Canon Theatre
Encyclopedia
History
The Canon Theatre began as the Pantages Theatre in 1920 as a combination vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
house. Designed by the great theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas White Lamb was an American architect, born in Scotland. He is noted as one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.-Career:...
, it was the largest cinema in Canada (originally having 3373 seats) and one of the most elegant.
The Pantages was built by the Canadian motion picture distributor Nathan L. Nathanson, founder of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, the Canadian motion picture distributing arm of Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
's Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. While Famous Players retained ownership, management and booking were turned over to the Pantages organisation, one of the largest vaudeville and motion picture theatre circuits in North America.
The Pantages circuit had its beginnings in Canada, in the Yukon. Pericles Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages was an American vaudeville and early motion picture producer and impresario who created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the western United States and Canada.-Early life:...
had been a sailor on a Greek merchant ship who left the sea in search of riches during the great 1897 Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
. Although he found no gold, he became part owner of a small theatre in Dawson City
Dawson City, Yukon
The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in the Yukon, Canada.The population was 1,327 at the 2006 census. The area draws some 60,000 visitors each year...
- the Orpheum - that staged vaudeville and burlesque shows. From this beginning, he built an entertainment empire that would eventually include a Hollywood film studio, a powerful vaudeville booking agency and ownership or control of more than 120 theatres across Canada and the western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- most of which were known as "The Pantages". The Toronto theatre was the easternmost house of the Pantages circuit, which then dominated the western market, but had been blocked in the east by the powerful Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
chain (later to be absorbed by the Radio Corporation of America into the motion picture company Radio Keith Orpheum, or RKO).
The Pantages empire - 30 years in the making - came to a sudden end in 1929 when Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages was an American vaudeville and early motion picture producer and impresario who created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the western United States and Canada.-Early life:...
was convicted of the rape of a 17-year old chorus girl and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Although the conviction was overturned on appeal, the scandal and the legal costs ruined Pantages. To the public, he had "got away with it" thanks to a clever lawyer. In 1930, he was forced to sell his theatres - at pennies on the dollar - with most of his assets going to RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
.
Famous Players
With the collapse of the Pantages circuit, the Pantages name came off the marquees of almost all the theatres. In 1930, the Toronto Pantages was renamed Imperial and became exclusively a cinema - no more live vaudeville. Management and control were resumed by Famous Players, which retained ownership for more than 50 years.In 1972, the Imperial closed after a 9 month run of The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, and was divided into six separate cinemas by Toronto architect Mandel Sprachman. It was officially reopened by Mayor David Crombie in 1973 as the "Imperial Six". Cinema 1 was built forward from the balcony edge toward the top half of the stage proscenium arch. Cinema 2 was located on the original balcony. Cinemas 3 and 4 were built in the original stage house, with cinema 3 being on top in the loft and cinema 4 underneath on the stage floor, and both accessed by a long glass walkway that ran the length of the building exterior above Victoria Street. Cinemas 5 and 6 were the original main floor seating divided in half by a partition wall.
All traces of its elegant past, such as gold leaf and faux marble balustrades, were painted over with garish 1970s colours of yellow, red, blue, black, and silver, with the walls carpeted in red and blue. The entrance at Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
was a modern-looking, aluminum-paneled front, with no canopy or vertical, featuring a large circle opening above the entrance into a brightly-lit open outdoor square with bright modern marquee panels above on 3 sides, and 6 television screens on each side of the approach to the entrance doors showing movie trailers of features and coming attractions. The TV screens were later replaced by poster cases due to visibility problems with sunlight washing out the TV screens and technical problems with the early 1 inch video tape machines (12 in total, a separate machine for each screen).
The Imperial Six was a big money-maker for Famous Players throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, playing all the big releases including all the James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
and Rocky
Rocky (film series)
Rocky is a boxing saga of popular films all written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, who plays the character Rocky Balboa. The films are, by order of release date: Rocky , Rocky II , Rocky III , Rocky IV , Rocky V and Rocky Balboa...
releases. It had the same manager, Philip A. Traynor, from well before it closed for renovations in 1972, right up until its last day of operations by Famous Players in 1986. Mr. Traynor moved to the Plaza Cinemas and subsequently retired from Famous Players following the closing of the Imperial Six.
