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61-482: At the height of his empire, Pantages owned or operated 84 theatres across the United States and Canada. In 1929, he was accused of raping a 17-year-old dancer named Eunice Alice Pringle . He was found guilty but acquitted on appeal. The negative publicity led to the selling of his operations and he permanently ceased being a force in exhibition or vaudeville. He is largely forgotten today in historical accounts of

122-631: A Chicago policeman, he was involved in the raid that led to the Haymarket Riot . He then became a traveling actor, and landed in Seattle, Washington in 1889. By 1891, he was manager of the People's Theater, a box house in the wide-open "restricted district" below Yesler Way in what is now Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. A friendly, outgoing, but resolutely sober man in a rowdy environment, he dealt cards but did not play, made money off

183-485: A 17-year-old contortionist who performed at his theater, stating that she had become pregnant and that Meredith himself had paid for her abortion. This was almost certainly a slander: she appears to have ruptured herself while performing. By this time the People's did not even have any closed boxes, but Meredith tried to shut it down under an anti-box-house ordinance, while letting actual box houses continue to operate. The city council decided to believe reports that Meredith

244-490: A Law and Order League charging Meredith and Mayor Thomas J. Humes with a variety of offenses. The Seattle Times squared off in defense of Meredith and Humes, but the real duel was between Meredith and Considine. When Considine brought forth evidence that Meredith was corrupt, the P-I "played this testimony for as much as it was worth, perhaps more." Matters escalated. Meredith accused Considine of an affair with Mamie Jenkins,

305-513: A couple of months, Wyatt and Josephine returned to Oregon and caught the SS Alliance for Alaska. Considine continued as king of the Seattle gambling scene afterward. As the gold rush era began to wane, the "open town" atmosphere again became a matter of controversy. A former employee of Considine's, William L. Meredith, who had followed Considine to Spokane, returned to his earlier job as

366-466: A few months after Rockwell had opened up a small storefront movie theater in Vancouver , and later built a theater there in 1907 that stood until 2011, and another in 1914. That same year, he married a musician named Lois Mendenhall (1884–1941). Rockwell filed a breach-of-promise-to-marry lawsuit against him as 'Klondike Kate' that was settled out of court; she later wrote that he had stolen from her

427-484: A foothold in the film industry. His son, film producer John Considine Jr. ( Puttin' on the Ritz , 1930; Boys Town , 1938), married Pantages' daughter Carmen; their sons, John and Tim became successful movie and television actors. The 172 S. Washington Street basement that housed Considine's original People's Theater survives, although the building has lost its upper stories. At the corner of Second Avenue South,

488-573: A new trial with the California Supreme Court, basing his argument on the original trial judge's exclusion of testimony relating to Eunice Pringle's moral character. Pantages was acquitted in the second trial in 1931, after Giesler portrayed Pringle as a woman of low morals; he also demonstrated that a rape would have been impractical in Pantages's broom closet and suggested to the court that Pringle should have been able to fight off

549-430: A policeman. Meredith and Considine had slowly become enemies, and when Meredith became police chief he started an anti-vice campaign, which was really more of an anti-Considine campaign: he started to enforce laws against Considine's business, while leaving Considine's rivals alone. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer lashed Meredith for not coming down hard enough on vice. An ambitious politician named John Wilson started

610-427: A protection payment earmarked" for Meredith himself. Meredith caught up to them just outside the store, took point-blank aim at John Considine with his shotgun, and missed. The dazed Considine staggered into the store; Tom Considine and Merford, were so taken aback that they hardly reacted at first; Meredith entered the store pursuing John Considine. Meredith's next shot caught the back of Considine's neck, wounded

671-459: A short, heavily accented Greek owner of a chain of movie theaters, in the 1933 Busby Berkeley musical Footlight Parade . Eunice Pringle Eunice Irene Pringle (March 5, 1912, Garden Grove, California – March 26, 1996) was an aspiring dancer, notable for accusing Los Angeles movie-house owner Alexander Pantages of rape in 1929, resulting in a sensational trial. Pringle alleged that Pantages had attacked her on August 9, 1929 in

