Windsor Cinerama Theater
5078 Richmond Avenue,
Houston,
TX
77056
5078 Richmond Avenue,
Houston,
TX
77056
5 people
favorited this theater
This theater had velvet rocker seats and a screen that was 33.5 feet tall by 100 feet wide. The sound system had 19 Altec speakers that were all byamplified with the first transistor amplifier for theaters. Later known as the Windsor Cinerama Theater, it is now a nightclub.
Contributed by
Vincent Gourley
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Recent comments (view all 42 comments)
Is this the theater that played a roadshow engagement of “Doctor Zhivago”? If not, can anyone tell me where that first played in Houston? Saw it on Memorial Day weekend in 1966.
Ed, yes, the original Houston roadshow engagement for “Doctor Zhivago” was at the Windsor. “Battle of the Bulge” was the prior engagement.
The Windsor opened on December 20, 1962. According to that day’s Houston Post, the Jefferson Circuit was its chain.
The woman who was murdered in front of the exercise studio that was next to Dance City USA was Elizabeth Etter or “Edder” I’m not sure of the spelling, but she was the wife of a Houston doctor. I arrived just minutes after it happened, sometime around nine AM. I saw her lying next to her car as I was driving down Richmond Ave. It was in the early spring of 1977, I believe. I looked over and saw someone lying on the ground along side the drivers side of her car that was parked horizontally, right in front of the exercise studio next to Dance City. Someone lying on the ground at 9 AM on a weekday morning was easily spotted from Richmond Ave, because
The Windsor Plaza parking lot was almost deserted during the night in those days, few people parked there overnight. I drove immediately over to the scene. She’d been getting out of her car for her exercise class when two men parked close by in the opposite direction, shot her out of their window and sped off. We knew this because there was one eye witness, a young woman who’d driven up behind her, going to the same exercise class. I never heard any more about it until sometime in the 1980’s when either the Houston Post or Chronicle ran a feature entitled “Who killed Elizabeth Etter/Edder” – it was the most amazing story,
The investigative reporter listed MANY people who’d died strangely. seems like it was like 12 or more, all very oddly and they all were linked together in some way. Each had died such a strange death, or had been murdered and the murder was yet unsolved. And they all knew each other either socially or professionally!
The story went on to say an elderly couple came forward a year after her murder reporting that their son who lived close to Windsor Plaza had been gunned down in the same fashion, And although Houston police were aware of his murder, they hadn’t told police of their fears. They said they’d been afraid to come forward before with the information that their son had known/was connected, in some way to the murdered woman in the parking lot. I never heard any more about this case and can find nothing about it online, your letter was the only thing that came up. If anyone knows any more, please contact me because I’ve been curious as to any follow up on the case.
can any body tell me what a poster from that theatre in houston of jesse james would be worth.
sorry the address to tell me is
This theater is mentioned in Boxoffice dozens of times from early 1963 until 1976, and is almost invariably called the Windsor Cinerama Theatre, even long after it was no longer showing Cinerama films. Windsor Cinerama Theatre should be listed as an aka.
I realize you just updated the theater names, but I think they should be reversed. “Windsor” ought to be the primary name; “Windsor Cinerama” ought to be the AKA.
By the way, Houston’s Cinerama history can be found on this page.
This is where I saw 2001 A Space Odyssey with my father in 1968. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. – tom morgan
Hello I’m currently working on a book about the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and am looking for photos and programs/newspaper clippings etc from each city in which the film premiered in originally in 1968. If you saw the film in it’s initial run in the theater have a good memory of your experience, I’d love to interview you about seeing it. To date I have interviewed over 20 people that have worked on the film, and several close members in the Kubrick camp as well. If you can help please email me at