57 TBird, I couldn't remember if it was in Stafford or Sugar Land. It was on 90 and you're right, it was in Sugar Land. Wasn't it across from the sugar factory somewhere? My brother and I drove by there looking for it about 4 years ago and it was no where to be found. We couldn't pin point the exact location it stood on. We just assumed it was demolished. I couldn't find any info on the net about it either.

I graduated from high school in Beaumont. There was a Gaylynn Theatre in that city, too. I remember having a good share of dates there. Sadly, it's now all gone.

Chet Cuccia

Yes. Almost directly across from it.

Back when VCRs came out back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, I thought that that technological advance would put ALL movie theatres out of business. We all know that most people would rather stay at home and watch a movie than to have to get all dressed up to go out.

Well, I was half right. Most drive-in theatres bit the dust. But there's still walk-ins around. But I know of no one screeners that I went to when I was a kid. Most of them all have 10-20 screens.

Chet Cuccia

It was also a Spanish movie theatre during the 70s and early 80s. Saw (more like sat through) a few of them as a kid. Not voluntarily of course.

How about "Gorgeous George" who came into the ring throwing gold hair pins from his flowing blond hair. Then there was Ray Gunkel & Cyclone Anaya. Now that was REAL show biz!

Perhaps the Deluxe - it was on Lyons.

Scratch that - I'm still getting the hang of this forum and clicked on the wrong 'reply' button. Is there a way to delete posts?

See below.

I had relatives living just a couple of blocks from there so went by it so many times but didn't remember the name. I think it also showed Spanish language films at one time.

Re another thread: the caption on the Bailey calendar mentions the 'sandwich' sign in the lower left corner marks a One's-a-Meal. The year was 1933.

Perhaps the Deluxe - it was on Lyons.

UPDATE: The Roxy was at 2737 Lyons, the De Luxe at 3303 - looks like from the map, they would have been on either side of 59/Eastex Freeway.

The Venus was at 6515 Lyons - does that come close to I-10?

There was another theatre in the 6th? Ward, the Globe, but I haven't been able to find an address.

MFAH did a show at the De Luxe in 1971 of Black Houston artists called The De Luxe Show. The catalog was published by Rice and is still available and probably has some pictures of the theatre. From the poster of the show, it was pretty run down in 1971.

I'll have to put these on one of my Sunday morning tours.

Anyone know how George came up with the idea of his "identity"? It was Bob Hope. Hope told him that if he wanted to make it big, he needed an act, something to distance himself from the rest. “Gorgeous” was the result.

Others followed his lead, so, in effect, Bob Hope is directly responsible for all the “showbiz” in wrestling.

Thanks for that tidbit of info. I have wondered how in the world he came up with that idea! Do you know what happened to him? You gotta admit, he may have been a little strange, especially for the fifties, but he got attention.

George Wagner was born in 1915 and began wrestling at age 14. After 10 years of wrestling with little success, “Gorgeous George” made his debut. He died in 1963.

Ever hear of a boxer named “Packy East”? It was the name Bob Hope fought used when he boxed.

Okay, the Bluebonnet was at 1015 Broadway, just off 45.

The theatre on 75th, just off Lawndale, near the Mason Park subdivision, was something else.

I was looking through cinematours this morning and the name Al Ray Theatre rang a bell, but I haven't been able to find out anything else about it.

There was a Rexall drug store on the corner of Lawndale and 75th, probably a Madings, and a Weingarten's, iirc, across 75th, also facing Lawndale. The theatre was basically behind the drug store on 75th.

One other thing I remember from many trips to that area to visit an aunt and uncle in Mason Park was a drive-in (ice house, burger stand?) on Lawndale, just back towards town from 75th, that had the name or slogan "U Toot 'em and We Tote 'em."

I'll have to add this to one of my Sunday morning driving tours.

According to HCAD this must be the Living Hope Church, 741 75th, described as an auditorium type building, built in 1930.

The church is a former movie theater. I remember passing by it on our way home from visiting family in that area. I was really little but I do remember around the mid to late 70s it being an X rated movie theater (didn't know what that meant then). I remember asking my dad if we could go see a movie there and he told me no because the movies there were dirty. First thing that came to mind was that there was probably alot of naked people in those movies. Which raised my curiosity even more......

I came across the book 'Lone Star Theatres' by Richard Shroeder at BookStop the other day. A survey of early motion picture houses and palaces across the state, it had only 10-12 photos of early Houston theatres, but some good ones: a street level shot of the Iris as talkies were coming in and interior details of a couple of the big houses downtown. I haven't seen the Bob Bailey calendars in person but I can't tell much from these reproductions on line; the pics in the book were very clear.

