The Mirror and its four antecedents only existed at one address: 1517 Elm. Doing business first as the Garden Theater (1912), then the Jefferson Theater (1915), then then Pantages, then the Ritz (1928), and finally the Mirror (1931) which burned down in 1941 after ten years in operation. The nearby Capitol operated at 1521 Elm while the unrelated Telenews/Dallas operated only at 1515 Elm.
1515 Elm was initially a paint store when the theater at 1517 Elm opened as the Garden Theater in 1912 as well as its change to the Jefferson Theater in 1915. 1515 Elm would became three grocery stores (Piggly Wiggly, briefly Lotus Foods, and Helpy-Selfy) during which time the theater was the Pantages and Ritz. 1515 Elm was home to several businesses including Van Winkle’s Book Store and a tavern at the end of the theater’s life which would then be known as the Mirror Theater before the theater burned down in 1941. 1517 Elm would become a retail space adjoining the Telenews in 1941/2.
The Mirror’s neighboring store at 1519 Elm was a well-placed candy store considering that at 1521 Elm was home to the “new” Capitol Theater in its second home at 1521 Elm. But that became a mixed blessing on August 3, 1941 when the Mirror burned badly ending its run as a showplace and took the candy store — though not the Capitol Theater — with it.
The Garden Theater was opened in 1912 playing motion pictures and some live performances. On March 8, 1915, the theater under new ownership of C.H. Verzchoyle and William E. Wetherford decided to stress live theater and renamed it the Jefferson Theater. They stressed and advertised that the location would be home to repertory presentations and “not moving pictures."
While reports said the project was profitable, the theater quickly was under the direction of Ray Stinnett who also owned the Cycle Park locally. Stinnett reconsidered the programming and returned the theater to its moving picture roots. He then sold the Jefferson to the Southern Enterprises circuit in 1920 which continued motion pictures but closed the theater early in 1922.
Stinnett resurrected the theater re-opening it in November of 1922 initially as the Jefferson and trying to position it as first-run house and musical comedy showplace. Obviously liking the live musical comedy aspects’ prospects, Stinnett changed the name of the theater to the Pantages in 1926 after remodeling it and trying to do move into live vaudeville. The vaudeville concept was said to be a very expensive failure for Stinnett who transferred the theater to a new operator.
On October 15, 1928, the Pantages was renamed the Ritz and billed itself as the first second-run Vitaphone movie theater in the United States. For a discount price, you could see second-run talkies. Now run by Robb and Rowley Theater Circuit and managed by W.B. Underwood, R&R invested $40,000 to remodel, redecorate, and bring sound film to the location. W.B. King was instrumental in the redesign with drapes, canopies, new front lobby and a kiosk at the theater’s entrance. They opened appropriately enough with “Lights of New York,” the first all-talking feature.
On February 7, 1931, R&R sold the Ritz along with the Rosewin and Midway as well as other locations in a $2.5 million deal by infamous millionaire Howard Hughes and partner Harold B. Franklin’s Hughes-Franklin Theater Company. The move was part of a larger $15 million transaction to strengthen the circuit.
Robb and Rowley were still managing the property and had the influx of money to remodel and refurnish the Ritz after the Hughes' transaction. In one of his last decisions for Hughes-Franklin, Franklin visited the Ritz and determined that Dallas was one of the bright spots in the country and that the theater location should reflect that. W. Scott Dunne was the architect of the redesign and the theater only shut down three weeks to become a “house of mirrors” renamed the Mirror Theater. Two shifts of workers worked full 24-hour schedules to make the redesign a reality. A perforated screen allowed for sound speakers behind the screen instead of the two horns used in the Vitaphone presentations. And the mirrored marquee and mirrored interior panels along with the flashing neon lights delivered Franklin’s vision and Dunne’s designs.
Before the theater was reopened, Franklin left Hughes to operated Paramount and United Artists theaters. The Mirror Theater opened Christmas Day 1931 with “Five Star Final” as its first screen attraction. While known primarily as a second run house, the Mirror capitalized on westerns from the minor film companies to stage live appearances. Under new operator, Interstate Theater Circuit, Gene Autry, Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Monogram’s John King were among the stars to appear on the Mirror’s stage.
On August 2, 1941, a four-alarm fire decimated the Mirror during closing hours with the balcony crashing to the main floor. It was fortunate the theater was empty because the fire officials said the non-fireproof insulation engulfed the theater quickly and sparking electrical cables were visible. Just three weeks later, plans to build a new and unrelated newsreel theater were finalized at 1515 Elm to replace the former retail space and would be known first as the Telenews and then the Dallas Theater.
On September of 1941, Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews of the U.S. Navy who owned the 1517 Elm property housing the still standing but charred Mirror was able to make a business trip to inspect the wreckage of the Mirror Theater. He ultimately determined that the building should be razed. 1517 was rebuilt as a retail space and housed a gift store and a game company above. Thus, the Garden/Jefferson/Pantages/Ritz/Mirror theatrical era ended after 29 years.
The Chalk Hill Drive-In opened on July 4, 1941 just two weeks after the Northwest Drive-In had its Grand Opening. Opening feature was “The Invisible Woman”. This drive-in had a capacity for 408 cars on 12.5 acres. There were 204 in-ground speakers and a playground for kids was added. It was operated by W.G. Underwood and Claude Ezell who operated the both the Northwest Drive-In and another in San Antonio.
The Chalk Hill started doing live stage shows prior to the movies in 1943 to five a full evening’s performance. The original design of the Chalk Hill was identical to that of the Northwest with a single star along with the drive-in’s name. The theater modernized the look of the tower with a clown’s face and neon lighting. Additionally, in 1954, the Chalk Hill replaced its screen with an 80-foot curved screen for CinemaScope films. Its first two in June were “King of the Khyber Rifles” followed by “The Robe.”
The Chalk Hill Drive-In became part of the Texas Southwest Drive-In Theatres circuit with the Buckner and Denton Rd. in 1972 and 1973. It closed for the season in 1973 and while there are many recollections of the theater’s continuance, no advertisements, bookings or re-opening announcements are listed. Steve Fitch’s two iconic photographs of the Chalk Hill from 1973 — one showing the panoramic screen and playground and the other showing the clown screen tower at dusk — would also be the ultimate end points to the theater if that were confirmed.
The Century Drive-In’s tract of land originally was home to the Downs Drive-in at 2510 W. Main St. in Grand Prairie. In 1949, the Downs became the third drive-in theater to open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its original screen burned and was replaced in 1957. And not long after being sold to a new owner, it closed on January 20, 1970, was bulldozed and replaced by the newly-named Century Drive-in which opened June 13th, 1970. It closed in 1987 and was later bulldozed.
The Downs was started and operated by Tim G. Ferguson, Truman Hendrix and H.S. Ferguson. The Downs was named after the nearby Arlington Downs Racetrack which had opened in 1929 and whose racetrack and grandstand extended eastward toward the drive-in less than a mile away. Located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth and with Irving within striking distance to the North, the Downs was well positioned. The opening of a GM factory in 1951 just across the way would soon add to the traffic and visibility of the area.
Ferguson complained about the availability of first-run film titles at his theater and brought a $150,000 Sherman Antitrust-based lawsuit against the five Grand Prairie theater owners as well as the major film studios. Ferguson’s drive to have more of a voice for drive-in theaters generally led him to become a founder and president of the Texas Drive-in Theater Owners Association.
The Downs theater tower burned to the ground in a spectacular 4-alarm fire on January 19, 1957 where the film “Fury at Gun Sight Pass” was playing. Fortunately, motorists backed away and were unharmed by the $15,000 fire. The fire was attributed to the high winds combined with the screen tower’s neon lights which were excised from the redesigned screen tower. The Downs racetrack closed in 1958 but the theater retained its name.
The theater’s positioning as a family-friendly spot was enhanced by its “Candy Cane City” amusement playground. The opening of a larger park — Six Flags theme park — in 1961 provided yet more family-centric traffic near the Downs which continued to thrive in the decade. Its success led the McLendon Theater Circuit to purchase the theater with grander plans. As the multiplex era of indoor theaters was beginning and with twin and triple screen drive-ins propping up, McLendon decided to one up the other drive-ins. It would demolish the Downs not long after January 20, 1970’s double feature of “Flare Up” and “Speedway”.
McLendon would create what it called the world’s largest drive-in and first four-screener. With the Arlington Downs a distant memory as a neighboring entity, the newly named Century Drive-In would begin business on June 13, 1970 with “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” with “The Undefeated” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” with “Topaz”. With four screens with 500 spots each at its opening, the theater did well enough to merit an additional fifth screen. The Century would go on 17 years until 1987 before being bulldozed. The nearly 40 years of drive-in exhibition for the Century/Downs makes it the area’s longest standing addresses for nearly continuous and certainly consecutive years of outdoor operation.
In 1949, the Downs Drive-in at 2510 W. Main St. in Grand Prairie became the third drive-in theater to open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its original screen burned and was replaced in 1957. And not long after being sold to a new owner, it closed on January 20, 1970, was bulldozed and replaced by the newly-named Century Drive-in which opened June 13th, 1970. It closed in 1987 and was later bulldozed.
The Downs was started and operated by Tim G. Ferguson, Truman Hendrix and H.S. Ferguson. The Downs was named after the nearby Arlington Downs Racetrack which had opened in 1929 and whose racetrack and grandstand extended eastward toward the drive-in less than a mile away. Located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth and with Irving within striking distance to the North, the Downs was well positioned. The opening of a GM factory in 1951 just across the way would soon add to the traffic and visibility of the area.
Ferguson complained about the availability of first-run film titles at his theater and brought a $150,000 Sherman Antitrust-based lawsuit against the five Grand Prairie theater owners as well as the major film studios. Ferguson’s drive to have more of a voice for drive-in theaters generally led him to become a founder and president of the Texas Drive-in Theater Owners Association.
The Downs theater tower burned to the ground in a spectacular 4-alarm fire on January 19, 1957 where the film “Fury at Gun Sight Pass” was playing. Fortunately, motorists backed away and were unharmed by the $15,000 fire. The fire was attributed to the high winds combined with the screen tower’s neon lights which were excised from the redesigned screen tower. The Downs racetrack closed in 1958 but the theater retained its name.
The theater’s positioning as a family-friendly spot was enhanced by its “Candy Cane City” amusement playground. The opening of a larger park — Six Flags theme park — in 1961 provided yet more family-centric traffic near the Downs which continued to thrive in the decade. Its success led the McLendon Theater Circuit to purchase the theater with grander plans. As the multiplex era of indoor theaters was beginning and with twin and triple screen drive-ins propping up, McLendon decided to one up the other drive-ins. It would demolish the Downs not long after January 20, 1970’s double feature of “Flare Up” and “Speedway”.
McLendon would create what it called the world’s largest drive-in and first four-screener. With the Arlington Downs a distant memory as a neighboring entity, the newly named Century Drive-In would begin business on June 13, 1970 with “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” with “The Undefeated” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” with “Topaz”. With four screens with 500 spots each at its opening, the theater did well enough to merit an additional fifth screen. The Century would go on 17 years until 1987 before being bulldozed. The nearly 40 years of drive-in exhibition for the Century/Downs makes it the area’s longest standing addresses for nearly continuous and certainly consecutive years of outdoor operation.
The Kiest Boulevard Drive-in opened May 23, 1956 with an invitation only screening of “Navy Wife” and opened to the public the next night with “I’ll Cry Tomorrow.” The 110x65 sq. ft. screen was designed by David P. Yelsi and was made of spun glass, plastic and rubber, the first such installation of its kind and Dallas' largest screen at that time. It was better known for the Indian on its opposite side. 1,000 car lot, panoramic screen accommodating VistaVision, CinemaScope, and high fidelity speakers. The theater was part of the Phil Isley Circuit and opened just one week after the Bruton Road Drive-In. In 1965, the Kiest landed in the Rowley United Chain within the United Artists circuit along with the Granada, Crest, Major, Avenue, Big-D Drive-in, Boulevard Drive-in and nine other theaters in downstate Texas.
A 40'x60' swimming pool with adjoining bath house, nursery for kids, playground and picnic grounds made it a family environment. Yet, when the theater switched to all X-rated features in 1970 during the porno chic era, these amenities wouldn’t have much value.
The theatre switched to an African American leaning schedule beginning in 1973 and then back to mainstream fare for what appears to be the final five years for the drive-in 1977-1982. The theater discontinued ads in 1982 which could have been the end of the line for the 26-year old ozoner.
