The Lonely Bluebird Theater Continues to Please

Denver's Historic Bluebird Theater Still Draws Crowds

Although I no longer make Denver my home town, I am a native of that wonderful city. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandparents taking me to see movies at three special movie theaters. One was the Paramount in the downtown area and the other two are the Gothic, on South Broadway in Englewood and the Bluebird, on East Colfax near the Denver City Park district.

This article is a revisit and review of the Bluebird, it's past and present. The Bluebird was originally a movie house for silent films. It opened in 1913 and was one of the first movie theaters in Denver. It also had vaudeville shows at some time in it's history but primarily it was a movie house. When my grandfather took me there in the 1950's it usually was to see some animated cartoon feature film. I also loved the news reels and cartoons that came with other black and white family films. Hot summer days were often spent in the cool of the Bluebird. My grandfather always insisted on us going early. He loved to look at the art deco features of the Bluebird and told me how it important it was to see them and remember. He felt that some day, it would all be gone and that if the building remained the art deco detailing would be sold off. He thought the architecture was worth it's weight in gold. He particularly loved the giant hanging chandelier over the area in front of the stage.

I remember young girls passing out in the aisle of the Bluebird during showing of the movie Love Me Tender, that starred Elvis Presley when it opened in Denver in November of 1956. By the end of the 1960's the Bluebird was starting to get very run down and the films started to get less and less family oriented.

I returned from duty in Europe with the US Army in 1972 and on one visit to near by Denver City Park was saddened as we drove by the Bluebird and saw how run down and unused looking it had become. At that time and until it closed in the late 1970's it was the type of movie house where XXX rated movies were the only type of movie shown and the patrons were older men who wore trench coats.