An ambitious $18 million project announced in 1957 was the Brunswick Plaza, a shopping and residential mecca with the 34-store Brunswick Mall, as drawn in planning stages. The facility opened theatre-less as the Brunswick Plaza - eschewing the enclosed mall route for a shopping center. Fast-forward to 1971 where the Jerry Lewis theatre circuit made its foray into Northeastern Ohio right here in the Brunswick Plaza.
Ernest and John Konkil were the lucky franchisees of the Lewis single screener with 350-seats and automated equipment making ownership a snap… at least according to the sales literature. The Jerry Lewis Cinema opened on February 20, 1972 with John Wayne in “Rio Lobo” & Ron Ely in Tarzan’s Deadly Silence". Lewis stated of his chain of franchised theaters, “I want to leave my children something (and) I’ll leave them dollars; but I wanted to leave them something standing.“ So this was it!
And this location’s lasting Jerry Lewis signage would outlast a number of other locations with his face - 14 full months! By that point, The Lewis Circuit’s parent company, Network Cinema Corp., had disconnected its phones leaving franchisees miffed. Sorry Jerry’s real kids, the Lewis signage was removed for its rebranding on May 18, 1973 as the Brunswick Cinema.
Multiple lawsuits were the end of Jerry Lewis Cinemas. Network Cinema Corp. filed for bankruptcy on June 14, 1973 with the Lewis circuit imploding a year later. The Brunswick location had likely broken its initial lease opting for a renegotiated lease at its rebranding. The Brunswick Cinema closed at the end of its 30-year leasing agreement on May 1, 2003 with “Piglet’s Big Movie” and “Bringing Down the House" bringing down the house.
The venue became Polaris Christian Church Cinema on December 26, 2003 with a screening of Gus Van Sant’s “The Elephant.” That cinema effort was short-lived. It then became Faith Walk Church in 2014 lasting into 2024.
So while Jerry’s kids did not have any standing, branded theaters with his likeness upon his death, at least that had the money he had promised them decades earlier… that is until the will was read. Lewis' will stating, “I have intentionally excluded Gary Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Anthony Joseph Lewis, Christopher Joseph Lewis, Scott Anthony Lewis and Joseph Christopher Lewis and their descendants as beneficiaries of my estate, it being my intention that they shall receive no benefits hereunder.” Both Jerry’s disinherited kids and bamboozled cinema owners were strange bedfellows who were not laughing with the “king of comedy.”
The Chuck entry above seems a bit vague / off. My research indicates that Grover Wise of the Alcazar, Odeon, and Royal theaters decided the time was right for Birmingham to have a new-build, suburban movie house. Based on plans by architect B.B. Burnham, he opened the modernistic and suburban West End Family Theater on December 24, 1923. The 450-seat venue was a new-build theater costing some $45,000 and dropping “family” immediately. The venue was equipped with sound to remain viable and received a streamline moderne makeover in the 1930s which could explain the increased seating count or might not. On September 27, 1957, it was renamed Gary’s West End Theater" under new operator Arnold Gary. That continued until July 1963 when it resumed under the West End Theatre nameplate.
After a refresh by a new operator, the 42-year old theater became the Cinema Theatre on March 21, 1965 using the motto, “We bring the good ones back.” The venue was trying to capitalize on the suburban theater trend by having the veneer of a new cinema. It opened with “Incredible Journey” and “Advance to the Rear" on July 8, 1965. But patrons saw through the facade and the Cinema Theatre appears to have ended on January 6, 1966 with “The Checkered Flag” and “Trigger Happy.”
The venue was retrofitted for retail purposes. That ended on June 2, 2005 when a neighboring store caught on fire ending the retail Spivey Hobby store and took the former theater with it.
The Chuck entry can certainly stay as is and this can be an alternative viewpoint.
A group of investors decided in 1971 the time was right to convert the Copp Farm to a Shangri-La ski resort, tennis club, health spa, and lakefront residences. Professional Investors Syndicate would build a 150' ski hill and associate a hotel on the property. The planned Scotsland Resort Hotel would also include a twin-screen cinema. This was not uncommon in the suburban theater boom of the late 1960s and 1970s featuring one and two screen cinemas with reduced seat count, luxury seating, and - in some cases - large format and/or stereo presentations.
