in the shape of a sunburst, it was accompanied by nine smaller chandeliers representing the stars of the universe. As a movie palace built at the end of the vaudeville and silent film era, it was designed to accommodate live stage acts in addition to movies. The theater was outfitted with a movie screen, a full height proscenium stage, stage house, orchestra pit, and dressing rooms, fly system, and Wurlitzer pipe organ. From the entrance, the theater has two lobbies on opposite ends of the building which lead to ornately decorated hallways that provide access to the auditorium's main floor, halfway down the hallway and opposite to the main floor entrance is an exit to a pair of grand staircases that provides access to the mezzanine and balcony levels. The buildings cost of construction was popularly publicized as being , with actual cost estimates at the projects completion being placed at for the land, for construction, and for equipment and furnishings. Upon completion, executives at Fox told reporters the theater as the most artistic and modern theater in the Fox Theater chain. Grand opening and first decades The Fox Theater opened with seating for 2,350 patrons (1,450 on the ground floor and 900 in the balcony) on September 3, 1931. Anita Page, Mitzi Green, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen and El Brendel attended the opening performance gala. A crowd of onlookers estimated to be as much as 20,000 people crowded the streets outside the theater to see a free of charge outside show and catch a glimpse of the celebrities in attendance as they were escorted from the Davenport Hotel. The public was surprised at the sight of the buildings sleek modern art deco exterior, which was in stark contrast to the Italianate renderings that were shown in the Spokesman-Review in years prior. The interior decorations were singled out for praise in contemporary newspaper accounts. Wilbur Hindley at the Spokesman-Review commented that the design was "so unusual, so bizarre and so futuristic that the casual passerby catches his breath in surprise and wonder;" the design utilized aluminum and glass as opposed to the traditional marble and wood in the interior décor, which included embellishments like hand painted murals of undersea plants and etched glass light panels. The Fox opened with a live production of Fanchon and Marco's About Town variety show followed by the film Merely Mary Ann. Ticket holders also