The Imperial Six sat on 3 major pieces of land. Famous Players owned the Yonge Street entrance, which bridged an alley and connected to the main building on Victoria Street, and they also owned the front half of the main theatre building, from the centre of the dome to the back wall of the stage house. The other half of the main theatre building, from the centre of the dome to the north wall of the main lobby, was leased from an elderly lady in Michigan, whose family had owned that property since before the theatre was constructed in 1920.
Famous Players Development Corp, an arms length real estate company spun off from Famous Players Ltd. in the 1970s and based in New York, attempted to play hardball with the Michigan owner during negotiations to renew the lease. Famous Players Development were holding out for a more favourable lease rate and when the lease expired, an agreement for a new lease still had not been reached. When the owner suggested that she would approach Famous Players' rival if they could not reach an agreement for the new lease rate, the representatives for Famous Players Development dared her to, suggesting that Cineplex Odeon would not be able to make use of "half a theatre". They were wrong. The same day that the owner's lawyers contacted rival cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation, their then CEO Garth Drabinsky
Garth Drabinsky
Garth Howard Drabinsky, OC is a former Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. His sentence is stayed, pending appeal.-Biography:...
seized on the opportunity, and personally flew to Michigan and immediately signed a lease. The following day, on May 31, 1986, with the assistance of a bailiff and paid security, Cineplex Odeon seized control of the north half of the Imperial Six, effectively locking Famous Players out of their flagship downtown Toronto theatre, including the theatre offices, all the lobby space, 4 out of the 6 projection booths, all of cinema 2, and the back half of cinemas 5 and 6. Temporary walls were erected to keep Famous Players out of Cineplex Odeon's space.
Cineplex Odeon
Cineplex OdeonCineplex Odeon
Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States...
was determined to reopen their half of the theatre despite their not having an entrance on busy Yonge Street, and despite the main theatre requiring major work to replace the fire exits which were all on the Famous Players' end of the main theatre building. Initial plans were to completely gut their half and build a new multiplex cinema, which would augment the nearby Eaton Centre
Toronto Eaton Centre
The Toronto Eaton Centre is a large shopping mall and office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named after the now-defunct Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it. In terms of the number of visitors, the shopping mall is Toronto's top tourist attraction, with around one...
Cineplex, increasing their presence in downtown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
However, notwithstanding the tacky colours, the historic theatre with its elegant grand lobby, vaulted ornate plaster ceilings, columns and grand staircase, inspired a certain nostalgia for maintaining its historic grandness. Such grandness did not exist in any of the other theatre properties owned and operated by Cineplex Odeon, as most of them dated after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when J. Arthur Rank
J. Arthur Rank
Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank was a British industrialist and film producer, and founder of the Rank Organisation, now known as The Rank Group Plc.- Family business :...
came to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to start Odeon Theatres of Canada in the late 1940s.
Plans to gut the building and build as many as 8 screens were dropped and instead plans were drawn up for a 3 screen cinema utilizing as much of the existing interior as possible. However, the need for a whole new system of fire exits, and the fact that the grand lobby occupied a major part of the space under the original balcony made the construction of 2 smaller cinemas on the main floor impractical. The final plan was for a single screen 800 seat stadium-style cinema utilizing the only complete auditorium on their half, what had been cinema 2 on the original balcony.
After a very costly construction project, the single-screen Pantages Cinema opened on December 12, 1987. The cinema entrance was located on Victoria Street, which did not get as much foot traffic as Yonge Street.
The war between Famous Players and Cineplex Odeon continued following a major corporate shakeup at Famous Players' head office following the loss of the Imperial Six, which saw the ousting of their long-time President George Destounis, even though Famous Players Ltd in Toronto was not involved with the failed lease renegotiation. The bitterness between the two rival chains was very much in play at the Gala opening of the Pantages Cinema. Famous Players organized a construction crew to stand by with jack hammers on their half of the building on the other side of a drywall partition built on the property line where the two rivals' halves met only 5 feet behind the Pantages screen, and intended to disrupt the gala screening of Wall Street.