The South Loop Drive-In was a $150,000 drive-in architected by Harvey A. Jordon constructed for Charles H. Brooks that opened March 30, 1950 with “On the Town”. The original screen tower of the South Loop Drive-In had a Snow White mural. According to all reports, special permission was obtained from Walt Disney to use Snow White on the tower. Wings were added to the sides of the tower to play CinemaScope titles. The 675-car capable drive-in would become part of the Isadore B. Adelman Theatre Circuit in which it remained until its closure. The Adelman Circuit was more known for its indoor Delman theaters in Dallas, Houston, and Tulsa but had a good run with the South Loop. Each Saturday, the theater presented a “freeview” which was only free to patrons who paid for the first show; most other drive-in theaters referred to this as the “second feature.” The theater changed to a more traditional, double feature policy.
Amenities included free self-serve car washes while you waited in line. A water drainage and 90-gallon well ensured that the water would be reused. A 200-seat area was constructed for walk-ins in front of the concession stand and another 200-seat area was at the base of the the screen tower. High winds threatened the 60-foot high screen in 1954 so the tower was strengthened 75% according to the owners. But on August 30, 1956, the original tower and its telephone pole structure was blown over. in September 1956, the original was replaced with new signage and a steel-framed tower with Selby screen. The theater stopped advertising after the 10-26-1968 showings of Shenandoah and War Wagon likely closing for the season and not reopening for the spring. There appear to be no further bookings for the location.
The Ervay is probably best remembered for its owners and customers and not so much for its presentation. It was opened by three ex-GIs who didn’t even place an ad for the Dec. 21, 1946 opening. It was operated for a short time by the notorious Jack Ruby in 1953. And it became the Paris Art Theater owned by Jim Sharp who was thrown in jail in 1971 for showing obscene movies at the theater and was also operated by the infamous Charles Musick.
Musick fought Dallas' enforcement of obscenity laws using the First Amendment in the early 1970s. He was charged 22 times with showing obscene films at the Ervay and another 20 or so theaters in the region and had 21 of the cases either quashed or dismissed. Musick appears to be the final operator of the establishment for film exhibition with ads ceasing in July of 1972 and the Paris Theater nameplate being used on Harry Hines thereafter. Musick became the key witness in the murder for hire case against fellow adult theater owner Robert C. Thetford’s murder for hire case revolving around Thetford’s IRS problems and having one of his employees murdered for revealing this to the IRS.
Following its adult film era, it became a live venue mostly for music in the 2000s. The last advertised music show there was The Cliks live concert in March of 2008. It has been used seldom since for live concerts but has been used for political talks, seminars and courses into the 2010s.
Robb & Rowley opened the theater, as noted in the comments above, on March 21st, 1949 (private screening) and March 22d (to the public). R&R eventually became United Artists. UA was said to have allowed its lease to lapse on the Vogue. It closed as a dollar house following August 29, 1972 with Skyjacked and Kelly’s Heroes playing for a dollar. The next day, the Texas Theatre just down the street became United Artists' replacement converting it from first run to a dollar house.
The UA South 8 opened May 23, 1984 in the multiplex era across the highway from the Red Bird Mall in Oak Cliff. The theater had great visibility from the highway but no direct exit making it a bit challenging to get to. Technically, it was not only UA’s first and last Oak Cliff theater, as of the 2010s, it was the last theater ever built in Oak Cliff. The theater stopped just shy of 15 years as it was shuttered on October 15, 1998 in a wave of closures during the megaplex era.
The UA South was interchangable with any number of UA properties of this era such as the Northstar 8 in Garland. But given the lineage of the UA Circuit’s Dallas existence which subsumed the Robb & Rowley Circuit – a specialist and backer of Oak Cliff – give UA credit for outfitting an auditorium with 70mm projection and being THX certified. Oak Cliff deserved that and gave UA a leg up over the General Cinemas 1-4 and the 5-10 both across the street and adjoining Red Bird Mall. And it sort of worked as the General Cinemas properties had 12 profitable years but then simultaneous years in the red. In October of 1994, both General Cinema multiplexes were shuttered. Unfortunately, the lack of competition just didn’t help the UA South.
Again, giving UA credit, they did book specialty films for the target audience with nice runs of “Sanfoka” and “When We Were Colored”, both films for an African American audience. But with Cinemark’s low-priced, first-run Lancaster-De Soto theater opening just about a 10 minute drive away, the audience was being siphoned off in a new direction. The UA South’s reputation was that is was unsafe which drove audiences away. However, the actual experience on weekdays told a different story: the place was simply empty in the late 1990s; certainly no safety risk and usually a private screening.
When General Cinema closed its Oak Cliff theaters, there were protests staged at General Cinemas NorthPark I&II. When the UA closed the South at the end of October 1998, there was resignation that Oak Cliff perhaps had earned the reputation of non-support of movie exhibition. Or perhaps people understood the challenge of the multiplex in a megaplex environment as the South, UA Prestonwood, Northpark I&II, GCC Carrollton, GCC Prestonwood, and Collin Creek also went down for the count at the same time as the UA South. When Oak Cliff’s Astro Drive-in burned down just one month later, there were no functional movie theaters in all of Oak Cliff, one of Dallas' most populous residential areas with 338,000 people.
Only the reopening of the Texas Theater more than ten years after the UA South and Astro Drive-in closures did projected film come back to Oak Cliff. After being boarded up for several years, the UA South property was converted into a house of worship which was active into the 2010s.
The Wynnewood Theater opened July 1, 1951 as part of the Robb & Rowley Circuit. It basically was in the same chain for 32 years. The theater was retrofitted several times. The first was 1953 for panoramic showings of widescreen films. The next was 1958 with a Todd-AO system. Todd-AO was removed in 1961 for Cinemiracle presentation(s). The theater was twinned in April 1973. It closed Sept. 28, 1983, reopened for a period of time as an adult theater, sold to a developer but was demolished in 1999. Its address was 275 Wynnewood Village.
The Wynnewood got its name from Six Flags founder Angus Wynne who created the $7 million Wynnewood Village Shopping Center in which the theater was housed. Robb & Rowley would get a corner spot when the center was created with 10,200 sq. ft. theater plans by Pettigrew and Worley. Unlike many suburbans of the period, the Wynnewood was budgeted at north of $250,000, 1,400 seats, and had 400 targeted parking spots of the 2,000 available in the center.
On July 1, 1951, the slightly toned-down 1,000 seat Wynnewood Theater opened with “Smuggler’s Island” with a ten-seat soundproof cryroom, retractor seats and managed by Pat Murphree formerly of the Heights Theater to manage the facility for Rowley United Theaters. The Pettirgrew, Worley & Company architected theater’s final look didn’t quite match the highly stylized look of the original concept drawings. However, it did match the DeWitt and Swank design of the overall Wynnewood Shopping Center in which it was housed. The two firms did work together on the final design for the theater.
The R&R Circuit was focused on Oak Cliff with 7 theaters and this was clearly its jewel. Just two years into its run, the Wynnewood was retrofitted with a panoramic screen on Sept. 24, 1953 which reduced the house to 944 seats. An even more ambitious project happened in March 1958. Rowley United (having bought out the Robb family in 1955) spent $100,000 dollars on a Todd-AO system to show “South Pacific.” A six-track sound system, a 22x44 screen was brought in new 70mm projector, and eight surround speakers on the wall making it easily the most technologically challenging show for the suburban. Many Hollywood stars and producers flew in for the event. On the premiere’s night, a $25 after-party featuring Carmen Cavallaro saw stars such as Linda Darnell, Margaret O’Brien, Don Murray, and Rocky Marciano among others. All theater seats were reupholstered for the premiere and road show engagement, an improved box office, and redecoration all took place. In an incredible 32-week run 130,000 went to this Oak Cliff theater to the “South Pacific” in Todd A-0. South Pacific would return for a non-AO run in 1971.
Rowley then installed a costly Cinemiracle system in early 1961 in time for the showing of “Windjammer.” Todd-AO was removed. Three projectors operated with four projectionists allowed the wall to wall screen of the now 800 seat theater. Five speakers behind the screen and one on each side of the house. Only Houson’s Rivoli and the Wynnewood were said to play this in Texas.
Innovation pretty much stopped there as Hollywood steered away from such technology and undoubtedly “Windjammer” didn’t make back its investment. Rowley United positioned the Wynnewood of the 1960s as a family friendly house. In a single year, the Wynnewood had 50 weeks of G rated fare in 1968 with 22 weeks with Disney product. Rowley United became United Artists after a stock transfer and decided to twin both the Cine and the Wynnewood. The Wynnewood was halved with 400 seats in each house, had new screens installed, and was closed for two months in March and April of 1973.
In the 1980s, audiences were moving toward the multiplexes and Oak Cliff had the Redbird Cinemas which were doing decent business siphoning business away from the Wynnewood. In the summer of 1983, the Wynnewood became a dollar house and closed quietly with second-runs of “The Twilight Zone” and splitting “The Verdict” and “Star Chamber” on Sept. 28, 1983. The move came at the same time UA was breaking ground for an 8-screen house across the street from the Redbird Mall several miles south of the Wynnewood. A 32-year run for the R&R/UA circuit was pretty good. UA’s presence continued with the South opening May 23, 1984.
UA either subleased or operated under its art/adult nameplate with the Wynnewood re-opening trying adult fare for a brief period and playing Caligula in May of 1984. Jerry Moore Investments purchased the Wynnewood Theatre in Oak Cliff from United Artists in 1992. The Houston-based mall developer probably had grand plans and rumors abounded that a multiplex would rise in the Wynnewood and the Ward’s store when it went out of business. That never happened. The Wynnewood theater almost looked it was hoping that it would be bulldozed after sitting vacant for years. That day would come when it was excised from the shopping center in May of 1999 though would stand just a little bit longer than the UA presence in Oak Cliff which shuttered the UA South 8 in October 1998.
The corner of Akard and Elm is an intriguing one in Dallas cinema history. Of course, home to the Fox Theater in the 1920s and into the 1960s, the original Palace Theater was hastily carved out within a storefront by legendary Dallas exhibitor P.G. Cameron in 1906 in the same building. Cameron played Edison films with the licensed Edison projector with a 50 cent bed sheet to paying audiences who stood and watched the short films. Cameron would then rent chairs for patrons to be more comfortable.
The Nickelodeon era at this and other nearby locations provided Dallas with its first novelty theater row with the Princess, Palace, Candy and Empress together in rather unsubstantial show places. The Palace was no palace and the Empress was not regal. While not the first to exhibit movies, Cameron was a pioneer who left the Palace and moved to the Lyric as well as many other local theaters.
The Palace was gone and the building would get a major facelift at the start of the 1920s and renamed the Roos Building for the popular Gus Roos men’s clothing store. Within the Roos Building was an improved theater experience. A 280-seat theater known as the Fox Theater was created by Fooshee and Cheek Architects within the Italian Renaissance building.
When one thinks of the Fox Theatre, one might recall the glory days of the Fox in Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, or Detroit. The Dallas Fox in name only was actually started by and named for local businessman Max Fox, no relation to the fabulous Fox' lineage. Fox also operated the original Strand Theater in Dallas in the late 1910s and into the 1920s. The Fox opened in February of 1922 with a soft launch. Its grand opening was March 20, 1922 with Mary Pickford’s “Through the Back Door.” If one wants to make a connection to the film’s title and the Fox Theater’s business trajectory, so be it. Matt Fox left the exhibition business before the advent of sound but the theater bearing his name carried on under new management.
The Fox was a true independent running eclectic fare that ranged from standard film fare, live burlesque-centric acts and film shorts, to four-wall feature films that might contain exploitation and risqué content with little advertising. While the Queen, Majestic and others were creating a true movie boom in Dallas, the Fox stuck more to lower class fare and presentation. The Fox made the transition to sound, survived a minor fire in 1929, and soldiered through the Depression probably thanks to the success and traffic generated by the Roos Men’s store. In 1932, two tear gas incidents took place as a man threw tear gas canisters apparently to rob purses and other left behind items. As a sign of the time, a woman burned in the tear gas incident lived in a tent camp in south Dallas.
