Chieftain Theatre
3450 SW 29th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73119
3450 SW 29th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73119
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The Chieftain Theatre opened on August 30, 1951. It was located in the Woodson Park neighborhood on SW 29th Street at South Stults Avenue.
After many years operating as an adult movie theatre it was closed in 1987.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
1985 photo of the Chiefton Theatre. The header says single screen but this photo says twin.
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Boxoffice Magazine’s reports of the seating capacity of the Chieftain differ. The December 22, 1951, issue said that it seated “about 730,” while the December 29 issue gave the figure as 750.
According to the April 25, 1966, issue of Boxoffice, Barton Theatres operated the Chieftain until that year, when all 18 of its houses were leased to a newly-formed company called Greater Oklahoma City Amusements, headed by Chicago exhibitor Lewis L. Ingram.
The September 9, 1974, issue of Boxoffice says that the Chieftain was being taken over by Okemah Shanbour. By 1975,it was being operated by Eldon Claybourne Christian, the one who was arrested for showing the movie “Sexual Customs in Scandinavia.”
I’ve been unable to find out when the house was twinned. The last mention of the Chieftain in Boxoffice is from 1976.
I’m certain the Chieftain Cinema was not a twin when I went there during the winter of ‘77. Just a guess, but probably adjoining retail footage was converted into another auditorium, rather than twiining the original cinema.
Seen here are typical examples of a vintage beefcake films;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKGN5GMw4s
What lousy marquee for a theatre,about the worse i ever saw.Surprized it ever did business.Surely, they put something up better.
Photos can’t seem to capture what the structure actually looked like. In real life it was quite a nice cinema. There was a much larger streetside marquee located on the corner intersection.
Thanks for the info,seymour cox,gotta admit that marquee on the picture looks sad.
Very sad, and shabby!
A sordid past outlined here
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/562
The Cinema Section of Roadside Oklahome is closed, they no longer have theatre photos according to the site. Go to their home page for further details.