Texas Theatre
231 W. Jefferson Boulevard,
Dallas,
TX
75208
231 W. Jefferson Boulevard,
Dallas,
TX
75208
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 93 comments found
“This Spanish Eclectic Theater was part of a chain of theaters once owned by Howard Hughes.”
Now where in the world did that come from ? The theater might have been part of the Robb-Rowley chain (see below)?
A tour of the Texas Theater was made recently March 24, 2007 by a few members of the regular “Message Board Posters” of the Dallas Historical Society. (Unfortunately the Message Board has experienced some difficulties and is no longer in operation on the DHS website, dallashistory.org.) Work was progressing rather slowly…it seems to be on a bit of a shoestring as far as actual work goes . Plans are to restore the interior to the original 1931 appearance and the exterior to the 1963 appearance (a concession to the Lee Harvey Oswald capture connection). The stage has been enlarged and plans are for reconstruction of the balcony to provide better sight lines
for stage productions is part of the restoration program. The Dallas Summer Musicals plans to stage its productions in the Texas Theater
in the future.
thank you Lost…great information
This is the Oak Cliff Foundation website. They have some photos of the Texas Theater and a history page.
Oh, I had the corruption and theft thing figured out a long time back. It was verified, in my mind, by that preposterous little puff piece at the Oak Cliff website claiming that the 1.2 million left over after the initial purchase was spent on a “bare bones” restoration. That may fool laymen, but not anyone who’s been in the movie theatre industry as long as I was. I’m sure that someone now has that new home addition they’d been thinking of, someone else added that new family room they’d been talking about, someone else dug that swimming pool they’d been dreaming of and etc., etc. There should be a complete and thorough investigation made (that is if anyone has the moral backbone for it).
Greetings DanW. Having lived in the Dallas metroplex for 10 years and now in a suburb I can confirm that you have figured the Dallas city government out. They cant get anyting done due to numerous internal problems and corruption. They could have even gotten the new stadium that Jerry Jones is building for the Cowboys but would not even talk to him.(They were able to approve a homeless shelter downtown next to a high rise luxury condominium).
There was talk of saving the TEXAS when I first moved here. I suspect the theater will never brought back and we will never know where that money went.
Don
Thanks Lost Memory for the information
The first site just claims that Hughes owned this theater but the second site claims that he built it.
City of Dallas, Texas website:
“This theater, when opened in 1931, was the largest suburban theater in Dallas. This Spanish Eclectic Theater was part of a chain of theaters once owned by Howard Hughes. In November of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended here after the Kennedy Assassination”.
From the Famous Texans website:
“It was in the ‘30s that Hughes built the Texas Theater, the movie house in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas in which Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in 1963. The closeness of both men to the CIA makes it all but certain that the Texas Theater would have become a clandestine meeting place for spies. Such use of movie theaters had long been a staple of espionage tradecraft, and other Hughes properties were put to similar use. Hughes owned the RKO movie studio from 1948 to 1955”.
Correct me if I am wrong. Didn’t Howard Hughes build this theater when he owned RKO studio’s? Or was it another theater he built?
If there are money problems it’s most likely because what money there was has been stolen. I repeat again, there is NO way that a million dollars was spent on this building. Not even if every single wire and every single pipe in the whole place had been replaced in the so-called “bare bones” restoration. I guarantee you that it was stolen. I bet the ONLY money that was spent on the place was the money Oliver Stone spent on it himself when he used the building to film “JFK”.
The Texas Theatre was an atmospheric designed inside. It had sillouettes of Spanish looking buildings all around the sides and a “sky” above. When you first went in, the “sky” would begin to darken, then turn to twilight then dark. Stars would appear and a machine called a Brenograph would project clouds across the sky. When the theatre first opened, a 2 keyboard/6 rank (72 pipes in each rank) Barton Theatre Pipe organ was installed in 1931 from the Midway Theatre down the street. The organ was finally taken out and sold to a individual and is now gone. More than 10,000 theatre organs were in theatres just in the United States alone. Now only about 200 are left in the US and most not in a theatre. Also still on the roof of the Texas is the #1 Hughes air conditioning system. It was manufactured by Howard Hughes' father’s company. Weldon Flanagan, the Palace Theatre organist for 20 years, also played the Barton in the Texas in the 1950s some. He showed the present owners where the “Spanish village” buildings were behind the stuccoed walls on the sides of the theatre. It still isn’t restored and there are more money problems. Doubtful if it will ever be a movie theatre, mostly it will be a community theatre setting, so I’ve been told.
Nettie in Dallas.
This theatre has historical value and should be restored though it is sad history resulting in the death of President Kennedy.
Here is another photo of the Texas:
http://tinyurl.com/23lkce
Here are 1991 & 2000 photos of the Texas with the marquee missing!
View link
A purchased photo of the TEXAS THEATER probalby taken around Christmas 1932.
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/353318620
Added to the National Register of Historical Places in 2003
Texas Theatre *** (added 2003 – Building – #03000187)
231 W. Jefferson Blvd., Dallas
Historic Significance: Event
Area of Significance: Entertainment/Recreation, Politics/Government
Period of Significance: 1925-1949, 1950-1974
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater
Address: 231 W Jefferson Blvd
I’d still like to know what happened to the 1.2 million restoration dollars left over from the $1.6 million grant after the theatre was purchased.
A theatre with much infamous Oswald history!
This is a photo of the Texas Theater entrance that Lee Harvey Oswald might have used to enter and exit the theater.
How could it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt when there was no trial? Maybe it should be reworded:
It is best known as the place where Lee Harvey Oswald was captured after “allegedly” assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
Has it been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy? I think that the second sentence of the first paragraph of the introduction to this listing needs to be re-worded.
Here is a photo of the exterior taken on November 22, 1963, only hours after Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at the Texas Theatre on suspicion that he had assassinated President John F. Kennedy:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/daltex.jpg
This photo of the Texas theater is dated March of 1964.
When were those sign photos taken?
I think the seat is to indicate the location of LHO when captured. It is obvious the material is different from the adjacent seats.
My photographs of the TEXAS and TEXAS sign www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/224125426/
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/224127947/ before the classic neon and what was almost certainly porcelain enamel covered steel marquee was done away with. Also note the same irreverant treatment fot the stars in TEXAS sign, neon gone and paint over wonderful artwork and colors. This is Dallas at its best. If there aint money in it, they aint in to it. Dallas is much more into paving than preservation. See another good example, CASA LINDA THEATER.
And by the way if anyone out there beleives that the picture from one of the previous postings is of the actual theater seat that Lee Oswald sat in, please get in touch with me I have some of his stuff for sale.
I visited the website indicated above by Mark Krefft. They’re claiming that a million dollars has already been spent on this house. !!!??? I don’t think so. No way. Like I said, I was in the movie theatre business for 29 years; I know what a million dollar theatre looks like, believe me. This house? There’s just no way. Where did that 1.2 million dollars that was left over after the initial purchase disappear to? There’s nothing in this house; it’s an empty shell. A million dollars? No way.