source, the cost was between $1.6 million ($29,530,293 in 2025 dollars) and $2.5 million ($46,141,082 in 2025 dollars). The new theater was twice the size of the previous one, and the interior was finished in gold and silver leaf, marble, lush carpets, and antique crystal chandeliers. The theater boasted a fine three manual, 13 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ, and could seat 2,308 people.
Movies soon replaced vaudeville as the most popular entertainment medium, and Michael A. Lightman’s movie theater chain (Malco) purchased the Orpheum in March 1940 for $75,000 ($1,713,209 in 2025 dollars). The theater’s name was changed to the Malco, and it specialized in showing first-run movies.
About 25 years later, many businesses had left downtown, and smaller theaters with multiple screens were very lucrative. Single-screen theaters were not profitable, business declined, and Malco screened its last movie in 1976. Malco sold the building in 1976, and the building’s future was uncertain.
The possibility of demolishing the 48-year-old old theater was discussed, but in 1977 the Memphis Development Foundation bought the theater, renamed it the Orpheum, and soon brought Broadway productions and concerts back to the theater. Since then, the theater has had several major renovations and remains a crown jewel of Memphis.
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheum_Theatre_%28Memphis%29
[ii] https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50107646
[iii] https://styleblueprint.com/memphis/everyday/orpheum-theatre-memphis/
[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheum_Circuit
[v] https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-20thcenturyphoto3/248
[vi] The Commercial Appeal, October 14, 1923, Section IV, page 6
[vii] https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-20thcenturyphoto3/249
[viii] The Commercial Appeal, October 17, 1923, page 1
[ix] The Commercial Appeal, October 19, 1923, page 15
[x] The Commercial Appeal, October 18, 1923, page 15
[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Theatre_fire
[xii] The Commercial Appeal, October 18, 1923, page 6
[xiii] The Commercial Appeal, November 19, 1928, page 1