I lived in Wolfe City as a child. The Booth family, owners of this theater, were well-known in town, and they lived just across and down the same street from where we did. Before television, everyone who lived in the area, came to town on Friday and Saturday nights, and going to the Booth was standard for many, if not most, of them (along with shopping in the stores that kept late hours only on those evenings making it impossible for working people and farmers to shop at other times). My father gave me a quarter every Saturday. I would pay 10 cents to get into the Booth to see the film and would buy a cola for 5 cents and a bag of popcorn for 5 cents. At the time, I was totally unaware of the side door and the balcony (the latter of which I probably saw from below but without a view or knowledge of who was up there). It was a segregated theater. The side door was a second entrance which was labeled “Coloreds” and opened to a staircase that led up to the balcony where African Americans could sit and watch the same films. By the time my family left Wolfe City in 1956, times had changed. Everyone had cars and could drive where they wanted to shop and see films (mostly to Greenville); stores, therefore, no longer stayed open late on Fridays and Saturdays; and there were televisions in most homes. The Booth Theater had closed sometime around 1953 or 1954. I seem to recall that it was opened again sometime after we left in 1956 for a brief period of time, but I may have dreamed that since my dreams often dwell on topics of particular interest to me which include cinema and films.
The drive-in in Commerce had rather typical scheduling–always double-features and always second runs after they had been shown in indoor theaters. The draws were: 1) Two films per visit, 2) Often carload pricing rather than per-person pricing, 3) Playground in front of the screen for children so the adults could enjoy the film in peace, and 4) The universally recognized “privacy” to be intimate inside the car (similar to but better than the feature the back rows of indoor theaters provided). Several factors led to the end of this and other drive-ins–poor sound quality, the first feature having to start before it was truly dark (because it was only open during the summer months which worsened when Daylight Savings Time became the law), and the increasing popularity of TV meaning that it wasn’t needed as an entertainment venue by most people. The comments about “High View” do not apply to this drive-in. There was a drive-in on the same highway down the road as drivers entered the edge of Greenville. It’s name was “Hi View” I believe, so people who went to it probably got their memories mixed up with the drive-in on the same highway just about 10 miles away.
The Palace was the “top” theater in town. When I moved to Commerce in 1956, it played the more popular films. However, it wasn’t really a first-run theater. The films only came to the Palace 2-3 weeks after they opened in true fist-run theaters in Dallas and elsewhere. There were generally 3 films shown each week. One that opened on Sunday and continued on Monday, one that showed only Tuesday and Wednesday, one that opened on Thursday and continued through Saturday as best as I can remember. That schedule made it possible to see 3 films within the same time period as in a first-run theater that typically had a film running for a minimum of a whole week. There was a period in the 1960s where there was an agreement with the local university to show foreign films on Wednesdays which gave residents a rare opportunity to see films from France, Italy, etc. Eventually, with a change of ownership, the Palace did become a first-run theater with films opening at the same time they did in large markets and running for a whole week. It continued that type of programming until it closed. My family came to Commerce to see a film at the Palace a year or two before we moved there because they had installed a CinemaScope screen and were showing a wide-screen film for the first time; the screen was up and the film was shown, but there still was no framing around the screen and we could see the “threaded” roping used to hold the screen flat and tight. Two rather awkward aspects of the Palace were: 1) The snack bar was outside the front doors in an open recessed lobby area where the ticket booth was also located, so to buy anything after entering the film one had to tell the doorman that you were going out to get a snack but would be returning and depend on him remembering that. 2) For me, the low ceiling seemed awkward. There was no balcony, so the ceiling was just above the top of the screen. The only time I ever saw the Palace almost completely full was when there was a re-release of Gone with the Wind. Usually, there were rather small crowds since TV was almost universal by the time my family moved there.
The Lyric existed when my family moved to Commerce in the summer of 1956–just before I entered the 6th grade in school. Ownership was the same as for the Palace across the street. Whereas the Palace showed the more popular films, the Lyric played what were called “B” movies–horror films, westerns, etc. It also had Saturday serials that children attended. The nickname known by most people in town for the Lyric was “The Bloody Bucket.” I always wondered what it looked like inside, but none of the films there ever appealed to me. The cinema closed within a year or so of my living in Commerce–probably in 1957 (or 1958 at the latest).
