On September 16, 1927, The Egyptian Theater (later renamed the Bala Theater), debuted with a showing of the feature-length silent film “Service for Ladies.”
A few days before the Egyptian opened its doors for the first time, the Inquirer wrote – It is regarded as unique among [movie] houses in this city, especially in that the decorative theme is Egyptian and is unusually colorful… There is a seating capacity of 1,500 and the surroundings are such as to suggest an ancient temple of Egypt. Fourteen massive columns, lotus-leaf capped, are in the auditorium, divided equally on each side.
The new theater in Bala was an example of a design style that was first sparked by Napoleon’s 1798-1801 Egypt Campaign. The style was known as Egyptian Revival, or Egyptomania.
Luci Gosling in Mary Evans Picture Gallery wrote – Aristocrats commissioned their homes to be decorated in an Egyptian style and even whole buildings referenced its art and statuary. Examples include the Egyptian Hall in London (built in 1812, demolished in 1905), and the curious Egyptian House in Penzance, dating from the early 19th century. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the British occupation of Egypt from 1882 only served to increase interest. And when Thomas Cook began to offer Egyptian holidays and Nile cruises in the later 19th century, the exotic sights and cultural heritage of Egypt became a familiar style touchstone to a wider society.
[Howard] Carter’s landmark discovery on November 26, 1922 led to a renewed and unprecedented Egyptomania boom. Egyptian motifs and hieroglyphics were an ancient echo of more modern 1920s designs, and Tut-mania’s influence extended to music, fashion and much more. Here are a just a few examples from our collection, reflecting how when the world went Egypt-mad in the 1920s.
As if he had planned it, the month before before Carter found Tut’s tomb, Sid Grauman opened his Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.
In addition to Grauman’s Hollywood Egyptian Theater, and the theater in Bala, several other 1920s era movie theaters were constructed in the Egyptian Style including:
- Bush Egyptian Theatre,San Diego, California, 1923 – Demolished 2003
- Peery’s Egyptian Theatre, Ogden, Utah, 1924 – Active
- Egyptian Theatre, Coos Bay, Oregon, 1925 – Active
- Mary G. Steiner Egyptian Theatre, Park City, Utah, 1926 – Active
- Capitol Center for the Arts, Concord, New Hampshire, 1927 – Active
- The Egyptian Theatre, Boise, Idaho, 1927 – Active
- Empress Theatre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1927 – Closed 1992
- Egyptian Theatre, Delta, Colorado, 1928 – Active
- Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb, Illinois, 1929 – Active
- The Moore Egyptian, Seattle, Washington, 1975 – 1980
- SIFFCinema Egyptian (The Egyptian Theater before 2014), Seattle, Washington, 1981 – Active
According to CinemaTreasures.org – In March of 1955, Ellis Theatres took over the theatre from Stanley Warner, renamed it the Bala Theatre, and operated it into the 1980’s. In 1987, the Sotolidis family purchased the theatre to save it from closing. The Bala Theatre is featured in David Naylor’s 1987 book, the National Trust Guide ‘Great American Movie Theatres’. Photographs taken during the run of “The Mask” (1994) show the exterior and auditorium and are on view at the website of HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey) of the Library of Congress.
The Bala was “Triplexed” in 1994
Photo by Craig Talbert – Wikiepedia
Clearview Cinemas had a lease to operate the theater from 1998 until June of 2013, when Bow-Tie Cinema took over for stint that lasted only until August of that year, at which point Reel Cinema began managing the the theater. Greg Wax, is the owner of Reel Cinema. Reel still runs the Narberth and Anthony Wayne Theaters.
The Bala Theater “went dark” (and has remained dark) on December 1, 2014, according to the Inquirer, “because of a bitter personal feud” beween Wax and theater owner, Isaak Sotolidis.
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Would love to see the theatre reopen. Many good memories. Get together and settle your dispute please.