Orpheum Theater

I worked there in 64 and 65. JC Mitchell had an office upstairs and one in the back of the theater also. He spent a lot of time there. Back then the Mitchel Brothers also ran the Imperial on Waco Drive and built a new Drive in where Richland Mall is now. I worked for the construction company building the drive in and at night at the Orpheum. Worked with Debbie, Sharon, Reen, Phil, Niel and Jimmy. Jimmy and I once met some girls who were at a future nurses convention or something and we invited them all to the Imperial. We took a roll of tickets and handed them out and as I recall we had about 50 of them show up, we appropriated some free pop corn and joined the ladies for an almost private showing, since there wasn’t a paying customer in the place! Lots of fun memories! I went off to school, to VN and when I returned I would drive by from time to time and then one day it was gone… not just closed but gone! Plenty of good memories, thanks for lettine me share them.

Opened in the mid-1920’s, mostly operated by subsidiaries of Paramount Pictures until the mid-1950’s then by Newman Theatres and finally by Mitchell Theatres until its closing in 1978.

When was this theatre built?
What other uses did it have other than movies?

I was in the army at nearby Fort Hood, Texas. In 1955 I was Giant at the Waco Theatre starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean.