Warner Theatre
52 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
52 S. Main Street,
Memphis,
TN
38103
3 people
favorited this theater
Originally opened in 1921 as Pantages Theatre, Warner Brothers bought the building from Pantages in about 1928. The lobby was very small: really only a rear-of-house cross aisle. Built during the regretable era of Jim Crow laws, there were two balconies – a large balcony for the white folks and above that the “colored only” balcony.
The organ was a Robert Morton, installed under the stage. This may have been a retro-fit installation as the opening night newspaper articles do not mention an organ at all.
The building was torn down in 1968 to make way for a bank skyscraper with a sunken, cheer-less, banal plaza where the Warner’s auditorium once stood.
Contributed by
Will Dunklin
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
The September 9, 1919, issue of Brick and Clay Record has an item about the start of construction on the Pantages project:
It sounds like at least part of the Pantages incorporated a pre-existing building. That building might be the source of the 1916 construction date.There appear to have been some serious delays on this project. There is a report in the May, 1920, issue of American Stone Trade saying that the Pantages Theatre in Memphis was then under construction, but that’s several months after the report in Brick and Clay Recored. The July issue of the same publication said that the project was “…nearing the finishing and decorative stage.” But then the magazine item I cited in my previous comment about the project nearing completion was from February, 1921. That’s a total construction time of almost a year and half. Big theater projects were typically completed in a few months during that era.
Joe, you might also remember that the Memphis Loew’s State (q.v.) auditorium had been built into the shell of an existing warehouse.
Joe’s remark would explain a theatre seating 2300 built into a half-block depth lot, backing into the alley. The Pantages had practically no lobby, just a foyer, and a canopy that ran the entire width of the building. That’s why the later marquee was so long. Another alley ran down the south side, perhaps that’s where the negro entrance was. I just missed this one as I was just becoming interested in movie palaces when I saw it coming down. I did see some slides, later, from the bank that bought it. The dome ribs and the proscenium were reinforced concrete—it took forever to bring it down. It also seemed to be the only true concrete proscenium arch (of any size) in a Memphis theatre—the others were either oblong (Loew’s Palace, Lyceum, Majestic) or had an arch with drapery to change the shape of the actual oblong opening (Orpheum, Loew’s State).
Also note, in the Life Magazine photo, the “Loew’s” on the Loew’s State vertical has been covered up because the theatre had been sold and was now called just the State. The sides of the marquee used the vertical for the Loew’s name but the front had a panel which covered the neon reading “State Theatre.”
Joe: where did that beautiful photo of the Pantages come from? It is much better than the one the Theatre Historical Society owns (and I have that print from them). There weren’t any more, were there? BTW, in the THS collection from Terry Helgesen is where the 1916 date came up. Maybe, B Marcus Priteca was given the contract that year and there were construction delays. There also exist beautiful photos of the block with and without the theatre.
The photo of the facade I uploaded was originally part of the biennial exhibit of the Washington State chapter of the AIA, held in Seattle in April, 1922. It was included in a portfolio of photos from the exhibit published in the May, 1922, issue of the San Francisco-based journal The Architect and Engineer. The magazine is in the collection of the San Francisco Public Library, which scanned and uploaded the issue to the Internet Archive.
This was the only photo of the Pantages in the portfolio, though there might have been others in the exhibit itself. The magazine does not credit the source of the photo, but it was most likely provided for the exhibit by the office of the architect, B. Marcus Priteca, who was a member of the Washington chapter of the AIA.
If you’d like a larger version of the scan, go to this link. You can enlarge the scan by clicking on the + icon in the toolbar at the lower right corner of the page. The scan can be made quite large before printing or digital artifacts begin showing up.
Thanks so much.
The Warner Theatre was featured in this 1948 trade article: boxofficemagazine
The rest of the 1943 photos have been posted. Two more views of the auditorium from Memphis Room of the Memphis Public Library. Used with permission.
Built by Alexander Pantages, his eldest son Rodney was the general manager of the circuit.
When the theater opened on February 28, 1921, Jack Claxton was in charge and J. Lloyd Dearth his assistant. By that summer Jack Quinlan was the manager and then J. Lloyd Dearth. On October 7, 1925 A.B. Morrison became manager for at least two years.