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732-455: A storage facility. This Orpheum was not Seattle's only theater by this name; indeed, it was Considine's third theater by this name in Seattle. The first had been one of Considine's early vaudeville theaters; the second was a renaming of Martin Beck's Coliseum Theater (no relation to the surviving 1917 Coliseum theater building, designed by B. Marcus Priteca for Pantages). A later Orpheum, also

793-556: A tiny side-office of his downtown theater after she came to see him to discuss her audition. Newspaper coverage of the trial, particularly by William Randolph Hearst 's Los Angeles Examiner , was antagonistic towards the Greek-accented Pantages, while portraying Pringle as the innocent victim. In countless stories in the Examiner from the moment the case broke in the newspaper on Saturday, August 10, 1929, until

854-562: A waiter and also, briefly and unsuccessfully, as a boxer. He left San Francisco in 1897, and made his way to Canada's Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush , ending up in the mining boom-town of Dawson City . In his time in the bitter cold of Dawson City, he worked as a waiter and as a porter at the Dawson City Opera House, saving his money to invest in local show business. Subsequently he managed

915-517: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . John Considine (Seattle) John W. Considine (September 29, 1868 – February 11, 1943) was an American impresario , a pioneer of vaudeville . Considine was born in Chicago , the son of Mary (Cusick) and John William Considine, who were Irish immigrants. Considine grew up attending Roman Catholic parochial schools, and eventually briefly attended St. Mary's College, Kansas . Briefly

976-505: Is denied. At the age of nine he ran away while with his father on a business trip in Cairo, Egypt. He then went to sea and spent the next two years working as a deck hand. He arrived in the United States in the early 1880s. His ties to his homeland seem mercurial; he never set foot in Greece again although he did assist his relatives financially and even brought his brother, Nicholas, to live in

1037-662: The Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.). A third founder, H. L. Leavitt , soon bolted to the Loyal Order of Moose . In New York City in 1906 on F.O.E. business, he met and teamed up with Tammany boss Big Tim Sullivan to form the Sullivan–Considine vaudeville circuit and associated nationwide booking agency . At it peak, the Sullivan–Considine circuit owned 20 theaters in the Pacific Northwest and

1098-625: The Klondike Gold Rush (1897) brought back an "open town" administration. By February 1898 he had leased back the People's Theater, and was back in the business along with the rest of Seattle, "mining the miners." Considine brought variety entertainment in Seattle to a new level by importing Farida Mazar Spyropoulos , famous as " Little Egypt " from the World's Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair of 1893). The People's Theater (and its rivals) posted brass bands outdoors early in

1159-401: The "Pantages Circuit", a chain of theatres into which he could book and rotate touring acts on long-term contracts. In Seattle Pantages competed with another impresario, John Considine . Their competition included such clandestine methods as stealing acts from each other and committing various forms of sabotage. This competition lasted for several decades and was one of the defining features of

1220-642: The 24 hours before the fight (including "They couldn't get a jury in King County that would convict me for killing Considine") helped to clarify any confusion as to what happened, as did the testimony of the best-situated eyewitnesses. The jury took only three hours to reach an acquittal. Considine soon reinvented himself as a respectable impresario north of the Yesler Way "Deadline". In 1902, he bought into Seattle's first well-appointed movie theater (Edison's Unique Theater, established 1897), partnering with

1281-426: The 3rd Avenue landscape"; the lavish interior was "awash in marble, onyx, and glass." The murals of the equally lavish auditorium depicted classical and mythological themes: scenes from The Iliad and Odyssey , Aesop and the 12 Muses . The Orpheum was touted at the time of its 5 May 1911 opening as "America's most luxurious theater," but after 1916, it was no longer was even the grandest vaudeville theater in

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1342-600: The 5' 6.5", 126 lb., 62-year-old Pantages. Although Pantages was acquitted, the trials ruined him financially. He sold the theatre chain to RKO for a lower sum than that originally offered—far less than what his "Pantages Greek" vaudeville palaces had cost him to build—and went into retirement. Pantages died in 1936 and was interred in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California . The rumour, begun at

