From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
Grandmother did wake up and when I was having breakfast, she came in all excited and forgot about how angry she was with me the day before. The new baby was named and she was now upset with the name. They called the baby Helen Violet. The middle name was because the baby has violet colored eyes but Grandmother says that Violet sounds like the name of an actress in “East Lynn.” Grandfather wanted to know what was wrong with actresses? I thought that Violet sounded like the name of a dancer at the Orpheum.
The Orpheum is the most beautiful theater. When my father comes to see me, he takes me there on Sunday afternoons. On the ceiling above the stage there is a picture of heaven. One of the prettiest angels is sitting on a cloud. She has black hair and a red dress. On another cloud is an angel with golden hair and a blue dress. There are clouds all around them and on the edge of the clouds are flowers and lights. In front of every seat in the theater or the back of every seat, however I can explain it. Well, there is a hole where you put in dimes. My father always lets me put a dime in and then a box of candy pops out. Chocolates!
Courtesy of Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library, http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/c81j97pm/?order=1 (1915?)
Interior of Orpheum Theatre at https://digitalsf.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A119061, courtesy of San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Hilda describes a predecessor to the current Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. The one she went to was on O’Farrell Street. I was not able to find an image of the vending machines at the back of each seat - that must have been a wonderful treat for a child. I remember attending a performance in 1980 at a theater in London where you could put a pound into the seat back in front of you and borrow a pair of opera glasses to watch the show.
“East Lynne” was a silent film based on an 1861 novel by Mrs Henry (Ellen) Wood – there were several versions, one as early as 1902, British and American versions in 1913 and 1916, another in 1931, and one as recent as 1982. You can watch the 1916 version on YouTube.