The Fox hit its stride in the 1940s playing high profile films that had been banned or were controversial. Alfred Sack of Sack Amusements would lease the theater in what appears to have been a four-wall arrangement to exhibit his racy – often foreign – films and his exploitation films such as “Bucket of Blood.” In other times, the theater was leased to the VFW for a weeklong-engagement of “Ravaged Earth.” But the racy films were winners and provided the Fox with consistent fare. The first feature film entirely shot in a nudist camp, “Elysia,” played three weeks in its initial run and sold a phenominal 11,462 tickets “including many repeat patrons” according to reports. Ecstasy, also exhibited by Sack, filled the house and said the report, “The 50 cent movie customers, after their first timidity, have patronized the picture (due to artistic rather than exploitative reasons) without glancing around to see if anybody recognized them entering or leaving the Fox.” But – that said – was the Fox’s reputation at the point and for the rest of its existence.
The racy films came with much scrutiny by local officials. A newsreel about a nudist colony by H.M. Glidden was seized and appears to be the first arrest of the Fox operators in October 1943. After the war, many of Sack’s more artistic foreign films were also doing well for the Fox so much so that Sack would create his own art house called the Coronet north of downtown. Once art films found their place in post-war suburban theaters such as the Fine Arts and Coronet, there was only one for the Fox to go and that was even more risqué. The films got much less artistic and more exploitative drawing questionable audiences as it became much more akin to a grindhouse with continuous shows all day. If the Fox had only stopped before 1955, the story of the theater would have been just that. Unfortunately, a wall fell killing four and injuring eight in June of 1955. Just two months later, the theater cooperated in a local raid leading to 20 charges of sodomy over a five-day undercover sting.
The Fox became known less for film and more associated with the burlesque scene in the late 1950s and just into the 1960s as the Barney Weinstein’s Theatre Lounge moved downtown from the Colonial Theater and Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club became the places to go. The word “Theater” was replaced with “Burlesk” on the marquee — of course — followed by “closed” as the establishment finally ceased operation. A classified ad in October 1961 has all of the contents including the seats for sale which marks the end of the Fox. The building appears to have been demolished in February 1962 replaced by the skyscraper First National Bank Building during a massive City of Tomorrow renewal plan. The historic film location at Elm and Akard was no more.
The Lagow Theatre, an 800-seat house by architect Raymond F. Smith opened in June of 1948 as an African American theater. Veteran theater owner M.S. White was eligible to re-enter the movie exhibition business and he ran the Lagow. When White sold his White, Dal-Sec, and Forest theaters to Interstate, he entered into a 10-year non-compete situation. Just months later, White would add the Plaza Theater to his portfolio with new partner Walter Armbruster of the original Maple Theater. The Lagow switched to mainstream suburban fare beginning with Gone With the Wind on Dec. 7, 1949 and continuing for almost eight years.
The Lagow was retrofitted in 1953 with a curved screen to show some of the era’s widescreen formats starting with “Salome” on July 18, 1953. And like the Plaza, this theater ended up in the hands of Ruth Wafford and J.T. Orr as the suburban theater’s fare produced sluggish results in the era of television.
After the April 26, 1957 double feature of “Shake, Rattle and Rock” and “Runaway Daughters, it appears that the theater was closed. It was then reopened as an African American House soon thereafter. In 1976, the Lagow experimented as a martial arts theater showing films including a double-feature of Death Machine and 7 Blows from the Dragon. In the 2010s, the Lagow continued its service as a church.
The 755-seat Plaza Theatre at 3806 McKinney at Haskell and McKinney was built in 1948 and appears to have first opened on January 22, 1949. It was operated by M.S. White, veteran of Dallas movie theater operation including such theaters as the White Theater and Dal-Sec Theater. Playing suburban fare to small audiences and unprofitability, White closed the theater following the August 31, 1953 double feature of “Desert Rats” and “Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” Television was cited as one of the main culprits identified for the lack of business at the location.
The Plaza got second life when it was reopened Sept. 23, 1954 under the operation of the Lagow Theater’s Ruth Wafford and J.T. Orr. The opening attraction was “Knock on Wood.” Every Saturday children got free popcorn and every Thursday was gift night. In 1956, the theater would try to mix in more art films beginning with Orson Wells' “Othello” in May of 1956. The concept was 47 years too soon as Landmark’s Magnolia Theater would emulate the concept more successfully just blocks away from where The Plaza once stood. Advertisements ceased in May of 1959 as the theater limped to a close after just about ten years of operation.
Called a nonproductive property, tired, and abandoned, the Plaza got a $150,000 upgrade designed by Architect Joe Gordon in 1964 after being empty for years and became Haskell Plaza ending its future as a cinema treasure. It was bulldozed and as of the 2010s, it was a mixed use retail and loft building in the Uptown business district.
The Wheatley Theater was located in the Wheatley Shopping Center and opened for business on February 8, 1950. E.J. Jobe was the owner and had an all African American staff. The $85,000 theater was billed as the first deluxe theater in Dallas for the African American community. The 550-seat theater sported blue and gold drapes, modern projection, five changes of bill per week with a weekly Saturday midnight ramble among its features.
The New Maple Theatre was a $125,000 theater plus retail project architected by Raymond F. Smith at 5206 Maple which broke ground in August of 1945. Operated by legendary booker Forrest White of In-Dex Booking Services and M.K. McDaniel, the 850-seat stadium theater’s manager was J.D. Hillhouse who had previously been with the Interstate Circuit. The New Maple launched with private screening of “Two Sisters from Boston on April 4, 1946 just one day after the original Maple Theater also under White and McDaniel had ended its run a block away at 5319 Maple. A public opening was held April 5, 1946 at 5206 Maple with Errol Flynn’s “San Antonio.” But it was the theater’s successful rebranding at the end of its life in the late 1950s and closure in June 1960 for which it is much better known.
The theater operated as a suburban house with double features sometimes advertised with “new” for most of its movie exhibition run into the late 1950s. As the industry was changing toward event films, the Maple soldiered on with double features until the feasibility was no longer possible. Much as the Lawn Theatre in Dallas had done earlier in the decade, the Maple decided to make an arrangement to host live stage plays which was a more lucrative trend in that era. And they hit a winner getting Margo Jones productions and the Maple Theatre Company, as well. The Margo Jones productions turned the sleepy suburban into a lively space.
The New Maple Theatre was becoming so established that the “new” was finally dropped from ads and would be part of a marketplace concept known briefly as Fleetwood Square. The Maple Theater would be incorporated at the central point of the Fleetwood Square’s ambitious expansion. The live theater groups were so emboldened by Edmund G. Peterson’s plan to build a $3 million market center encompassing the Maple at its center that they spent a great deal of time and effort truly converting the movie house to a live stage facility in 1959. But when a competing and similar plan by Trammell Crow was announced for a market center, Peterson and Crow merged their ideas into the Dallas Market Center which was built nearby. But the Maple was bulldozed in favor of an ambitious apartment complex with retail space. The actual position of the theatre was taken by a successful Japanese restaurant. The last production in the new Maple Theater was “Mr. Wonderful” that ended its run June of 1960. The live theater groups would have to find new homes but the Maple Theater’s short life had provided a needed spark to live theater in Dallas that continued onward.
The Maple Theater was located at 5319 Maple. It was run by R.H. Clemmons who ran the Sunset Theater. He sold the theater in favor of the Arcadia in April of 1938. It sold to legendary booker Forrest White of In-Dex Booking Services and M.K. McDaniel. It suffered a minor fire in July of 1940 that didn’t effect operations. However, White and McDaniel would build a new theater just after the War to replace the aging complex.
The Maple ended its run on April 3, 1946 with “Lady on a Train” and the New Maple Theater was launched the next night with a special invitation screening at 5206 Maple. The original Maple was up for sale in the classifieds for $18,500 by year’s end. It was purchased an converted into retail space that was still present as of the 2010s.
The Oak Lawn Theater got off to a tough start when the permit to allow the theater to be built was put in turnaround by the Municipal Court of Appeals in 1922. About 100 residents were concerned about the theater being a nuisance and the appeals board agreed. However, the process was eventually turned around and Oak Lawn Amusement Company behind Irving S. Melcher got its permit to build the house at Oak Lawn and Dickason.
The Oak Lawn Theater opened with the feature film, “The Flirt” on August 7, 1923 at 2916 Oak Lawn Avenue to a capacity audience filling its 511 seats despite the lack of a street car line running to it according to reports. Manager Jack Joyce gave out cigars to the men, flowers to the women and balloons to the children. The same amusement company decided to build a second Oak Lawn theater – this one for the sound era – at Oak Lawn and Wycliff avenues. This theater would be a deluxe 1,000 seat suburban house with cryrooms, upholstered chairs and sound devices for the hearing impaired, the first cinema in the South to have the devices.
Melcher would drop the Oak Lawn when the Melrose opened May 15, 1931. The Oak Lawn would become the first exhibitrix run house in Dallas as Mrs. Blanche L. Cutler became Dallas’ first female film exhibitor. It was Cutler’s third theater with two others in Oklahoma City and Bartlesville. It had a new sound system, the first self-rising seats in Texas that allowed the seat to spring upward, a new screen, and Lew White at the organ. The first feature was “The Lawyer’s Secret” on Sept. 1, 1931.
The Oak Lawn Theater was closed and taken over by R.Z. Glass who also was running the Fair Theater and the Knox St. Theater. Glass rebranded it the Lawn Theater on May 3, 1935 opening with “Hi Nellie” with yet another sound system, drapes, projection and screen. The air conditioning system was billed as repaired and would be operational. Glass ran into labor troubles at the Lawn and Knox properties as people hurled stink bombs to protest some labor-related issues.
In 1937, the Interstate Circuit acquired the theater from Glass. The theater installed a Mirrophonic Sound System to be played with “The Great Ziegfield.” But innovation wasn’t enough as reports said that the theater had “ailed economically” in the shadow of the Melrose Theater. Interstate closed the Lawn on January 14, 1939 for an “indefinite” period. Interstate likely was trying to find a new operator for the theater and would reopen later in the year operating just on weekends. With Paul Scott as manager, the theater tried to become a low budget suburban. It installed yet another screen, improved projection, new front, and tried double feature bills at just 15 cents per ticket at all times expanding to seven days a week. Its first bill on April 10, 1940 was “The Flying Deuces” and “The Desperate Trials.”
Interstate decided to reposition the Lawn as an art facility showing art films and repertory films in the late 1940s. In 1949, the Lawn was a shared space allowing legit theater and becoming home to the Edward Rubin Workshop doing live plays. The last films by Interstate didn’t do much business so Interstate closed perhaps with “Topper” just prior to Christmas and leased the Lawn full time Rubin provided that the plays staged were of a “civic and education character.” In 1952, the theater was renamed “The New Playhouse” and revamped for live theater now seating just 272 patrons. That arrangement ended a little more than five years later as the property was chopped into retail establishment by the end of the decade. The name “Oak Lawn Theater” would come back in the 1970s with a theatre space at Pearl Express Way and McKinney.
Deep Ellum became home to African Americans and immigrants at the end of the 19th Century and into the 20th Century. Black-owned business activity occurred along Central Avenue beside the railroad tracks. One of those businesses was started by John “Fat Jack” Harris who opened the Grand Central Theatre at 405 Central Avenue adjoining Swiss Avenue in 1908. Harris booked local and touring acts and mixed in film. By the 1920s, film consumed more of the Grand Central’s week with live acts on the weekends. KSD radio had a regular program of live events in the mid 1920s from the Grand Central. Though the Grand Central catered to African American audiences, Hollywood fare occasionally allowed the theater to be listed in the Dallas Morning News in the 1910s and 1920s. The businesses, railroad tracks, and that portion of Central Avenue were reworked as the city modernized its highways through downtown.
The Peak Theater opened at 1315 N. Peak near Bryan St. in Dallas in 1915 owned by A.D. Bethard with a seating capacity of 600 at opening. During the Depression, the Peak offered free midnight shows for the poor and unemployed. The former owner of the Melrose Theater, P.G. Cameron, purchased the theater Feb. 16, 1935. This would time out to a 20 year lease for the original owner. Cameron updated the theater in 1945 which likely accounts for the additional seat count of 695 cited above. At that time, Cameron’s portfolio also included the Urban and Grove.
The final operator of the theater, Kenneth Ward Crabtree, bought the theater in 1953 at age 26. His last film appears to be the December 16, 1955 showing of “The Kentuckian” and “New Orleans Uncensored.” There are no more bookings or ads for the Peak thereafter. And, unfortunately for the Peak and Crabtree, he was indicted, charged with arson for burning the theater down on Feb. 6, 1956. Investigators found that the theater had been doused in petroleum that — once lit — wrecked the theater which was later demolished as a result. The space was taken by J&J Manufacturing which ironically suffered a catastrophic fire that obliterated the building and left a black smoke path miles long across East Dallas.
