Cooper Cinerama Theatre
19 N. Robinson Avenue,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73102
19 N. Robinson Avenue,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73102
2 people
favorited this theater
In 1915, Paramount Pictures Inc. opened their modish Craftsman/Mission style Liberty Theatre, complete with a billiard parlour on the spacious mezzanine. A new innovation resurlted in supurb picture quality – the projection booth was located on the ground floor.
When Paramount almost went bankrupt in the mid-1930’s, Warner Bros. took this opportunity to seize control of the 1,700-seat Liberty Theatre, which was on the same block as their Warner Theatre & Midwest Theatres.
Ownership again changed in the late-1940’s, and the original facade and lobby were razed to make wasy for a sleek new look. At this time it was renamed Harber Theatre.
Cinerama equipment was installed around 1953, half of the balcony was blocked off to reduce seating capacity down to 1,100.
Thoughout its long life, this movie palace remained profitable, until know-it-all Urban Renewal said the old downtown movie theatre had to come down in the mid-1970’s…..and it closed in 1975, and was razed in 1976.
Contributed by
Lauren Grubb, J.D.C.
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Recent comments (view all 37 comments)
Presented on this site is a c1959 photo of the Cinerama Cooper Theater -
http://cinerama.topcities.com/coopercinerama.htm
Apparently a billiard parlor was originally included within the Liberty layout. To view an exterior (c1920) shot of the Liberty Theatre type in the word “billiard” -
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If you wish, you can type in the name “Liberty” instead, but you’ll have to browse through a lot of other Liberty theatres, and a number of bank buildings.
Off topic … above there are three comments on W. W. Ahlschlager who created NYC’s swanky Roxy Theatre. Take this shorcut to see a picture postcard of Oklahoma City’s Ramsey Tower, also designed by Ahlschlager.
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An unusual but clear 1941 picture of this theatre when it was still called liberty can be seen by going above to cosmo’s Nov. 8, 2009 link and enter “elmer’s place bar”
Leftside of this 1930’s picture is the old Liberty Theatre
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In this 1940s image is an unusual view (far right) of the old Liberty Theatre,
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In this 1940s image is an unusual view (far right) of the old Liberty Theatre,
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A swell 1932 view of the Liberty Theatre.
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Here’s a three-page 1951 trade article about the transformation from Liberty into Harber Theatre: boxofficemagazine
Pictured as Liberty Theatre in this 1928 trade report: Boxoffice