Melba Theatre
1913 Elm Street,
Dallas,
TX
75201
1913 Elm Street,
Dallas,
TX
75201
3 people
favorited this theater
The Hope Theatre, on Elm Street in Dallas, opened in 1921. It was designed by W. Scott Dunne and Alfred Charles Finn. It was taken over by the Interstate Theatre circuit and renamed Melba Theatre It originally had a 3/11 Wurlitzer organ.
The Melba Theatre showed the first 3-D movie, “Bwana Devil”, in 1953, and a year later, began showing Cinerama films, beginning with “This Is Cinerama”. The Melba Theatre has been demolished.
Any further details about the Melba’s history would be greatly appreciated…
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 30 comments)
March 20, 1970 opening ad for the Capri 3.
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When McClendon tripled this theatre in 1970, the balcony was twinned and the downstairs theatre later installed a silver screen to show 3-D. By catering to a black audience, this theatre was a huge success in the early ‘70’s but declined in later years. Because of the early success, they added 4 more screens in the basement of the adjoining McClendon building to make it a 7-screener. When you entered either of the upstairs balconey theatres, in the outer corner of the rear of each one you could see an original 3-strip Cinerama booth.
Saw many films at the Melba, but my days only go back as far as when it was named Capri.
First film I remember seeing here was “The Alamo” in it’s reserved seat Todd A-O run; then “King of Kings” after it had ended it’s reserved seat 70mm run at the Tower next door; then “How The West Was Won” in Cinerama; then a re-issue of “Bridge On The River Kwai” in Cinemascope, but projected on the huge Cinerama screen without the masking being pulled back down for regular 2.35:1 widescreen; then a reissue of “The Longest Day” followed by “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Finally, I got in to comment… Anyway, to Jeanette’s info about the Early Birds; the organist at the Early Birds radio show was Bert Noyd. My father, Norvell Slater, was announcer, straight man & sang a hymn on the show. He played piano & sang on other programs as well as pioneered the longest running hymn program on radio. Those early days must have been fabulous with the big band, which I remember as a kid. Just out of this world.
Here is an article about the reopening of the Melba as the Capri in Boxoffice of May 9, 1960. There are two small photos. This article doesn’t give the date the house had reopened, but an April 18 Boxoffice item had said that the conversion had taken place that winter, and that as part of the project the Capri had been equipped for 70mm projection.
The Melba had ended its four-year run as a Cinerama house in 1958, when Tans-Texas Theatres renovated and reopened it as a first-run house. Boxoffice of June 8 that year said the first feature shown was William Castle’s “Macabre.”
Photographs of the Melba Theater from the Dallas Public Library’s Dallas/Texas History collection:
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Photographs of the Capri Theater from the Dallas Public Library’s Dallas/Texas History collection:
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Any photos of the Loews Melba?
From 1946 a movie for Duel in the Sunfeatured at the Melba.
Here is an updated link to the May 9, 1960, Boxoffice article about the newly renovated Capri Theatre, formerly the Melba.
I remember this as the Capri in the early 70s as a kid. Of the classic theaters that used to line Elm Street, only it, the Majestic, the Tower, the Palace, and the Loews remained. Don’t remember seeing anything at the Palace.
The Capri was billed as “The world’s largest theater complex.” Of course, in the early 70s, a 7 screen theater wasn’t common.
I saw a lot of movies, there… Jaws, lots of Bruce Lee films, Godzilla movies… Hey, I was a KID.
In the hall leading to screens 4 – 7, there was a display of classic movie stars, W. C. Fields and the like, sitting in a cafe.
One by one, they closed, the Capri and Loews surviving the longest, though the Majestic was revived. Even as a kid, I preferred the classic movie theaters to the then trendy shoe box style theaters. It just didn’t feel like a real movie theater without the big marquee.