The Grove Theater opened in 1937 and got its name from its subdivision of Dallas known as Pleasant Grove. The Roy Starling property was one of three he owned along with the Urban Theater and Mesquite’s Texan Theater. On May 9, 1942, the Grove was purchased by P.G. Cameron who had the Airway and the Peak Theater at that time while selling his Gateway Theater in Fort Worth. But about a year later, on June 21, 1943, the theater was demolished by a fire.
In November, the Grove was started again in a new building. It was refurbished slightly a year later. Charles Wise bought the theater in 1953. Though he was a vice-president of the Phil Isley theater circuit, he ran the Grove as an independent. A safe burglary in 1956 robbing the theater of $987 occurs toward the end of the theater’s life. In 1958, Wise’s independent is enveloped within the Isley Theater Circuit. The theater was closed on October 23, 1958 with the showings of “Wild Heritage” and “Last of the Fast Guns.” That times out to what was likely a 15-year lease. The property was demolished in 1959 and it replaced that same year by a Wrigley’s Grocery Store.
Technically, you could make the case that there were two Haskell Theatres. The first was built in 1921 by J.F. Woerner & Co. The original was in the hands of Paul Scott who also managed the Varsity Theater in University Park. A 1939 fire left the theater in shambles. The New Haskell was a Pettigrew and Worley architected house that was billed as semi-fireproof. Unfortunately, “semi” wasn’t good enough as the “New” Haskell was ravaged by fire in 1951 ending the theater’s namesake after 30 years of use. The theater was repurposed for two businesses. And, of course, it — too — burned not long after its remodeling. And a seven-unit apartment building was built on the property. It, too, suffered a major fire.
After Haskell owner Paul Scott’s establishment of the Varsity, Donald “D.A.” Dickson took over the Haskell not long after in 1932 and ran the theater until its final fire. In 1934, Dickson gave the theater a new marquee, neon theater sign, complete redecoration with new flooring and carpets, and an enlarged balcony. The reopening was July 25, 1934 with “Jimmy The Gent.” In 1938, the Haskell was renovated again with new upholstered seats, RCA high fidelity sound, new projection, and lots of green paint everywhere. “Test Pilot” was the first film for the reappointed theater on August 10, 1938. Just seven months later, a five-alarm fire attributed to a cigarette decimated the theater.
Dickson and his rebuilt Haskell rose again. The Pettigrew and Worley design with its gold neon sign, Kaplan projection, and a much higher roof for more seats. It opened May 10, 1939 with “The Hardys Out West.” Showing neighborhood fare, the Haskell was a low priced house at 15 cents a seat.
Just after closing on Dec. 15, 1951, it was all over for the theater when three or four explosions were heard and a four alarm fire followed. The structure was still intact and became two businesses: Teer Auto Supply and the Louis Cafe which burned down in 1954 eliminating the building. And, as noted, a 7-unit apartment building was the next building that encompassed the theater’s spot and it, too, suffered a major fire.
The 900-seat Parkway Theater opened Oct. 2, 1921 with “The Match Breaker” at 3709 Parry next door to the Fair Hotel and directly across from the main entrance to the Fair Park fairgrounds. It was Eddie Foy’s sixth theater in his circuit that then was comprised additionally of the Bluebird, Ideal, Colonial, Columbia and Rialto. The theater was billed as the largest neighborhood in the Southwest. Its grand opening festivities took place a week after its first film ran with Carl Weisemann brought in to play what was billed as Dallas' largest theatrical organ, a $15,000 instrument. Weisemann accompanied the film, “The Inner Chamber.”
Knox St. Theater owner Robert Z. Gless took over the theater In March of 1933 and reequipped and redecorated the theater and renamed it The Fair Theater due to its proximity to the fairgrounds. Within days of re-opening, the theater suffered major hail damage, shattering the glass doors and windows. Five feet of water flooded the newly remodeled theater. Gless re-reopened the theater and experimented both with suburban fare and African American bookings at midnight. Gless opened the Lawn Theater in May of 1935 and would sell the Fair to the Interstate Circuit. Interstate’s operation of the Fair was similar to Gless' with a mixture of African American fare, suburban fare though regular kiddie matinees monthly.
By the late 1940s, the Fair’s audience was evaporating and Interstate positioned the theater as a low-price theater with continuous shows ranging from 25 to 35 cents and children 9 cents at any time. Interstate dropped the theater and it closed for a short period. H.L. Fagan and A.Z. Choice who ran an African American theater called the Star Theater on Moore Street took on the theater Feb. 1, 1950. They received ominous phone calls telling them to “give the theater back to the whites.” Within weeks of opening the theater, what has been described as a fire bombing took place and the theater’s roof collapsed and destroyed the theater and damaged four rooms of the adjoining Fair Park Hotel. The building was a total loss and demolished.
Regarding a question posed in an earlier comment: Because Choice and Fagan were subleasing the theater, there’s little chance that they would have set fire to the property. Further, the owners of the building — Midway Realty — told inspectors that they, too, had heard from multiple persons in the neighborhood that the theater should not be African American owned and operated.
The property began as the Gay Theater on March 6, 1942 at North Fitzhugh and Capitol. The 500 seat theater was named after its manager I. Gay who operated a Mesquite theater. Included were love seats built for two staggered throughout the auditorium. The first showing was “Lady, Be Good.” The low-price theater and its manager, John Stewart, attempted to show retro films with old-school live presentation and that may have tipped the theater to its next iteration. The theater’s old school art deco look in the lobby and exterior added to the presentation.
Veteran Dallas feature film producer and distributor Alfred Sack took on the Gay Theater and made it a revival house, art film, and foreign film house on November 20, 1948. Sack changed the rebranded Gay Theater as the Coronet Theater on Monday, December 7 1948 with new sound system, cushioned opera seats and murals painted by Rene Mazza.. With members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on hand, “The Barber of Seville” was the Coronet’s first feature. It was billed as the first foreign language art house in the south or southwest. In its first six months of operation, the Coronet played 39 films. “Lucrezia Borgia” sold out the 500 seat house twice and another 500 people were turned away.
The Coronet faced art house pressures, especially from the Fine Arts Theater in University Park and in the early 1960s became one of Dallas’ first houses to regularly book “girlie” films. “Have Figure, Will Travel” set in a nudist colony was the first such booking in 1962 along with “Nature’s Paradise.” The bookings continued with films including Russ Meyer’s “Europe in the Raw” which was only the second theater in the U.S. to book the title. The adult films continued throughout the decade and into the 1970s at the Coronet. The adult theater business flourished in Dallas including the Fine Arts switch to porno chic in the early 1970s among many others. The theater decided to switch back to a true art format.
With the Coronet well known for its adult fare for about 15 years, a new operator Movie Inc. out of New Mexico took on the Coronet and decided to rebrand it as the Edison Theater on August 15, 1976. Movie Inc operated the Guild Theater in Alburburque along with theaters in six other cities and offered a subscription service to the foreign and revival fare. With most of the art theaters moving to adult fare, the Edison did excellent business in Dallas. The theatre now had just 309 seats.
In November 1977, the art deco highlights were brought out in a refurbishing of the Edison. Manager Jim Frazee also updated the projection. They also offered live entertainment in the mix. With many sell-outs on cult films including “Pink Flamingos” and changing neighborhood featuring many car break-ins, the Edison moved to the Granada Theater on April 20, 1978 not fare away. The Granada held twice as many people and was more of a night spot for the target audience. The Granada had been a neighborhood house, a repertory house, a $1 house and a XXX house before becoming a concert hall. Vacant for six months after the failed concert hall, the Edison filled in the Granada.
The Edison wasn’t vacant for long as just months later, it became the Mexico Theatre and played Hispanic films with some Asian films at midnight. The operator was showing Spanish language films at the nearby Arcadia on Greenville. In the early 1980s, the theater was closed and rebranded as the Oriental exclusively playing Asian films. When the Oriental closed, it was then home to nightclubs including Club Jakara in the early 90s and then the Latin Active Club. Unfortunately, a well publicized gun fight and at least two other shootouts at the Latin Active Club in 1996 seems to be the beginning of the end for the address as an entertainment site. In 1999, the theater was razed in favor of a Hispanic meat market which then became a restaurant.
It’s hard to imagine a more unsuccessful theater in Dallas' history than the Lucas Theater. Roy Lumpkin opened his first theater with 700 seats with crying room for babies. Its first film was “Leave Her to Heaven” on Monday and Tuesday May 13/4, 1946. (The first showing was private and the second open to the public.) Lumpkin couldn’t find an audience and within a year, the theater was in the hands of Bill McLemore. McLemore then sold it to Arcadia owner P.G. Cameron for $100,000 including three lots adjoining the property. Cameron reportedly expanded the number of seats and brought his son in to manage the theater. That wasn’t the right formula for the theater.
In June of 1948, a new operator, L.R. Robertson, installed an air conditioning system and remodeled the theater with neon lighting and murals painted by Don Vogel. The remodeling didn’t help as the Lucas was sold to Columbia Pictures' veterans L.A. Couch and A.M. Witcher who took on the theater In January 1949. The theater stumbled and was closed briefly that Fall. It was taken over by the Coronet’s Alfred Sack. The Coronet was doing so well with a combination of revival and art films that it decided to rebrand the Lucas as a revival house called the Encore Theater. It opened it on November 24, 1949 with “Rebecca.”
Even with the master showman Sack at the helm and Judy Garland’s mom brought in by Sack to manage the theater, they were unable to turn around the theater. The Encore was sold to G.L. and J.W. Griffin who took on the theater that summer. The Encore was a dud as the theater closed after its double feature of “That Midnight Kiss” and “Dear Brat” on Oct. 10, 1951 with a promise of repairs that would find the theater open soon. However, padlocks on the door and notices of a Constable’s Sale told a markedly different story. It was auctioned off, seats, equipment, and all by auction Feb. 5, 1952. Hammond Coffman was the winner of the Encore and announced it would re-open for business in March of 1952 with cowboy pictures and renamed as The Western. This doesn’t appear to have transpired as by November, Coffman had converted the theater into a sound stage and created the Coffman Film Company. KERA investigated the property as a potential studio in 1960. The property then became MPI Studios, followed by the St. Clair Talent Agency and then a long run as the Spectro Photo Lab.
In just five years, this theater had two names with plans for a third, seven owners, two air handling systems, and never found a consistent audience. One of the Dallas' least treasured and most unsuccessful movie theaters of all time was quickly put out of its suffering as a film exhibition location.
The picture of the Capitan Theater is from March 21, 1953 when the theater went to art films including foreign films and revivals. The large theater was run by Lewis and Susman with a capacity of 1,150 seats. The theater at the corner of Henderson and Capitol opened August 23, 1946 with “Do You Love Me?” Within six months of the theater’s opening, a high profile murder case occurred when a man was murdered when he was seated by his ex-wife by his ex-wife’s current husband.
The Capitan changed managers from Lee Roy Ball to William Lewis in 1948 as it tried to find its footing and relied heavily in matinee bookings on children’s and family fare. With theatrical tastes changing and general box office woes plaguing theaters all over the country, the Capitan rolled the dice and became an art house on March 21, 1953. Another innovation was that the theater banished popcorn from the concession stand and switched to higher end chocolate. The first film was a sell-out but competition for the art house especially the Varsity/Fine Arts in University Park and the Coronet in Dallas dogged the Capitan as the art concept faltered badly.
Less than a year into the art run, William Lewis resigned from the theater on January 6, 1954. The Capitan closed less than two years into the art concept on January 1, 1955. Not quite nine years was all the theatrical life of the property as it was converted for other purposes.
The building was sold to Charles Weisenburg who converted the property into the rather unique Capitan Bowling Center which opened on March 1956. The unique space of the theater allowed for two floors of bowling, each with ten lanes. Neighbors protested the lanes when it went 24 hours in 1958 demanding soundproofing and greatly reduced hours of operation. A bowling alley boom overpopulated the city of Dallas and in December of 1962, Weisenburg shuttered both the Capitan Bowling Center and the Industrial Lanes. The oldest lanes in the city, Hap Morse Lanes and Mickey Mantle’s Lanes also closed. Weisenburg closed the lanes and sold the building.
