Harlon O. Jones architectural drawings show a Spanish Renaissance architectural style that was matched by the interior furnishings selected by Fischer & Jiroch of Cleveland.
Nathan Sobel of Sobel, Richards, Shear Enterprises opened the original Carrollton Theatre #1 on March 17, 1917 with “The Matrimaniac.” Patrons expressed delight with the venue’s pipe organ. Now under the United Theatres nameplate, the circuit added sound to remain viable.
Carrollton #1’s final show was Warren Baxter in “Bell in Heaven” supported by Red Ryder serial #13 on February 1, 1935. The cliffhanger of the serial would not be realized at the next showtime. An incredible projection booth explosion after hours obliterated the theatre and damaged ten neighboring buildings in the process.
United Theatres proposed a new showplace and local residents objected not wanting another bomb factory of that scale. So a more modest brick concept with a fireproof booth was proposed by United Theatres and designed by architect Herbert A. Benson. That one passed muster with the local government and perhaps a few residents. It relaunched October 1, 1935 with “Every Night at Eight” and supported by three shorts: Phil Regan and the Sons of the Pioneers. musical short,“Romance of the West,” “Tid-Bits,” and the Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Mickey’s Garden.”
On the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination, April 4, 1968, 22 fire bombs were set off in the event’s aftermath and the Carrollton Theatre was one such recipient. United made the repairs unable to salvage the look of the streamline moderne interior though, to give them credit, reopening the venue. Trans-Lux took over on October 1, 1969 - the theater’s 34th Anniversary. They dropped it a year later very likely at its leasing expiry or in a business decision to sub-lease the house.
The Carrollton Theatre became a dynamic independent as a repertory house on a 5-year leasing or subleasing agreement from 1970 to 1975 playing golden age Hollywood double features. It may have been best remembered for this programming by locals. That ended on the theater’s 50th Anniversary playing a double feature of “Marked Woman” and “Devotion” on October 1st & 2d, 1975.
On October 3, 1975, the last operator went a different direction taking the venue to promo chic era programming with “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones.” The Carrollton Adult Theatre appears to have ended with John Holmes in “4 Women and Orita De Chadwick in “Big Switch.” It became an events and banquet hall. After the 2005 Katrina flooding, it was turned into a senior medical services building.
The New Gentilly Theatre was announced in 1928 with land purchased for the new-build theater. The $22,000 venue was designed by local architect F.T. Daunis and was the first theater in Gentilly Terrace. The first ad appears on December 16, 1928 with Lois Wilson in “Sally’s Shoulders.” The theater went more than a year playing silent films until putting DeForest Sound into the venue at the very end of 1929.
With the opening of the Gentilly Woods Theatre, there was likely some confusion about which theater was which. On May 13, 1970, the theatre’s signage and marketing was refreshed to the Gentilly Orleans Theatre. A reviewer in 1977 called the projection “erratic,” the sound system “deafening” and the smell “musty” not helped by plastic floral arrangements. But there was a love of its eclectic art bookings. But that would end a year later. After showtimes on May 18, 1978, the Gentilly Orleans Theatre was decimated by a fire ending its run. It was demolished thereafte
The original Cinerama Theatre concept was unveiled in July of 1953 by H.A. Broussard and the ultra-wide cinema was drawn up by architect Robert L. Stephan. It was as part of a shopping center that was perfect for its era - except that it wasn’t built. Almost 10 years later, in 1962, ultra-widescreen specialist Martin Theatres rekindled the project announcing theaters in six cities including right here in NOLA.Martin used architects Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild and Paschal Associates of Atlanta as the main firm with Curtis & Davis as the local associates.
The $1,000,000 Martin Cinerama Theatre was ready to go January 17, 1963 as the first hardtop theater built since the War years. “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and a carefully selected group of usherettes were on hand. Producer George Pal was on hand to greet attendees. Cinerama spectacles were slow to the marketplace so features could play months at a time. As a result, the theater’s halcyon days were all in the 1960s.
