Bowie Theatre

3858 Camp Bowie Boulevard,
Fort Worth, TX 76107

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.

Architects: H. F. Pettigrew, John A. Worley

Firms: Pettigrew & Worley

Functions: Bank

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Nearby Theaters

Bowie Theater / Fort Worth TX

Moderately-sized Art Moderne theatre on Camp Bowie Boulevard. The Bowie Theater was opened January 31, 1941 with Gary Cooper in “North West Mounted Police”. It was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary Hoblitzelle & O'Donnell. Featured a fabulous vertical neon sign that could be spotted from a great distance in either direction on the Boulevard.

The Bowie Theatre closed on September 26, 1982 with “Star Trek II” & “Quest for Fire”. It was later converted into a bank, which interestingly enough, kept the Bowie marquee and nicely incorporated the Art Moderne elements into the renovation.

Contributed by Bob Whitworth

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

MissRandi
MissRandi on October 8, 2005 at 6:49 am

I believe I saw Jaws at this theater during it’s original release. I would have been 4 years old. Why did my parents take me to see this at such a young age? Maybe thats why I don’t like to go to the beach. I remember when this closed and turned into a bank. In my youthful ignorance, I protested that I would never set foot into it again.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 6, 2006 at 5:13 pm

Here is the page containing TC’s photo. You can’t post the individual photos, apparently:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cirillo/fwsights.htm

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 17, 2007 at 10:38 am

Here are interior and exterior photos by Michael Putnam:
http://tinyurl.com/ysnl5a
http://tinyurl.com/ytyj7v

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on February 10, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Here is a photo of the Bowie Theater featuring “A Clockwork Orange” in 1971.

www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/2256642778

kathibaker7
kathibaker7 on January 24, 2010 at 5:23 pm

I currently work at the Frost Bank located in the Bowie Theater and would like to make a scrap book about its history. Does anyone have photos of inside the theater before it was converted to a bank?

RyanBrennan
RyanBrennan on September 19, 2010 at 7:46 pm

The Bowie was built before the advent of CinemaScope and did not have an extremely wide auditorium. On top of that, the screen area was enclosed by walls that sectioned off the emergency exits located on either side of the screen. Consequently, when the Bowie ran a widescreen movie the picture size was reduced which created an effect similar to watching a letterboxed DVD. Non-widescreen movies filled the screen and looked fine.

Regardless, I saw many movies at the Bowie such as GONE WITH THE WIND, CABARET, SKIDOO, HALF A SIXPENCE, KING KONG and many others. In its latter years it was a bargain house with reduced admissions.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 23, 2018 at 4:12 pm

This opened on January 31st, 1941. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on February 28, 2021 at 6:35 pm

Pettigrew and Worley were the architects for the long-running theatre. Wealthy Cunningham was the final operator of the Bowie running it as a double-feature, sub-run discount house at $1.50 per admission. The first show would repeat with the second show getting one showtime. The theatre went to weekend only operations and had cult films at midnight. She closed up shop after the September 26, 1982 double feature of “Star Trek II” and “Quest for Fire” making “Star Trek II” the final film shown there. A portion of the seats went to the Cornerstone Theater on the south side. In 1985, a salvage sale was held prior to the theater’s conversion to a bank.

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