Benjiman I. William Fey (June 4, 1874 – December 7, 1938) was an American movie theatre owner.

Life

Benjiman Fey was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, where he later worked as a barkeeper and stock keeper. He married Lillie Huppert, who gave birth to their son, Erwin J. Fey, on August 13, 1900. By 1920, the family was living in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

and Fey was managing the Madison Theatre in the

Capitol Hill, Seattle Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district and a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is immediately east of Downtown Seattle and north of First Hill. The neighborhood is one of the city's most popular nightlife ...

district at Madison and Broadway, where Erwin Fey also worked as a helper.

Roxy Theatre

In 1924, he sold his interest in the Madison and bought two theatres in Renton. The Roxy Theatre, located at 504 S. 3rd Street, was an

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s, ...

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

, with an eight-sided dome in the ceiling and staircases with sweeping chrome railings. Inside the auditorium were art-deco light fixtures in the shape of four-pointed stars, which were able to be dimmed and yet leave enough of a glow to outline the chrome stars on the ceiling. In the stairwells there were

chandeliers A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now in ...

of slim, stately milk glass columns with stacks of little chrome trumpets on top. In more recent years, the Roxy was reopened to run East Indian Cinema, and later, as a church and rental hall.

Renton Theatre

Fey also owned the Renton Theatre, located across S. 3rd Street in the Argano building."Joseph Argano leases Ben Fey for Renton Theatre"
/ref> The Renton is now the Renton Civic Theater, a local playhouse. Fey, who also built the Roxy Apartments, and his son operated the two theatres from 1924 until Fey's death in 1938. Ben Fey's remains are inurned at the Washelli columbarium at

Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park originated in 1885. It is located on both sides of Aurora Avenue in Seattle, Washington, and occupies roughly 144 acres (58 ha). It is the largest cemetery in Seattle. History At the time of its inception, the ar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fey, Benjamin American businesspeople 1874 births 1938 deaths