Back in the early 1970s, the rise of hotel-site cinemas was a big thing. Three conditions allowed that. The first was the use of safety film leading to far fewer fatal movie theater explosions that decimated theaters and, often, neighboring buildings. The second was a switch to automated projection booth equipment allowing operators to circumvent or lessen the reliance on union projectionists. And third was that the downtown theaters were in retreat due to limited parking, decaying interiors, and too-high seat count that made some movie outings seem eerily empty. So hotels, casinos and other properties built automated theaters to take advantage of abundant free parking and a nearby clientele.
And the Scotsland group found an operator who would open a clean and modern two-screen cinema. But then the project stopped suddenly in 1973 with unpaid bills and court dates. When the project resumed and the investors mostly looking from the outside in, James D. Gudmundson and his independent Scotsland Cinema I & II opened on April 5, 1974 with “The Sting” and a double-feature “Superdad” and “Son of Flubber”. Ad in photos. Auditorium I had a total of 435 seats and II had 306 seats for a toal of 741 seats. The exterior was modern and the interior was a rustic-designed venue to fit in with the Scotsland Resort Complex which wouldn’t open until the theater’s third week operation and its grand opening May 1, 1974.
The cinema survived the chop that Scotsland found itself in. Just seven months into its run, Princess Hotels became the new operator of the resort. In September of 1976, the complex was rebranded as the Olympia Resort Hotel. It had new operators in 1980 and somehow lasted far longer than it should have. The Cinema closed permanently as the Scotsland Cinemas on March 10, 1996 with “Muppet Treasure Island” and “Broken Arrow.” (BTW, I see no evidence that it was ever called the Scotsland Theatres.) The hotel skidded to closure in January of 2018 in disrepair and dated. The resort was mercifully demolished in 2021.
The Jerry Lewis Cinema was to have opened on July 26, 1972 along with the rest of the South Plains Mall. But that date became challenging when he Network Cinema Corp. was not being responsive as it headed toward bankruptcy. And after a number of grand opening dates came and went - delayed due to “construction problems,” the cinema did open on December 21, 1972. And it kept that name for just six months - closing on June 20, 1973- as the Jerry Lewis Cinema concept had failed and the company had disconnected the phones nationally. General Cinema continued the location on August 16, 1973 as the South Plains Cinema I & II.
Thomas E. Orr and A.B. Hooper opened the Princess Theatre in downtown Albertville in September of 1920. The theater closed January 30, 1954 and was remodeled for Lang’s Department Store opening there October 30, 1954.
Cinemark closed this location along with all of its other locations after showtimes on March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened here with a soft launch on August 14, 2020 in a “test-and-learn” protocol and then a full opening on August 28, 2020. However, Cinemark closed - very likely at the end of a leasing agreement - on February 9, 2025 as theater chains struggled in the streaming era.
This entry should be the Dreamland Theater. It opened as the Snodgrass Theatre on December 21, 1914 with live programming and changed names under Claude Bobo to the Dreamland Theatre on June 30, 1921 playing movies.
The Dreamland was due to be replaced by the Bocanita Theatre that was built and essentially completed in 1929. But that theatre was heavily delayed due to a nightmare of a time trying to get a “proper” sound system. The Dreamland continued operations before closing on July 7, 1930 with the purported and much-awaited launch of the Bocanita happening three days later. Alas, the opening the Bocanita was delayed again though launching on July 19, 1930.
The Holiday Plaza Shopping Center saw its long-running Holiday Cinema launch June 19, 1970 with “Norwood.” To celebrate its 9th Anniversary, it spawned twins on June 18, 1979. To celebrate its 39th Anniversary it closed permanently on June 20, 2009 with “Imagine That” and “Up.” Imagine that.
At launch, the venue had a 360 seat auditorium and a 240 seat auditorium for 600 seats. End of the line came on September 14, 1997 as the Surfside Cinema failed to make its 30 year lease by four years closing with “Leave it to Beaver,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Con-Air” and “Men in Black.”
The Eureka Theatre opened as a 500-seat theater in September of 1917. It became the Ritz Theatre in September of 1922. In 1930, it ran a Quizzo promotion which was challenged in court as being akin to a lottery or illegal game of chance. The Ritz lost the case ending its Quizzo promotion. It made the transition to sound to remain viable. It ceased operations on August 9, 1951 after a two-hour comedy festival of shorts and cartoons. It became Ritz Hall under new operators in 1953.
