Bluebonnet Theater
1015 Broadway Street,
Houston,
TX
77012
1015 Broadway Street,
Houston,
TX
77012
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.
Previous Names: Bluebonnet Gardens Theatre, New Blue Bonnet Theatre
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The Bluebonnet Gardens Theatre opened on November 4, 1926 with Mary Pickford in “Little Annie Rooney”. It was owned by Lemuel E. Newton. It was equipped with Vitaphone sound in 1929, but was destroyed by a dynamite explosion. It was rebuilt by the Interstate Theatres Inc. chain as an indoor theatre named New Blue Bonnet Theatre which opened on August 19 1936 with Charles Laughton in “Mutiny on the Bounty”. The Blue Bonnet Theatre was closed on February 1, 1953 with Mary Ware in “Secrets of a Sorority Girl” & Lola Lane in “Why Girls Leave Home”.
In 1954 it went over to use as a church. It briefly reopened as a live county music venue named Jubilee Theatre in 1959. It returned to church use in 1960.
It has since been demolished.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Film Daily Yearbook, 1950 gives a seating capacity of 751. In the 1943 F.D.Y. (with 800 seats) it is shown as being operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through a subsidiary Joe Cooper.
Was unable to locate the Bluebonnet a couple of years ago when I was in the Houston area. It appears to have been demolished some years ago.
There are several views of the theater on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/3bnml5
Here is a photo circa 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/md4z9c
I remember this theater during the late 1940’s. They ran all the B westerns from Republic, Columbia, PRC, Monogram etc every Saturday as I recall. They were always double features. What a blast.
This venue opened as the Bluebonnet Gardens Theatre on November 4, 1926 with Mary Pickford in “Little Annie Rooney.” The silent theater’s formative days were rustic with large fireplace with real fire (a bit risky in the days of explosive nitrate prints), indoor trees, and wall decor including elk heads.
The venue changed to the Bluebonnet Theatre wiring for Vitaphone sound in June of 1929 and subsequently was dynamited likely due to hiring non-union sound projectionists. The rustic look and non-union policy ended with a major redesign by Interstate Theatres which relaunched it as the New Bluebonnet (aka “Don’t Dynamite Us, Please”) on August 19, 1936 with “Mutiny on the Bounty.” All new seating and improved sound system was a short term success.
The Bluebonnet scuffled at the outset of the TV age as the neighborhood changed and the programming veered between third-tier sub-run double and triple features and four-wall exploitation. It closed February 1, 1953 with a double feature of the Producers Releasing Corporation’s bad girl exploitation opuses of “Secrets of a Sorority Girl” and “Why Girls Leave Home.”
in 1954, it became a house of worship. In 1959, it had a brief rebranding as the Jubilee Theatre with live country music. It returned to a house of worship in 1960.