The Empress Theatre was previously known, through at least May 1911, as the Majestic Theatre. As a vaudeville performer, Charles Chaplin and Fred Karno’s London Company vaudeville troupe played three separate week-long engagements at the Empress in May and October 1911, and the first week of April 1912. During the same time period, the theater was on the Seattle-based Sullivan & Considine vaudeville circuit. Sometime in the 1910s, the theatre began showing motion pictures.

References: FilmYearBook-1926 p. 590.