1403-634: The Dexter Saloon in Nome, Alaska for about a year and went to Seattle, Washington, with a plan to open a saloon and gambling room. On November 25, 1899 the Seattle Star described him as "a man of great reputation among the toughs and criminals, inasmuch as he formerly walked the streets of a rough frontier mining town with big pistols stuck in his belt, spurs on his boots and a devil-may-care expression upon his official face". The Seattle Daily Times

1464-532: The KAO theatres through quiet purchases of the company's stock. In 1927, Kennedy and Sarnoff were successful in gaining control of KAO and, in 1928, changed the name of the company to Radio Keith Orpheum ( RKO ). They then approached Alexander Pantages with an offer to purchase his entire chain. Pantages rejected the offer. In the midst of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , Pantages was arrested and charged with

1525-640: The Orpheum Theatre there, by February 1903, to present vaudeville and moving pictures. Although details of his departure from the Yukon are unknown, Pantages was proprietor and manager of the theatre by April 1903. Pantages moved to Seattle , Washington , where he opened the Crystal Theater , a short-form vaudeville and motion picture house of his own. He ran the operation almost entirely by himself, and charged 10 cents admission. This took place

1586-1023: The Pantages Playhouse in 1914. All Pantages tours originated in Winnipeg and moved from there around the circuit of theatres. While most of the theatres were owned by others and managed by Pantages, beginning in 1911 he became a builder of theatres all over the western U.S. and Canada. His favored architect in these ventures was B. Marcus Priteca (1881–1971), of Seattle, who regularly worked with muralist Anthony Heinsbergen . Priteca devised an exotic, neo-classical style that his employer called "Pantages Greek". Pantages often sought out and judged performers personally instead of relying on New York agents like many of his competitors did. Pantages invested his theatrical profits into new outlets and eventually moved to Los Angeles. His showcase theatre at 7th and Hill Street in downtown L.A. also housed his offices. Around 1920, Pantages entered into partnership with

1647-604: The Union Club saloon and gambling operation in Seattle's Pioneer Square . The Seattle Star noted two weeks later that Earp's saloon was earning a large following. Considine unsuccessfully tried to intimidate Earp, but his saloon continued to prosper. On March 23, 1900, the state of Washington filed charges against several gamblers, including Earp and his partner. The club's furnishings were confiscated and burned. The Earps returned briefly to San Francisco in April 1900, but within

1708-668: The United States. He used to call himself "King Greek", perhaps in emulation of Louis B. Mayer 's "Super Jew". After having been at sea for two years he disembarked in Panama and spent some time there helping the French to dig the Panama Canal , but after contracting malaria he was warned by a doctor to move to cooler climates. He headed north, stopping briefly in Seattle but eventually settling in San Francisco where he worked as

1769-610: The arm of a messenger boy drinking a sarsaparilla at the soda fountain , and nearly caught Dr. Guy, who hit the floor. Meredith dropped the shotgun and went for the revolver. Considine managed to grab Meredith in a bear hug and drag him toward the entrance, yelling out for help from his brother, who finally realized what was happening. Tom grabbed Meredith's gun and smashed it into Meredith's skull. More police arrived, including Sheriff Cudihee. Tom grabbed one of their guns and drew down on them, yelling "Stand back, you sons of bitches!" Meanwhile, John Considine drew his gun on Meredith, who

1830-557: The early development of motion pictures. He died in February 1936. There is dispute about his year of birth, but it is likely that he was born in 1867 on the island of Andros , Greece . It is suggested that he was born "Pericles" Pantages but changed it to "Alexander" when he heard about Alexander the Great . In a personal correspondence between Rodney Pantages, son of Alexander, and Arthur Dean Tarrach, Pantages's biographer, this claim

1891-489: The eastern market by New York-based Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO). In the late 1920s, with the looming advent of talking pictures, David Sarnoff , the principal of the Radio Corporation of America ( RCA ), which held a number of patents in film/sound technology, established the film production company Radio Pictures, in which Joseph P. Kennedy held an option and a managing interest, and moved to acquire control of

