Loew's State Theatre

As far as I know, this was the first and only Loew's in Houston, unless the latter day Loews built more...The 1931 and 1946 Film Daily Year Books give a seating capacity of 2,519 for Loew's State. I doubt that it was ever much more than that. In 1931, Houston had a reported population of 292,352.

There was an additional, smaller Loew's on Main Street next to the Sears, but I don't have much information on it other than seeing "Lost Horizon" and "Godspell" there in the '70s.

As for the Loew's downtown, most of what I know of the theater is from my mother's memories, as this was one of the theaters she often saw movies at as a child and teenager. In 1972, when they were preparing to demolish it, there was a sale of fixtures and she purchased some of the green velvet stage curtains for an absolute pittance. The stuff was hideously dusty and occupied a corner of our living room for several weeks (much to the consternation of my father and enjoyment of the cats) while she sorted through them. Much of the material was rotten and had to be disposed of, but there was enough for her to make a number of stuffed frogs from, including one rather large one that was big enough to serve as a support if you were sitting on the floor and watching television.

Old photo of the Loew's State Theater marquee is here:
http://www.moviepalaces.net/loews-houston-marquee.htm

Scroll down for some pics of Loew's State. Check out the lobby decorated for Christmas
http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/lofiversion/index.php/t1574.html

Vintage photo of the Loew's State Auditorium.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y147/Chuck1231/Texas%20Theatres/LoewsStateTheatreAuditoriumHoustonT.jpg

Here is a photo you might like to remember of the old drive in theaters in houston texas. IN THE 1950s AND THE 1960s houston had about 23 drive in theaters to bad they are all gone. This drive in theater the loews sharpstown was located at the intersection of bellaire blvd and hillcroft ave. The date it opened around april 1957 and closed with the last movie called SKYRIDERS starring james coburn the date was spring 1976. this photo shows the drive in marquee at night 1957. WOW WHAT MEMORIES THAT PHOTO BRINGS TO BAD ITS NOT WITH US ANY LONGER. TO VIEW THE PHOTO GO TO http://static.flickr.com/98/243428165_a7da8e44f1.jpg

Part of the history of a great motion picture theater are the films that played there. Below is a listing of the films that played at Loew's State Theater in Houston, Texas from January 1, 1960 through December 31, 1966. Research is from microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The date listed is the Wednesday of the week that the film opened, as in those days, most films opened prior to the weekend, not on Fridays as they do now. A listing of the films from Janaury 1, 1967 through the closing of the theater will be posted at a later date.