The Mirror and its four antecedents only existed at one address: 1517 Elm. Doing business first as the Garden Theater (1912), then the Jefferson Theater (1915), then then Pantages, then the Ritz (1928), and finally the Mirror (1931) which burned down in 1941 after ten years in operation. The nearby Capitol operated at 1521 Elm while the unrelated Telenews/Dallas operated only at 1515 Elm.
1515 Elm was initially a paint store when the theater at 1517 Elm opened as the Garden Theater in 1912 as well as its change to the Jefferson Theater in 1915. 1515 Elm would became three grocery stores (Piggly Wiggly, briefly Lotus Foods, and Helpy-Selfy) during which time the theater was the Pantages and Ritz. 1515 Elm was home to several businesses including Van Winkle’s Book Store and a tavern at the end of the theater’s life which would then be known as the Mirror Theater before the theater burned down in 1941. 1517 Elm would become a retail space adjoining the Telenews in 1941/2.
The Mirror’s neighboring store at 1519 Elm was a well-placed candy store considering that at 1521 Elm was home to the “new” Capitol Theater in its second home at 1521 Elm. But that became a mixed blessing on August 3, 1941 when the Mirror burned badly ending its run as a showplace and took the candy store — though not the Capitol Theater — with it.
The Garden Theater was opened in 1912 playing motion pictures and some live performances. On March 8, 1915, the theater under new ownership of C.H. Verzchoyle and William E. Wetherford decided to stress live theater and renamed it the Jefferson Theater. They stressed and advertised that the location would be home to repertory presentations and “not moving pictures."
While reports said the project was profitable, the theater quickly was under the direction of Ray Stinnett who also owned the Cycle Park locally. Stinnett reconsidered the programming and returned the theater to its moving picture roots. He then sold the Jefferson to the Southern Enterprises circuit in 1920 which continued motion pictures but closed the theater early in 1922.
Stinnett resurrected the theater re-opening it in November of 1922 initially as the Jefferson and trying to position it as first-run house and musical comedy showplace. Obviously liking the live musical comedy aspects’ prospects, Stinnett changed the name of the theater to the Pantages in 1926 after remodeling it and trying to do move into live vaudeville. The vaudeville concept was said to be a very expensive failure for Stinnett who transferred the theater to a new operator.
On October 15, 1928, the Pantages was renamed the Ritz and billed itself as the first second-run Vitaphone movie theater in the United States. For a discount price, you could see second-run talkies. Now run by Robb and Rowley Theater Circuit and managed by W.B. Underwood, R&R invested $40,000 to remodel, redecorate, and bring sound film to the location. W.B. King was instrumental in the redesign with drapes, canopies, new front lobby and a kiosk at the theater’s entrance. They opened appropriately enough with “Lights of New York,” the first all-talking feature.
On February 7, 1931, R&R sold the Ritz along with the Rosewin and Midway as well as other locations in a $2.5 million deal by infamous millionaire Howard Hughes and partner Harold B. Franklin’s Hughes-Franklin Theater Company. The move was part of a larger $15 million transaction to strengthen the circuit.
Robb and Rowley were still managing the property and had the influx of money to remodel and refurnish the Ritz after the Hughes' transaction. In one of his last decisions for Hughes-Franklin, Franklin visited the Ritz and determined that Dallas was one of the bright spots in the country and that the theater location should reflect that. W. Scott Dunne was the architect of the redesign and the theater only shut down three weeks to become a “house of mirrors” renamed the Mirror Theater. Two shifts of workers worked full 24-hour schedules to make the redesign a reality. A perforated screen allowed for sound speakers behind the screen instead of the two horns used in the Vitaphone presentations. And the mirrored marquee and mirrored interior panels along with the flashing neon lights delivered Franklin’s vision and Dunne’s designs.
Before the theater was reopened, Franklin left Hughes to operated Paramount and United Artists theaters. The Mirror Theater opened Christmas Day 1931 with “Five Star Final” as its first screen attraction. While known primarily as a second run house, the Mirror capitalized on westerns from the minor film companies to stage live appearances. Under new operator, Interstate Theater Circuit, Gene Autry, Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Monogram’s John King were among the stars to appear on the Mirror’s stage.
On August 2, 1941, a four-alarm fire decimated the Mirror during closing hours with the balcony crashing to the main floor. It was fortunate the theater was empty because the fire officials said the non-fireproof insulation engulfed the theater quickly and sparking electrical cables were visible. Just three weeks later, plans to build a new and unrelated newsreel theater were finalized at 1515 Elm to replace the former retail space and would be known first as the Telenews and then the Dallas Theater.
On September of 1941, Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews of the U.S. Navy who owned the 1517 Elm property housing the still standing but charred Mirror was able to make a business trip to inspect the wreckage of the Mirror Theater. He ultimately determined that the building should be razed. 1517 was rebuilt as a retail space and housed a gift store and a game company above. Thus, the Garden/Jefferson/Pantages/Ritz/Mirror theatrical era ended after 29 years.
The Chalk Hill Drive-In opened on July 4, 1941 just two weeks after the Northwest Drive-In had its Grand Opening. Opening feature was “The Invisible Woman”. This drive-in had a capacity for 408 cars on 12.5 acres. There were 204 in-ground speakers and a playground for kids was added. It was operated by W.G. Underwood and Claude Ezell who operated the both the Northwest Drive-In and another in San Antonio.
The Chalk Hill started doing live stage shows prior to the movies in 1943 to five a full evening’s performance. The original design of the Chalk Hill was identical to that of the Northwest with a single star along with the drive-in’s name. The theater modernized the look of the tower with a clown’s face and neon lighting. Additionally, in 1954, the Chalk Hill replaced its screen with an 80-foot curved screen for CinemaScope films. Its first two in June were “King of the Khyber Rifles” followed by “The Robe.”
The Chalk Hill Drive-In became part of the Texas Southwest Drive-In Theatres circuit with the Buckner and Denton Rd. in 1972 and 1973. It closed for the season in 1973 and while there are many recollections of the theater’s continuance, no advertisements, bookings or re-opening announcements are listed. Steve Fitch’s two iconic photographs of the Chalk Hill from 1973 — one showing the panoramic screen and playground and the other showing the clown screen tower at dusk — would also be the ultimate end points to the theater if that were confirmed.
The Century Drive-In’s tract of land originally was home to the Downs Drive-in at 2510 W. Main St. in Grand Prairie. In 1949, the Downs became the third drive-in theater to open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its original screen burned and was replaced in 1957. And not long after being sold to a new owner, it closed on January 20, 1970, was bulldozed and replaced by the newly-named Century Drive-in which opened June 13th, 1970. It closed in 1987 and was later bulldozed.
The Downs was started and operated by Tim G. Ferguson, Truman Hendrix and H.S. Ferguson. The Downs was named after the nearby Arlington Downs Racetrack which had opened in 1929 and whose racetrack and grandstand extended eastward toward the drive-in less than a mile away. Located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth and with Irving within striking distance to the North, the Downs was well positioned. The opening of a GM factory in 1951 just across the way would soon add to the traffic and visibility of the area.
Ferguson complained about the availability of first-run film titles at his theater and brought a $150,000 Sherman Antitrust-based lawsuit against the five Grand Prairie theater owners as well as the major film studios. Ferguson’s drive to have more of a voice for drive-in theaters generally led him to become a founder and president of the Texas Drive-in Theater Owners Association.
The Downs theater tower burned to the ground in a spectacular 4-alarm fire on January 19, 1957 where the film “Fury at Gun Sight Pass” was playing. Fortunately, motorists backed away and were unharmed by the $15,000 fire. The fire was attributed to the high winds combined with the screen tower’s neon lights which were excised from the redesigned screen tower. The Downs racetrack closed in 1958 but the theater retained its name.
The theater’s positioning as a family-friendly spot was enhanced by its “Candy Cane City” amusement playground. The opening of a larger park — Six Flags theme park — in 1961 provided yet more family-centric traffic near the Downs which continued to thrive in the decade. Its success led the McLendon Theater Circuit to purchase the theater with grander plans. As the multiplex era of indoor theaters was beginning and with twin and triple screen drive-ins propping up, McLendon decided to one up the other drive-ins. It would demolish the Downs not long after January 20, 1970’s double feature of “Flare Up” and “Speedway”.
McLendon would create what it called the world’s largest drive-in and first four-screener. With the Arlington Downs a distant memory as a neighboring entity, the newly named Century Drive-In would begin business on June 13, 1970 with “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” with “The Undefeated” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” with “Topaz”. With four screens with 500 spots each at its opening, the theater did well enough to merit an additional fifth screen. The Century would go on 17 years until 1987 before being bulldozed. The nearly 40 years of drive-in exhibition for the Century/Downs makes it the area’s longest standing addresses for nearly continuous and certainly consecutive years of outdoor operation.
In 1949, the Downs Drive-in at 2510 W. Main St. in Grand Prairie became the third drive-in theater to open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its original screen burned and was replaced in 1957. And not long after being sold to a new owner, it closed on January 20, 1970, was bulldozed and replaced by the newly-named Century Drive-in which opened June 13th, 1970. It closed in 1987 and was later bulldozed.
The Downs was started and operated by Tim G. Ferguson, Truman Hendrix and H.S. Ferguson. The Downs was named after the nearby Arlington Downs Racetrack which had opened in 1929 and whose racetrack and grandstand extended eastward toward the drive-in less than a mile away. Located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth and with Irving within striking distance to the North, the Downs was well positioned. The opening of a GM factory in 1951 just across the way would soon add to the traffic and visibility of the area.
Ferguson complained about the availability of first-run film titles at his theater and brought a $150,000 Sherman Antitrust-based lawsuit against the five Grand Prairie theater owners as well as the major film studios. Ferguson’s drive to have more of a voice for drive-in theaters generally led him to become a founder and president of the Texas Drive-in Theater Owners Association.
The Downs theater tower burned to the ground in a spectacular 4-alarm fire on January 19, 1957 where the film “Fury at Gun Sight Pass” was playing. Fortunately, motorists backed away and were unharmed by the $15,000 fire. The fire was attributed to the high winds combined with the screen tower’s neon lights which were excised from the redesigned screen tower. The Downs racetrack closed in 1958 but the theater retained its name.
The theater’s positioning as a family-friendly spot was enhanced by its “Candy Cane City” amusement playground. The opening of a larger park — Six Flags theme park — in 1961 provided yet more family-centric traffic near the Downs which continued to thrive in the decade. Its success led the McLendon Theater Circuit to purchase the theater with grander plans. As the multiplex era of indoor theaters was beginning and with twin and triple screen drive-ins propping up, McLendon decided to one up the other drive-ins. It would demolish the Downs not long after January 20, 1970’s double feature of “Flare Up” and “Speedway”.
McLendon would create what it called the world’s largest drive-in and first four-screener. With the Arlington Downs a distant memory as a neighboring entity, the newly named Century Drive-In would begin business on June 13, 1970 with “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” with “The Undefeated” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” with “Topaz”. With four screens with 500 spots each at its opening, the theater did well enough to merit an additional fifth screen. The Century would go on 17 years until 1987 before being bulldozed. The nearly 40 years of drive-in exhibition for the Century/Downs makes it the area’s longest standing addresses for nearly continuous and certainly consecutive years of outdoor operation.
The Kiest Boulevard Drive-in opened May 23, 1956 with an invitation only screening of “Navy Wife” and opened to the public the next night with “I’ll Cry Tomorrow.” The 110x65 sq. ft. screen was designed by David P. Yelsi and was made of spun glass, plastic and rubber, the first such installation of its kind and Dallas' largest screen at that time. It was better known for the Indian on its opposite side. 1,000 car lot, panoramic screen accommodating VistaVision, CinemaScope, and high fidelity speakers. The theater was part of the Phil Isley Circuit and opened just one week after the Bruton Road Drive-In. In 1965, the Kiest landed in the Rowley United Chain within the United Artists circuit along with the Granada, Crest, Major, Avenue, Big-D Drive-in, Boulevard Drive-in and nine other theaters in downstate Texas.
A 40'x60' swimming pool with adjoining bath house, nursery for kids, playground and picnic grounds made it a family environment. Yet, when the theater switched to all X-rated features in 1970 during the porno chic era, these amenities wouldn’t have much value. The theatre switched to an African American leaning schedule beginning in 1973 and then back to mainstream fare for what appears to be the final five years for the drive-in 1977-1982. The theater discontinued ads in 1982 which could have been the end of the line for the 26-year old ozoner.