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1952-487: The end of the trial, Pantages was portrayed as variously alone, aloof, cold, emotionless, effete, and European, while the American-born Pringle was portrayed as "the sweetest 17 since Clara Bow ". There were portraits with her family, tearful outbursts in court and lengthy interviews in the press, which depicted her with a sense of decorum and empathy. Pantages gave no interviews during the trial. Pantages

2013-512: The evening to draw in customers. Salvation Army bands merely increased the level of chaos. Business was good. Considine also obtained an interest in a nearby saloon, Billy the Mug's at the corner of Second and Washington. He operated the rooms above it as the Owl Club Rooms, a gambling joint. He established himself as a power in Seattle, "The Statesman", "The Boss Sport", ward heeler of

2074-489: The heir to a furniture business. After divorcing White, she married Richard Ellis Worthington, a psychologist, in 1947. They lived in Chicago for several years before moving to San Diego County in 1955. The couple had one child, a daughter, Marcy. Pringle died in 1996, aged 84. This crime -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This United States biographical article related to crime

2135-580: The incident, Pringle withdrew from show business. A story later circulated that Pringle implicated Kennedy in a deathbed confession in the throes of evident cyanide poisoning soon after the trial. The alleged incident is described in Ronald Kessler 's biography of Kennedy, Sins of the Father , as well as in Kenneth Anger 's Hollywood Babylon II . In 1935, Pringle married Robert White,

2196-593: The local distributor of Edison phonograph records , creating Seattle's first establishment to combine variety entertainment with movies and Considine's first "dry" establishment. Difficulty in obtaining first-rate acts to play a city so distant from the major concentrations of North American population led Considine to establish one of the first vaudeville circuits (quite possibly the very first), with theaters in Victoria , Vancouver , Portland , Bellingham , Everett , Yakima , and Spokane as well as Seattle. This

2257-528: The money with which he purchased the Crystal. It would be more than two decades before they saw each other again. In 1904, Pantages opened a second Seattle theatre, the Pantages; in 1906 he added a stock theater , the Lois, named after his wife. By 1920, he owned more than 30 vaudeville theatres and controlled, through management contracts, perhaps 60 more in both the United States and Canada. These theatres formed

2318-630: The motion picture distributor Famous Players , a subsidiary of film producer Paramount Pictures , and further expanded his "combo" houses, designed to exhibit films as well as staging live vaudeville, to new sites in the western U.S. Throughout the 1920s, the Pantages Circuit dominated the vaudeville and motion picture market in North America west of the Mississippi River. Pantages was effectively blocked from expansion into

2379-688: The national scene. Murray Morgan characterizes their rivalry as that between a well-connected, savvy businessman (Considine) and a hardworking uneducated genius (Pantages). Pantages simply had a better instinct than Considine for what the public would pay to see, and his total contempt for efforts to "uplift" public taste—and, especially for efforts to impose New York tastes on the country at large—turned out to make good business sense. When Tim Sullivan went insane in 1913, Considine lost one of his main sources of clout and connections. By 1914, Pantages had clearly won out. Considine tried selling out to Marcus Loew (whose eastern-U.S.-based circuit had been allied with

2440-530: The neighborhood: Alexander Pantages opened an even larger and more opulent theater several blocks north at 3rd Avenue and University Street. The Orpheum vaudeville shows moved to the larger Moore Theatre , but the Orpheum continued to operate for many years, variously showing live shows and movies; it was renamed as the President Theatre. In it latter years before it was razed in 1949, it was used as

2501-493: The next morning, and taking in over $ 3,000 ($ 109,872 in 2023) for "wine and other 'concoctions.'" In June, Pantages acquired a projector and made motion pictures a regular part of the Orpheum bill of fare. In autumn 1900, he and performer Kathleen 'Kate' Rockwell started working and living together, after she left the troupe that had brought her north from Victoria, BC , just the previous August and joined Pantages's Orpheum company. In November 1902 she returned to Victoria, leasing

