History
The Jefferson Theatre was designed by noted architect Emile Weil and built in 1927 in downtown Beaumont for the Jefferson Amusement Company, Sol E. Gordon and J. C. Clemmons, partners, at a cost of one million dollars. Constructed of the finest materials available at the time, the Jefferson was a magnificent structure as well as a center for entertainment . . .a Movie Palace. The Beaumont Journal once described it in this manner: “Of striking Old Spanish architecture, the interior radiates romance and charm in the perfect blending of color, tone, architecture, sculpture, and fabric and breathes an eloquence of grandeur that is felt quite as much as it is seen.”
The Jefferson Theatre opened on Monday, November 14, 1927, with a program including The Jefferson Grand Orchestra conducted by Frank Harris, the organ played by Alice Richmond, and the movie “Rose of the Golden West” starring Mary Astor and Gilbert Roland. The theater hosted traveling shows, vaudevillians, and drama, in addition to some of the world’s greatest motion pictures, including “It’s A Wonderful Life,” whose 1947 premiere was held at the Jefferson Theatre, with star James Stewart and director Frank Capra in attendance. The Jefferson Theatre was THE showplace of entertainment for four decades and the pride of the Jefferson Amusement Company, led in later years by Julius Gordon, son of Sol Gordon. In addition to the theater’s other dazzling appointments, a magnificent Robert Morton Wonder Organ, voiced particularly for the acoustics of the Jefferson, was installed on a platform that allowed it to rise majestically from the orchestra pit to stage level. The organ’s 778 pipes and many percussive effects produced a variety of sounds rivaling those of an actual orchestra.
The Jefferson Theatre was beautifully restored after many decades and celebrated it’s Grand Reopening, November 5-15, 2003. Owned and operated by the City of Beaumont, the theatre has become the cornerstone of entertainment in Downtown. Weekly Classic Movie Nights began in August 2014 and are wildly successful with more than 12,000 attendees annually. Major concerts and shows in the last year include Pat Benatar, Bobby Bones, Russian Grand Ballet, Travis Tritt, Rodney Carrington, and Tracy Byrd.