This was announced in 1972 as an automated franchise of the United General Circuit. Two identical 185-screen / 370 total seat auditoriums.The booth had 16mm projection but was changed to 35mm projection.
William Maples of Phoenix was the newest franchisee of a United General automated theater location. This one was a 4,000 spot in the Casa Grande Mall and was hoped to have a July 1972 opening. A naming contest was held in November of 1972 – a common PR stunt in the United General playbook – and Louise Hudspeth came up with the unique and winning name: Mall Cinema. Those who had hoped for Mall Theater were disappointed. Perhaps a better contest would have been a pool to predict the theater’s opening date.It
Grand opening ads appeared in print November, December, January, February, March, and throughout April. It finally opened April 27, 1973 with “Lady and the Tramp” and “Million Dollar Duck” using the 16mm automated projection equipment and delivering on the promise to schedule family-friendly films.
The theatre was built as a United General franchised location. The Showcase celebrated its Grand Opening on July 25, 1973 with a double feature of “Billy Jack” and “Bless the Beasts.”
Elaine and Roger Moore aka E & R Concepts were the proud new United General franchisees of this theatre which held its name the theater contest in 1971. Ken and Keith Sherwood won the contest (ages 4 and 5) taking home 25 tickets for two. And then they waited for the theater located in the White Rock Shopping Center to open. And waited some more. Several opening dates came and went. But, finally, the theater opened on December 27, 1972 – an automated 16mm projection booth and family fare – with “Run to the High Country.” The Los Alamos Film Society held screenings there.
The theatre got new owners who switched the booth to 35mm but stayed true to the family friendly films. The final owners, Blue Pearl Corp. run by Jonathan and Carl Kahn, made it to the half-way point of its 30 year lease, closing just shy of its 15th Anniversary with “Back to the Beach” on September 30, 1987 citing financial reasons. The tiny theater was repurposed for other retail uses.
Stanley Warner Theatres 174th theater was the $500,000 Telephone Road Twin Drive-In north of Pearland. A champagne opening night benefit for the Boys Harbor of Houston featured Miss Texas Beauty Judi Lackey and music from Uni labels' The Fever Tree (who had a top 100 charted hit the next year) and Billy Gibbon’s The Moving Sidewalks who had the hit “99th Floor” before Gibbons moved on to form ZZ Top.
Opening shows were a triple feature of “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming” and “The Fortune Cookie” on Screen One and “The War Wagon,” “Texas Across the River,” and “Shenahoah” on Screen Two.
The H & H Drive-In Theatre launched September 29, 1949 with Henry Fonda in “Trail of the Lonesome Pine.” AKA the S & S Drive-In Theatre. It closed during the 1984 season with an adult double-feature. The theatre showed mainstream films on the weekend and adult films Tuesday-Thursday.
Stanley Warner Theatres 174th theater was the $500,000 Telephone Road Twin Drive-In north of Pearland. A champagne opening night benefit for the Boys Harbor of Houston featured Miss Texas Beauty Judi Lackey and music from Uni labels' The Fever Tree (who had a top 100 charted hit the next year) and Billy Gibbon’s The Moving Sidewalks who had the hit “99th Floor” before Gibbons moved on to form ZZ Top.
Opening shows were a triple feature of “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming” and “The Fortune Cookie” on Screen One and “The War Wagon,” “Texas Across the River,” and “Shenahoah” on Screen Two.
This was purportedly Debbie Reynolds' own United General automated theatre. Reynolds, Glenn Ford, and Agnes Moorehead were the primary actors who lent their names to the fledgling franchised theater gambit in the early 1970s. This theater launched on February 16, 1972 with “Tora, Tora, Tora.” But then the theatre had its Grand Opening celebration two weeks later on March 4th with “The RA Expeditions” and said to be under the operation of franchisee, Bill Webb. It helped kept costs low by using 16mm film projectors.
