Pantages Theatre (Toronto)

Ed Mirvish Theatre

Canon Theatre, Pantages Theatre, Imperial Theatre, Imperial Six
Yonge Street Entrance
Location	263 Yonge Street and 244 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 1V8
Owner	Mirvish Productions
Capacity	2300
Construction
Opened	1920
Rebuilt	1972 and 1989
Architect	Thomas W. Lamb (original architect), Mandel Sprachman (architect during 1972 renovations)

The Ed Mirvish Theatre is a historic film and play theatre in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was initially known as the Pantages Theatre, then became the Imperial Theatre and later the Canon Theatre, before it was renamed in honour of Ed Mirvish, a well-known businessman and theatre impresario. The theatre was first opened in 1920 and is located near Yonge-Dundas Square.

The Pantages Theatre opened in 1920 as a combination vaudeville and motion picture house. Designed by the theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb, it was the largest cinema in Canada (originally having 3373 seats) and one of the most elegant.

The Pantages was built by the Canadian motion picture distributor Nathan L. Nathanson, founder of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, the Canadian motion picture distributing arm of Adolph Zukor's Paramount Pictures. While Famous Players retained ownership, management and booking were turned over to the Pantages organization, one of the largest vaudeville and motion picture theatre circuits in North America.

The Pantages circuit had its beginnings in Canada, in the Yukon. Pericles Alexander Pantages had been a sailor on a Greek merchant ship who left the sea in search of riches during the great 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. Although he found no gold, he became part owner of a small theatre in Dawson City – the Orpheum – that staged vaudeville and burlesque shows. From this beginning, he built over a period of 30 years, a large entertainment company that would eventually include a Hollywood film studio, a vaudeville booking agency and ownership or control of more than 120 theatres across Canada and the western United States – most of which were known as "The Pantages". The Toronto theatre was the easternmost house of the Pantages circuit, which then dominated the western market; in the east development was blocked by competition from the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville chain.