In December of 2024, a plan was proposed to renovate the A&G into an 18-unit flea market to the plans of Albert Architecture in hopes of giving the building new life.
Henry Meyers incorporated on April 17, 1941 as the new-build $10,000 Harlem Theatre was being built (or converted it from some element of an existing lodge - the record is a little vague). Meyers opened the venue on July 5, 1941 for African American patrons. He and Odeus Meyers also operated the Meyer Theatre that opened in 1940. The theatre was the longest-running independently owned theater in the city and arguably its most important serving Biloxi’s large African American population.
Meyers success led him to take on the A&G Theatre under B&D Theatres nameplate also operating it for African American patrons. But things took a turn for the worse with Meyers moving on from the theater in the mid-1960s and facing a suit by the major Hollywood studios for unsettled payments. Meyers settled those debts in 1965 but the B&D Theatre entity entered bankruptcy in 1966. The theatre continued operations just failing by weeks to reach its 28th year of operation. In March of 1969, operators were locked out of the facility for non-payment of rent. A sheriff’s sale of the venue and its equipment in April of 1969 did not net a new buyer with the theater closed and left vacant until demolition.
Carroll Max Briggs and Rose Mary Triggs incorporated in 1972 to open this venue. It ran 15 years before closing up on January 19, 1989 with revenue falling from $385,000 to $222,000 between 1985 and 1988. The Triggs closed with “Rain Man,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Hellraiser II,” “Naked Gun,” and “Land Before Time.”
The major silent film house in town was the Warfield Theater from 1911 to June 20, 1921. On that date, a major fire started at a bakery wiping away 50 businesses and a number of houses in a matter of hours. That included the Warfield Theatre which had provided vaudeville and motion pictures over its ten years of operation. Charles E. Frederic decided to replace the Warfield with the new-build Nelson Theatre.
On the books, the Nelson was going to be a 1,000-seat theatre. But with a population of just 6,000 people, the Nelson was a more reasonable 600-seat venue. The Nelson Theatre launched on March 24, 1922. In September of 1929, operators Charles B. Crawford and a Mr. Richard made the expensive transition to talkies with the Vitaphone system. Likely overtaxed by the transition to sound’s cost coupled with the onset of the Depression, the pair sold out to J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. The pair would go on to open the Ritz Theatre in January of 1938.
Following the Ritz’s launch, the Nelson Theatre received a streamline moderne makeover that started in 1938 and finally was completed in 1939 reducing seat count to 450. That venue lasted until June 6, 1942 when it became the Pix Theatre with Johnny Mack Brown in “Undercover Man.” The Pix appears to have ceased operations on January 27, 1963 with a double feature of “Black Dragons” and “Belle Starr.”
The Ritz launched January 26, 1938 With “The Awful Truth” and an opening address from the honorable mayor Frank Canty who congratulated owners J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. Cole and Grant also operated the Nelson Theatre which would become the Pix Theatre about four years later.
Lloyd Royal launched his 600-seat Royal Theatre at what was once 520 Main Street in Moss Point on August 1, 1963 with “Savage Sam.” It wouldn’t be long-lasting. However, with a new operator came a second chance with the venue reopening with Walt Disney’s “Wild Country” and “Bongo” on March 31, 1971. The Royal promised “G” rated fare each weekend.
That’s not what the folks of Moss Point wanted either. So new operators rebranded the venue as the Moss Point Cinema in 1973 and they went heavy in double features of Blaxploitation and Chopsocky films in the mid and late 1970s. Black Ceasar, Wattstax, Coffy, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, The Mack, Cleopatra Jones, Detroit 9000… these were just some of the opening titles. In 1974, Gulf States took on the venue keeping the Blaxploitation and Chopsocky programming going. But the fun lasted only until November of 1978 when the theatre closed permanently likely at the opt out at the end of a 15-year leasing agreement.
An ambitious $18 million project announced in 1957 was the Brunswick Plaza, a shopping and residential mecca with the 34-store Brunswick Mall, as drawn in planning stages. The facility opened theatre-less as the Brunswick Plaza - eschewing the enclosed mall route for a shopping center. Fast-forward to 1971 where the Jerry Lewis theatre circuit made its foray into Northeastern Ohio right here in the Brunswick Plaza.
