Princess Theatre
169 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
169 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
1 person
favorited this theater
The Princess Theatre opened in the early part of the twentieth century under the Southern Enterprises banner and was equipped with a Kimball pipe organ. The theatre was later acquired by the Shelby Amusement Company and closed around 1969 and demolished around 1972. Please update if you have any additional information on this theatre.
Contributed by
Jack Coursey
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
The cashier at the Malco (Orpheum) a half-block south was killed by a gun man around the time of the 1968 riots. I never heard anything about a murder at the Princess, but it certainly isn’t beyond the relm of possibility.
I heard that about the Malco cashier too, from Bill Kendall. Sorry I don’t have more details. I do know that when I came back to Mempho in 1972, the Malco/Orpheum had bulletproof glass installed in the box office.
A Kimball theater organ was installed in the Princess Theater in 1916. Note: With 2-rank echo.
According to Bowers' “Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments” page 551, there was a Reproduco organ made by the Operators Piano Co. installed at the Princess at one time.
There was a photo of the concession stand in Boxoffice, June 1960:
http://tinyurl.com/ycbewra
Thanks Ken.
this theater was still in business when i was a boy of 11 or 12.this would have been in 1967 or so.in those days it was still safe and accepted for kids to ride the bus downtown and see movies at the malco,loews state etc…however we were warned not to go to movies at the princess as that was where the perverts hung out.i have no idea if that reputation was warranted or not.
The Princess probably had that reputation because it stank. It had a men’s room but it was easier to use the storm drain in the alley on the south side. The Princess was legendary because of that and convenient because the concession stand was outdoors. It stank even after it closed, inside and out, and during demolition. I remember hearing from people I knew that it was a “colored theatre” on Main St. It had some upper levels because my father bought some of the fire escape stairs for a project of his. Also some of the balcony rails from Loew’s State. That’s how I got my mementos from the State and a glimpse of the ruins of the Princess. BTW, Mary Pearcy was shot in the boxoffice of the Malco in late 1971, just before “Hair” reopened the stage in January 1972. It was an attempted robbery. After that, the bulletproof glass was installed which remains today. Malco did not use the window facing Main ever again. I was at the theatre before and after and I will never forget that night.
My wife and I were in the theater watching ‘Dirty Harry’ the night Mary Pearcy was shot at the Malco. Policemen everywhere and we could not exit through the front. Had to find out what happened on the news.
There is additional information about and pictures of the Princess on this webpage.