Trans-Lux took on the venue buoyed by “2001: A Space Odyssey” beginning on May 29, 1969. But the hits were evasive thereafter. The venue even tried porno-chic era adult films as a foreshadowing of the Cinearama Theater’s shaky future. Trans-Lux’s Cinerama with its Hollywood features discontinued service after “The Four Musketeers” on April 17, 1975 citing years of losses. The next day, Griffith Enterprises of Miami took on the rocking seat theater as the renamed Cinerama Adult Theatre on a subleasing agreement with a double-feature of “The Devil in Miss Jones” and “Deep Throat” in the peak of the porno chic era operating as the Cinerama Adult Theatre.
Two challenges were not far off. The first was that a local judge ruled that “Deep Throat” was obscene and Donald James as manager of the adult theatre was responsible. “The Genius,” another adult film screened there, was also deemed obscene. So the venue was a lightning rod of police activity.
The second problem was that Cinerama wasn’t cool with the trademarked Cinerama being used without modification. So the venue received a new, new name: the Sinerama Adult Theatre - still using the logo albeit with one letter changed. They were then told to remove the logo - which they did because the venue was a hit no matter the trademark. It would morph into the Pussycat Adult Theatre in 1982 under a new operator. That ended at what appears to be the end of a 25-year leasing agreement. The adult movies would end with seating on the reconfigured main floor created for a bingo hall under a concept called Riverboat Hallelujah. It opened on August 2, 1987. The venue was torn down in February of 2001.
(The entry would be better served as Trans-Lux Cinerama. The use of Sinerama - aka Sinerama Adult Theatre - as a second to last exhibition name is confusing; and the final cinematic name - Pussycat Adult Theatre - doesn’t represent the entry well. Its main origin and intent is that of Cineramatic exhibition.)
The Hollywood Theater opened on April 11, 1923 with a benefit screening. Burk & Dufrechou (William R. Burk and Francois P. Dufrechou, Jr.) created the plans for the 500-seat venue. The Hollywood was converted to sound to remain viable.
A June 7, 1933 fire gutted the theater. Diboll & Owen (Allison Owen and Collins C. Diboll) created the architectural plans for the renewed venue for owner Edward H. Thomassle. With the theater reopening four months later, it is assumed foundational if not structural elements of the original were in place for its reopening. Its last ad was July 1, 1951 for “Highway 301.”
The building was converted to a restaurant with the upper floors remaining for apartments. It has since been demolished.
March 4, 1949 grand opening ad is in photos with Betty Grable in “When My Baby Smiles at Me.” The Beverly seems to have closed on a Christmas Day 1959 double feature of “The Perfect Furlough” and “No Name on the Bullet.”
Berenson Brothers Circuit contracted with Architect Andrew M. Lockett, Jr. who designed the Tower Theatre in 1941. The streamline moderne venue opened with 1,100 seats on July 30, 1942 with Sabu in “The Jungle Book.” It featured a balcony for African American customers. Gretna Mayor Charles F. Gelbke welcomed the full house. It would later become a part of the United Theatres Circuit.
An April 18, 1968 grand reopening as the Tower Art Theatre came and went after the City Council misunderstood the programming endeavors as adult. So that opening didn’t take place until May of 1968. The Tower Art closed with Zita Marlowe in “Meeting on 69th Street” and “Eddy” on December 31, 1973.
It reopened on January 16, 1974 as a discount, double-feature $1 house with “Naked Angels” and “The Walking Major” open four days a week. That policy lasted one month closing February 14, 1974. Gay Times Inc. was next up to open the venue as an Adult film center on July 31, 1974 through December 8, 1974. The building was given to the City as it was trying to rid the city of pornography. And they had it bulldozed in 1977
The Gretna Greens (with an “s”) Drive-In opened on April 9, 1953 with “Son of Paleface” and “Union Station” supported by the Woody the Woodpecker cartoon, “Born to Peck.” It operated until storm damage with its last show March 8, 1964 with “El Cid.”