Famous Players also called in the Toronto Fire Department complaining that there were not adequate fire exits for safe public occupancy. An inspection carried out by the Fire Inspector less than an hour before the scheduled gala event confirmed that the fire exits still had wet concrete and were incomplete, and the Fire Inspector ordered that the building remain closed to the public until the fire exits were finished, effectively canceling the opening event. The gala screening was moved to the Varsity Cinemas. Crews worked around the clock to finish the fire exits, and the cinema opened to the public the next day with its scheduled run of Wall Street. Following the opening, Famous players removed all the doors on every fire exit on their half to allow freezing cold winter air to fill their portion of the building. The partition wall between Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players had been constructed as a fire wall but was not insulated as an exterior wall.
Other films that showed during its brief time as a single-screen cinema were The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. Director Philip Kaufman and screenplay writer Jean-Claude Carrière show Czechoslovak artistic and intellectual life during the Prague Spring of the Communist...
, Colors, and a Gala screening attended by director Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
for the launch of his film The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War is a 1988 American drama film based on the John Nichols novel of the same name, the first book in a trilogy. It was directed by Robert Redford and the screenplay was written by Nichols and David S. Ward...
.
After a long bitter legal fight, Famous Players eventually agreed to sell their portions of the original theatre and Yonge Street entrance to Cineplex Odeon, but the victory was a Pyrrhic
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
one: as was standard practice for Famous Players when they sold a major downtown theatre property, they attached a condition to the sale forbidding Cineplex from ever again using the theatre for motion pictures. The last film ever to play in the Pantages Cinema was Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film and the first in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective, which...
.
Even before the Pantages closed to movies on August 26, 1988, Garth Drabinsky
Garth Drabinsky
Garth Howard Drabinsky, OC is a former Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. His sentence is stayed, pending appeal.-Biography:...
had a vision for restoring the complete theatre intact to its original 1920 look and creating a new live entertainment division of Cineplex Odeon. At the time, Toronto was experiencing a renaissance in live theatre, and there was an interest both to restore large historic theatres, such as the ambitious restoration already underway at the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre by the Ontario Heritage Foundation only one block to the south, and to create more venues that could attract big successful Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows to Toronto, such as the successful runs that Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
had enjoyed earlier in the 1980s.
With the successful acquisition of Famous Players' remaining portions of the theatre, it was announced that the cinema would close and be restored to its former 1920 glory for the opening of The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
. Work began in ernest immediately following the closing of the cinema, with interior demolition work removing all the 1973 partition walls, floors, fire exits and passageways, as well as excavating the entire basement underneath the original theatre floor to allow for deeper below grade spaces to accommodate modern live theatre amenities. All the original plasterwork, some of which had been hidden behind drywall during the 1973 multiplexing, was kept and restored. Tremendous effort was made to research the original paint colours from 1920, with experts on scaffolds using fine instruments to pick away layer after layer of paint. Black and white original photos were carefully studied to recreate faithfully everything from the fountain on the grand staircase, to the ticket box in the Yonge Street link, to the ornate marquee and canopy on Yonge Street with the original Pantages vertical as it had looked at its original opening in 1920.
Rebirth
The "new" 2200-seat Pantages reopened in 1989 with the first legitimate theatre production it had ever known, Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's musical The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, which starred Colm Wilkinson
Colm Wilkinson
Colm Wilkinson is an Irish tenor, best known for originating the role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and for playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera .Due to his association with these musicals, he reprised the role of...
and Rebecca Caine
Rebecca Caine
Rebecca Caine is a Canadian opera and musical theatre performer. She was born in Toronto and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She currently resides in London. She is 50–51 years of age.-Career:...
and played at the Pantages for more than a decade.
The Pantages was operated by a division of Cineplex Odeon known as Livent
Livent
The Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, Inc., also known as Livent, was a theatre production company in Toronto, Ontario, begun as a division of the motion picture exhibitor Cineplex Odeon...
. After a battle for control of Cineplex between its founder, Garth Drabinsky
Garth Drabinsky
Garth Howard Drabinsky, OC is a former Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. His sentence is stayed, pending appeal.-Biography:...