Ernest and John Konkil were the lucky franchisees of the Lewis single screener with 350-seats and automated equipment making ownership a snap… at least according to the sales literature. The Jerry Lewis Cinema opened on February 20, 1972 with John Wayne in “Rio Lobo” & Ron Ely in Tarzan’s Deadly Silence". Lewis stated of his chain of franchised theaters, “I want to leave my children something (and) I’ll leave them dollars; but I wanted to leave them something standing.“ So this was it!
And this location’s lasting Jerry Lewis signage would outlast a number of other locations with his face - 14 full months! By that point, The Lewis Circuit’s parent company, Network Cinema Corp., had disconnected its phones leaving franchisees miffed. Sorry Jerry’s real kids, the Lewis signage was removed for its rebranding on May 18, 1973 as the Brunswick Cinema.
Multiple lawsuits were the end of Jerry Lewis Cinemas. Network Cinema Corp. filed for bankruptcy on June 14, 1973 with the Lewis circuit imploding a year later. The Brunswick location had likely broken its initial lease opting for a renegotiated lease at its rebranding. The Brunswick Cinema closed at the end of its 30-year leasing agreement on May 1, 2003 with “Piglet’s Big Movie” and “Bringing Down the House" bringing down the house.
The venue became Polaris Christian Church Cinema on December 26, 2003 with a screening of Gus Van Sant’s “The Elephant.” That cinema effort was short-lived. It then became Faith Walk Church in 2014 lasting into 2024.
So while Jerry’s kids did not have any standing, branded theaters with his likeness upon his death, at least that had the money he had promised them decades earlier… that is until the will was read. Lewis' will stating, “I have intentionally excluded Gary Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Anthony Joseph Lewis, Christopher Joseph Lewis, Scott Anthony Lewis and Joseph Christopher Lewis and their descendants as beneficiaries of my estate, it being my intention that they shall receive no benefits hereunder.” Both Jerry’s disinherited kids and bamboozled cinema owners were strange bedfellows who were not laughing with the “king of comedy.”
(It was an outparcel building, btw)
The Chuck entry above seems a bit vague / off. My research indicates that Grover Wise of the Alcazar, Odeon, and Royal theaters decided the time was right for Birmingham to have a new-build, suburban movie house. Based on plans by architect B.B. Burnham, he opened the modernistic and suburban West End Family Theater on December 24, 1923. The 450-seat venue was a new-build theater costing some $45,000 and dropping “family” immediately. The venue was equipped with sound to remain viable and received a streamline moderne makeover in the 1930s which could explain the increased seating count or might not. On September 27, 1957, it was renamed Gary’s West End Theater" under new operator Arnold Gary. That continued until July 1963 when it resumed under the West End Theatre nameplate.
After a refresh by a new operator, the 42-year old theater became the Cinema Theatre on March 21, 1965 using the motto, “We bring the good ones back.” The venue was trying to capitalize on the suburban theater trend by having the veneer of a new cinema. It opened with “Incredible Journey” and “Advance to the Rear" on July 8, 1965. But patrons saw through the facade and the Cinema Theatre appears to have ended on January 6, 1966 with “The Checkered Flag” and “Trigger Happy.”
The venue was retrofitted for retail purposes. That ended on June 2, 2005 when a neighboring store caught on fire ending the retail Spivey Hobby store and took the former theater with it.
The Chuck entry can certainly stay as is and this can be an alternative viewpoint.
Screen I - 375 seats
Screen II - 350 seats
Screen III - 186 seats
Screen IV - 160 seats Total: 1,071 seats
A group of investors decided in 1971 the time was right to convert the Copp Farm to a Shangri-La ski resort, tennis club, health spa, and lakefront residences. Professional Investors Syndicate would build a 150' ski hill and associate a hotel on the property. The planned Scotsland Resort Hotel would also include a twin-screen cinema. This was not uncommon in the suburban theater boom of the late 1960s and 1970s featuring one and two screen cinemas with reduced seat count, luxury seating, and - in some cases - large format and/or stereo presentations.