Ernest Boehringer planned the Liberty Theatre in 1916 - a four aisle film theatre with what they considered novel everything - ventilation, projection, seating, you name it. And Boehringer opened the patriotically-named Liberty just prior to the end of WW1. And he placed lots and lots and lots of ads in preparation for the opening. One wondered how the Boehringer Amusement Co. could afford such a long runway for the theatre and so much in marketing dollars. The Liberty opened with “Over the Top” on July 2, 1918 as a prominent first-run house. And Boehringer likely couldn’t pay that because he left prior to the sixth month anniversary locking up after the New Year’s Eve 1918 show. Saenger took on the venue and the $14k annual leasing with a new pipe organ in January of 1919.
At its 10th Anniversary, Sanger closed briefly after wiring the Liberty for sound. And they booked the return of “The Jazz Singer” with Vitaphone disc-based audio on October 12, 1928 as the Liberty was now a second-run house.
Mort H. Singer took on the venue as part his circuit on September 24, 1936. The venue got its most significant update to a streamline moderne look after closing for a month reopening on a third-run continuous discount grind policy for a dime or 15 cents. But Singer died in 1944. On November 4, 1944, the Liberty transferred from Mort H. Singer to RKO operation. The Liberty Theatre closed as a true grindhouse with live burlesque and bawdy film content. The burley ground to a halt on March 4, 1954 with live acts and adult-themed exploitation films.
National Lumber and Demolishing tore down the Liberty Theatre for $4,400 as it joined the Parking Lot Brigade in April of 1954 for Dixie Parking Service.
Correction to the entry above: Walter Reade (with an “e”) Organization Inc. acquired the Sena Mall Cinema from Gulf States Theatres on March 27, 1967. Reade declared bankruptcy ten years later ankling the location on January 16, 1977. After the Mall operated it independently briefly, Gulf States Theatres re-contracted in late summer 1977 to operate the cinema.
Sena Mall was conceptualized in 1964. Gulf State Theatres booked the Sena Mall Cinema in its formative years starting on December 27, 1966. Walter Reade Organization Inc. acquired the Sena Mall Cinema from Gulf State Theatres on March 27, 1967 leading to a much higher profile marketing campaign and prestigious “New Hollywood” bookings for the venue. It was New York-based Reade’s first Southern cinema.
Reade filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 5, 1977. It closed around 40 locations with Reade ankling the $20,000 monthly lease owing zero dollars to the Sena Mall when it closed there January 16, 1977. The Mall operated the venue temporarily as a sub-run discount operation at $1 admission.
The Mall folks re-contracted with Gulf State Theatres - likely on a more favorable leasing agreement. The circuit struck gold with “Rocky Horror Picture Show” late night screenings beginning on June 9, 1978. But in the multiplex world, there would be no time warping as the Sena Mall location was screen-challenged and closed on May 7, 1989. Martin Wine Cellar took on the venue soon thereafter as a retail location.
Closed October 13, 1971 with The Computer Who Wore Shoes and King of the Grizzlies as a token screening following a run of adult titles ending in September of 1972 as a form of settlement.
The architects of the Elysium Theatre were Fayrot and Livundale. It opened November 21, 1903 with the play, “Duchess du Barry.“
The Elysium was sold to new operators LalaBrothers in November of 1916. They refreshed the venue and changed its name to Theola - getting the beginning and end of Theodore Lala’s name in there. Ziblich Amusement Co. converted it to a movie theater, the Dreamland in 1921. The Dreamland added sound to remain viable.
United Theatres closed the venue for a major refresh in July of 1956. It spent $60,000 to reopen it on October 6, 1956. The Dreamland ended operations on September 12, 1963 with “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Bikini Beach” becoming the Paris Theatre the next day, a grind adult house, on September 13, 1964. It survived into the home video era.
The first ad for the National Theatre appeared in 1920. They installed sound to remain viable. The venue went to art and foreign language films under new operators beginning on June 11, 1965 with Jane Fonda in “Circle of Love” as the Plaza Art Theatre.