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2562-465: The office to read his mail, deciding to knock off early because of a sore throat. Forewarned, he picked up a .38 revolver that normally remained at work. Meanwhile, Meredith had acquired a virtual arsenal: besides the shotgun (which he had wrapped in butcher paper), he was carrying a .32 Colt in a .45 frame and a .38-caliber short-barreled revolver. He had also placed silver dollars strategically around his vest, presumably for armor. He spoke openly of

2623-484: The rape of 17-year-old California-born Eunice Pringle . Pringle, an aspiring vaudeville dancer, alleged that Pantages had attacked her in a small side-office of his downtown Los Angeles theater after she came to see him to discuss her audition. Newspaper coverage of the trial, particularly by William Randolph Hearst 's Los Angeles Examiner , was strongly antagonistic towards the Greek-accented Pantages while portraying Pringle as an innocent victim. Both before and during

2684-648: The remaining aboveground floor houses a pawnshop, Barney's Loans and a longstanding gay / drag bar, the Double Header. The basement has housed a series of bars, including an after hours venue known officially as the Casino, and unofficially as "Madame Peabody’s Dancing Academy for Young Ladies" and, later the Catwalk (1994–2005), a venue friendly to the S&;M crowd. Club Heaven, an upscale nightclub, has occupied

2745-485: The sale of liquor but did not drink, managed a business whose profits depended on its female performers hustling drinks (and, in Murray Morgan 's words, "If the girls wished to peddle more personal wares, management did not object"), but was reputed to be a faithful family man. Considine decided that he could out-compete the other box houses by raising the level of entertainment, hiring professional actresses for

2806-727: The second trial, that RKO and Kennedy paid Eunice Pringle to frame Alexander Pantages, was revived in Ronald Kessler 's 1997 biography of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. titled The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded . The alleged conspiracy against Pantages also plays a prominent role in the book Hollywood and the Mob by Tim Adler. Pantages was the grandfather of actors John Considine III and Tim Considine via his daughter Carmen who married John Considine Jr. Paul Porcasi portrayed George Apolinaris,

2867-462: The space since 2006. From 1911, the flagship of Considine's chain was the Orpheum Theatre at 3rd Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle. Designed by William Kingsley , the $ 500,000 theater was constructed, insofar as possible, with materials and services obtained from within Washington state. The decorative wrought iron canopy extending from over the box office to the curb out became "a fixture of

2928-587: The stage and letting other girls work the floor and the "dark booths". He prospered greatly for a while, until he was brought down by the Panic of 1893 , the ensuing economic depression, and the 1894 election of an "anti-vice" administration in Seattle. He briefly attempted to run the People's Theater as a proper theater; he ran a box house in Spokane, Washington before a similar anti-vice administration shut him down; and he returned to Seattle and lay relatively low until

2989-556: The town "not being big enough" to hold both him and Considine. Meredith waited at the corner of Yesler and Occidental, where he expected the Considines would go to catch the streetcar back up the hill. He spotted the Considines headed into G.O. Guy 's drugstore a block to the east, where John meant to pick up something for his throat. They were standing just outside the store talking with one Patrolman Merford, who Meredith had suspended, according to Gordon Newell "for pocketing part of

3050-586: The trial, stories in the Examiner portrayed Pantages as alone, aloof, cold, emotionless, effete, and "European", while the American-born Pringle was humanized through portraits with her family, emotional outbursts in court and interviews in the press. Pantages granted no interviews during the trial. On October 27, 1929, Pantages was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. He was subsequently jailed for several months. Pantages engaged attorney Jerry Giesler and San Francisco lawyer Jake Ehrlich to file an appeal on his behalf. Giesler successfully petitioned for

3111-486: The vaudeville circuit of the times. Pantages showcased both film and live vaudeville to his audiences. Despite initially refusing to allow African-Americans into his theatres he eventually yielded after being successfully sued by an African-American who had been refused entry into a Pantages theater in Spokane, Washington. The starting point of the Pantages Circuit was the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba , where Pantages built

