The Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation was the owner of a chain of
vaudeville and motion picture theatres. It was formed by the merger of the holdings of
Benjamin Franklin Keith
Benjamin Franklin Keith (January 26, 1846 – March 26, 1914) was an American vaudeville theater owner, highly influential in the evolution of variety theater into vaudeville.
Biography
Early years
Keith was born in Hillsboro Bridge, New ...
and
Edward Franklin Albee II and
Martin Beck
Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective and the main character in the ten novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled ''The Story of a Crime''. Frequently referred to as the Martin Beck stories, all have been ada ...
's
Orpheum Circuit.
[
]
History
The company was incorporated in Delaware on January 28, 1928, to acquire the stocks of the B.F. Keith Corporation; Orpheum Circuit, Inc.; Vaudeville Collection Agency; B.F. Keith-Albee Vaudeville Exchange; and Greater New York Corporation. The company operated a chain of vaudeville and motion picture theatres in the United States and Canada with a seating capacity of 1,500,000 persons. The combined theater chain then had over 700 theaters in the United States and Canada. A total of 15,000 vaudeville performers were booked through the new entity.
In May 1928, a controlling portion of stock was sold to Joseph P. Kennedy, from whom it was purchased in October by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) as part of the deal, along with Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), that created the major motion picture studio Radio Keith Orpheum (RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
).
After the establishment of RKO, motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s became the primary focus of entertainment at the former KAO theaters. Vaudeville survived only as an interlude for feature films.
Theaters
* Keith-Albee Theatre, Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...
* Keith-Albee Theater
The Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation was the owner of a chain of vaudeville and motion picture theatres. It was formed by the merger of the holdings of Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee II and Martin Beck's Orpheum Circuit.
His ...
, Washington, D.C.
* Keith-Albee Theatre, Flushing, QueensKeith-Albee Theatre, or RKO Keith’s Theater , After the Final Curtain
/ref>
References
{{reflist
Vaudeville theaters
1928 establishments in Delaware
American companies established in 1928
American companies disestablished in 1928
1928 mergers and acquisitions
Former cinemas in the United States
Movie theatre chains in the United States
Entertainment companies established in 1928
Entertainment companies disestablished in 1928
1928 disestablishments in Delaware
RKO General
Defunct companies based in Delaware