2007: Landmark Love Nest Demolished

On Dec. 6, the wrecking crews went to work on one of BC architect Arthur Erickson’s most world-renowned and influential houses, a grand sequence of portals and frames elegantly descending down a Horseshoe Bay cliffside. This 1963 house for David Graham was featured on the pages of Life magazine and leased as a love nest to Warren Beatty and Julie Christie when in town to shoot Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

2007: Mandrake the Magician Memorabilia Disappears

A North Delta robbery has reportedly netted a filing cabinet filled with posters, programs and brochures of Mandrake The Magician, the real performer who inspired the comic. This according to SurreyLeader.com.

A son of vaudevillian performers, Mandrake grew up in New Westminster and first performed on stage at New Westminster's Edison Theatre (Now called the Paramount). He gained international fame as a magician. He and his second wife, Velvet, his stage assistant, retired in White Rock after 62 years in show business.

“It’s of no value to anyone but family,” Lon Mandrake said.

“I’m hoping they’ve just dumped them by the side of the road and someone will find them. Or they’ll return it.”

He’s offering a reward, no questions asked. (He can be contacted at 604-591-5839).

Hopefully, the materials get back in the hands of those who treasure them most as soon as possible.

For a full bio on Mandrake, go here.

2007: Historic Imperial Theatre Crumples Under Wrecking Ball

The Imperial Theatre, a once important vaudeville house on Vancouver's Main Street (see here http://bcentertainmenttrivia.blogspot.com/2007/09/frank-william-hart-opened-what-he.html), was demolished. Until it's demise, it had a long stretch as a porn theatre called the Venus.
Rumor has it that two gay men once rented the theatre to watch movies alone in and one was found dead the next morning, tied, gagged and with a curling iron inserted in his anus.

2007: Is There a Tenor in the House?

On October, 18, 2007, during a concert of Gerontius, star tenor, Ben Heppner was forced to leave the Orpheum at intermission with a flu-like illness that rendered him unable to perform. Tenor Peter Butterfield (pictured) who was attending the concert as an audience member, courageously jumped into the role of Gerontius for the second half of the Vancouver Symphony production.

2007: Lynn Canyon Tree Attacks "Silver Spoons" Star

Oct. 11, 2007
Former child actor Rick Schroder was taken by ambulance to Lion's Gate Hospital after being injured on the North Vancouver set of a TV movie version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth".
The 37-year-old sustain minor injuries when he struck his head on a tree branch.

2007: Smashing Pumpkins Fan Dies in PNE "Mosh Pit"

VANCOUVER - A 20-year-old Richmond man died after he was dragged unconscious from a mosh pit at the Smashing Pumpkins concert on September 25th at the Pacific National Exhibition Forum.
Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said a group of young men dragged the victim out of the mosh pit toward security Monday night.
The victim, who was from Richmond, B.C., was taken to hospital, where he later died, police said Tuesday night.

Heritage Theatre Led a Varied Life

Frank William Hart opened what he called an opera house in 1887, but it hardly deserved the name. Hart's Opera House had started life as a roller skating rink in Port Moody but it was later dismantled and rebuilt on wooden piles on Carrall Street in 1886. It continued as a skating rink until December 1887, when it re-opened as a theatre and assembly hall. The interior of Hart's Opera House was lined with white cheesecloth, and there were enough benches to seat about 800 patrons. The Salvation Army held its meetings there, as did the Amateur Dramatic Club.

Hart's closed the year that the Imperial Opera House opened.

The Imperial was also stretching the truth by calling itself an Opera House: it was actually more like an assembly hall. Local architect A.E. Crickmay and financier Hugh Robson built the Imperial in 1889 on Pender Street at Abbott. The Imperial had separate waiting rooms for men and women, a bar and two ticket offices; it could hold about 600 patrons. Vancouver's first Shakespearean production, Richard III, was performed at the Imperial in December 1889.

Seen above is a later incarnation of the Imperial, The Venus Theatre, which, until recently, was a porn theatre. The fly tower was apparently functioning.
Sadly, the theatre was torn down in October of 2007.