ABC Cinemas 1 and 2

rivest266 on November 27, 2021 at 12:53 pm

This was opened by ABC Interstate as Cinema 1 & 2 - Parker Square on May 23rd, 1975. Grand opening ad posted.

Coate on November 2, 2010 at 1:23 pm

If this is the same theater that I have listed in my JAWS anniversary retrospective, then I can confirm it was operated by ABC Interstate in the mid-1970s.

By the end of the ‘70s it would have become a Plitt, and, if it stayed open into the late-1980s, a Cineplex-Odeon. Whether it began life as a Jerry Lewis operation I couldn’t say.

And, not to be too picky, but the screen numbers according to newspaper promotion were “1 & 2” (not “I & II”) and “Wichita Falls” was not a part of the name.

CSWalczak on October 7, 2010 at 11:00 pm

Well, it would be probably more accurate to say that there were more in the eastern half of the United States than the western, but there were JLCs, for example, in California, Utah, and Washington. One websource says there were, at the peak of their operation, about 170 nationwide, many of which are not listed here or on any other cinema website, probably due to the fact that many had very short existences. A quick web search turned up a JLC in the Texas cities of McKinney, Lubbock, Houston, and Monahans. I would say this theater Wichita Falls may have been one as well; your indication that it was popular in the 1970s might be a clue.

JoelWeide on October 7, 2010 at 5:14 pm

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