Loew's State - Houston
01/01/60 Operation Petticoat
02/10/60 Never So Few
02/24/60 The Gazebo
03/09/60 On the Beach
03/23/60 Home from the Hill
04/13/60 The Unforgiven
04/27/60 Please Don't Eat the Daisies
05/18/60 The Fugitive Kind
06/01/60 The Gallant Hours
06/08/60 Giant of Marathon
06/15/60 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
06/22/60 Macumba Love
06/29/60 Bells are Ringing
07/20/60 The Apartment
08/24/60 Elmer Gantry
09/14/60 The Last Days of Pompeii
09/21/60 The Angel Wore Red
09/28/60 All the Fine Young Cannibals
10/05/60 Key Witness/The Subterraneans
10/12/60 The Magnificent Seven
10/26/60 Night Fighters
11/02/60 Ruby
11/09/60 Where the Hot Wind Blows
11/16/60 Butterfield 8
12/14/60 The Facts of Life
12/28/60 The Grass is Greener
01/11/61 Where the Boys Are
01/25/61 Tomboy and the Champ
02/01/61 The Misfits
02/22/61 Gorgo
03/01/61 Go Naked in the World
03/15/61 The Hoodlum Priest
03/29/61 Gone With the Wind
05/03/61 Cimarron
05/17/61 Two Loves
05/24/61 The Young Savages
06/07/61 Ring of Fire
06/14/61 The Last Sunset
06/28/61 By Love Possessed
07/12/61 The Last Time I Saw Archie
07/19/61 The Naked Edge
08/02/61 The Honeymoon Machine
08/16/61 Goodbye Again
08/23/61 Come September
09/20/61 Ada
09/27/61 The Young Doctors
10/04/61 Paris Blues
10/11/61 A Thunder of Drums
10/18/61 Bridge to the Sun
10/25/61 Jet Pilot/The Conqueror
11/01/61 One Plus One
11/08/61 Town Without Pity
11/22/61 X-15
11/29/61 Bachelor in Paradise
12/20/61 The Wonders of Aladdin/The Green Helmet
12/27/61 Pocketful of Miracles
01/17/62 Knights of the Round Table/Ivanhoe
01/24/62 One, Two, Three
02/07/62 Sergeants 3
02/28/62 The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse
03/21/62 The Outsider
03/28/62 Sweet Bird of Youth
04/11/62 The Children's Hour
04/18/62 Follow That Dream
05/02/62 Geronimo
05/09/62 The Horizontal Lieutenant
05/16/62 Ride the High Country
05/23/62 All Fall Down
05/30/62 Judgement at Nuremberg
06/13/62 The Road to Hong Kong
06/27/62 That Touch of Mink
08/01/62 Boys' Night Out
08/22/62 Lolita
09/12/62 Birdman of Alcatraz
09/26/62 The Miracle Worker
10/03/62 The Phantom of the Opera
10/10/62 Two Weeks in Another Town
10/17/62 I Thank a Fool
10/24/62 A Very Private Affair
10/31/62 The Manchurian Candidate
11/21/62 Period of Adjustment
12/05/62 The Sky Above, The Mud Below
12/12/62 King of Kings
12/19/62 Pressure Point
12/26/62 Taras Bulba
01/16/63 Boccaccio '70
01/23/63 Billy Rose's Jumbo
02/06/63 A Child is Waiting