The theater was the sixth for the circuit and the first of 20 in the Valley for United General which actually appears to have opened just three of the locations before disgruntled investors filed lawsuits finally helping end the operation. Reports said that they had 200 franchisees signed on. The Central Plaza Shopping Centre housed theatre appears to have gone out of business in February 20, 1973. It looks to have been used by the Camarillo Community Campus of Moorpark College for educational purposes soon thereafter.
This mini-theatre was built in the 1970s for Alan Bryant as a franchisee of United General automated theatres circuit in the 1958/9-built North Hills Shopping Center. It opened November 15, 1972 with “Gone With the Wind.” Debbie Reynolds, Glenn Ford and Agnes Moorehead were the primary actors who lent their names to the fledgling franchised theater gambit in the early 1970s. It was the second of 20 United General locations planned to open in the Valley. But things went south quickly for the theater circuit on is way to bankruptcy. The Bryant Theatre and another United General franchisee launched the Northridge Peppertree 3 location in 1973. But neither United General’s moniker nor logo made either of these or the Camarillo locations. This was likely because United General was sinking rapidly and never hit its projections on openings.
The little cinema closed in January of 1974. It re-emerged as the Cinema of North Hills in May of 1974 and under the same operation of the United General-franchised Peppertree 3 Cinemas. Both locations outlasted their original and defunct cinema circuit. This theatre closed on September 6, 1979 with “Hooper” and “Sunburn.”
The Peppertree 3 Cinema was built for Herb Finkelstein and Fred Kane as an automated mini-theatre franchised with United General Theatres Circuit. United General was a fledgling competitor to the Jerry Lewis Cinema Circuit and others which promised one-button automagic theater operation to operators who may have had no knowledge of running a theater or any other business. It was backed in name by Glenn Ford, Agnes Moorehead and Debbie Reynolds. This was the first of twenty supposedly being built in the Valley and opened July 3, 1973. However, there is little evidence that there were more than five such properties under consideration. The entire chain was gone by 1975.
Opened on December 27, 1974 as the Marco Island Cinema 1 & 2 with the ribbon cut by Frank Mackle, Jr. of the family that developed Marco Island, Florida, with assistance from Miss Marco Island. The films were “The Longest Yard” and “Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.”
When the Valley Circle Cinema became the Valley Circle 1 & 2 Cinema on March 29, 1974, the operators called Dr. Bombay. Ribbon cutting prior to the first shows were performed “In Person! (by) Bernard Fox, Dr. Bombay of "Bewitched.”
The Northside Cinema Twin I & II launched with a benefit show on September 19, 1974 and with a grand opening for Gulf States Circuit on September 20, 1974. The opening films were a double feature of Walt Disney’s “The Castaway Cowboy” and “The Absent-Minded Professor” and in Cinema II with was Clint Eastwood in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.” The theatre had lipstick red draperies, seats and floors.
Gulf States Theatres opened the Twin Cinema on March 27, 1974 with Greenville Mayor Charles Sively on hand and the films, Walt Disney’s “The Castaway Cowboy” with Cinema I and its 314 seats and “The Sting” on Cinema II with its 238 seats.
Two investors started a cinema that likely was a Jerry Lewis Cinema franchise at one point in development. The 350-seat theater launched July 11, 1973 with “Paper Moon.” It was then shut down by the city. It had a relaunch with “Paper Moon” again. The theater owners eventually sold the property to more experienced operators.
Cinemark began showing X-Rated films on February 15, 1979 which wasn’t well received. It closed with X-rated films on March 31, 1979. It was reopened by Texas National Theaters Circuit on April 1, 1979 with the Spanish language films starring Cantinflas, “El Extra” and “Bajo el Imperio del Hampa.” In April of 1991, it became a live venue under the same name. On November 5, 1993, it became Stage West continuing as a live venue.
