The Fulton Theater

Originally built as the Gayety Theater, the Byham Theater opened on Halloween night, 1904. It ran for many years as one of the country's foremost stage and vaudeville houses, with appearances from such stars as Ethel Barymore, Gertrude Lawrence and Helen Hayes. The Gayety boasted pressed copper cherubs painted with a bronze patina, imitation gold leaf, stained glass windows, plaster columns and wainscot of scagolia, an Italian faux marble technique. The entry vestibule showcases the original mosaic tile floor and the large original lighting fixtures are artifacts from the advent of electrical lighting. Backstage, the theater was one of the remaining few to use sandbags and hemp ropes to work the scenery rigging until 1999 when a modern rigging system was installed. In the 1930s, the theater was renamed The Fulton and became a full time movie theater.