I lived in Wolfe City as a child. The Booth family, owners of this theater, were well-known in town, and they lived just across and down the same street from where we did. Before television, everyone who lived in the area, came to town on Friday and Saturday nights, and going to the Booth was standard for many, if not most, of them (along with shopping in the stores that kept late hours only on those evenings making it impossible for working people and farmers to shop at other times). My father gave me a quarter every Saturday. I would pay 10 cents to get into the Booth to see the film and would buy a cola for 5 cents and a bag of popcorn for 5 cents. At the time, I was totally unaware of the side door and the balcony (the latter of which I probably saw from below but without a view or knowledge of who was up there). It was a segregated theater. The side door was a second entrance which was labeled “Coloreds” and opened to a staircase that led up to the balcony where African Americans could sit and watch the same films. By the time my family left Wolfe City in 1956, times had changed. Everyone had cars and could drive where they wanted to shop and see films (mostly to Greenville); stores, therefore, no longer stayed open late on Fridays and Saturdays; and there were televisions in most homes. The Booth Theater had closed sometime around 1953 or 1954. I seem to recall that it was opened again sometime after we left in 1956 for a brief period of time, but I may have dreamed that since my dreams often dwell on topics of particular interest to me which include cinema and films.
The drive-in in Commerce had rather typical scheduling–always double-features and always second runs after they had been shown in indoor theaters. The draws were: 1) Two films per visit, 2) Often carload pricing rather than per-person pricing, 3) Playground in front of the screen for children so the adults could enjoy the film in peace, and 4) The universally recognized “privacy” to be intimate inside the car (similar to but better than the feature the back rows of indoor theaters provided). Several factors led to the end of this and other drive-ins–poor sound quality, the first feature having to start before it was truly dark (because it was only open during the summer months which worsened when Daylight Savings Time became the law), and the increasing popularity of TV meaning that it wasn’t needed as an entertainment venue by most people. The comments about “High View” do not apply to this drive-in. There was a drive-in on the same highway down the road as drivers entered the edge of Greenville. It’s name was “Hi View” I believe, so people who went to it probably got their memories mixed up with the drive-in on the same highway just about 10 miles away.
The Palace was the “top” theater in town. When I moved to Commerce in 1956, it played the more popular films. However, it wasn’t really a first-run theater. The films only came to the Palace 2-3 weeks after they opened in true fist-run theaters in Dallas and elsewhere. There were generally 3 films shown each week. One that opened on Sunday and continued on Monday, one that showed only Tuesday and Wednesday, one that opened on Thursday and continued through Saturday as best as I can remember. That schedule made it possible to see 3 films within the same time period as in a first-run theater that typically had a film running for a minimum of a whole week. There was a period in the 1960s where there was an agreement with the local university to show foreign films on Wednesdays which gave residents a rare opportunity to see films from France, Italy, etc. Eventually, with a change of ownership, the Palace did become a first-run theater with films opening at the same time they did in large markets and running for a whole week. It continued that type of programming until it closed. My family came to Commerce to see a film at the Palace a year or two before we moved there because they had installed a CinemaScope screen and were showing a wide-screen film for the first time; the screen was up and the film was shown, but there still was no framing around the screen and we could see the “threaded” roping used to hold the screen flat and tight. Two rather awkward aspects of the Palace were: 1) The snack bar was outside the front doors in an open recessed lobby area where the ticket booth was also located, so to buy anything after entering the film one had to tell the doorman that you were going out to get a snack but would be returning and depend on him remembering that. 2) For me, the low ceiling seemed awkward. There was no balcony, so the ceiling was just above the top of the screen. The only time I ever saw the Palace almost completely full was when there was a re-release of Gone with the Wind. Usually, there were rather small crowds since TV was almost universal by the time my family moved there.
The Lyric existed when my family moved to Commerce in the summer of 1956–just before I entered the 6th grade in school. Ownership was the same as for the Palace across the street. Whereas the Palace showed the more popular films, the Lyric played what were called “B” movies–horror films, westerns, etc. It also had Saturday serials that children attended. The nickname known by most people in town for the Lyric was “The Bloody Bucket.” I always wondered what it looked like inside, but none of the films there ever appealed to me. The cinema closed within a year or so of my living in Commerce–probably in 1957 (or 1958 at the latest).