On April 8, 2005, it became the Frog Theatre as a live venue, second run movie house, and alcohol-free coffee shop showing the film, “Napoleon Dynamite.” It closed in May 2005 and was torn down in August of 2006. Because it was the TCU Theatre neighbor to Texas Christian University (TCU) from 1946 to 1993 (47 years) and was the Frog Theatre for one month, I would make a suggestion that the theater really should be the TCU Theatre (aka T.C.U. Theatre, Stage West Theatre, and Frog Theatre)
The R & X Mini-Cinema launched with R and X rated films in 1973. It was rebranded later that year as the Atlantic Mini Cinema celebrating its re-grand opening with a double-feature of Charlotte’s Web" and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The mini cinema was a sub-run, discount 99 cent and 49 cent (kids) that stumbled out of the gate.
On September 14, 1973 it became The Backdoor Cinema with double-features of X-Rated films. It switched back to the Atlantic Mini-Cinema with live shows added to the X-rated film content. On January 14, 1974, its policy changed under the name of the Atlantic Mini-Cinema Theatre Club. Under new operators, it rebranded as the Front Door Adult Theatre featuring three hours of adult film content. The theatre found its audience and became a mainstay.
This was an automated twin screen seating 700 that in formative stages was to be a Jerry Lewis Cinema. But plans changed and the Plaza Cinema 1 & 2 launched April 22, 1973 with “Soylent Green” featured in Plaza Cinema 1 and “Cabaret” featured in Plaza Cinema 2. Lewis had left the theater circuit by the time the Plaza launched and Network Cinema had disconnected its phones. The Plaza Cinema 1 & 2 appears to have ceased operations on July 27, 1978
The Vineyard Twin Cinema was built by United General Theatres Herb Bilton and Al Cooper. The two identical, automated auditoriums seated 250 patrons each.
This was announced in 1972 as an automated franchise of the United General Circuit. Two identical 185-screen / 370 total seat auditoriums.The booth had 16mm projection but was changed to 35mm projection.
William Maples of Phoenix was the newest franchisee of a United General automated theater location. This one was a 4,000 spot in the Casa Grande Mall and was hoped to have a July 1972 opening. A naming contest was held in November of 1972 – a common PR stunt in the United General playbook – and Louise Hudspeth came up with the unique and winning name: Mall Cinema. Those who had hoped for Mall Theater were disappointed. Perhaps a better contest would have been a pool to predict the theater’s opening date.It
Grand opening ads appeared in print November, December, January, February, March, and throughout April. It finally opened April 27, 1973 with “Lady and the Tramp” and “Million Dollar Duck” using the 16mm automated projection equipment and delivering on the promise to schedule family-friendly films.
The theatre was built as a United General franchised location. The Showcase celebrated its Grand Opening on July 25, 1973 with a double feature of “Billy Jack” and “Bless the Beasts.”
Elaine and Roger Moore aka E & R Concepts were the proud new United General franchisees of this theatre which held its name the theater contest in 1971. Ken and Keith Sherwood won the contest (ages 4 and 5) taking home 25 tickets for two. And then they waited for the theater located in the White Rock Shopping Center to open. And waited some more. Several opening dates came and went. But, finally, the theater opened on December 27, 1972 – an automated 16mm projection booth and family fare – with “Run to the High Country.” The Los Alamos Film Society held screenings there.
The theatre got new owners who switched the booth to 35mm but stayed true to the family friendly films. The final owners, Blue Pearl Corp. run by Jonathan and Carl Kahn, made it to the half-way point of its 30 year lease, closing just shy of its 15th Anniversary with “Back to the Beach” on September 30, 1987 citing financial reasons. The tiny theater was repurposed for other retail uses.
Stanley Warner Theatres 174th theater was the $500,000 Telephone Road Twin Drive-In north of Pearland. A champagne opening night benefit for the Boys Harbor of Houston featured Miss Texas Beauty Judi Lackey and music from Uni labels' The Fever Tree (who had a top 100 charted hit the next year) and Billy Gibbon’s The Moving Sidewalks who had the hit “99th Floor” before Gibbons moved on to form ZZ Top.
