Strand Theatre
138 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
138 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
2 people
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Built by the Southern Enterprises circuit around 1920. No description is currently available on the Strand. Please update if you have any additional information on this theatre.
Contributed by
Jack Coursey
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
Just noticed from the maps and street numbers that it must have been just North, not South, of Loew’s State. Sorry, it’s been a long time…
WHW excellent description! Thanks. In my (limited) research on Memphis theatres I’ve come across several references to the Majestic #1 and #2 and also the NEW Majestic #1 and #2. I infer there were actually 4 theatres called Majestic at one time. I’ve wondered if the building last known as the Strand was one of these. There is a Majestic theatre still standing nearly across from where the Strand stood. It is now a brew-pub. It was adjacent to the Hotel Gayoso and Goldsmiths.
My best recollection is that the Strand was always called the Strand, from 1963 to 67 at least; and a newspaper article about 1966 when it closed briefly said (I think) that it had been so named since the 20s. There may have been one or more Majestics in Memphis before my time, but I don’t remember hearing about them. The first Majestic I saw was in San Antonio, Texas (q.v.) and it sure was. Fortunately it escaped the wrecking ball and was restored.
Google lists a Malco Majestic at 7051 Malco Crossing way out to the Southeast near Winchester and Route 385 (Nonconnah Parkway), but that’s clearly a newer one…
Everything I’ve heard about the Strand was exactly as you describe. The “era-of-four-Majestics” would have been around World War One, which made me think that the Strand MIGHT have been one of the later Majestics, renamed in the 1920’s.
By the time I was in Memphis, the Strand’s site had been a parking lot for years. It was interesting (and a little heartbreaking) to be able to see the scars the old theatre had left on the adjacent building: you could clearly see where the stairs and balcony had been.
The Film Daily year book for 1935 lists this as Loew’s Strand. The big theatres in downtown Memphis changed hands a good deal during the ‘30’s. Loew’s Palace went to Paramount for a while and then to MALCO. Apparently Lowe’s operated the Strand right next door to their magnificent State for a while. Loew’s got the Palace back around 1940 when MALCO got the RKO Orpheum. As an old theatre manager friend said of that time: “the employees in the downtown theatres didn’t know who they were working for from day to day.”
Interesting story Will.
Older photos discovered on the site “Memphis Movie Theatres” show that the Strand building was built as the Majestic #2, had several marquees and owners. Under the Strand name it was M. A. Lightman’s first Memphis operation. The vague outline of its balcony may be seen on the side of the Black and White/Shainberg’s/Royal Furniture building still standing. Its site is a passage from Main to Second St. across from Peabody Place. It had a very tiny “passage” sort of lobby.
Vincent, thanks for the confirmation on the name Majestic. There is a photo of one of Memphis' Majestics (not the one still standing) in the book Nickelodeon Theatres and Their Music. Wonder if it was this one?
How do I see this photo? The library’s photo of the Majestic/Strand building has a big 10c over an arched marquee. You can plainly see the top cartouche which appears in other photos of the Strand. However, there is another older photo showing a vertical with a starburst over it that says “Majestic” which seems to pre-date both of the other buildings. Which one is it?
A new piece of info on the various Majestics. The old Theatorium, opened by the Dinstuhl family in about 1905, later became the North Main Majestic. The early photo of an upright sign reading “Majestic” is on South Main, near the future site of Loew’s State and pre-dating both buildings housing Majestic theatres. So, these may be the “old” and “new” Majestics of which you speak. Will further research how many of these (it is said at least three) were owned by Frank Montgomery.