The South Loop Drive-In was a $150,000 drive-in architected by Harvey A. Jordon constructed for Charles H. Brooks that opened March 30, 1950 with “On the Town”. The original screen tower of the South Loop Drive-In had a Snow White mural. According to all reports, special permission was obtained from Walt Disney to use Snow White on the tower. Wings were added to the sides of the tower to play CinemaScope titles. The 675-car capable drive-in would become part of the Isadore B. Adelman Theatre Circuit in which it remained until its closure. The Adelman Circuit was more known for its indoor Delman theaters in Dallas, Houston, and Tulsa but had a good run with the South Loop. Each Saturday, the theater presented a “freeview” which was only free to patrons who paid for the first show; most other drive-in theaters referred to this as the “second feature.” The theater changed to a more traditional, double feature policy.
Amenities included free self-serve car washes while you waited in line. A water drainage and 90-gallon well ensured that the water would be reused. A 200-seat area was constructed for walk-ins in front of the concession stand and another 200-seat area was at the base of the the screen tower. High winds threatened the 60-foot high screen in 1954 so the tower was strengthened 75% according to the owners. But on August 30, 1956, the original tower and its telephone pole structure was blown over. in September 1956, the original was replaced with new signage and a steel-framed tower with Selby screen. The theater stopped advertising after the 10-26-1968 showings of Shenandoah and War Wagon likely closing for the season and not reopening for the spring. There appear to be no further bookings for the location.
The Ervay is probably best remembered for its owners and customers and not so much for its presentation. It was opened by three ex-GIs who didn’t even place an ad for the Dec. 21, 1946 opening. It was operated for a short time by the notorious Jack Ruby in 1953. And it became the Paris Art Theater owned by Jim Sharp who was thrown in jail in 1971 for showing obscene movies at the theater and was also operated by the infamous Charles Musick.
Musick fought Dallas' enforcement of obscenity laws using the First Amendment in the early 1970s. He was charged 22 times with showing obscene films at the Ervay and another 20 or so theaters in the region and had 21 of the cases either quashed or dismissed. Musick appears to be the final operator of the establishment for film exhibition with ads ceasing in July of 1972 and the Paris Theater nameplate being used on Harry Hines thereafter. Musick became the key witness in the murder for hire case against fellow adult theater owner Robert C. Thetford’s murder for hire case revolving around Thetford’s IRS problems and having one of his employees murdered for revealing this to the IRS.
Following its adult film era, it became a live venue mostly for music in the 2000s. The last advertised music show there was The Cliks live concert in March of 2008. It has been used seldom since for live concerts but has been used for political talks, seminars and courses into the 2010s.
Robb & Rowley opened the theater, as noted in the comments above, on March 21st, 1949 (private screening) and March 22d (to the public). R&R eventually became United Artists. UA was said to have allowed its lease to lapse on the Vogue. It closed as a dollar house following August 29, 1972 with Skyjacked and Kelly’s Heroes playing for a dollar. The next day, the Texas Theatre just down the street became United Artists' replacement converting it from first run to a dollar house.
The UA South 8 opened May 23, 1984 in the multiplex era across the highway from the Red Bird Mall in Oak Cliff. The theater had great visibility from the highway but no direct exit making it a bit challenging to get to. Technically, it was not only UA’s first and last Oak Cliff theater, as of the 2010s, it was the last theater ever built in Oak Cliff. The theater stopped just shy of 15 years as it was shuttered on October 15, 1998 in a wave of closures during the megaplex era.
The UA South was interchangable with any number of UA properties of this era such as the Northstar 8 in Garland. But given the lineage of the UA Circuit’s Dallas existence which subsumed the Robb & Rowley Circuit – a specialist and backer of Oak Cliff – give UA credit for outfitting an auditorium with 70mm projection and being THX certified. Oak Cliff deserved that and gave UA a leg up over the General Cinemas 1-4 and the 5-10 both across the street and adjoining Red Bird Mall. And it sort of worked as the General Cinemas properties had 12 profitable years but then simultaneous years in the red. In October of 1994, both General Cinema multiplexes were shuttered. Unfortunately, the lack of competition just didn’t help the UA South.
Again, giving UA credit, they did book specialty films for the target audience with nice runs of “Sanfoka” and “When We Were Colored”, both films for an African American audience. But with Cinemark’s low-priced, first-run Lancaster-De Soto theater opening just about a 10 minute drive away, the audience was being siphoned off in a new direction. The UA South’s reputation was that is was unsafe which drove audiences away. However, the actual experience on weekdays told a different story: the place was simply empty in the late 1990s; certainly no safety risk and usually a private screening.
When General Cinema closed its Oak Cliff theaters, there were protests staged at General Cinemas NorthPark I&II. When the UA closed the South at the end of October 1998, there was resignation that Oak Cliff perhaps had earned the reputation of non-support of movie exhibition. Or perhaps people understood the challenge of the multiplex in a megaplex environment as the South, UA Prestonwood, Northpark I&II, GCC Carrollton, GCC Prestonwood, and Collin Creek also went down for the count at the same time as the UA South. When Oak Cliff’s Astro Drive-in burned down just one month later, there were no functional movie theaters in all of Oak Cliff, one of Dallas' most populous residential areas with 338,000 people.
Only the reopening of the Texas Theater more than ten years after the UA South and Astro Drive-in closures did projected film come back to Oak Cliff. After being boarded up for several years, the UA South property was converted into a house of worship which was active into the 2010s.
The Wynnewood Theater opened July 1, 1951 as part of the Robb & Rowley Circuit. It basically was in the same chain for 32 years. The theater was retrofitted several times. The first was 1953 for panoramic showings of widescreen films. The next was 1958 with a Todd-AO system. Todd-AO was removed in 1961 for Cinemiracle presentation(s). The theater was twinned in April 1973. It closed Sept. 28, 1983, reopened for a period of time as an adult theater, sold to a developer but was demolished in 1999. Its address was 275 Wynnewood Village.
The Wynnewood got its name from Six Flags founder Angus Wynne who created the $7 million Wynnewood Village Shopping Center in which the theater was housed. Robb & Rowley would get a corner spot when the center was created with 10,200 sq. ft. theater plans by Pettigrew and Worley. Unlike many suburbans of the period, the Wynnewood was budgeted at north of $250,000, 1,400 seats, and had 400 targeted parking spots of the 2,000 available in the center.
On July 1, 1951, the slightly toned-down 1,000 seat Wynnewood Theater opened with “Smuggler’s Island” with a ten-seat soundproof cryroom, retractor seats and managed by Pat Murphree formerly of the Heights Theater to manage the facility for Rowley United Theaters. The Pettirgrew, Worley & Company architected theater’s final look didn’t quite match the highly stylized look of the original concept drawings. However, it did match the DeWitt and Swank design of the overall Wynnewood Shopping Center in which it was housed. The two firms did work together on the final design for the theater.
The R&R Circuit was focused on Oak Cliff with 7 theaters and this was clearly its jewel. Just two years into its run, the Wynnewood was retrofitted with a panoramic screen on Sept. 24, 1953 which reduced the house to 944 seats. An even more ambitious project happened in March 1958. Rowley United (having bought out the Robb family in 1955) spent $100,000 dollars on a Todd-AO system to show “South Pacific.” A six-track sound system, a 22x44 screen was brought in new 70mm projector, and eight surround speakers on the wall making it easily the most technologically challenging show for the suburban. Many Hollywood stars and producers flew in for the event. On the premiere’s night, a $25 after-party featuring Carmen Cavallaro saw stars such as Linda Darnell, Margaret O’Brien, Don Murray, and Rocky Marciano among others. All theater seats were reupholstered for the premiere and road show engagement, an improved box office, and redecoration all took place. In an incredible 32-week run 130,000 went to this Oak Cliff theater to the “South Pacific” in Todd A-0. South Pacific would return for a non-AO run in 1971.
Rowley then installed a costly Cinemiracle system in early 1961 in time for the showing of “Windjammer.” Todd-AO was removed. Three projectors operated with four projectionists allowed the wall to wall screen of the now 800 seat theater. Five speakers behind the screen and one on each side of the house. Only Houson’s Rivoli and the Wynnewood were said to play this in Texas.
Innovation pretty much stopped there as Hollywood steered away from such technology and undoubtedly “Windjammer” didn’t make back its investment. Rowley United positioned the Wynnewood of the 1960s as a family friendly house. In a single year, the Wynnewood had 50 weeks of G rated fare in 1968 with 22 weeks with Disney product. Rowley United became United Artists after a stock transfer and decided to twin both the Cine and the Wynnewood. The Wynnewood was halved with 400 seats in each house, had new screens installed, and was closed for two months in March and April of 1973.
In the 1980s, audiences were moving toward the multiplexes and Oak Cliff had the Redbird Cinemas which were doing decent business siphoning business away from the Wynnewood. In the summer of 1983, the Wynnewood became a dollar house and closed quietly with second-runs of “The Twilight Zone” and splitting “The Verdict” and “Star Chamber” on Sept. 28, 1983. The move came at the same time UA was breaking ground for an 8-screen house across the street from the Redbird Mall several miles south of the Wynnewood. A 32-year run for the R&R/UA circuit was pretty good. UA’s presence continued with the South opening May 23, 1984.
UA either subleased or operated under its art/adult nameplate with the Wynnewood re-opening trying adult fare for a brief period and playing Caligula in May of 1984. Jerry Moore Investments purchased the Wynnewood Theatre in Oak Cliff from United Artists in 1992. The Houston-based mall developer probably had grand plans and rumors abounded that a multiplex would rise in the Wynnewood and the Ward’s store when it went out of business. That never happened. The Wynnewood theater almost looked it was hoping that it would be bulldozed after sitting vacant for years. That day would come when it was excised from the shopping center in May of 1999 though would stand just a little bit longer than the UA presence in Oak Cliff which shuttered the UA South 8 in October 1998.
The corner of Akard and Elm is an intriguing one in Dallas cinema history. Of course, home to the Fox Theater in the 1920s and into the 1960s, the original Palace Theater was hastily carved out within a storefront by legendary Dallas exhibitor P.G. Cameron in 1906 in the same building. Cameron played Edison films with the licensed Edison projector with a 50 cent bed sheet to paying audiences who stood and watched the short films. Cameron would then rent chairs for patrons to be more comfortable.
The Nickelodeon era at this and other nearby locations provided Dallas with its first novelty theater row with the Princess, Palace, Candy and Empress together in rather unsubstantial show places. The Palace was no palace and the Empress was not regal. While not the first to exhibit movies, Cameron was a pioneer who left the Palace and moved to the Lyric as well as many other local theaters.
The Palace was gone and the building would get a major facelift at the start of the 1920s and renamed the Roos Building for the popular Gus Roos men’s clothing store. Within the Roos Building was an improved theater experience. A 280-seat theater known as the Fox Theater was created by Fooshee and Cheek Architects within the Italian Renaissance building.
When one thinks of the Fox Theatre, one might recall the glory days of the Fox in Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, or Detroit. The Dallas Fox in name only was actually started by and named for local businessman Max Fox, no relation to the fabulous Fox' lineage. Fox also operated the original Strand Theater in Dallas in the late 1910s and into the 1920s. The Fox opened in February of 1922 with a soft launch. Its grand opening was March 20, 1922 with Mary Pickford’s “Through the Back Door.” If one wants to make a connection to the film’s title and the Fox Theater’s business trajectory, so be it. Matt Fox left the exhibition business before the advent of sound but the theater bearing his name carried on under new management.
The Fox was a true independent running eclectic fare that ranged from standard film fare, live burlesque-centric acts and film shorts, to four-wall feature films that might contain exploitation and risqué content with little advertising. While the Queen, Majestic and others were creating a true movie boom in Dallas, the Fox stuck more to lower class fare and presentation. The Fox made the transition to sound, survived a minor fire in 1929, and soldiered through the Depression probably thanks to the success and traffic generated by the Roos Men’s store. In 1932, two tear gas incidents took place as a man threw tear gas canisters apparently to rob purses and other left behind items. As a sign of the time, a woman burned in the tear gas incident lived in a tent camp in south Dallas.
