The Beacham Theatre: The Early Years

Though now known solely as a live event venue, originally the Beacham Theatre held the dual purpose of movie theatre and vaudeville house when it was first opened by owner and namesake, Braxton Beacham.

Braxton Beacham Sr.

Braxton Beacham was born in Dublin, Georgia in 1864 and moved to Florida in 1883. He first settled in Maitland, and a year later, he moved to Orlando, where he found work as a dry goods clerk. However, he soon set his eyes on something much bigger: local real estate, purchasing 150,000 acres of timber land, 500 acres of orange groves across Orange and Seminole counties and a pig farm in Alachua County. Beacham did not solely own land in the Central Florida area, he also served as the 18th Mayor of Orlando from 1906 – 1907.

Today, however, he is probably most well remembered for the venue that still bears his name, The Beacham Theatre.

Braxton Beacham, mentioned in the May 21, 1921 issue of Motion Picture News

The Beacham Theatre, Orlando’s First Independent Theatre

In 1917, ten years after his tenure as Mayor of Orlando, Braxton Beacham purchased the building that formerly served as the Orange County Jail. It was on this site, then 40 – 42 N. Orange Avenue, that the Beacham Theatre was built. According to an article published in the January 21, 1922 edition of Motion Picture News:

[…] The Beecham’s [sic] Investment Company had spent $175,000 to give Orlando and middle Florida its most beautiful theatrical structure embodying the approved achievements of human ingenuity along modern lines of building and equipping this class of enterprises.

Construction of the Beacham was completed in 1921: the building stood two stories tall and held 1,097 seats. The aforementioned edition of Motion Picture News stated the seating capacity was 1,100 seats, 266 of them in the balcony. The theatre was constructed of fireproof brick and steel and equipped with the finest technology of the day, supplied by the Southern Theatre Equipment Company of Atlanta, Georgia.

The Beacham was also equipped with a stage, measuring 50 by 25 feet and stood 60 feet tall. Motion Picture News claimed it was the largest stage in Orlando.

Advertisement for the Beacham Theatre in the December 8, 1921 issue of the Evening Reporter Star

For the first 30 days that the Beacham Theatre was open, it only showed movies. Following this, it would serve both as a movie theatre and a vaudeville house.

The Beacham Theatre opened to the public on December 9th, 1921, showing the feature film The Wonderful Thing starring Norma Talmadge, and the two-reel Buster Keaton comedy, The Boat. During its first month, it played films by popular stars of the day including Lon Chaney, Charles Ray, Alla Nazimova, and Mabel Normand.

The first live event at the Beacham Theatre took place on January 31, 1922.

The Beacham Theatre was frequently present in trade papers of the day, often showcasing pictures of their lobby displays, or sometimes simply discussing the ingenious marketing techniques they showcased.

In 1923, The Beacham Theatre hosted the premiere of the first Orlando made film, The Broad Road, by the first Orlando film production company, Associated Authors Productions.

Rumors persist that there was as tunnel that ran under Orange Avenue, connecting the Beacham Theatre to the Angebilt Hotel, supposedly constructed so that performers could escape the crowds. More recent investigations suggest that such a tunnel either did not exist, or did not exist for these purposes.

As a Sparks Theater, Florida State Theater

Original owner Braxton Beacham, Sr. died in 1924 and his children inherited the theatre. Prior to that, in 1922, The Beacham Theatre was leased to the E.J. Sparks Theater chain. By 1933, The Beacham Theatre was leased again, this time to Florida State Theatres. Twenty years later, the Florida State Theatre chain was operating not only the Beacham Theatre, but also the Vogue Theatre, the Rialto Theatre, the Roxy Theatre, the Grand Theatre (until 1953) and the Cameo Theatre.

In 1936, the Beacham Theatre underwent renovation to install air conditioners in the dressing rooms and lighted stairs. This renovation also enlarged the auditorium and improved seating in the theatre.

Lobby display for Grandma’s Boy, shown in the October 21, 1922 issue of Motion Picture News

The Beacham showcasing a display of the 1933 Mae West film I’m No Angel

A Listing of Films Played at The Beacham

In order to get more of an idea about the culture in Orlando at the time, below are .pdfs listing the dates and preservation status of films that were played at the Beacham. Purple filled boxes indicate a live show of some kind. This work is currently in progress.

Films of 1921
Films of 1922
Films of 1923
Films of 1924