Finne Arts Theatre
909 Calhoun Street,
Fort Worth,
TX
76102
909 Calhoun Street,
Fort Worth,
TX
76102
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Bijou Amusement Company, Cinne Arts Theatres Inc.
Architects: Raymond F. Smith
Firms: Houston & Smith
Previous Names: Ritz Theatre, Cinne Arts Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Ritz Theatre was the first African-American movie theatre in downtown Fort Worth launching on December 4, 1938. The theatre ran 27 years closing at the end of 1966.
On May 21, 1970, the theatre re-emerged for all audiences (21 or above) as the adult Cinne Arts Theatre. On July 21, 1970, the theatre changed names to the Finne Arts Theatre. The theatre was under constant attack and the operators were arrested multiple times.
The high water mark for the theatre was in 1973 when “Deep Throat” was dropped by Dallas adult theatres, the Finne Arts booked it and hit box office gold. The Finne Arts lasted into the video age and rented X-rated videos in addition to the film screenings. A May 27, 1986 raid ended things at the Finne Arts.
The Finne Arts Theatre was demolished becoming a parking lot in busy Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth.
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Seen here, the Ritz, later the Finne Arts Theatre, now demolished.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edEOwGjCDBs RAC Photography
Adding a bit more here:
The Ritz Theatre was announced in August of 1938 to be built by Bijou Entertainment for $30,000 by Cain & Cain Contractors. The 500-seat Ritz opened on December 4, 1938 as Fort Worth’s second African American theater at that point. Dallas-based Houston & Smith were the architects. M.C. Maxwell was its long-running operator and may have closed there in 1960. The building was purportedly to be demolished imminently in 1966 as a parking lot for the Convention Center project - but that was halted at the 11th hour.
At that same address, the Cinne Arts Theatre opened for adults with unrated short films on May 21, 1970, moving from Main Street. Cinne Arts was already in a court battle in 1970 in the case of State of Texas v. Steve Scott & Cine Arts Theatre, Inc. on a spurious obscenity case. On July 21, 1970, the venue became the Finne Arts Adult Theatre operating as a private membership policy. They appear to have transitioned from 16mm shorts to 35mm features. Later in 1970, they transitioned to a $3, sub-run discount adult theater policy.
On April 21, 1973, a film was run with the ad, “Extra Special Feature” for a $5 admission. The Finne Arts made the front page of the newspaper on April 23, 1973 for the local sheriff Lon Evans confiscating that feature film which turned out to be “Deep Throat” on 35mm.
In 1974, a live stage show was added to the fare. In 1975, it switched to unrated, “XXX” films open 24 hours on weekends. In April of 1986, local authorities put the hammer down on pornography closing almost all of the venues including the Finne Arts and the nearby Ellwest Theatre at 907 Houston. The theater was raided one final time seizing all films using the RICO Act as their basis. The court docket said that RICO was triggered as this was the 199th charge against the Finne Arts Theatre - and there would be no 200th. Its final operating day appears to be May 27, 1986.
Cinne Arts Theatres Inc. was a circuit of Southwest adult theaters in cities including Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Wichita Falls, Austin, Albuquerque, NM, New Orleans, and one in Tampa, Florida. All Cinne Arts (two n’s) named theaters changed to Finne (two n’s).