Opening shows were a triple feature of “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming” and “The Fortune Cookie” on Screen One and “The War Wagon,” “Texas Across the River,” and “Shenahoah” on Screen Two.
The H & H Drive-In Theatre launched September 29, 1949 with Henry Fonda in “Trail of the Lonesome Pine.” AKA the S & S Drive-In Theatre. It closed during the 1984 season with an adult double-feature. The theatre showed mainstream films on the weekend and adult films Tuesday-Thursday.
The Gateway Theatre closed January 3, 1971 with “Ben Hur” at the end of a 30-year leasing cycle.
Stanley Warner Theatres 174th theater was the $500,000 Telephone Road Twin Drive-In north of Pearland. A champagne opening night benefit for the Boys Harbor of Houston featured Miss Texas Beauty Judi Lackey and music from Uni labels' The Fever Tree (who had a top 100 charted hit the next year) and Billy Gibbon’s The Moving Sidewalks who had the hit “99th Floor” before Gibbons moved on to form ZZ Top.
Opening shows were a triple feature of “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming” and “The Fortune Cookie” on Screen One and “The War Wagon,” “Texas Across the River,” and “Shenahoah” on Screen Two.
This was purportedly Debbie Reynolds' own United General automated theatre. Reynolds, Glenn Ford, and Agnes Moorehead were the primary actors who lent their names to the fledgling franchised theater gambit in the early 1970s. This theater launched on February 16, 1972 with “Tora, Tora, Tora.” But then the theatre had its Grand Opening celebration two weeks later on March 4th with “The RA Expeditions” and said to be under the operation of franchisee, Bill Webb. It helped kept costs low by using 16mm film projectors.
The theater was the sixth for the circuit and the first of 20 in the Valley for United General which actually appears to have opened just three of the locations before disgruntled investors filed lawsuits finally helping end the operation. Reports said that they had 200 franchisees signed on. The Central Plaza Shopping Centre housed theatre appears to have gone out of business in February 20, 1973. It looks to have been used by the Camarillo Community Campus of Moorpark College for educational purposes soon thereafter.
This mini-theatre was built in the 1970s for Alan Bryant as a franchisee of United General automated theatres circuit in the 1958/9-built North Hills Shopping Center. It opened November 15, 1972 with “Gone With the Wind.” Debbie Reynolds, Glenn Ford and Agnes Moorehead were the primary actors who lent their names to the fledgling franchised theater gambit in the early 1970s. It was the second of 20 United General locations planned to open in the Valley. But things went south quickly for the theater circuit on is way to bankruptcy. The Bryant Theatre and another United General franchisee launched the Northridge Peppertree 3 location in 1973. But neither United General’s moniker nor logo made either of these or the Camarillo locations. This was likely because United General was sinking rapidly and never hit its projections on openings.
The little cinema closed in January of 1974. It re-emerged as the Cinema of North Hills in May of 1974 and under the same operation of the United General-franchised Peppertree 3 Cinemas. Both locations outlasted their original and defunct cinema circuit. This theatre closed on September 6, 1979 with “Hooper” and “Sunburn.”
The Peppertree 3 Cinema was built for Herb Finkelstein and Fred Kane as an automated mini-theatre franchised with United General Theatres Circuit. United General was a fledgling competitor to the Jerry Lewis Cinema Circuit and others which promised one-button automagic theater operation to operators who may have had no knowledge of running a theater or any other business. It was backed in name by Glenn Ford, Agnes Moorehead and Debbie Reynolds. This was the first of twenty supposedly being built in the Valley and opened July 3, 1973. However, there is little evidence that there were more than five such properties under consideration. The entire chain was gone by 1975.
The Vitagraph version of “Black Beauty” produced by Albert E. Smith and starring his wife, Jean Paige, launched the Plaza Theatre on August 1, 1921.
The Newton Cinema launched June 7, 1974 with “Papillion.” It appears to have closed late in 1989.