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3172-480: The venue, presenting shows with a stock company. The venture ended when the Opera House was destroyed in a fire, on January 9, 1900, but Pantages and the company arranged to build a new house, with electrical lighting and brick chimneys. Originally scheduled to open less than two weeks after the fire, on February 26, 1900, the Orpheum Theatre had its first "typical night of 'wine, women and song,'" closing at 2:30

3233-510: The western based Sullivan-Considine circuit since 1911 ); the deal ultimately fell apart, but a forfeited down payment gave Considine quite an infusion of cash. Still, with World War I clobbering access to international stars, Considine's circuit fell apart, and Pantages bought up the pieces. All concerned eventually moved to Los Angeles , which by then had firmly established itself as the West Coast entertainment capital. Considine gained

3294-462: The wide-open Fourth Ward . He became a power in town, and was locally famous for his personal sobriety (his closest thing to a vice was chewing gum ). His burly brother Tom and equally burly associate Doc Shaughnessy were known as his muscle and bodyguards. Shaughnessy, backed by Considine, started a physical culture institute. Considine was not just big in entertainment: he was the city's gambling kingpin as well. In November 1899, Wyatt Earp left

3355-580: Was affiliated with 20 in California; they also booked numerous theaters in the Midwest. While Considine and Cort had always been the friendliest of rivals, Considine's rivalry with another Seattle-based vaudeville impresario, Alexander Pantages , ran more to stealing each other's acts (or, failing that, literally stealing the acts' equipment). Still, they too maintained a cordial personal relationship. Their rivalry took place both on their home turf and on

3416-452: Was clearly wounded, but still moving. Considine shot Meredith three times in the chest and neck, killing him, then handed his gun to Sheriff Cudihee and surrendered himself. While Meredith had always been part of the "open town" faction, his death made him a martyr for the "closed town" side. At the Considines' trial, the prosecution tried to make the case that the Considines had started the gunfight; however, Meredith's outspoken statements in

3477-419: Was corrupt and his resignation was forced. Protesting a " star chamber " investigation, Meredith resigned. While Considine consulted with his lawyers about further action against Meredith, Meredith got hold of a double-barrelled 12-gauge shotgun . On the morning of Tuesday, June 25, 1901, Considine dropped by Meredith's lawyer's to inform them that if Meredith would not retract the claim about Mamie Jenkins, he

3538-710: Was found guilty and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal and he was acquitted in an equally sensational 1931 retrial. Hollywood myths have alleged that Joseph P. Kennedy , the patriarch of the famous American family, paid Pringle $ 10,000 to enter Pantages's office and accuse him of rape, with the goal of destroying his reputation and business prospects and forcing Pantages to accept Kennedy's bid to buy Pantages's theatre chain. Pantages had adamantly refused to sell when Kennedy initially approached him. The conviction destroyed Pantages's reputation. Despite his success on appeal, he sold his chain to Kennedy's RKO and Warner Bros. After

3599-471: Was less full of praise, announcing in a very small article that he had a reputation in Arizona as a "bad man". He faced considerable opposition to his plan from Considine, who controlled all three gaming operations in town. Although gambling was illegal, Considine had worked out an agreement with Police Chief C.S. Reed. But Earp partnered with an established local gambler named Thomas Urquhart and they opened

3660-407: Was ready to sue for libel . He and his brother Tom wandered down from their (and the lawyer's) First Hill neighborhood. He dropped by the courthouse hoping to sort out his business's legal problems; the prosecuting attorney was out. At the courthouse, a friend warned him that Meredith was after him, and advised him to arm himself. He went about his day—shooting some pool with his brother, dropping by

3721-493: Was the world's first popularly priced vaudeville chain, with ten- and twenty-cent admissions. Considine soon cut (or played down) his old ties to the "restricted district". He played a major role in one of the country's rising fraternal organizations : just before the turn of the century he and John Cort , whose career followed a similar trajectory, had founded the Independent Order of Good Things, which soon became

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