Back in the early 1970s, the rise of hotel-site cinemas was a big thing. Three conditions allowed that. The first was the use of safety film leading to far fewer fatal movie theater explosions that decimated theaters and, often, neighboring buildings. The second was a switch to automated projection booth equipment allowing operators to circumvent or lessen the reliance on union projectionists. And third was that the downtown theaters were in retreat due to limited parking, decaying interiors, and too-high seat count that made some movie outings seem eerily empty. So hotels, casinos and other properties built automated theaters to take advantage of abundant free parking and a nearby clientele.
And the Scotsland group found an operator who would open a clean and modern two-screen cinema. But then the project stopped suddenly in 1973 with unpaid bills and court dates. When the project resumed and the investors mostly looking from the outside in, James D. Gudmundson and his independent Scotsland Cinema I & II opened on April 5, 1974 with “The Sting” and a double-feature “Superdad” and “Son of Flubber”. Ad in photos. Auditorium I had a total of 435 seats and II had 306 seats for a toal of 741 seats. The exterior was modern and the interior was a rustic-designed venue to fit in with the Scotsland Resort Complex which wouldn’t open until the theater’s third week operation and its grand opening May 1, 1974.
The cinema survived the chop that Scotsland found itself in. Just seven months into its run, Princess Hotels became the new operator of the resort. In September of 1976, the complex was rebranded as the Olympia Resort Hotel. It had new operators in 1980 and somehow lasted far longer than it should have. The Cinema closed permanently as the Scotsland Cinemas on March 10, 1996 with “Muppet Treasure Island” and “Broken Arrow.” (BTW, I see no evidence that it was ever called the Scotsland Theatres.) The hotel skidded to closure in January of 2018 in disrepair and dated. The resort was mercifully demolished in 2021.
April 14, 1921 opening ad in photos with “The Greatest Love”
May 31, 1959 grand opening ad with Pajama Game and Beautiful but Dangerous in photos
Community Circuit launched the Village Theatre with “In Cold Blood” on Valentine’s Day, 1969; ad is in photos.
The Jerry Lewis Cinema was to have opened on July 26, 1972 along with the rest of the South Plains Mall. But that date became challenging when he Network Cinema Corp. was not being responsive as it headed toward bankruptcy. And after a number of grand opening dates came and went - delayed due to “construction problems,” the cinema did open on December 21, 1972. And it kept that name for just six months - closing on June 20, 1973- as the Jerry Lewis Cinema concept had failed and the company had disconnected the phones nationally. General Cinema continued the location on August 16, 1973 as the South Plains Cinema I & II.
Five years late… but… yes “Hunt for Red October” had a 70mm run and one of the title’s best per screen performer in the U.S.
Thomas E. Orr and A.B. Hooper opened the Princess Theatre in downtown Albertville in September of 1920. The theater closed January 30, 1954 and was remodeled for Lang’s Department Store opening there October 30, 1954.
Cinemark closed this location along with all of its other locations after showtimes on March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened here with a soft launch on August 14, 2020 in a “test-and-learn” protocol and then a full opening on August 28, 2020. However, Cinemark closed - very likely at the end of a leasing agreement - on February 9, 2025 as theater chains struggled in the streaming era.
Closed February 2, 2025.
This entry should be the Dreamland Theater. It opened as the Snodgrass Theatre on December 21, 1914 with live programming and changed names under Claude Bobo to the Dreamland Theatre on June 30, 1921 playing movies.
The Dreamland was due to be replaced by the Bocanita Theatre that was built and essentially completed in 1929. But that theatre was heavily delayed due to a nightmare of a time trying to get a “proper” sound system. The Dreamland continued operations before closing on July 7, 1930 with the purported and much-awaited launch of the Bocanita happening three days later. Alas, the opening the Bocanita was delayed again though launching on July 19, 1930.
The Holiday Plaza Shopping Center saw its long-running Holiday Cinema launch June 19, 1970 with “Norwood.” To celebrate its 9th Anniversary, it spawned twins on June 18, 1979. To celebrate its 39th Anniversary it closed permanently on June 20, 2009 with “Imagine That” and “Up.” Imagine that.
2-200 seat auditoriums for 400 total
At launch, the venue had a 360 seat auditorium and a 240 seat auditorium for 600 seats. End of the line came on September 14, 1997 as the Surfside Cinema failed to make its 30 year lease by four years closing with “Leave it to Beaver,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Con-Air” and “Men in Black.”
