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Lyric Theater

            In 1903 real estate entrepreneur General Louis V. Clark purchased lots 11, 12, and 13 on 3rd Avenue and 18th Street.    The soon to be Lyric Office Building and Lyric Theatre occupied addresses 1800-1808 Third Avenue North adress.  City directories reveal this location to have been a grocery store, a furniture  store, a shoe shop and a saloon.
  Generak Clark engaged the Birmingham firm of Hendon Hetrack Construction Company to construct the office building and theatre.  To operate the theatre, Clark entered into a partnership with Jake Wells.  Mr Wells was a leading Southern Theatre owner.  Wells owned the Bijou Theatre ( formerly Birmingham Auditorium, Bijou, Lowes Bijou, Pantages, and Birmingham Theatre ) on Third Avenue and Seventeenth Street.
  The Lyric Theatre was advertised to open its doors on January 12, 1914.  Due to an injunction filed by the Orpheum Theatre the Lyric opened January 14, 1914.  The dispute centered around the fact that both the Orpheum and Lyric Theatres had a vaudeville booking contract with B.F. Keith Shows.  The Lyric would present B.F. Keith Big Time Vaudeville from 1914 until the opening of the Ritz Theatre in 1926.  Some of the show business legends to perform on the Lyric stage were Sophie Tucker 9 during the 2nd week the theatre opened0, Gus Edward's Kid Kabaret with George Jessel and Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, Buster Keaton with the Keaton Family Acrobats, Milton Bearle, and Mae West.  In the fifties both Roy Rogers and Gene Autry appeared live on stage at the yric Theatre.
  After the 1926 Ritz Theatre opening,  the Lyric's star began to fade.  To supplement the loss of the B.F. Keith Vaudeville, the Lyric began to produce plays.  Changes in ownership and the depression took their toll on the Lyric.  The theatre closed and when it reopened it operated as a holdover house for the Alabama Theatre and later the Empire-Melba Theatres.  From time to time, the Lyric showed lower grade movies and was not the best place to go see a movie.
  Never again would the Lyric Theatre attain its former greatness.  Over the years the theatre woud gradualy decline.  In the late 1950's the Lyric closed its doors.  The lobby would be used for retail space and the theatre would be vacant.  In 1972, a group of young businessmen reopened the Lyric as the Grand Bijou Theatre showing classic movies (  I was 6 at that time).  After the Grand Bijou closed, the Lyric Theatre ended it operation as the Foxy and later Roxy Adult Cinema.

  Plans are to raise the money and completely restore the theatre in time for its 100th anniversary in January 2014
   

Taken on: September 26, 2009

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Camera: Sony DSLR-A350, f/4.0, 0.4 sec, 22mm (=33mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSLR-A350
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.4
Focal Length:	22mm (35mm equivalent: 33mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Picture Motion Browser
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