The Fox hit its stride in the 1940s playing high profile films that had been banned or were controversial. Alfred Sack of Sack Amusements would lease the theater in what appears to have been a four-wall arrangement to exhibit his racy – often foreign – films and his exploitation films such as “Bucket of Blood.” In other times, the theater was leased to the VFW for a weeklong-engagement of “Ravaged Earth.” But the racy films were winners and provided the Fox with consistent fare. The first feature film entirely shot in a nudist camp, “Elysia,” played three weeks in its initial run and sold a phenominal 11,462 tickets “including many repeat patrons” according to reports. Ecstasy, also exhibited by Sack, filled the house and said the report, “The 50 cent movie customers, after their first timidity, have patronized the picture (due to artistic rather than exploitative reasons) without glancing around to see if anybody recognized them entering or leaving the Fox.” But – that said – was the Fox’s reputation at the point and for the rest of its existence.
The racy films came with much scrutiny by local officials. A newsreel about a nudist colony by H.M. Glidden was seized and appears to be the first arrest of the Fox operators in October 1943. After the war, many of Sack’s more artistic foreign films were also doing well for the Fox so much so that Sack would create his own art house called the Coronet north of downtown. Once art films found their place in post-war suburban theaters such as the Fine Arts and Coronet, there was only one for the Fox to go and that was even more risqué. The films got much less artistic and more exploitative drawing questionable audiences as it became much more akin to a grindhouse with continuous shows all day. If the Fox had only stopped before 1955, the story of the theater would have been just that. Unfortunately, a wall fell killing four and injuring eight in June of 1955. Just two months later, the theater cooperated in a local raid leading to 20 charges of sodomy over a five-day undercover sting.
The Fox became known less for film and more associated with the burlesque scene in the late 1950s and just into the 1960s as the Barney Weinstein’s Theatre Lounge moved downtown from the Colonial Theater and Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club became the places to go. The word “Theater” was replaced with “Burlesk” on the marquee — of course — followed by “closed” as the establishment finally ceased operation. A classified ad in October 1961 has all of the contents including the seats for sale which marks the end of the Fox. The building appears to have been demolished in February 1962 replaced by the skyscraper First National Bank Building during a massive City of Tomorrow renewal plan. The historic film location at Elm and Akard was no more.
The Lagow Theatre, an 800-seat house by architect Raymond F. Smith opened in June of 1948 as an African American theater. Veteran theater owner M.S. White was eligible to re-enter the movie exhibition business and he ran the Lagow. When White sold his White, Dal-Sec, and Forest theaters to Interstate, he entered into a 10-year non-compete situation. Just months later, White would add the Plaza Theater to his portfolio with new partner Walter Armbruster of the original Maple Theater. The Lagow switched to mainstream suburban fare beginning with Gone With the Wind on Dec. 7, 1949 and continuing for almost eight years.
The Lagow was retrofitted in 1953 with a curved screen to show some of the era’s widescreen formats starting with “Salome” on July 18, 1953. And like the Plaza, this theater ended up in the hands of Ruth Wafford and J.T. Orr as the suburban theater’s fare produced sluggish results in the era of television.
After the April 26, 1957 double feature of “Shake, Rattle and Rock” and “Runaway Daughters, it appears that the theater was closed. It was then reopened as an African American House soon thereafter. In 1976, the Lagow experimented as a martial arts theater showing films including a double-feature of Death Machine and 7 Blows from the Dragon. In the 2010s, the Lagow continued its service as a church.
The 755-seat Plaza Theatre at 3806 McKinney at Haskell and McKinney was built in 1948 and appears to have first opened on January 22, 1949. It was operated by M.S. White, veteran of Dallas movie theater operation including such theaters as the White Theater and Dal-Sec Theater. Playing suburban fare to small audiences and unprofitability, White closed the theater following the August 31, 1953 double feature of “Desert Rats” and “Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” Television was cited as one of the main culprits identified for the lack of business at the location.
The Plaza got second life when it was reopened Sept. 23, 1954 under the operation of the Lagow Theater’s Ruth Wafford and J.T. Orr. The opening attraction was “Knock on Wood.” Every Saturday children got free popcorn and every Thursday was gift night. In 1956, the theater would try to mix in more art films beginning with Orson Wells' “Othello” in May of 1956. The concept was 47 years too soon as Landmark’s Magnolia Theater would emulate the concept more successfully just blocks away from where The Plaza once stood. Advertisements ceased in May of 1959 as the theater limped to a close after just about ten years of operation.
Called a nonproductive property, tired, and abandoned, the Plaza got a $150,000 upgrade designed by Architect Joe Gordon in 1964 after being empty for years and became Haskell Plaza ending its future as a cinema treasure. It was bulldozed and as of the 2010s, it was a mixed use retail and loft building in the Uptown business district.
The Wheatley Theater was located in the Wheatley Shopping Center and opened for business on February 8, 1950. E.J. Jobe was the owner and had an all African American staff. The $85,000 theater was billed as the first deluxe theater in Dallas for the African American community. The 550-seat theater sported blue and gold drapes, modern projection, five changes of bill per week with a weekly Saturday midnight ramble among its features.
The New Maple Theatre was a $125,000 theater plus retail project architected by Raymond F. Smith at 5206 Maple which broke ground in August of 1945. Operated by legendary booker Forrest White of In-Dex Booking Services and M.K. McDaniel, the 850-seat stadium theater’s manager was J.D. Hillhouse who had previously been with the Interstate Circuit. The New Maple launched with private screening of “Two Sisters from Boston on April 4, 1946 just one day after the original Maple Theater also under White and McDaniel had ended its run a block away at 5319 Maple. A public opening was held April 5, 1946 at 5206 Maple with Errol Flynn’s “San Antonio.” But it was the theater’s successful rebranding at the end of its life in the late 1950s and closure in June 1960 for which it is much better known.
The theater operated as a suburban house with double features sometimes advertised with “new” for most of its movie exhibition run into the late 1950s. As the industry was changing toward event films, the Maple soldiered on with double features until the feasibility was no longer possible. Much as the Lawn Theatre in Dallas had done earlier in the decade, the Maple decided to make an arrangement to host live stage plays which was a more lucrative trend in that era. And they hit a winner getting Margo Jones productions and the Maple Theatre Company, as well. The Margo Jones productions turned the sleepy suburban into a lively space.
The New Maple Theatre was becoming so established that the “new” was finally dropped from ads and would be part of a marketplace concept known briefly as Fleetwood Square. The Maple Theater would be incorporated at the central point of the Fleetwood Square’s ambitious expansion. The live theater groups were so emboldened by Edmund G. Peterson’s plan to build a $3 million market center encompassing the Maple at its center that they spent a great deal of time and effort truly converting the movie house to a live stage facility in 1959. But when a competing and similar plan by Trammell Crow was announced for a market center, Peterson and Crow merged their ideas into the Dallas Market Center which was built nearby. But the Maple was bulldozed in favor of an ambitious apartment complex with retail space. The actual position of the theatre was taken by a successful Japanese restaurant. The last production in the new Maple Theater was “Mr. Wonderful” that ended its run June of 1960. The live theater groups would have to find new homes but the Maple Theater’s short life had provided a needed spark to live theater in Dallas that continued onward.
The Maple Theater was located at 5319 Maple. It was run by R.H. Clemmons who ran the Sunset Theater. He sold the theater in favor of the Arcadia in April of 1938. It sold to legendary booker Forrest White of In-Dex Booking Services and M.K. McDaniel. It suffered a minor fire in July of 1940 that didn’t effect operations. However, White and McDaniel would build a new theater just after the War to replace the aging complex.
The Maple ended its run on April 3, 1946 with “Lady on a Train” and the New Maple Theater was launched the next night with a special invitation screening at 5206 Maple. The original Maple was up for sale in the classifieds for $18,500 by year’s end. It was purchased an converted into retail space that was still present as of the 2010s.
The Oak Lawn Theater got off to a tough start when the permit to allow the theater to be built was put in turnaround by the Municipal Court of Appeals in 1922. About 100 residents were concerned about the theater being a nuisance and the appeals board agreed. However, the process was eventually turned around and Oak Lawn Amusement Company behind Irving S. Melcher got its permit to build the house at Oak Lawn and Dickason.
The Oak Lawn Theater opened with the feature film, “The Flirt” on August 7, 1923 at 2916 Oak Lawn Avenue to a capacity audience filling its 511 seats despite the lack of a street car line running to it according to reports. Manager Jack Joyce gave out cigars to the men, flowers to the women and balloons to the children. The same amusement company decided to build a second Oak Lawn theater – this one for the sound era – at Oak Lawn and Wycliff avenues. This theater would be a deluxe 1,000 seat suburban house with cryrooms, upholstered chairs and sound devices for the hearing impaired, the first cinema in the South to have the devices.
Melcher would drop the Oak Lawn when the Melrose opened May 15, 1931. The Oak Lawn would become the first exhibitrix run house in Dallas as Mrs. Blanche L. Cutler became Dallas’ first female film exhibitor. It was Cutler’s third theater with two others in Oklahoma City and Bartlesville. It had a new sound system, the first self-rising seats in Texas that allowed the seat to spring upward, a new screen, and Lew White at the organ. The first feature was “The Lawyer’s Secret” on Sept. 1, 1931.
The Oak Lawn Theater was closed and taken over by R.Z. Glass who also was running the Fair Theater and the Knox St. Theater. Glass rebranded it the Lawn Theater on May 3, 1935 opening with “Hi Nellie” with yet another sound system, drapes, projection and screen. The air conditioning system was billed as repaired and would be operational. Glass ran into labor troubles at the Lawn and Knox properties as people hurled stink bombs to protest some labor-related issues.
In 1937, the Interstate Circuit acquired the theater from Glass. The theater installed a Mirrophonic Sound System to be played with “The Great Ziegfield.” But innovation wasn’t enough as reports said that the theater had “ailed economically” in the shadow of the Melrose Theater. Interstate closed the Lawn on January 14, 1939 for an “indefinite” period. Interstate likely was trying to find a new operator for the theater and would reopen later in the year operating just on weekends. With Paul Scott as manager, the theater tried to become a low budget suburban. It installed yet another screen, improved projection, new front, and tried double feature bills at just 15 cents per ticket at all times expanding to seven days a week. Its first bill on April 10, 1940 was “The Flying Deuces” and “The Desperate Trials.”
Interstate decided to reposition the Lawn as an art facility showing art films and repertory films in the late 1940s. In 1949, the Lawn was a shared space allowing legit theater and becoming home to the Edward Rubin Workshop doing live plays. The last films by Interstate didn’t do much business so Interstate closed perhaps with “Topper” just prior to Christmas and leased the Lawn full time Rubin provided that the plays staged were of a “civic and education character.” In 1952, the theater was renamed “The New Playhouse” and revamped for live theater now seating just 272 patrons. That arrangement ended a little more than five years later as the property was chopped into retail establishment by the end of the decade. The name “Oak Lawn Theater” would come back in the 1970s with a theatre space at Pearl Express Way and McKinney.
Deep Ellum became home to African Americans and immigrants at the end of the 19th Century and into the 20th Century. Black-owned business activity occurred along Central Avenue beside the railroad tracks. One of those businesses was started by John “Fat Jack” Harris who opened the Grand Central Theatre at 405 Central Avenue adjoining Swiss Avenue in 1908. Harris booked local and touring acts and mixed in film. By the 1920s, film consumed more of the Grand Central’s week with live acts on the weekends. KSD radio had a regular program of live events in the mid 1920s from the Grand Central. Though the Grand Central catered to African American audiences, Hollywood fare occasionally allowed the theater to be listed in the Dallas Morning News in the 1910s and 1920s. The businesses, railroad tracks, and that portion of Central Avenue were reworked as the city modernized its highways through downtown.
The Peak Theater opened at 1315 N. Peak near Bryan St. in Dallas in 1915 owned by A.D. Bethard with a seating capacity of 600 at opening. During the Depression, the Peak offered free midnight shows for the poor and unemployed. The former owner of the Melrose Theater, P.G. Cameron, purchased the theater Feb. 16, 1935. This would time out to a 20 year lease for the original owner. Cameron updated the theater in 1945 which likely accounts for the additional seat count of 695 cited above. At that time, Cameron’s portfolio also included the Urban and Grove.
The final operator of the theater, Kenneth Ward Crabtree, bought the theater in 1953 at age 26. His last film appears to be the December 16, 1955 showing of “The Kentuckian” and “New Orleans Uncensored.” There are no more bookings or ads for the Peak thereafter. And, unfortunately for the Peak and Crabtree, he was indicted, charged with arson for burning the theater down on Feb. 6, 1956. Investigators found that the theater had been doused in petroleum that — once lit — wrecked the theater which was later demolished as a result. The space was taken by J&J Manufacturing which ironically suffered a catastrophic fire that obliterated the building and left a black smoke path miles long across East Dallas.
