Grand Theatre

The town of Ennis was basically a four movie theatre town in the silent era. John O. Sayeg and his wife built the Grand Theatre on Main Street in 1912 which was said to be the first movie theatre in town. The town also had the Lyric Theatre which started as a legit / live venue but by 1914 was a movie theatre. The Lyric Theatre went from one smaller location to a new, larger 600-seat location on Knox Street in the 1920’s. Sayeg then opened his second venue, the Jewel Theatre on Knox Street. And, finally, there was the Belva Theatre for African-American audiences. But it was the Grand Theatre that stood the test of time running some 52 years before closing in May of 1964.

Sayeg’s Grand Theatre and Jewel Theatre were taken over by the Robb & Rowley / R&R Circuit in the 1920’s with Sayeg still managing. On August 23, 1928, the Grand Theatre was gutted by a fire. Rebuilt, the Grand Theatre would then switch to talkies installing the Photo-Talker sound system beginning on June 1, 1929. The theatre must have been doing extremely well as reports in 1930 stated that safe crackers absconded with some $4,000 in a 1930 heist. In 1931, the Howard Hughes – Harold B. Franklin Circuit took on the venues. They were assigned to R&R.

In 1933, Sayeg built the new Plaza Theatre and the town was a two-theatre operation into the 1950’s when a drive-in was added to the mix. The Plaza Theatre was the superior, newer venue and switched to CinemaScope in the mid-1950’s while the Grand Theatre stayed with its old technology in the 1950’s and into its final stretch in the 1960’s. The Grand Theatre was demoted to weekend use and part-year use when the drive-in and hardtop had common owners. But the Grand Theatre held on until reaching its 50th Anniversary with final operator John Shields in 1962 and even two years later closing around the first of May 1964. Shields sold the projection equipment to a Dallas operator ending the venue’s cinematic journey.

The building housing the Grand Theatre was updated by Frank and Henrietta Novotny for other retail purposes. The former theatre building received another major makeover in 2011. It was still standing and vibrant in the 2020’s.

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