Overton Theatre
210-212 Henderson Street,
Overton,
TX
75684
210-212 Henderson Street,
Overton,
TX
75684
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Looks like it will need a lot of work from the photos.
Thanks Nick, for taking care of the story,Once again.
The only mention of a Paul Horton in connection with Overton I’ve been able to find in Boxoffice is in the brief September 5, 1953, item which said that the Redwood Drive-In had opened.
A January 14, 1956, Boxoffice item said that James Brakeall had bought the Overton Theatre from Bill Hall, who had “…operated the theatre for more than twelve years….”
Overton, Texas is a quiet town. Much like Washington, Georgia. But while the folks in Washington were unable to save the Wilkes Theatre, the folks in Overton are saving the famed Overton Theatre.
Of course they are battling the same problems that the Miller Theatre in Augusta faced — moldy curtains, torn stage curtains, leaky roof, bird droppings and so on. The theatre was built in 1938 and remained open until 1965. John Cohagen’s father-in-law was the projectionist during the 40s. He said movies were 15-cents. And one could get a Coke for 5-cents and candy for 5-cents.
As stated above, The Overton Theatre was bought by Loretta and John Posey, a husband and wife team that want the theatre open for the small town of 2400.
The Overton area was served by the small Redwood Drive-In which held 100 cars and was owned by Paul Horton. I couldn’t find out if he also owned the Overton Theatre.
Contributed by Tyler Morning Telegraph/Mike Rogers.
Iam old theatre dawg,Chuck 1231.
Mike, even if you are a rookie as you say you are doing great. You have added a lot of info on the Southern Theatres.
Thanks Chuck 1231.i am a rookie.
Mike when you do a search and the next page comes up check both boxes, current name and previous names. That way if it is listed with an AKA it will come up also.
Maybe,they can take what i wrote and combine them since theyare the same theatre to help folks searching for the theatre.DAVIS THEATRE/OVERTON THEATRE. I guess that does happen often with theatres.
Thanks Chuck!
The Overton Theatre opened in 1938. The July 23 issue of Boxoffice said that the house sold out two shows. Among guests at the opening was W.B. King of King Scenic Company, the decorator of the theater.
The January 29, 1938, issue of Boxoffice ran an item about the origin’s of the Overton Theatre, which was to compete with the Jefferson Amusement company’s Strand Theatre:[quote]“Business men have raised money to finance a new and independent theatre there, according to information reaching Dallas during the week. The new house will be operated by T. W. (Ted) Lewis of Texarkana, where he now operates the Princess and a Negro house, the report said. Lewis is a died-in-the-wool independent.
The mayor of Overton is said to be head of a $25,000 stock company behind the new theatre building, construction on which is ready to start, the report said.“[/quote]A March 12 Boxoffice item said that Ted Lewis had reported that $40,000 was available for building and equipping the new theater he would operate at Overton. The July 2 issue of Boxoffice reported that the Overton Theatre was scheduled to open on July 8.
I’ve been trying to find out who designed this theater, but so far no luck.
This is being restored.
http://cinematreasures.org/news/22177_0_1_0_M/
1984 Photo
I have to disagree, Joe. The Cinematour page says “Also known as Davis”.
Is there any evidence other than photo captions by Flickr users that this place ever operated under the name Davis Theatre? As the name Davis belongs to the furniture company now using the building it seems most likely that, when a theater, it was always called the Overton, and the furniture store’s owners just painted their name over the original name on the vertical sign when they took over the building.
Cinematour’s page for this theater has information about it provided by Overtonite (Overtonian?) Charles Creekmur, and he says nothing about the theatre ever having had any name other than Overton. The page also links to a 1967 playbill for the Overton Theatre, so it was still using that name at that time.
Here is a 2008 photo.
I liked the last one. I imagine the style should be changed to Art Deco.
This is another photo of the Davis Theater building.
Here is a recent photo of the former Davis Theater.