02/13/63 40 Pounds of Trouble
02/27/63 Two for the Seesaw
03/06/63 Follow the Boys
03/13/63 The Courtship of Eddie's Father
03/27/63 Five Miles to Midnight
04/03/63 The Birds
04/24/63 I Could Go on Singing/Joseph and His Brethren
05/01/63 Come Fly With Me
05/08/63 Dr. No
05/22/63 In the Cool of the Day
05/29/63 The List of Adrian Messenger
06/12/63 The Main Attraction
06/19/63 Call Me Bwana
07/03/63 The Great Escape
08/07/63 A Gathering of Eagles
08/14/63 Irma La Douce
09/18/63 The Caretakers
09/25/63 The VIPs
10/23/63 Johnny Cool
10/30/63 Twilight of Honor
11/13/63 Stolen Hours
11/20/63 The Wheeler Dealers
12/11/63 Show Boat/The Great Caruso
12/18/63 Two Women/The Sky Above, The Mud Below
12/25/63 Charade
01/22/64 The Prize
02/12/64 The Brass Bottle
02/26/64 Sunday in New York
03/11/64 A Global Affair
03/18/64 The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
04/01/64 Flight from Ashiya
04/08/64 Night Must Fall
04/22/64 The Molesters
05/06/64 The Best Man
05/13/64 The Pink Panther
06/17/64 The Chalk Garden
07/01/64 The Unsinkable Molly Brown
08/05/64 The Seventh Dawn
08/19/64 A Shot in the Dark
09/23/64 The Night of the Iguana
10/14/64 Send Me No Flowers
11/04/64 Topkapi
11/25/64 The Outrage
12/16/64 Curse of Frankenstein/Horror of Dracula
12/23/64 Father Goose
02/03/65 The Americanization of Emily
02/24/65 36 Hours
03/10/65 How to Murder Your Wife
04/14/65 Girl Happy
04/28/65 The Satan Bug
05/05/65 The Truth About Spring
05/12/65 Masquerade
05/19/65 Young Cassidy
05/26/65 Fanny Hill
06/09/65 I'll Take Sweden
06/23/65 Operation Crossbow
07/21/65 What's New, Pussycat?
09/01/65 Help!
09/15/65 Billie
09/22/65 Once a Thief
10/06/65 Never on Sunday/Topkapi
10/13/65 Darling
10/20/65 Paris Secret
10/27/65 A Rage to Live
11/03/65 The Hallelujah Trail
11/17/65 The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World
12/08/65 Return from the Ashes
12/15/65 A Hard Day's Night/Help!
12/22/65 Thunderball
03/09/66 The Group
04/06/66 Frankie and Johnny
04/20/66 Marnie/The Birds
04/27/66 The Pink Panther/A Shot in the Dark
05/11/66 The Flame and the Fire
05/18/66 Duel at Diablo
06/01/66 Cast a Giant Shadow
06/29/66 This Property is Condemned
07/20/66 The Russians are Coming...The Russians are Coming
09/14/66 Walk, Don't Run
10/12/66 Goldfinger/Dr. No
10/26/66 Khartoum
11/02/66 Return of the Seven
11/23/66 The Fortune Cookie
12/07/66 A Hard Day's Night/Help!
12/14/66 Once Before I Die/Hail, Mafia
12/21/66 After the Fox