Most of the Houston photos were credited to the Texas Room of HPL.

The website of the church has a slide show of the interior; one shot from the stage shows the auditorium.

http://www.g12houston.com/about.htm

I was hoping for an exterior view.

No naked people either.

I realized shortly after I had posted that that the Bluebonnet was probably a different theater. It looked so much like the church building I jumped to a conclusion.

I live nearby and have asked two older residents and they both remember the "picture show" but not the name. The peep show incarnation was symbolic of the neighborhood's decline and I suppose the church would symbolize it's resurgence.

1015 broadway puts the theater in Harrisburg. Maybe you mean just off the end of 225 or the south loop but not 45. I dunno what is there but I don't think it was the Bluebonnet.

The old theater in the Park Place circle at Broadway and 45 is currently the Circle Pawn Shop..... It opened in about 1941 as the Plaza Theater.

It is at (i think) 3818 broadway

Okay, thanks. I didn't bother to look at the map; I thought I had read earlier in the thread that the one off 45 was the Bluebonnet. The location off 225 puts it closer to the one on 75th. Maybe I'll get a chance to see both of them.

Further update: the Roxy is gone. The Deluxe remains standing tho barely recognizable as a theatre. The marquee is gone; the whole center is boarded up and delapidated.

The Venus is gone.

The Globe at 6907 (?) Lyons still stands and is now Denver Harbor Tire Co. A retractable garage door is where the entrance used to be. The outside stairs from the balcony/projection booth are still attached (if this place was large enough to have a balcony). The vertical sign over the entrance is probably a holdover from its earlier days as a theatre.

Is there a special name for that sort of sign, such as the neon ones at the Tower and Alabama?

Incidentally I passed a number of interesting looking eateries on Lyons - mom and pop hamburger joints, etc. Since I prefer to eat at mom and pop places over chains and franchises, I may have to go back and try some of them - SamBurger, the Nickel, etc.

Here's one still hanging in there on Lyons, just east of 59. Another shot.

Just look at what Houston has removed from this city. Damn, if only Downtown will ever have that many people again.

This is not quite the same type of theater but I seem to recall going to one place back around 81-82. I was about 11 or 12 so the memory is somewhat vague. I saw The Other Side of the Mountain 2 (yawn) and Back Roads (Didn't mind that one, I had a thing for Sally Field) there with my parents. It was a twin cinema. Something tells me it was off of S. Post Oak and W Belfort ...or in that area. Anyone have any idea what place that may have been?

That was the De Luxe. Sad.

Thanks for the pictures; I wasn't planning on doing a tour so didn't have my camera with me.

The theater you are thinking about was called the 'Palm Theater'.
It was located on the Hwy 90 and Guenther.

I used to go there with my mom in the 80s.
I remember they had a Q-bert video game in the lobby.

That theater was great. Too bad they tore it down.

It appears that the only kind of movie theatres that will be open are ones with 10 to 20 screens. I think that I can safely say that the days of the one or two screen theatres are well in the past.

Ok folks.... let's talk theaters some more!

Does anyone remember a theater inside the Memorial City mall in the 70s or 80s?
I have a vague memory of one with a huge lobby and stairs on the right side when you walk in. The stairs led to the balcony seats I assume.
I remember a red or burgundy carpet also.
Forgive me if the details are off. I was really young at the time.

I remember a cineplex inside Memorial City mall. The last movie I saw there was Selena.

the Brunson in Baytown:



ticketbooth


interior...ick

WOW! I didnt realize it was gutted and open to the sky.
I know the city has been trying to get someone to restore it.
The last movie I saw there was The Empire Strikes Back - in the balcony theater (Like it is at the River Oaks but just one screen upstairs)

I remember seeing Jaws, Dirty Harry, That Darn Cat, Posiedon Adventure, King Kong, and a slew of others at The Brunson growing up, then in about 1980 or so, my Dad and i discovered The Windsor Theater at 610 and Richmond. We would drive the 45 minutes or so form Baytown just to enjoy those huge, comfy, plush Blue Velvet seats. It was the definately the best way to see a movie.

When the Windsor first opened, it was a Cinerama theater. I remember seeing It's a Mad, Mad World and Grand Prix in the Cinerama format there. T is correct. Very nice seats!

Was the Cinerama a dome? They had a Cinerama Dome in CA when I was a kid. It seemed very futuristic.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was the funniest movie I had ever seen for many years. Laughed till I cried in the theater. I think I was 6 or 7.

