Comments on: The Orpheum Theater (1965)

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:21:38 +0000

Bill, sounds like great memories for your wife. Those of us who remember downtown Springfield prior to when most of the businesses left are very fortunate.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:41:56 +0000

My wife’s mother operated the Beauty shop above the Orpheum Theatre for many years. My wife has many memories of visiting her mother there, and being taken to some of the neat stores in the downtown area at that time..

By: Joe Lombardo- New York

Joe Lombardo- New York — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:05:41 +0000

I remember going to the Orpheum with my older cousin back in the late ’50s and early ’60s (she was a teen and I was 5-6)when I was visiting. I remember seeing Pollyanna with Hayley Mills and I still remember the murals. I don’t remember an organ or have the memory blotted out by the grand organ at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
It’s a shame that they couldn’t save it, but so much of Springfield was wrecked to “save it”, only to see the malls destroy the utownn as my grandmother called it.

One memory that I have of Springfield indelibly imprinted in my memory are the smells in the old Sears on South Grand. My grandfather would park in the lot and my grandmother and I would enter where they had the hot dog stand in the vestibule-had to have a hot dog and a rootbeer- and then enter the store where the candy department overpowered with the smell of chocolate!
God, I miss those days!

By: ed kienzler

ed kienzler — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:55:16 +0000

I went to Chicago and on a whim went and took a tour of the Chicago Theatre after it had been renovated and all I could think of was the Orpheum and the Chicago was built in the very early 1920′who needs stinking parking lots when there is no where to shop downtown how about the new theatre people putting a multiplex movie house downtown….Orpheum 2!

By: Barbara Wyeth

Barbara Wyeth — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:32:32 +0000

The Orpheum was a great loss, I will always maintain. Too bad the theatre didn’t last long enough to be valued as it would have these days, with the new museum/library and the interest in historic preservation.

By: John(Jack)Sweet

John(Jack)Sweet — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:35:01 +0000

I remember my Aunt Grace taking me to the Orpheum to see Uncle Tom Cabin as a play. We sat in the peanut gallery. Those were the days.

By: Carol Damhorst Janousek

Carol Damhorst Janousek — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:59:30 +0000

I also grew up loving the Orpheum. Went to Blessed Sacrament School with John Patrick Berman whose father was the manager at the time. This would have been late 40′s to mid 50′s. He had an older brother Jay and a younger sister. Always felt it was shameful nothing was done to save it.

By: Marilyn Copp

Marilyn Copp — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:13:12 +0000

Every time I visit Springfield and drive south on 5th passing that bank building that usurped the spot of the Orpheum Theatre – i damn that bank. But mostly I damn the city fathers, mayor and council, and developers that, without vision, without a sense of history, beauty, fantasy – without a sense of quality and magic of the past – allowed this to happen. Small-minded greedy people – just a hand full – have the power to make these decisions never pay. They never suffer the humiliation of being exposed. I want to know who they were. Publish their names. Who were these few, these greedy few, that deprive all of us to this day of such magical memories. To us children the ORPHEUM THEATRE was our mirrored PALACE AT VERSAILLES – mirrors to the past, gone forever, smashed to pieces by those greedy little men with no vision. Who were they? I speak for all seven of the Copps.

By: Pat Ryan

Pat Ryan — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:44:26 +0000

Yes, we all regret the loss of such a beautiful theater, certainly the best of Springfield. I remember seeing “Psycho” there in 1960-61. Earlier, we used to sneak up to the many balconies, which were not open, and marvel at how many levels there were. I was no longer in Springfield when they tore it down. I believe the laws that didn’t allow banks to have branch offices had an effect on the bank needing more access to its building.

By: Tom Watts

Tom Watts — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:19:37 +0000

I was an usher at the Orpheum summer of 1953 to Jan 1954. I memorized the dialogue of several films…”Shane”, “Roman Holiday”, “The Bandwagon” and a few others. I am glad I wasn’t living in Springfield when they tore this beautiful cinema palace down. Other cities have saved their art deco theatres..mainly in the Pacific Northwest.