The Plaza Art found a very large audience in 1972 with its “Underground Cinema” series that included “Deep Throat.” That brought legal scrutiny, as well, and the Plaza went back to more art centric fare. The Plaza appears to have gone out of business on February 12, 1976 with “Shampoo.” In August of 1976, it was given zoning approval to modify to a church.
Antoine Demharters and R. Theriot spent a scant $5,000 building the Peacock Theatre in 1927. It appears to have opened November 20, 1927 silently with “The Cat and the Canary.” In September of 1929, the venue added sound to remain viable. It appears to have closed on May 24, 1959 with “Some Like it Hot” and a jazz concert featuring “The Last Straws.”
On May 15, 1960, it returned as the Peacock Theatre showing art films beginning with “The 400 Blows.” It closed January 4, 1968 with “Up the Down Staircase” and “Any Wednesday.” It became a church with few changes in 1969 as it was offered in late 1969 as a functional theater.
For its final run, it became the Cinne Arts - an adult theatre in the porno chic era - playing “Red Man Cometh” on February 19, 1970. The theatre operated by General Theatrical Enterprises Inc. was rebranded as Studio Cinema on July 4, 1970 and constantly under police surveillance. It was closed by Judge Walter F. Marcus, Jr. on May 18, 1971 - one of six adult cinemas close that day. By October, the venue had been transformed into a skating rink ending its cinematic run of almost 44 years.
The suburban Jeff Theatre launched on September 9, 1940 with “If I Had My Way (I’d go to the Jeff Theatre)”. The name was taken from the “Jeff” or Jefferson Parish and run successfully in the War years but was gone in the early TV age.
The Jeff was refreshed and reopened on July 27, 1951 with “Great Missouri Raid” for its final stretch run. Just months later, the Jeff was reduced to two day a week operation and the remodeling money went for naught with the Jeff closing permanently on December 15, 1951 with “Cavalry Scout” and “Ma & Pa Kettle.” A classified ad soon appeared selling off 940 theatre seats. The long-running Jefferson Feed Store opened in the location on October 3, 1959 keeping the cinema’s attractor.
The Reliance Theatre opened in an existing 19th Century building on September 1, 1912 by Ed Medus and E.L. Boudreaux. Reliance faded and the property was auctioned off in 1914. Charles Vogt reopened the Reliance and - sadly enough - he also found reliance fading and the property was at its second forced auction on Valentine’s Day of 1918.
WW1 Veteran Alonzo Patterson took on the venue changing it to the Laurel Theater. George De Reyna operated In 1922 and old it for $6,300. John Winberry sold it to the Laurel Theatre Company. Winberry then sued the Laurel Theatre Company two years later. In 1930, the venue was equipped with new projectors able to project sound on film titles.
In December of 1935, new operators rebuilt the theatre as a streamline moderne complex likely keeping some foundational elements of the original structure but little else. It reopened as the New Laurel Theatre in 1936. A year later, the entire theatre was redecorated and re-reopened as the new, New Laurel Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1937. Samuel J. Right Jr. and Frank Lais, Jr. were the final operators of the Laurel Theatre and they booked Dixie Film Exchange titles to little success. The pair closed the Laurel permanently on March 27, 1955 with Laurie Anders as the “Marshal’s Daughter.” The theatre was sold for an austere $11,200 price point and used as a warehouse and, later, as an auction house.
Appears to have opened as Rosenberg’s Hall in 1891. In September of 1909 it opened as the Happy Hour Theatre. In 1915, it installed a pipe organ which was used for silent films. It was sold to the St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in 1935. Hurricane Betsy damaged the organ in 1965 and the 50-year old organ was retired after receiving and installing their new M. P. Möller unit (Opus 10678). Meanwhile, the Happy Hour continued and was showing Spanish language films on weekends.
Original grand opening was on January 29, 1926 with “The Gold Rush.” It became an African American Theatre in 1956 for its final run which ended on March 26, 1957 with United Theatres closing after showing “Francis in the Haunted House” and “First Texan.” It became a church after five years of vacancy.
