The Orpheum Theater was built in 1929. It was the largest
construction project in Phoenix before the Great Depression. The
Orpheum theater was state of the art during the 1920s. The
audience chamber created the illusion of sitting in the
courtyard of a Spanish villa. The ceiling mimicked a sky that
could change from golden sunset to starry night whereas the
sidewalls were paintings of distant landscapes.
Originally the theater was made for vaudeville, a type of
variety show between the 1880s and 1930s. The elements of
vaudeville included music, dance, comedy, magic, athlete, and so
on. Because the Great Depression discouraged people from
spending resources on expensive entertainments, Vaudeville
eventually faded and Orpheum was converted to a movie cinema.
Because of its giant size, Orpheum was praised as the
Grand Dane of Movie Theaters.
