Since I've been waxing nostalgic about movies I attended with my parents, I might as well tell you a little something about the movie theaters in my hometown when I was a kid. The Mexia Theatre (that's the way it was usually spelled in the ads) is the one pictured on the left. It was built around 1948 and was a wonder in our little town, being air-conditioned, unlike the older theaters, which weren't. They were also about half the size of this one. Maybe less than that. Shoeboxes. Two of them, the Palace and the National were downtown, such as the downtown was, about four square blocks at best. The third theater, the Liberty, was across the tracks. I wasn't allowed to go to that one. There were some movies there I wanted to see from time to time, though probably not The Last of the Warrens with Bob Steele, which is what was playing there on this date in 1947 (year chosen at random).The Palace was the theater where all the kids went on Saturday afternoons for the double-features of B-westerns: Alan "Rocky" Lane, Don "Red" Barry, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Charles Starrett (the Durango Kid), Rex Allen, Jimmy Wakely, Tex Ritter, Monte Hale, and many others. This was also where we saw the Tarzan movies, Bomba the Jungle Boy, Abbott and Costello, the Bowery Boys, and lots of others. Along with the movie we got a newsreel, lots of previews, a cartoon, and a serial. Back in 1947 on this date the featured movie was Out California Way, with Monte Hale. The bottom of the double bill was Don't Gamble with Strangers, starring Warren Douglas.
The National was the theater where they showed the classier movies, like How Green Was my Valley and The Red Badge of Courage. Showing there on this date in 1947, for example, was Of Human Bondage, starring Eleanor Parker, Alexis Smith, and Paul Henreid. I wasn't in attendance.
The Palace closed when the Mexia opened. The National closed a year or so afterward, as did the Liberty.
I went to many, many movies in the Mexia Theatre. The photo is of the last picture show. The theater closed after the final showing of The Golden Child, which means there hasn't been an operating movie theater in town for almost 30 years. The building and the marquee are still there, though. The building is now a church, or it was the last time I was in town. Seems appropriate to me.
5 comments:
Ah Man, a post right to my heart. We lived on Skid Row in Wichita Falls for three years, and the down town movies were my world at that time. Well, mostly I just went to the three cheap ones, The Gem, Tower, and Ritz. The Tower cost ten cents, while the other two were just nine cents. From 1947 to 1950, if I had ten cents I was always at one of them on Saturday. I have a Blog called The Gem Theater www.thegemtheater.blogspot.com where I talk those days. I would love to see pictures of all the movie houses you spoke about. That is town history that should never be lost.
Galloping nostalgia!
Pretty much all the movie theaters from my Brooklyn childhood are gone now too. First they divided into multiplexes and then they closed - the Avalon, Kingsway, Midwood, Avenue U, Mayfair, Brook, etc. They are trying to bring back one of he biggest, the Loew's Kings, after a complete restoration, as a "performing arts center" a couple of years from now.
It's where we had my high school graduation, as it had 3,000+ seats and easily accomodated our class of 1206 plus guests.
Jeff (from the geezer bus)
Tom, I've looked for photos of the Palace and the National for years but can't find any. I'd also love to have one of the Parkway Drive-In, but those appear not to exist.
Jeff, you can save a seat on the geezer bus for me.
The Avalon was the closest theater to where we lived. They usually had free previews on Friday nights - often of Elvis movies like SPEEDWAY and SPINOUT and VIVA LAS VEGAS - which would show after whatever was playing that week. They also had a matron who would try and make sure you sat in the children's section on the right side (as you came in). My brother was ejected more than once for throwing empty popcorn boxes at the screen. My favorite snack was Bonomo's Turkish Taffy - "first you smack it, then you crack it."
Jeff
The popcorn at the Palace was in a small brown bag and cost a nickel. Often there would be a hail of brown bags thrown at the screen, along with unpopped kernels. The manager patrolled the aisles, but often he was too late to prevent things like that.
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