Opened April 23, 1916 as the Star Theatre. In 1924, it became the new Cortez Theatre. The Cortez closed likely completing its second 20-year leasing period on December 9, 1956 with “Attack” and “Crashing Las Vegas.” It was offered for sale for $22,500.
The venue dates back to 1918. Its last film was April 8, 1966 with “Shane.” Neither Shane nor the Bell Theatre would come back as fired destroyed the building in the early hours of April 9, 1966.
Harlon O. Jones architectural drawings show a Spanish Renaissance architectural style that was matched by the interior furnishings selected by Fischer & Jiroch of Cleveland.
Nathan Sobel of Sobel, Richards, Shear Enterprises opened the original Carrollton Theatre #1 on March 17, 1917 with “The Matrimaniac.” Patrons expressed delight with the venue’s pipe organ. Now under the United Theatres nameplate, the circuit added sound to remain viable.
Carrollton #1’s final show was Warren Baxter in “Bell in Heaven” supported by Red Ryder serial #13 on February 1, 1935. The cliffhanger of the serial would not be realized at the next showtime. An incredible projection booth explosion after hours obliterated the theatre and damaged ten neighboring buildings in the process.
United Theatres proposed a new showplace and local residents objected not wanting another bomb factory of that scale. So a more modest brick concept with a fireproof booth was proposed by United Theatres and designed by architect Herbert A. Benson. That one passed muster with the local government and perhaps a few residents. It relaunched October 1, 1935 with “Every Night at Eight” and supported by three shorts: Phil Regan and the Sons of the Pioneers. musical short,“Romance of the West,” “Tid-Bits,” and the Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Mickey’s Garden.”
On the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination, April 4, 1968, 22 fire bombs were set off in the event’s aftermath and the Carrollton Theatre was one such recipient. United made the repairs unable to salvage the look of the streamline moderne interior though, to give them credit, reopening the venue. Trans-Lux took over on October 1, 1969 - the theater’s 34th Anniversary. They dropped it a year later very likely at its leasing expiry or in a business decision to sub-lease the house.
The Carrollton Theatre became a dynamic independent as a repertory house on a 5-year leasing or subleasing agreement from 1970 to 1975 playing golden age Hollywood double features. It may have been best remembered for this programming by locals. That ended on the theater’s 50th Anniversary playing a double feature of “Marked Woman” and “Devotion” on October 1st & 2d, 1975.
On October 3, 1975, the last operator went a different direction taking the venue to promo chic era programming with “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones.” The Carrollton Adult Theatre appears to have ended with John Holmes in “4 Women and Orita De Chadwick in “Big Switch.” It became an events and banquet hall. After the 2005 Katrina flooding, it was turned into a senior medical services building.
The New Gentilly Theatre was announced in 1928 with land purchased for the new-build theater. The $22,000 venue was designed by local architect F.T. Daunis and was the first theater in Gentilly Terrace. The first ad appears on December 16, 1928 with Lois Wilson in “Sally’s Shoulders.” The theater went more than a year playing silent films until putting DeForest Sound into the venue at the very end of 1929.
With the opening of the Gentilly Woods Theatre, there was likely some confusion about which theater was which. On May 13, 1970, the theatre’s signage and marketing was refreshed to the Gentilly Orleans Theatre. A reviewer in 1977 called the projection “erratic,” the sound system “deafening” and the smell “musty” not helped by plastic floral arrangements. But there was a love of its eclectic art bookings. But that would end a year later. After showtimes on May 18, 1978, the Gentilly Orleans Theatre was decimated by a fire ending its run. It was demolished thereafte
The original Cinerama Theatre concept was unveiled in July of 1953 by H.A. Broussard and the ultra-wide cinema was drawn up by architect Robert L. Stephan. It was as part of a shopping center that was perfect for its era - except that it wasn’t built. Almost 10 years later, in 1962, ultra-widescreen specialist Martin Theatres rekindled the project announcing theaters in six cities including right here in NOLA.Martin used architects Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild and Paschal Associates of Atlanta as the main firm with Curtis & Davis as the local associates.
