Bowie Theatre
3858 Camp Bowie Boulevard,
Fort Worth,
TX
76107
3858 Camp Bowie Boulevard,
Fort Worth,
TX
76107
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.
Architects: H. F. Pettigrew, John A. Worley
Firms: Pettigrew & Worley
Functions: Bank
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Nearby Theaters
Moderately-sized Art Moderne theatre on Camp Bowie Boulevard. The Bowie Theater was opened January 31, 1941 with Gary Cooper in “North West Mounted Police”. It was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary Hoblitzelle & O'Donnell. Featured a fabulous vertical neon sign that could be spotted from a great distance in either direction on the Boulevard.
The Bowie Theatre closed on September 26, 1982 with “Star Trek II” & “Quest for Fire”. It was later converted into a bank, which interestingly enough, kept the Bowie marquee and nicely incorporated the Art Moderne elements into the renovation.
Contributed by
Bob Whitworth
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
photo:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cirillo/bowie.jpg
I believe I saw Jaws at this theater during it’s original release. I would have been 4 years old. Why did my parents take me to see this at such a young age? Maybe thats why I don’t like to go to the beach. I remember when this closed and turned into a bank. In my youthful ignorance, I protested that I would never set foot into it again.
Here is the page containing TC’s photo. You can’t post the individual photos, apparently:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cirillo/fwsights.htm
Here are interior and exterior photos by Michael Putnam:
http://tinyurl.com/ysnl5a
http://tinyurl.com/ytyj7v
Here is a photo of the Bowie Theater featuring “A Clockwork Orange” in 1971.
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/2256642778
I currently work at the Frost Bank located in the Bowie Theater and would like to make a scrap book about its history. Does anyone have photos of inside the theater before it was converted to a bank?
The Bowie was built before the advent of CinemaScope and did not have an extremely wide auditorium. On top of that, the screen area was enclosed by walls that sectioned off the emergency exits located on either side of the screen. Consequently, when the Bowie ran a widescreen movie the picture size was reduced which created an effect similar to watching a letterboxed DVD. Non-widescreen movies filled the screen and looked fine.
Regardless, I saw many movies at the Bowie such as GONE WITH THE WIND, CABARET, SKIDOO, HALF A SIXPENCE, KING KONG and many others. In its latter years it was a bargain house with reduced admissions.
This opened on January 31st, 1941. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Pettigrew and Worley were the architects for the long-running theatre. Wealthy Cunningham was the final operator of the Bowie running it as a double-feature, sub-run discount house at $1.50 per admission. The first show would repeat with the second show getting one showtime. The theatre went to weekend only operations and had cult films at midnight. She closed up shop after the September 26, 1982 double feature of “Star Trek II” and “Quest for Fire” making “Star Trek II” the final film shown there. A portion of the seats went to the Cornerstone Theater on the south side. In 1985, a salvage sale was held prior to the theater’s conversion to a bank.