Five quick facts: Some Bijou Theatre trivia
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* Five United States presidents have been entertained at or visited the Lamar House. They were Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes.
* The Bijou's first color scheme was different than today. The 1909 Knoxville Sentinel newspaper described the theater interior in writing "olive green, white and gold are the predominating colors and are assisted by buff which intensifies the beauty of the whole...."
* When the Bijou opened in 1909, newspaper accounts said it could seat 1,503 people, up to 1,600 if chairs were put in the boxes and loggias.
* What's a loggia? The open balconies beside the boxes on the sides of the theater. The upper ones connect the boxes to the first- and second-floor balconies.
* A large light once hung from the Bijou's central ceiling medallion.
* The theater's second balcony is a quiet reminder of segregation. For a time in the 20th century, this was the only theater white and black patrons saw a movie at the same time. But blacks had to sit in the upper balcony. And they didn't walk through the front Gay Street lobby. They entered the Bijou by a side door on Cumberland Avenue, bought tickets at a booth inside that door and walked up a separate stair to the balcony. The stairs and balcony, its seats removed and its walls painted a deep gray, aren't now open to the public. The balcony is used for theater stage lighting.
* In the late 1940 to the mid-1950s, the Bijou was the Saturday place for kids. The "Bugs Bunny Club" played a cartoon, movie serial and local talent show each Saturday morning.
* Is the Bijou haunted? Depends on who you ask. But many folks report seeing, hearing or feeling something unusual. Maybe it's an old building's creaks and shadows. The supposed ghosts include the spirit of an early 20th-century stagehand called "Smiley."
By Amy McRary
© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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