, and Cineplex Odeon's majority shareholder, MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
, Livent became an independent company, with no ties to the parent corporation. Livent continued to own and operate the Pantages until 1999, when the theatre was purchased - along with other assets of the bankrupt Livent - by Clear Channel Entertainment.
Ownership fell to Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
(NYSE:LYV), owners of Broadway Across Canada
Broadway Across Canada
Broadway Across Canada is a Toronto, Ontario based theatrical presenter who, together with their U.S. affiliate, Broadway Across America, presents touring Broadway shows, family productions and other live theatrical events throughout a network of over 50 North American cities.Broadway Across Canada...
and Broadway Across America
Broadway Across America
Broadway Across America is a presenter and producer of live theatrical events in the United States and Canada since 1984. It is currently owned by Key Brand Entertainment , who purchased it from Live Nation in 2008...
, a subsidiary of Clear Channel, which turned management of the facility over to Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions is a Canadian based theatrical production company and promoter.The company was founded in 1987 by David Mirvish, son of Toronto retailing icon and owner of the Royal Alexandra Theatre Ed Mirvish....
, also giving Mirvish right of first negotiation should the theatre ever be put up for sale.
In July, 2001, Live Nation announced a pledge of support for the theatre from Canon
Canon Inc.
is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...
Canada, Inc. In recognition of this pledge, which guaranteed the continued life and health of this important, historic and beautiful showplace, the theatre has been renamed the Canon Theatre.
On January 24, 2008, Key Brand Entertainment, Inc., a private investment company dedicated to the development, production and distribution of live theatre, announced that it has acquired all of Live Nation, Inc.’s North American theatrical assets. Key Brand Entertainment is owned and controlled by British theatre producer John Gore and led by entertainment industry veteran Thomas B. McGrath.
As part of the financing arrangements for the purchase of Live Nation's assets, Key Brand agreed to sell both the Canon and the nearby Panasonic Theatre
Panasonic Theatre
Panasonic Theatre is a live theatre owned and operated by Mirvish Productions in Toronto, Canada.-Early years:The theatre was built in 1911 as a private residence and then converted as a movie theatre in 1919 known as The Victory...
, in Toronto. Honouring the original lease agreement between Mirvish Productions and Live Nation, Key Brand offered Mirvish the right of first negotiation and Mirvish successfully bid to purchase both theatres.
This bid prompted Toronto-based theatre producer Aubrey Dan
Aubrey Dan
Aubrey Dan, is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist as well as a producer and impresario. He is the son of Leslie Dan, a Canadian entrepreneur and founder of the generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Novopharm.-Business ventures:...
, of Dancap Productions
Dancap Productions
Dancap Productions is a theatre production company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.It was founded in 2007 by Aubrey Dan. Since then, it has brought many productions to Toronto. Its longest running production is Jersey Boys. The touring company opened their show on 21. August 2008 at the Toronto...
, a minority shareholder in Key Brand, to seek an injunction forbidding the sale. Mr. Dan's injunction application was dismissed by the court on August 19, 2008, and sale of the theatres to Mirvish Productions allowed to proceed.
Theatre specifications
- Total seats (1920): 3373; (2005): 2295
- Seating: mezzanine, orchestra and boxes
- Entrance: 244 Victoria Street
- Secondary Entrance: 263 Yonge Street
- Owner: Mirvish Productions
Other Thomas Lamb theatres in Canada
- Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto
- Uptown TheatreUptown Theatre (Toronto)The Uptown Theatre was a historic movie theatre in Toronto, Ontario which was demolished in 2003. The entrance to the theatre was located on Yonge Street just south of Bloor. Like many theatres of the time it was constructed so that only the entrance was on a major thoroughfare while the main...
, Toronto - Capitol CinemaCapitol Cinema (Ottawa)The Capitol Cinema was the largest movie theatre ever built in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was the city's only true movie palace. Opened in 1920, the 2530-seat cinema was regarded as one of the best cinemas designed by famed theatre-architect Thomas W...
, Ottawa - Temple/Capitol/Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, Brantford