Jewel Theatre

John O. Sayeg and his wife are credited with bringing movies to town when they built the Grand Theatre on Main Street in 1912. The town also had the Lyric Theatre which started as a legit / live venue but by 1914 was a movie theatre. Sayeg decided to convert what is most likely to have been the former Ennis Opera House from a live theatre venue into a movie theatre to blunt the competition from the Lyric Theatre in 1915-1916. That was the Jewel Theatre at 112 W. Knox Street. Ennis was a four movie theatre town in the silent era with its main theatres being Sayeg’s Grand Theatre and Jewel Theatre, the Lyric Theatre and the Belva Theatre serving African-American audiences.

Despite being the newer and larger of Sayeg’s theatres, the 450-seat Jewel Theatre was treated like Cubic Zirconia. Sayeg tried to replace the Jewel Theatre in 1921 with an announced but seemingly not built theatre. Both the Jewel Theatre and Grand Theatre venues were taken over by the Robb & Rowley / R&R Circuit in the 1920’s with Sayeg still managing. The theatre did receive one upgrade with the screen moving from the rear of the venue to the street side allowing for an improved slope for better sight lines.

When sound came to the medium of film, the Grand Theatre received its sound system in June of 1929. R&R and the Sayegs did not move the Jewel Theatre into the sound era closing it altogether in 1930. The building housing the former Jewel Theatre is still a part of downtown Ennis in the 2020’s though was retrofitted for other retail purposes in the 1930’s.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.