Final day - July 29, 2007
The Eureka Theatre opened as a 500-seat theater in September of 1917. It became the Ritz Theatre in September of 1922. In 1930, it ran a Quizzo promotion which was challenged in court as being akin to a lottery or illegal game of chance. The Ritz lost the case ending its Quizzo promotion. It made the transition to sound to remain viable. It ceased operations on August 9, 1951 after a two-hour comedy festival of shorts and cartoons. It became Ritz Hall under new operators in 1953.
In December of 2024, a plan was proposed to renovate the A&G into an 18-unit flea market to the plans of Albert Architecture in hopes of giving the building new life.
Henry Meyers incorporated on April 17, 1941 as the new-build $10,000 Harlem Theatre was being built (or converted it from some element of an existing lodge - the record is a little vague). Meyers opened the venue on July 5, 1941 for African American patrons. He and Odeus Meyers also operated the Meyer Theatre that opened in 1940. The theatre was the longest-running independently owned theater in the city and arguably its most important serving Biloxi’s large African American population.
Meyers success led him to take on the A&G Theatre under B&D Theatres nameplate also operating it for African American patrons. But things took a turn for the worse with Meyers moving on from the theater in the mid-1960s and facing a suit by the major Hollywood studios for unsettled payments. Meyers settled those debts in 1965 but the B&D Theatre entity entered bankruptcy in 1966. The theatre continued operations just failing by weeks to reach its 28th year of operation. In March of 1969, operators were locked out of the facility for non-payment of rent. A sheriff’s sale of the venue and its equipment in April of 1969 did not net a new buyer with the theater closed and left vacant until demolition.
Carroll Max Briggs and Rose Mary Triggs incorporated in 1972 to open this venue. It ran 15 years before closing up on January 19, 1989 with revenue falling from $385,000 to $222,000 between 1985 and 1988. The Triggs closed with “Rain Man,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Hellraiser II,” “Naked Gun,” and “Land Before Time.”
The major silent film house in town was the Warfield Theater from 1911 to June 20, 1921. On that date, a major fire started at a bakery wiping away 50 businesses and a number of houses in a matter of hours. That included the Warfield Theatre which had provided vaudeville and motion pictures over its ten years of operation. Charles E. Frederic decided to replace the Warfield with the new-build Nelson Theatre.
On the books, the Nelson was going to be a 1,000-seat theatre. But with a population of just 6,000 people, the Nelson was a more reasonable 600-seat venue. The Nelson Theatre launched on March 24, 1922. In September of 1929, operators Charles B. Crawford and a Mr. Richard made the expensive transition to talkies with the Vitaphone system. Likely overtaxed by the transition to sound’s cost coupled with the onset of the Depression, the pair sold out to J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. The pair would go on to open the Ritz Theatre in January of 1938.
Following the Ritz’s launch, the Nelson Theatre received a streamline moderne makeover that started in 1938 and finally was completed in 1939 reducing seat count to 450. That venue lasted until June 6, 1942 when it became the Pix Theatre with Johnny Mack Brown in “Undercover Man.” The Pix appears to have ceased operations on January 27, 1963 with a double feature of “Black Dragons” and “Belle Starr.”
The Ritz launched January 26, 1938 With “The Awful Truth” and an opening address from the honorable mayor Frank Canty who congratulated owners J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. Cole and Grant also operated the Nelson Theatre which would become the Pix Theatre about four years later.
Lloyd Royal launched his 600-seat Royal Theatre at what was once 520 Main Street in Moss Point on August 1, 1963 with “Savage Sam.” It wouldn’t be long-lasting. However, with a new operator came a second chance with the venue reopening with Walt Disney’s “Wild Country” and “Bongo” on March 31, 1971. The Royal promised “G” rated fare each weekend.
That’s not what the folks of Moss Point wanted either. So new operators rebranded the venue as the Moss Point Cinema in 1973 and they went heavy in double features of Blaxploitation and Chopsocky films in the mid and late 1970s. Black Ceasar, Wattstax, Coffy, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, The Mack, Cleopatra Jones, Detroit 9000… these were just some of the opening titles. In 1974, Gulf States took on the venue keeping the Blaxploitation and Chopsocky programming going. But the fun lasted only until November of 1978 when the theatre closed permanently likely at the opt out at the end of a 15-year leasing agreement.