GOOD HOPE LANDMARK FALLS VICTIM TO TIME

An old Haarig landmark, the Orpheum Theater building at 615 Good Hope, has fallen victim to the ravages of time and soon will be demolished, according to Rick Murray of the city planning office.

Cape Girardeau authorities decided to take down the 74-year-old building after authorities discovered the roof of the old theater had partially collapsed, which caused the upper west wall of the building to bulge.

Cape Girardeau firefighters, called Dec. 14 to a second floor apartment in a two-story building adjacent to the theater, discovered the damage.

Murray said a city building inspector and the building's owner, Claude "Nip" Kelley, subsequently examined the building Dec. 17.

"According to the inspector, the old theater building was in such a dilapidated condition that the owner felt it was not economically feasible to renovate it," said Murray. "Instead, the owner has chosen to demolish the building."

Murray said a protective wooden barricade has been placed around the fire-damaged building at 621 Good Hope, where a part of the wall that faces the alley adjoining the old Orpheum building was stripped away by the fire's heat. The building also is owned by Kelley.

Murray said no formal condemnation actions have been taken on either building.

"We do not anticipate any such action will be necessary because the owner of the buildings has informed us he plans to demolish the Orpheum Building, and make repairs to the other building," he said.

Murray said options for the building at 621 Good Hope are to reduce the two-story structure to one story, or to repair the fire and heat damage in the second floor and attic areas.

According to Missourian records, construction of the Orpheum building began Oct. 30, 1916. Records show that owner Henry Sanders opened the new Haarig theater on Good Hope Nov. 7, 1917.

But Sanders' theater apparently wasn't the first in Harrig to carry the Orpheum marquee. Records show that a motion picture theater was built around 1910 in the 500 block of Good Hope, which was first named the Grand, then changed to New Circle, but later was named the Orpheum.

According to an article in the April 2, 1970 edition of the Cape Girardeau Bulletin reported that the building in the 500 block of Good Hope was razed in April 1970.

The new Orpheum Theater at 615 Good Hope apparently was the first theater to introduce "talking" moving pictures to Cape Girardeau on Jan. 15, 1929.

The theater also featured a "Typhoon Fan System," according to news accounts and was "the coolest place in town," and in 1920, a pipe organ was installed in the theater.

20th Century Fox Film Company in 1929 acquired the Orpheum, along with the Broadway and Park theaters in Cape Girardeau and the Circle T theater in Jackson, from S. E. Brady.

Under its new owners, the Orpheum continued as a theater throughout the next three decades, as a 1947 article in the Missourian noted the 30th anniversary of the Orpheum Theater.

By the early 1950s, Good Hope merchants were sponsoring Saturday morning "kid" matinees at the Orpheum in addition to the regular program schedule.

But the Orpheum closed its doors on the night of Feb. 3, 1954, which the newspaper noted was the end of the theater that not only brought "talkies" to Cape Girardeau in 1929, but also was the first to show color film in 1919.

After the theater closed, Lester Rhodes purchased the Orpheum building and converted it for business use. Rhodes owned a furniture business adjacent to the theater building.

But the only business to occupy the building apparently was a catering operation that used the facility from 1956 to 1960. City directories listed the building vacant since 1960.