For the most part, Loew's State was the downtown Houston first-run theater for releases from MGM, UA, and Universal, with an occasional offering from Embassy.

Listed below are the films which played at Loew's State in Houston, Texas from January 1, 1967 up to its closing in October 1972.

01/01/67 After the Fox
01/25/67 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
03/01/67 A Fistful of Dollars
03/22/67 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
04/19/67 The 25th Hour
05/03/67 The Horrors of Spider Island/The Fiendish Ghouls
05/10/67 For a Few Dollars More
05/31/67 8 on the Lam
06/28/67 You Only Live Twice
08/16/67 In the Heat of the Night
09/20/67 What's New, Pussycat?/How to Murder Your Wife
09/27/67 Darling/Dear John
10/04/67 Beach Red
10/11/67 Hour of the Gun
10/25/67 Operation Kid Brother
11/01/67 Clambake
11/08/67 8 on the Lam/Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
11/15/67 The Producers
12/06/67 House of 1000 Dolls/Psycho Circus
12/13/67 Spree/Fanny Hill
12/20/67 Fitzwilly
12/27/67 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
02/14/68 The Graduate
05/29/68 The Devil's Brigade
07/03/68 The Thomas Crown Affair
08/07/68 The Detective
08/28/68 Hang 'Em High
10/02/68 Yours, Mine, and Ours/The Fortune Cookie
10/09/68 Paper Lion
10/23/68 The Ugly Ones
10/30/68 From Russia, With Love/Thunderball
11/20/68 West Side Story
12/18/68 Yellow Submarine
01/15/69 The Night They Raided Minsky's
02/12/69 More Dead Than Alive/Impasse
02/26/69 Play Dirty
03/12/69 Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
03/26/69 Sam Whiskey
04/02/69 Support Your Local Sheriff
05/28/69 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
06/18/69 If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
07/02/69 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
07/16/69 Bridge at Remagen
07/30/69 Midnight Cowboy
10/29/69 Battle of Britain
11/19/69 Number One
11/26/69 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly/Hang 'Em High
12/17/69 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
01/28/70 The Happy Ending
02/11/70 A Streetcar Named Desire
02/25/70 The Wild Bunch
03/04/70 What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?
04/08/70 Midnight Cowboy
04/29/70 Halls of Anger
05/06/70 Pussycat, Pussycat...I Love You/The Mercenary
05/13/70 Let it Be
05/27/70 One More Time
06/03/70 Mosquito Squadron/Hell Boats
06/10/70 MASH
07/01/70 The Hawaiians
07/15/70 The Christine Jorgensen Story
07/29/70 Cotton Comes to Harlem
09/16/70 Sabata
09/30/70 Underground
10/07/70 Hornet's Nest
10/14/70 Cannon for Cordoba
10/21/70 Pieces of Dreams
10/28/70 Myra Breckinridge
11/04/70 a.k.a. Cassius Clay
11/18/70 A Hard Day's Night/Help!/Yellow Submarine/Let it Be
11/25/70 The McKenzie Break
12/02/70 Kama Sutra
12/16/70 The Mad Doctor of Blood Island/Blood Demon
12/23/70 Burn!
12/30/70 You Only Live Twice/Thunderball
01/20/71 Where's Poppa?
02/03/71 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
02/10/71 Doctors' Wives
03/10/71 A Man Called Sledge
03/24/71 Trash
04/07/71 Valdez is Coming
04/28/71 Husbands
05/12/71 Joe/Z
05/19/71 Bonnie and Clyde/Bullitt
05/26/71 Support Your Local Gunfighter
06/09/71 Bananas
06/30/71 What's the Matter With Helen?
07/07/71 Lawman
07/28/71 Von Richthofen and Brown
08/04/71 Doc
08/18/71 10 Rillington Place
08/25/71 The Hunting Party
09/01/71 The Red Tent
09/08/71 Krakatoa, East of Java/Custer of the West
09/15/71 Adios, Sabata
09/29/71 To Commit a Murder/A Long Ride from Hell
10/06/71 Outback
10/13/71 Cry Uncle
10/27/71 The Organization
11/17/71 Honky
12/08/71 Jennifer on My Mind
12/15/71 Diamonds are Forever
02/09/72 The Hospital
02/23/72 The Honkers
03/08/72 The French Connection
03/22/72 Mark of the Devil
04/12/72 Shaft/The Split
04/26/72 Buck and the Preacher
05/24/72 Chato's Land
06/14/72 Malcolm X
06/28/72 Duck, You Sucker
07/12/72 Fuzz
07/26/72 Valdez is Coming/Doc
08/02/72 The Magnificent Seven Ride
08/16/72 Money Talks
08/23/72 Melinda
09/20/72 You Only Live Twice/Thunderball
09/27/72 Hickey and Boggs
10/04/72 A Man for a Hanging/Disciples of Death
10/11/72 Weekend Murders/The Black Belly of the Tarantula
10/15/72 CLOSED

A Robert-Morton theater organ size 3/13 was installed in the Loew's State Theater in 1927.

Here is a 1955 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/5683ce

Photos of the Loew's State can be seen here. There are two pages of photos so be sure to click "next" for the second page.

According to several articles I've read regarding Houston theatres, GONE WITH THE WIND opened at the Loew's State in early 1940 and played for over a year in that one theatre. It then moved over to the Kirby for several more months.

Ron3853,

RE: Research is from microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle.

Thank you for posting the movie openings for the Loews-State!

QUESTION: When you were researching the movie openings for the Loew's State Theater in Houston, Texas, did you also record the movie openings for the Majestic Theater (Rusk) and Metropolitan Theater (Main Street) for the same time period?

Yes, enjoytheclassics, I did. At some point I will post the films that played there also. I went through the microfilms from January 1, 1960 through December 31, 1975 and marked down all first-run openings plus whatever the main theaters had, even reissues. So I have the Alabama, Tower, GCC Gulfgate-Meyerland-Northline-Galleria, Delman, Village, Windsor Cinerama, and a lot of others. Houston is one of the cities that embraced multiplex cinemas before others (like Pittsburgh, where I live, so there are also a lot of newer cinemas that opened in the early 70s that I have, as well.

1971 Photo

A view from 1970 of Loew's and the Met in Houston.

Cool site nice pictures.

From the 1940s, a vintage picture postcard view of the Lowe's State, the Metropolitan and a nice view of downtown Houston on Main Street.