The old

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, on the

northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

corner of Scarth Street and 11th Avenue in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

, was converted to the Bijou Theatre in 1908. Hand-cranked

silent movies A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

were shown with piano accompaniment. Local

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

s and travelling road shows performed on its rickety, sloping stage. When the Bijou was hauled away in 1909, the Whitmore brothers, A.E. (Bert), George and Dr. Frank, along with Chief Justice J.T. Brown and James Balfour, built the splendid new Regina Theatre which opened February 7, 1910. With 870 seats, including eight boxes, it was able to accommodate the largest travelling

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

shows and featured stage plays and concerts. On June 30, 1912 Boris Karloff was performing there when the

Regina Cyclone The Regina Cyclone, or Regina tornado of 1912, was a tornado that devastated the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, on Sunday, June 30, 1912. It remains the deadliest tornado in Canadian history with a total of 28 fatalities and about 300 peo ...

hit the town at 5pm. This event and his presence were commemorated in 2012. In 1913 the Regina Operatic Society staged a production of "The Toreador" at the Regina Theatre, from which a full cast photo survives. In 1922 Freddy Rowan and Paul Bennet starred in a Regina Theatre operatic production of " Merrie England." In 1925 Freddy Rowan appeared there in "

The Cingalee ''The Cingalee'' or ''Sunny Ceylon'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner, with music by Lionel Monckton, lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank, and additional material by Paul Rubens (composer), Paul Rubens.J. P. Wear ...

". The Regina Theatre closed in 1929, following a fire. The building remained vacant until 1939 when it was torn down. The

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

Department Store was built on this site in the late 1960s. The Bay moved to the Cornwall Centre in 2000. The Regina Theatre even boasted Saskatchewan's first dimmer board, which made possible elaborate lighting effects. This theatre was the city's primary home for live performances presenting everything from drama to vaudeville.E. Ross Stuart, The History of Prairie Theatre (Toronto: Simon & Pierre, 1984), p.36.

Gallery

File:Regina Theatre production of "Merrie England".1922.jpg, alt= File:Production of the Regina Operatic Society at the Regina Theatre.jpg, Regina Operatic Society cast "The Toreador" 1913 File:Freddie Rowan in "Singalee," 1925.jpg, Freddy Rowan in "The Cingalee" 1925

References

Theatres in Saskatchewan Demolished buildings and structures in Saskatchewan Buildings and structures demolished in 1939 1939 disestablishments in Saskatchewan {{Saskatchewan-struct-stub