Max Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on May 21, 2022 at 2:42 am

Reading the local paper, there is a high likelihood that this began as the Crystal Theatre in 1909. The Crystal Airdome had opened as an outdoor venue in 1909 for the ventilation-challenged theaters of Cherokee, Oklahoma. It did so well that Frank Wilson equipped a movie theater in the existing Millspaugh Building as the Crystal Theatre also in 1909.

The silent movie house competed with the Majestic Theatre in the 1920s before coming under common ownership in 1927 with the Hawk Brothers and then Cherokee Amusement Co. Only one of the two theaters was equipped for sound and it was the Majestic turned Ritz. The Crystal continued as a place of worship in the early to mid 1930s discontinuing films. The Max Theatre was placed in this same Crystal space beginning after a major refresh on October 29, 1938 with the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire film, “Swing Time.”

The theatre was rehabbed in the 1950s to show widecreen and erased much of its past. The building was then badly damaged in a fire in December 2, 1969. When it was rehabbed, the building was modern and not reflective of any of its past. It continued into the mid-1980s as the Max Theatre showing second-run discount movies.

cherokee on September 28, 2012 at 12:03 am

Fred and Irene Householder ran the theater for 25 years until it finally closed in the mid 1980’s. Adult tickets were $1.25 and child tickets were .75 when the theater closed. The theater had suffered a devastating fire in the mid 1970’s and the theater was completely rebuilt. Best popcorn on earth! It was sad to see the theater close but Fred and Irene sold it and the new owners just didn’t have the love and dedication to keep it going as a successful business. God bless them both for the hundreds of movies they brought to a community that had very few options when it came to local entertainment.