No dome....just a huge curved screen. I think they used three projectors for the wrap-around effect. The first ones, I know, were done that way. It may have evolved to a one projector configuration later on. I think How the West Was Won was the first Cinerama movie.

My first real date was to the Cinerama to see How The West Was Won. I "doubled" with my sister and her boyfriend. I was in junior high at the time.

What was Cinerama? What was the big deal and how did it work? This was before my time. I got here just in time for Sensurround.

The screen was about a 90 degree arc/segment of a circle, if I remember correctly. I know the first Cinerama movies that came out used three cameras/lenses to shoot the action on three different reels. The three film reels were then placed in projectors that were synchronized to shoot in one-third sections on the screen, so that the motion/action would move from one section to another in a continuous motion to theoretically appear as shot with a single camera/lens. However, there was always a distinct separation/overlap between the sections that was, at times, very distracting. The best seats were at the center of the arc. I guess you could say it was a very rough version of today's IMAX, but the screen was not nearly as high. This is all from memory, so the details may not be exact, but it gives you a general idea of how the system worked. I think the first Cinerama movies debuted in the early 60's. That's when I saw my first one.

The first Cinerama movie was "This is Cinerama," produced in 1952 and premiered in NY. There were numerous other travelogs in the 50s; "How the West Was Won" was released in '62 according to IMDB. I saw "This is Cinerama" in LA in 1955, the same summer my step-granddad took my brother and I to the newly opened Disneyland. It opens with Lowell Thomas, an investor in the company, reading a narration. Only the center of the screen is exposed. At a certain point, the curtains begin to roll back, and back, and back, and back (146 degree arc). The audience gasps and the gasps turn to shrieks as the opening sequence bursts on the screen, accompanied by sound seeming to come from everywhere: a very realistic roller coaster sequence with every member of the audience sitting in the first car. It was great fun, and Cinerama may never have gotten any better.

Wikipedia has a very good article on Cinerama including excerpts of Bosley Crowther's original NYT review.

You're right! I had forgotten about that one. I saw it, so must have been at the Windsor. I don't think the Windsor Theater was built until the early 60's, though. I know the Windsor shopping center was under construction in the mid-50's because we had impromptu drag races on several Sunday afternoons in the parking lot, which was completed while the shopping center buildings were still under contruction.

One of my favorite teenage memories, is going to the Windsor , to see "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" I was 16 and a huge John Hughes fan, and to able to enjoy one of my alltime favorite movies at that theater, is just fantastic. I really believe the comfy chairs made the movie that much better for me.

Does anybody have any interior photos of the Alabama Theater, from before it became the Bookstop? I'm curious what the balcony area used to contain ... where was the projection booth? Was there a concession stand up there?

I'm also looking for any information about the Theater between when it was built in the 1930s and when it was converted.

Thanks!
Steph
slideyfloor @ yahoo.com

this isn't exactly a definitive source, but has a little bit of information and a few links to start with:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1462

this is from the development company:
http://www.kaldis.com/alabama.html

i have some books at home...maybe i can find something more

Try The Center for American History There was no concession stand in the balcony area that I can remember from the mid 40's - early 60's.

good link - you can order duplications now too on a case by case basis

Those Bob Bailey photos do include an interior of the Alabama.

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for.

the OST theater:

Sev, Darn you and your never ending supply of photos ! (shakes a fist at Sev.)

Thanks for posting this picture of the old OST. I was in the audience there at least once a week for either the Friday night feature or the Saturday morning "Fun Club." Mr. Foster, the manager, ran a "tight ship" & would patrol the aisles with his flashlight making sure that we behaved ourselves. On Sat mornings they would often have local "stars" show up to give autographs to the kids. I remember one morning when wrestling star, Ray Gunkel & country star, Jerry Jericho, were there but none of the kids, except me, seemed to know who Jerry was. We didn't have a TV yet, at that time, but I was a big c/w music fan & listened to the KNUZ c/w shows religiously. The kids in Ray Gunkel's line stretched all around the lobby but Jerry Jericho's line only had one fan.....me. I remember feeling sorry for him & tried to make conversation but was too shy to be very convincing.

As our group got older, the Friday night feature became more appealing & we didn't particularly care what was on the screen, we just went to "see & be seen." It was even better if your current "interest" was there & sometimes, Mr. Foster would open the balcony seats for "hand holding", if we were lucky. Such innocence in the fifties. Thanks for the memories!