Opened on December 27, 1974 as the Marco Island Cinema 1 & 2 with the ribbon cut by Frank Mackle, Jr. of the family that developed Marco Island, Florida, with assistance from Miss Marco Island. The films were “The Longest Yard” and “Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.”
When the Valley Circle Cinema became the Valley Circle 1 & 2 Cinema on March 29, 1974, the operators called Dr. Bombay. Ribbon cutting prior to the first shows were performed “In Person! (by) Bernard Fox, Dr. Bombay of "Bewitched.”
The Northside Cinema Twin I & II launched with a benefit show on September 19, 1974 and with a grand opening for Gulf States Circuit on September 20, 1974. The opening films were a double feature of Walt Disney’s “The Castaway Cowboy” and “The Absent-Minded Professor” and in Cinema II with was Clint Eastwood in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.” The theatre had lipstick red draperies, seats and floors.
Gulf States Theatres opened the Twin Cinema on March 27, 1974 with Greenville Mayor Charles Sively on hand and the films, Walt Disney’s “The Castaway Cowboy” with Cinema I and its 314 seats and “The Sting” on Cinema II with its 238 seats.
Launched as Havre Cinema I & II, the theater opened with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “The Sting” on the 300-seat Cinema I and “Cry of the Wild”
Two investors started a cinema that likely was a Jerry Lewis Cinema franchise at one point in development. The 350-seat theater launched July 11, 1973 with “Paper Moon.” It was then shut down by the city. It had a relaunch with “Paper Moon” again. The theater owners eventually sold the property to more experienced operators.
Address: 537 West Commerce Street
Kneer and Hamm architectural firm
William Kneer architect
Cinemark began showing X-Rated films on February 15, 1979 which wasn’t well received. It closed with X-rated films on March 31, 1979. It was reopened by Texas National Theaters Circuit on April 1, 1979 with the Spanish language films starring Cantinflas, “El Extra” and “Bajo el Imperio del Hampa.” In April of 1991, it became a live venue under the same name. On November 5, 1993, it became Stage West continuing as a live venue.
On April 8, 2005, it became the Frog Theatre as a live venue, second run movie house, and alcohol-free coffee shop showing the film, “Napoleon Dynamite.” It closed in May 2005 and was torn down in August of 2006. Because it was the TCU Theatre neighbor to Texas Christian University (TCU) from 1946 to 1993 (47 years) and was the Frog Theatre for one month, I would make a suggestion that the theater really should be the TCU Theatre (aka T.C.U. Theatre, Stage West Theatre, and Frog Theatre)
The R & X Mini-Cinema launched with R and X rated films in 1973. It was rebranded later that year as the Atlantic Mini Cinema celebrating its re-grand opening with a double-feature of Charlotte’s Web" and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The mini cinema was a sub-run, discount 99 cent and 49 cent (kids) that stumbled out of the gate.
On September 14, 1973 it became The Backdoor Cinema with double-features of X-Rated films. It switched back to the Atlantic Mini-Cinema with live shows added to the X-rated film content. On January 14, 1974, its policy changed under the name of the Atlantic Mini-Cinema Theatre Club. Under new operators, it rebranded as the Front Door Adult Theatre featuring three hours of adult film content. The theatre found its audience and became a mainstay.
The Westwood Twin launched on March 30, 1973 with “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Cross and the Switchblade.”
This was an automated twin screen seating 700 that in formative stages was to be a Jerry Lewis Cinema. But plans changed and the Plaza Cinema 1 & 2 launched April 22, 1973 with “Soylent Green” featured in Plaza Cinema 1 and “Cabaret” featured in Plaza Cinema 2. Lewis had left the theater circuit by the time the Plaza launched and Network Cinema had disconnected its phones. The Plaza Cinema 1 & 2 appears to have ceased operations on July 27, 1978
The Vineyard Twin Cinema was built by United General Theatres Herb Bilton and Al Cooper. The two identical, automated auditoriums seated 250 patrons each.