Campus Theatre

The film which opened The Campus Theatre in 1949 was the national premiere of I WAS A MALE WARBRIDE, starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The premiere was held at the new theatre because Ann Sheridan was really Clara Lou Sheridan, a Denton native. And yes, John Wayne, Jeff Chandler, a couple of other stars, and some starlets, one of whom was Mary Murphy, came to Denton and The Campus in the fifties in an effort to lure people away from their tv sets and back into the theatres—exciting stuff for then small town Denton. For years the theatre held Saturday morning Kiddie Shows, which included an old movie (usually a western or horror film—I saw many Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney classics there), lots of cartoons, and sometimes a live talent show. The Kiddie Shows, ostensibly for children, became very popular with teenagers, who really went, of course, to meet and greet school friends and classmates more than to see a movie. The Campus was a beautiful art deco house; the girls and women especially loved the pink tinted mirror in the ladies room because it made them look great! Thanks for letting me reminisce about this wonderful old theatre. M Elliott

My photograph of the CAMPUS View link

Here is a 1956 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6c2pp2

Hi Guys,
Gotta put in my two cents.
Yes, Henrietta is a very small town in North Central
Texas.
Population in 2000 was just over 3,000. It’s not
considered a neighbor of Denton and nowhere near it's
size. Denton has two universities and is the county
seat. Heck, when I went to North Texas ( now UNT ) our
university alone had 12,000. I think back then with
TWU we made half the population of 40,000. I think
Denton is closer to 130,000 now.
The Campus (off square note your photo you can see the
courthouse over neighboring building) is still there
they are live performance theater, the Fine Arts ( on
the square ) still stands, hosts a church I believe,
the XXX Theater ( on square )long ago closed but is
now occupied by a business. There was at least one
other movie theater away from the square on University
Drive I think. I got a ticket for a red light there
after we’d seen some movie on rodeos done in the
fashion of “On Any Given Sunday”. I seem to remember 2
drive-in theaters but can’t recall names. Do remember
seeing “Death Race 2000” (starring David Carradine) at
the drive-in north of town. We had a car full, it
rained buckets, and we were more interested in downing
the case of beer we brought! Still it was a funny
movie then and now.
As for theaters there now? Well, there’s a large mall
south of town on I-35 called Golden Triangle Mall.
There’s bound to be a plex there and more around town.
Town’s changed alot since my college days in 1970's
Ken

October 4th, 1949 grand opening ad is at View link