Strand Theatre

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.

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?

Interesting story Will.

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.

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.

The Strand was just South of Loew’s State with maybe a couple of small storefronts between. It wasn’t as grand as the other Main Street movie cathedrals—probably more in the league of the Princess just up the street (but which I never saw inside). I remember there were pillars supporting the balcony which caused some visibility problems. When I arrived in Memphis in 1963 it was limping along with conventional fare, such as Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in “A New Kind of Love.” By 1964-65 it had gone to porn, the fate of many downtown theaters across the US in that era. In an attempt to maintain their dignity, or maybe to reduce pressure from the vice squad, they always ran a double feature with some entirely conventional rerun as the main show. So you had to sit through a Robert Mitchum war movie or Doris Day musical before getting to the good stuff. The porn would be probably be considered mild by most folks nowadays, but was certainly controversial enough in the 60s. I remember Russ Meyer’s “Lorna” and “The Immoral Mr. Teas,” several early Barry Mahon and David Friedman classics, and a series of European “naturist” movies with the original German or French soundtrack replaced by English voice-over with an inspiring public-domain music score. If anyone is interested, a lot of this material is now available on VHS/DVD from an outfit in Seattle called Something Wierd Video. Camera angles and cuts were carefully (almost surgically) selected to avoid showing anything beyond topless. Even so, the Strand was constantly in conflict with the vice cops. The papers either censored their ads or refused to take them altogether, and I think it was raided and closed briefly a few times. Still it was popular enough with the sailors from Millington and college students, etc. to turn a profit for a few years. Another porn house was the Airways theater way out East at Airways and Lamar. The last time I went to the Strand was in June of 1967 to see a Euro-nudie called “Sunswept.” When I came back to Memphis in November of 72 I drove in from Arkansas and went right down Main Street, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Urban Renewal had struck. The Warner, the Princess, Loew’s State, and the Strand were gone without a trace. Only Loew’s Palace and the Malco (Orpheum) remained. The Palace was demolished in the late 70s as described elsewhere on this site, and the Orpheum narrowly escaped the same fate. I guess that’s progress.