Wynnewood Theater

I first went to the Wynnewood Theater in 1960 to see the film "Ben-Hur." It was not a first run, but I believe it was still being shown in the Camera 65 process, meaning it was on a giant screen. The Wynnewood, though a neighborhood theater, was equipped to show Cinemiracle, the widescreen process later gobbled up by Cinerama. "Windjammer" played at the Wynnewood in the Cinemiracle process. I believe that after Cinerama took over Cinemiracle, "Windjammer" had a short run at the downtown Capri Theater in Dallas. The Wynnewood shopping center and theater were a deveopment of the prominent Wynne family in Dallas, I believe.

I found a photo of a Wynnewood Theater in the Dallas library. They list it as being in Dallas, so I'm not sure if it is this theater. This is the photo. The address given is:
666 Wynnewood Plz.
Dallas, TX 75224

The picture posted by lostmemory on 10-13-05 is definitely the same theater mentioned here. It is great to see it again after all these years.

I went to see a few movies here growing up in the Mid to late 1960's! 'House of Dark Shadows' and 'Jungle Book' to name a couple. It was a bit sad to see that is had been demolished. Luckly, I took a couple of pictures of it about 6 months before.........
:-(

Randy Carlisle

Photographically Preserving Dallas History 1 Building @ A Time

My parents built their "dream house" in North Wynnewood in 1953. I have so many memories of going to the Wynnewood Theater...the most infamous being my trip with friends to see some creepy Vincent Price movie! Although I lived only blocks away, I was so scared that I had to call my mom to come get me! Another creepy movie experience was "The Blob." I'm sure I saw some scare-free movies there, but those are the ones that REALLY stick with me. I'm sorry it's gone, but Saturdays at the Wynnewood will always be with me.

I worked as an usher in the Wynnewood Theater in the late 70s and early 80s, while I was in high school and on breaks from college. At which point it had been divided up into two screens, with the "crying room" (a sealed glass booth in the back of the theater for crying babies) on the left screen. (A good makeout room for employees!) It was a "second run" theater owned by the United Artist chain and admission was for a reduced fee than regular theaters. I made many friends working there and we had our share of regular customers (some of them are quite characters). I've swept that lobby several times, changed the posters and marquee and hung out in the projection room (which was still union run in those days). I still have some posters from that theater. And of course growing up as a child I remember watching movies like "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "2001," along with some Roger Moore James Bond films. It was sad to see it torn down ... I drove past and wondered where it was, but realized the building was gone. I'll treasure the memories of the friends I made there, eating all the popcorn you wanted while working, and our alotted 95 cents for a hot dog and small drink (quite a deal now!).

I am so sad that Wynnewood has been torn down. I have so many memories of Saturdays spent at the movies with my friends. We would watch the movies and cartoons over and over again, as you could stay as long as you wanted. We stayed the whole afternoon, seeing the shows, then running up the aisle to get another coke or a 5 cent pickle, then running back to our seats. We saw so many Disney movies, The Love Bug, Born Free,all the Kurt Russell and James Garner movies - what a great time to be a kid. It was safe for parents to leave us there all day and not worry about perverts. I remember too the ad that always ran that just was the verse from the Bible, John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." The lobby was really cool. I loved the "cry room" they had at the back of the theater. It was a small room where a parent could take their baby or child to hear the movie, but not disturb others in the movie when the child was being loud. It was a great touch. I guess the last movie I saw there was "Jaws" when it first came out. It may be torn down now, but will remain alive forever in my memories.

I'm sad too, when I was young, I saw many movies here, esp. kids films and such. It was a huge theater and had that baby room at the back, which was cool, as has been said.

Became a 2 screen theater and was run by United Artists Theaters by 1980.

In 1955 the Wynnewood Theater had 953 seats.

The year given for this photo is 1983.

I have been thinking about the years when I worked at the Wynnewood Theatre which would have been from 1963 to 1967...Wonderful memories! I began as a "candy girl" and moved up to the "box office"! The manager of the theatre during those years was Mr. Hackney! I was able to retrieve one brick during the demolition...

Here is a photo circa 1951:
http://tinyurl.com/ngmx8n

My brother John White was the projectionist at the Wynnewood form 1965 until 1980. I have such great memories of the theater, including my first date in 1966.

Hello Mark W. Would you mind contacting me at your convenience concerning the Wynnewood Theater? Thank you!

Don Lewis...

vanishingtheaters@gmail.com

That's definitely a July 3, 1951 opening. The June 30, 1951, issue of Boxoffice said that Rowley United Theatres had been scheduled to hold its annual managers meeting at the Adolphus Hotel and at the new Rowley Wynnewood Theatre on the 28th and 29th, so I guess the managers got a preview of the house.

The July 21, 1951, issue of Boxoffice reported that the opening had been a great success, with a capacity house for the first show.

I've been unable to find the name of the architect of the Wynnewood, but the theater was built by the Dallas construction firm of Vivrett & Vivrett.

The Wynnewood Theatre installed Todd-AO equipment in 1958 for the Dallas road show run of "South Pacific", which opened April 16 and ran at the house for over a year. One Boxoffice item from 1959 said that the management ran a special shuttle bus to downtown hotels to bring patrons to the theater's suburban location.

"Windjammer," mentioned in a comment above, began its run at the Wynnewood on January 25, 1961.

Besides SOUTH PACIFIC in 58' and WINDJAMMER in 61' did the Wynnewood get any other of the 70mm roadshow reserved seat pictures that were released during the late 50's to middle 60's? I know the Tower in downtown Dallas played many of them but not all. Were their other neighborhood theaters that were converted to 70mm roadshow houses? Houston for example, started with the Tower but then added the Uptown, Delman, Alabama, Windsor & Village. I'm sure Dallas did the same.

ennis...

During the course of the 1950s-1960s roadshow era, the following Dallas theaters were equipped to show 70mm:

CINE 150
ESQUIRE
INWOOD
MELBA / CAPRI
NORTHPARK CINEMA I & II
PRESTON ROYAL
TOWER
WYNNEWOOD

And in Houston:
ALABAMA
DELMAN
GALLERIA CINEMA I & II
GAYLYNN
MEYERLAND PLAZA
OAK VILLAGE
TOWER
UPTOWN
WINDSOR

I finally found the architects of the Wynnewood. The June 7, 1952, issue of Boxoffice attributes the design of the house to the firm of Pettigrew & Worley.