The Grove Theater opened in 1937 and got its name from its subdivision of Dallas known as Pleasant Grove. The Roy Starling property was one of three he owned along with the Urban Theater and Mesquite’s Texan Theater. On May 9, 1942, the Grove was purchased by P.G. Cameron who had the Airway and the Peak Theater at that time while selling his Gateway Theater in Fort Worth. But about a year later, on June 21, 1943, the theater was demolished by a fire.
In November, the Grove was started again in a new building. It was refurbished slightly a year later. Charles Wise bought the theater in 1953. Though he was a vice-president of the Phil Isley theater circuit, he ran the Grove as an independent. A safe burglary in 1956 robbing the theater of $987 occurs toward the end of the theater’s life. In 1958, Wise’s independent is enveloped within the Isley Theater Circuit. The theater was closed on October 23, 1958 with the showings of “Wild Heritage” and “Last of the Fast Guns.” That times out to what was likely a 15-year lease. The property was demolished in 1959 and it replaced that same year by a Wrigley’s Grocery Store.
Technically, you could make the case that there were two Haskell Theatres. The first was built in 1921 by J.F. Woerner & Co. The original was in the hands of Paul Scott who also managed the Varsity Theater in University Park. A 1939 fire left the theater in shambles. The New Haskell was a Pettigrew and Worley architected house that was billed as semi-fireproof. Unfortunately, “semi” wasn’t good enough as the “New” Haskell was ravaged by fire in 1951 ending the theater’s namesake after 30 years of use. The theater was repurposed for two businesses. And, of course, it — too — burned not long after its remodeling. And a seven-unit apartment building was built on the property. It, too, suffered a major fire.
After Haskell owner Paul Scott’s establishment of the Varsity, Donald “D.A.” Dickson took over the Haskell not long after in 1932 and ran the theater until its final fire. In 1934, Dickson gave the theater a new marquee, neon theater sign, complete redecoration with new flooring and carpets, and an enlarged balcony. The reopening was July 25, 1934 with “Jimmy The Gent.” In 1938, the Haskell was renovated again with new upholstered seats, RCA high fidelity sound, new projection, and lots of green paint everywhere. “Test Pilot” was the first film for the reappointed theater on August 10, 1938. Just seven months later, a five-alarm fire attributed to a cigarette decimated the theater.
Dickson and his rebuilt Haskell rose again. The Pettigrew and Worley design with its gold neon sign, Kaplan projection, and a much higher roof for more seats. It opened May 10, 1939 with “The Hardys Out West.” Showing neighborhood fare, the Haskell was a low priced house at 15 cents a seat.
Just after closing on Dec. 15, 1951, it was all over for the theater when three or four explosions were heard and a four alarm fire followed. The structure was still intact and became two businesses: Teer Auto Supply and the Louis Cafe which burned down in 1954 eliminating the building. And, as noted, a 7-unit apartment building was the next building that encompassed the theater’s spot and it, too, suffered a major fire.
The 900-seat Parkway Theater opened Oct. 2, 1921 with “The Match Breaker” at 3709 Parry next door to the Fair Hotel and directly across from the main entrance to the Fair Park fairgrounds. It was Eddie Foy’s sixth theater in his circuit that then was comprised additionally of the Bluebird, Ideal, Colonial, Columbia and Rialto. The theater was billed as the largest neighborhood in the Southwest. Its grand opening festivities took place a week after its first film ran with Carl Weisemann brought in to play what was billed as Dallas' largest theatrical organ, a $15,000 instrument. Weisemann accompanied the film, “The Inner Chamber.”
Knox St. Theater owner Robert Z. Gless took over the theater In March of 1933 and reequipped and redecorated the theater and renamed it The Fair Theater due to its proximity to the fairgrounds. Within days of re-opening, the theater suffered major hail damage, shattering the glass doors and windows. Five feet of water flooded the newly remodeled theater. Gless re-reopened the theater and experimented both with suburban fare and African American bookings at midnight. Gless opened the Lawn Theater in May of 1935 and would sell the Fair to the Interstate Circuit. Interstate’s operation of the Fair was similar to Gless' with a mixture of African American fare, suburban fare though regular kiddie matinees monthly.
By the late 1940s, the Fair’s audience was evaporating and Interstate positioned the theater as a low-price theater with continuous shows ranging from 25 to 35 cents and children 9 cents at any time. Interstate dropped the theater and it closed for a short period. H.L. Fagan and A.Z. Choice who ran an African American theater called the Star Theater on Moore Street took on the theater Feb. 1, 1950. They received ominous phone calls telling them to “give the theater back to the whites.” Within weeks of opening the theater, what has been described as a fire bombing took place and the theater’s roof collapsed and destroyed the theater and damaged four rooms of the adjoining Fair Park Hotel. The building was a total loss and demolished.
Regarding a question posed in an earlier comment: Because Choice and Fagan were subleasing the theater, there’s little chance that they would have set fire to the property. Further, the owners of the building — Midway Realty — told inspectors that they, too, had heard from multiple persons in the neighborhood that the theater should not be African American owned and operated.
The property began as the Gay Theater on March 6, 1942 at North Fitzhugh and Capitol. The 500 seat theater was named after its manager I. Gay who operated a Mesquite theater. Included were love seats built for two staggered throughout the auditorium. The first showing was “Lady, Be Good.” The low-price theater and its manager, John Stewart, attempted to show retro films with old-school live presentation and that may have tipped the theater to its next iteration. The theater’s old school art deco look in the lobby and exterior added to the presentation.
Veteran Dallas feature film producer and distributor Alfred Sack took on the Gay Theater and made it a revival house, art film, and foreign film house on November 20, 1948. Sack changed the rebranded Gay Theater as the Coronet Theater on Monday, December 7 1948 with new sound system, cushioned opera seats and murals painted by Rene Mazza.. With members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on hand, “The Barber of Seville” was the Coronet’s first feature. It was billed as the first foreign language art house in the south or southwest. In its first six months of operation, the Coronet played 39 films. “Lucrezia Borgia” sold out the 500 seat house twice and another 500 people were turned away.
The Coronet faced art house pressures, especially from the Fine Arts Theater in University Park and in the early 1960s became one of Dallas’ first houses to regularly book “girlie” films. “Have Figure, Will Travel” set in a nudist colony was the first such booking in 1962 along with “Nature’s Paradise.” The bookings continued with films including Russ Meyer’s “Europe in the Raw” which was only the second theater in the U.S. to book the title. The adult films continued throughout the decade and into the 1970s at the Coronet. The adult theater business flourished in Dallas including the Fine Arts switch to porno chic in the early 1970s among many others. The theater decided to switch back to a true art format.
With the Coronet well known for its adult fare for about 15 years, a new operator Movie Inc. out of New Mexico took on the Coronet and decided to rebrand it as the Edison Theater on August 15, 1976. Movie Inc operated the Guild Theater in Alburburque along with theaters in six other cities and offered a subscription service to the foreign and revival fare. With most of the art theaters moving to adult fare, the Edison did excellent business in Dallas. The theatre now had just 309 seats.
In November 1977, the art deco highlights were brought out in a refurbishing of the Edison. Manager Jim Frazee also updated the projection. They also offered live entertainment in the mix. With many sell-outs on cult films including “Pink Flamingos” and changing neighborhood featuring many car break-ins, the Edison moved to the Granada Theater on April 20, 1978 not fare away. The Granada held twice as many people and was more of a night spot for the target audience. The Granada had been a neighborhood house, a repertory house, a $1 house and a XXX house before becoming a concert hall. Vacant for six months after the failed concert hall, the Edison filled in the Granada.
The Edison wasn’t vacant for long as just months later, it became the Mexico Theatre and played Hispanic films with some Asian films at midnight. The operator was showing Spanish language films at the nearby Arcadia on Greenville. In the early 1980s, the theater was closed and rebranded as the Oriental exclusively playing Asian films. When the Oriental closed, it was then home to nightclubs including Club Jakara in the early 90s and then the Latin Active Club. Unfortunately, a well publicized gun fight and at least two other shootouts at the Latin Active Club in 1996 seems to be the beginning of the end for the address as an entertainment site. In 1999, the theater was razed in favor of a Hispanic meat market which then became a restaurant.
It’s hard to imagine a more unsuccessful theater in Dallas' history than the Lucas Theater. Roy Lumpkin opened his first theater with 700 seats with crying room for babies. Its first film was “Leave Her to Heaven” on Monday and Tuesday May 13/4, 1946. (The first showing was private and the second open to the public.) Lumpkin couldn’t find an audience and within a year, the theater was in the hands of Bill McLemore. McLemore then sold it to Arcadia owner P.G. Cameron for $100,000 including three lots adjoining the property. Cameron reportedly expanded the number of seats and brought his son in to manage the theater. That wasn’t the right formula for the theater.
In June of 1948, a new operator, L.R. Robertson, installed an air conditioning system and remodeled the theater with neon lighting and murals painted by Don Vogel. The remodeling didn’t help as the Lucas was sold to Columbia Pictures' veterans L.A. Couch and A.M. Witcher who took on the theater In January 1949. The theater stumbled and was closed briefly that Fall. It was taken over by the Coronet’s Alfred Sack. The Coronet was doing so well with a combination of revival and art films that it decided to rebrand the Lucas as a revival house called the Encore Theater. It opened it on November 24, 1949 with “Rebecca.”
Even with the master showman Sack at the helm and Judy Garland’s mom brought in by Sack to manage the theater, they were unable to turn around the theater. The Encore was sold to G.L. and J.W. Griffin who took on the theater that summer. The Encore was a dud as the theater closed after its double feature of “That Midnight Kiss” and “Dear Brat” on Oct. 10, 1951 with a promise of repairs that would find the theater open soon. However, padlocks on the door and notices of a Constable’s Sale told a markedly different story. It was auctioned off, seats, equipment, and all by auction Feb. 5, 1952. Hammond Coffman was the winner of the Encore and announced it would re-open for business in March of 1952 with cowboy pictures and renamed as The Western. This doesn’t appear to have transpired as by November, Coffman had converted the theater into a sound stage and created the Coffman Film Company. KERA investigated the property as a potential studio in 1960. The property then became MPI Studios, followed by the St. Clair Talent Agency and then a long run as the Spectro Photo Lab.
In just five years, this theater had two names with plans for a third, seven owners, two air handling systems, and never found a consistent audience. One of the Dallas' least treasured and most unsuccessful movie theaters of all time was quickly put out of its suffering as a film exhibition location.
The picture of the Capitan Theater is from March 21, 1953 when the theater went to art films including foreign films and revivals. The large theater was run by Lewis and Susman with a capacity of 1,150 seats. The theater at the corner of Henderson and Capitol opened August 23, 1946 with “Do You Love Me?” Within six months of the theater’s opening, a high profile murder case occurred when a man was murdered when he was seated by his ex-wife by his ex-wife’s current husband.
The Capitan changed managers from Lee Roy Ball to William Lewis in 1948 as it tried to find its footing and relied heavily in matinee bookings on children’s and family fare. With theatrical tastes changing and general box office woes plaguing theaters all over the country, the Capitan rolled the dice and became an art house on March 21, 1953. Another innovation was that the theater banished popcorn from the concession stand and switched to higher end chocolate. The first film was a sell-out but competition for the art house especially the Varsity/Fine Arts in University Park and the Coronet in Dallas dogged the Capitan as the art concept faltered badly.
Less than a year into the art run, William Lewis resigned from the theater on January 6, 1954. The Capitan closed less than two years into the art concept on January 1, 1955. Not quite nine years was all the theatrical life of the property as it was converted for other purposes.
The building was sold to Charles Weisenburg who converted the property into the rather unique Capitan Bowling Center which opened on March 1956. The unique space of the theater allowed for two floors of bowling, each with ten lanes. Neighbors protested the lanes when it went 24 hours in 1958 demanding soundproofing and greatly reduced hours of operation. A bowling alley boom overpopulated the city of Dallas and in December of 1962, Weisenburg shuttered both the Capitan Bowling Center and the Industrial Lanes. The oldest lanes in the city, Hap Morse Lanes and Mickey Mantle’s Lanes also closed. Weisenburg closed the lanes and sold the building.