Wes-Ten Theater
3925 NW 10th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73107
3925 NW 10th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73107
1 person
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Was listed as selling war bonds per article from May 11th, 1945.
War bond theatre sale Fri, May 11, 1945 – 11 · The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) · Newspapers.com
No regular ads for this theatre found.
Odd name!!
Nice work on finding a 1949 under new management ad for the Oklahoma City Wes-Ten Theater. Should you discover the initial Grand Opening Ad in the 1945 time frame please post if possible. Thanks
1949 Grand opening ad in photo section.
Wes-Ten was in operation as early as 1945 with a seat count of 350 seats per Film Daily Yearbook. Could have been in operation even prior. Not sure where the profile date of 1949 was derived but, it was at least 1945.
Wes-Ten had a Saturday kids day for 10 cents/kid during the 50’s. My brother and I attended most Saturdays. We had a lot of fun. We normally walked to the theater from 18th & Tulsa.
Thanks Guys.hope he shared the profits with an overworked Staff.
George Shanbour also used profits made from the Wes-Ten Theatre to purchase the extremely popular Beverly’s (downtown) Diner, next door to the Colcord Bldg.
They ran a 512 seat theatre with that staff.let’s take the projectionist out of the picture,A cashier doubled as a concession girl how on earth did they serve a sell-out with that few of people.I can see it on a tuesday evening in Febuary,but i assume the weekends must have been a mad house.I guess the Box office girl sold and tore tickets that can quickly turn to thief if one chooses to do it.What a operation, Longest Day.
Great story Longest Day on what a owner could do.
Modern photos of the former Wes-Ten Theatre can be found on Roadside Oklahoma site. Facade has been altered beyong recognition.
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/486
LongestDay:
Yes, that large white buidling is the former WesTen Theatre. Appearance was extensively altered when the structure was converted to a homeless shelter. Original WesTen Threatre had a typical neon outlined, movie house facade, with a large, V shaped, flashing neon marquee.
Is is the two story white building seen in the map view?
Speaking of Wes-Ten’s well stocked concession stand, their house specialty were frozen malts. In a choich of three tasty flavors.
As detailed above, horror movies were showcased at the Wes-Ten. Here is a site devoted to William Catle’s amusing promotional ideas –
http://www.horror-wood.com/castle.htm
As an elementary school student in the mid-1960s, my enduring memory is that the Wes-Ten theater would sometimes give out free admission tickets at our suburban OKC school.
I distinctly remember seeing Yellow Submarine and Help! at separate times, but the atmosphere was the same: a packed auditorium full of rambunctious kids dropped off by their parents. Of course, little attention was paid to the film, and most attendees were engaged in food fights, scurrying up and down the aisle and crowding the tiny lobby and its concession stand. These were among my earliest movie-going experiences.
My mother remembered this theatre for its William Castle publicity gimmicks. For “House on Haunted Hill” a skeleton with red light bulb eyes flew over the audience. “The Tingler” had pre-selected electrified theatre chairs that shocked some viewers and caused them to jump to their feet screaming during scary scenes. Other films used other corny techniques to garner ballyhoo.
Judging from old newspaper movie ads the Westen speicialized in cheap B-product from production companies like Roger Corman, William Castle, Kroger Babb, etc.
Soon after closing the Wes Ten Theatre was renovated into a homeless shelter.