Old Missoula

Many Touring Artists Perform in Missoula

Missoula had entertainment of various kinds throughout its history, but the turn of the century brought the most colorful.

The Gem Theater was located where the Hotel Florence pigeon hole parking garage is now. At this show house Spider – the only waiter in the world who could carry 27 loaded glasses of beer without aid of a tray – swung down the aisle to deliver to tables on the first floor and collect the price – five cents.

The stage performance was often good. Many appeared who were later stars of the stage and screen.

Among those was Al Jolson, who in a curtain talk at the Wilma mentioned his appearance years before in a Missoula honkeytonk.

The Gem burned in the fire of 1892. Others took its place such as the Alcazar, a small theater located at 423 N. Higgins Ave., now the office of the County Public Welfare Department. It was later called the American and then was closed for a number of years. It was reopened as the Community and was known as the Rio before it closed.

The last proprietor was Ernest Grindley, who gave free tickets to persons on relief during the big depression of the early ‘30s.

Bijou on Main

The Bijou, which had Bert Lavy vaudeville, was located at the present site of the Stoic Drug Store, 110 W. Main St. The Save On is the site of another old theater, the Isis. It seated 250 downstairs and 150 more in a balcony. It was torn down in the mid ‘20s.

But one of the greatest of them all was the Harnois which opened in 1908 at 211 E. Main. Charles A. (Uncle Charlie) Harnois was the promoter. It opened with the production of “Brewster’s Millions.” All 984 seats were sold out for $10 each, a theatrical feat uncommon in that day.

In its heyday the Harnois had two vaudeville shows a week, Pantages, and Ackerman and Harris, and a road show every other week, which was an astounding program for Missoula. Later it was operated as a movie house and renamed the Liberty. The W. A. Simons Company bought it in 1923, changing the name back to Harnois in respect to its founder in 1928. Later the name was changed back to Liberty and the old theater died in 1934 when word was received of the death of Uncle Charlie.

Dies on Stage

Louis James, the great tragedian, made his last complete appearance at the Harnois. The next evening, at Helena, he dropped dead on the stage.

Before the Harnois, the city’s top theater was the Empress, at 220 North Higgins avenue, now Buttrey’s women’s wear store. The Empress had vaudeville and later became a movie house. It was called the Bluebird and when it closed in 1930 it was known as the Strand.

By the 1920s silent pictures were common in Missoula. It was at the Bluebird-Strand that Melvin Bouck played the piano to provide mood music for films such as “The Birth of a Nation,” “The Covered Wagon,” and “Seventh Heaven.”

Bouck, who is blind, now operates the news and candy stand in the post office lobby.

Wilma Opens

 

The Wilma, which had its opening performance featuring the Los Angeles Symphony orchestra May 11, 1921, surpassed the piano with its huge organ. The instrument was played for a number of years by Elaine Taylor. The “mighty Wurlitzer” is now in the Field House at the University.