Majestic Theatre

The Orpheum in Kansas City is claimed to be an earlier Eberson atmospheric

John Wayne’s 3-D classic HONDO had its world premiere at this theater on 11/24/53. John Wayne and Ward Bond appeared in person. We are looking for any materials from this premiere: photos, ads, flyers, etc.

Better yet: were you there? We’d love to document your memories of this event!

Thank you very much.

Bob Furmanek
Vice President
3-D Film Preservation Fund
http://www.3dfilmpf.org/

I never saw the vanished moviepalaces.net website, but there’s now an impressive website about Houston’s theatres called Cinema Houston. It’s an on-line extension of a book of the same name by David Welling.

Does anyone remember a pipe organ which played during movies at the Majestic?

Anyone save those interior photos to their harddrive? The moviepalaces.net website appears to be defunct.

Here is another movie ad from the majestic theater june 1970 beneath the planet of the apes to view go to View link

I’m 54 & a Houston native. I used to ride the bus downtown, during the school breaks, in the early ‘60s, w/my buds. We’d go to the Metropolitan, Majestic & Loew’s State to catch a flick. In the '70s, I went to the Delman, which was on Main @, I think, Wheeler, to catch mainstream flicks, &, later, I saw 'Superfly’ there. It’s gone now. There is one left downtown. It is called the Majestic Metro, @ 911 Preston. It’s currently used as a banquet facility. During the ‘70s, it was solely showing blaxploitation flicks.
Yes, we have a prob in Houston. During the '70s, multiplexes burgeoned in the malls—in the burbs. No one had the vision to see a purpose for these grand buildings. I’ll continue.

Stan: Thanks for the movie palaces website as it is full of researched theatre information/data.

Just discovered a site that has pictures of all of the old Movie Palaces in downtown Houston – including interior shots of the Majestic and a picture of the Grand Drape.
see: www.moviepalaces.com (Movie Palaces – A retrospect)

Since there is a certain interest here in “the first atmospheric theatre” it might be useful to have a look at the (still standing) Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy. It was built in the 1580’s to the designs of Andrea Palladio. It’s a fully enclosed stage theatre built to look like a classical Roman, outdoor, amphitheatre with statues, sky, clouds and decorative proscenium. There is a permanent stage set with amazingly realistic forced-perspectives seen through the portals.

Here’s a link:

View link

This is one of the most famous historic theatres in Europe and John Eberson must have seen it, or at least photos and drawings of it. I’ve never heard anyone make the connection between the Teatro Olimpico and Eberson’s atmospherics, but it does seem logical.

Cheers to all
your amateur architecture historian

I think that Houston certainly lost a treasure in letting the BIG THREE downtown theaters go..especially the Majestic. My best friend and I use to love going to the movies downtown on Friday nights throughout the 1960s and I remember the splendor of all three movie houses. I thought the Majestic was the most mysterious place to be out of all of them..with the box seating and the way the balcony was set up…I felt as if I were in some ancient place had witnessed live operas and who knows what all. My best friend’s mother worked at Foleys downtown and we would go downtown by bus so he could pick up his allownance and then it was off to the movies!! I saw every single one of the James Bond movies downtown and also the newer John Wayne movies and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
However, Houston destroyed so many historic buildings during the late 60’s and 70’s and early 80’s that it really should’ve been considered a criminal act by greed real estate goons and there should have been indictments handed down. That is how strongly I feel about losing the ability of being able to go to the old Houston Downtown and to get that “feeling” you got while ejoying the sites and the sounds back then. Now that has been destroyed and carted off to the landfill. Shame on the city fathers who allowed this to happen.

Patsy — it is sad, because I never got to see a film at the old theaters that she loved going to when she was younger. By the time time I was interested in the theaters themselves, they were either closed or had become places women just didn’t go. But she loved the State and the Majestic, so it was important to her get a piece of that part of her childhood when the opportunity presented itself. The frogs were either given as gifts to people who appreciated where the fabric had come from (and she kept the largest for herself) or sold as part of a special fundraiser for a local theater group. People paid good money to get a piece of the State. I still have the one she made me, which occupies one arm of my couch.

Really, it’s her stories about taking the bus into downtown Houston to see films at the old theaters that first piqued my interest in more than the films herself.