Tower Theater
1907 Elm Street,
Dallas,
TX
75201
1907 Elm Street,
Dallas,
TX
75201
2 people
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Located in the same downtown block of Elm Street as the Majestic Theater and the Melba Theater (later Capri), this Interstate Theater operated theatre opened in 1937 and had a small box office opening on the street that led into what appeared to be an office building. The entry off Elm Street ran straight to the rear of the house. There were no distinguishing decorations inside that I recall (dating back to the 1960’s), but it was obviously one of Interstate’s crown jewels. There was a large, vertical sign on the front.
It played many hard ticket, reserved seat bookings, including “Exodus” in 1960 and “Cleopatra” in 1963.
The Tower Theater was closed in 1970 and the building was remodeled, the theater house portion became an entry mall that faces the street behind the building – Pacific Avenue. The building has been closed, but is due (in 2008) for remodeling into condo and apartments in the next couple of years.
Contributed by
Don Eldredge, Bob Johnston
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
I know the Tower was the original 70MM Hard Ticket Reserved Seat Theatre in Dallas during the middle 1950’s. But what other theatres in Dallas did Interstate change over and put 70MM in so they could also play Hard Ticket Reserved Seat showings? In what theatres did the following pictures play on a Hard Ticket Reserved Seat policy. SPARTACUS, CAN CAN, WEST SIDE STORY, EL CID, THE LONGEST DAY, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, 55 DAYS AT PEKING, THE CARDINAL, MY FAIR LADY, CHEYENNE AUTUMN, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, THE GREAT RACE, THE AGONY & THE ECSTACY, THE BIBLE, HAWAII, THE SANDPEBBLES, FUNNY GIRL, DOCTOR DOLITTLE, PAINT YOUR WAGON, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS
A view of the Tower Theater’s vertical sign captured on this vintage Elm Street post card.
An old movie theater ad from 1949 for the Tower Theater.
ennis, I can answer some of your questions – TOWER opened Ben-Hur, King of Kings, El Cid, Mutiny on the Bounty, My Fair Lady, Great Race, Agony & Ecstacy, The Bible, Doctor Dolittle; CAPRI (nee MELBA) opened Spartacus, The Alamo, How The West Was Won, Mad, Mad World, Circus World, 55 Days at Peking, Khartoum; INWOOD opened Sound of Music and Hawaii; WILSHIRE opened Sand Pebbles and Paint Your Wagon; UA CINE 150 opened Funny Girl; ESQUIRE opened The Cardinal and Lawrence of Arabia; NORTHPARK CINEMA 1&2 opened Doctor Zhivago (can’t remember which auditorium) and just don’t remember the other openings, tho' the TOWER or CAPRI likely opened The Longest Day.
Does anyone remember the color of the TOWER curtin? The question came up in a conversation last week.
IIRC, it was red.
I saw more movies at the Tower than at all the other downtown Dallas theaters combined – isn’t it odd, then, that I have such vivid memories of what the Majestic, Capri, and Palace looked like inside and have virtually no memory of what the Tower looked like. Could it have been that plain?
I read that the Tower auditorium was actually housed in a completely separate, purpose-built building (built 1937) that sat behind the Tower Petroleum Building (built 1931) that housed the theater’s Elm Street boxoffice, entrance, and lobby; and that in 1951 the Corrigan Tower building was constructed to sit over and around the auditorium building (http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/towerpet.htm).
Can anyone comment on the arrangement (lease, easement, part ownership?) that must have been made between Interstate Amusement Corp. and ownership/management of these other two buildings in order to effect this type of situation?
The finding aid for the Interstate Theatre collection at the Dallas Public Library lists the Tower Theatre as a project designed by architect W. Scott Dunne, with drawings dated August 10, 1936. The project included the “[c]onversion of building at Elm St., Pacific and St. Paul.” That would be the Tower Petroleum Building, which Dallas Architecture says was designed by architect Mark Lemmon.
Residents of Ben Hur, Texas, attend guess what William Wyler movie at the Tower Theatre in Dallas: britishpathe