The $1,000,000 Martin Cinerama Theatre was ready to go January 17, 1963 as the first hardtop theater built since the War years. “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and a carefully selected group of usherettes were on hand. Producer George Pal was on hand to greet attendees. Cinerama spectacles were slow to the marketplace so features could play months at a time. As a result, the theater’s halcyon days were all in the 1960s.
Trans-Lux took on the venue buoyed by “2001: A Space Odyssey” beginning on May 29, 1969. But the hits were evasive thereafter. The venue even tried porno-chic era adult films as a foreshadowing of the Cinearama Theater’s shaky future. Trans-Lux’s Cinerama with its Hollywood features discontinued service after “The Four Musketeers” on April 17, 1975 citing years of losses. The next day, Griffith Enterprises of Miami took on the rocking seat theater as the renamed Cinerama Adult Theatre on a subleasing agreement with a double-feature of “The Devil in Miss Jones” and “Deep Throat” in the peak of the porno chic era operating as the Cinerama Adult Theatre.
Two challenges were not far off. The first was that a local judge ruled that “Deep Throat” was obscene and Donald James as manager of the adult theatre was responsible. “The Genius,” another adult film screened there, was also deemed obscene. So the venue was a lightning rod of police activity.
The second problem was that Cinerama wasn’t cool with the trademarked Cinerama being used without modification. So the venue received a new, new name: the Sinerama Adult Theatre - still using the logo albeit with one letter changed. They were then told to remove the logo - which they did because the venue was a hit no matter the trademark. It would morph into the Pussycat Adult Theatre in 1982 under a new operator. That ended at what appears to be the end of a 25-year leasing agreement. The adult movies would end with seating on the reconfigured main floor created for a bingo hall under a concept called Riverboat Hallelujah. It opened on August 2, 1987. The venue was torn down in February of 2001.
(The entry would be better served as Trans-Lux Cinerama. The use of Sinerama - aka Sinerama Adult Theatre - as a second to last exhibition name is confusing; and the final cinematic name - Pussycat Adult Theatre - doesn’t represent the entry well. Its main origin and intent is that of Cineramatic exhibition.)
The Hollywood Theater opened on April 11, 1923 with a benefit screening. Burk & Dufrechou (William R. Burk and Francois P. Dufrechou, Jr.) created the plans for the 500-seat venue. The Hollywood was converted to sound to remain viable.
A June 7, 1933 fire gutted the theater. Diboll & Owen (Allison Owen and Collins C. Diboll) created the architectural plans for the renewed venue for owner Edward H. Thomassle. With the theater reopening four months later, it is assumed foundational if not structural elements of the original were in place for its reopening. Its last ad was July 1, 1951 for “Highway 301.”
The building was converted to a restaurant with the upper floors remaining for apartments. It has since been demolished.
Favrot & Livaudais created the architectural plan for the New Ideal.
March 4, 1949 grand opening ad is in photos with Betty Grable in “When My Baby Smiles at Me.” The Beverly seems to have closed on a Christmas Day 1959 double feature of “The Perfect Furlough” and “No Name on the Bullet.”
Berenson Brothers Circuit contracted with Architect Andrew M. Lockett, Jr. who designed the Tower Theatre in 1941. The streamline moderne venue opened with 1,100 seats on July 30, 1942 with Sabu in “The Jungle Book.” It featured a balcony for African American customers. Gretna Mayor Charles F. Gelbke welcomed the full house. It would later become a part of the United Theatres Circuit.
An April 18, 1968 grand reopening as the Tower Art Theatre came and went after the City Council misunderstood the programming endeavors as adult. So that opening didn’t take place until May of 1968. The Tower Art closed with Zita Marlowe in “Meeting on 69th Street” and “Eddy” on December 31, 1973.
It reopened on January 16, 1974 as a discount, double-feature $1 house with “Naked Angels” and “The Walking Major” open four days a week. That policy lasted one month closing February 14, 1974. Gay Times Inc. was next up to open the venue as an Adult film center on July 31, 1974 through December 8, 1974. The building was given to the City as it was trying to rid the city of pornography. And they had it bulldozed in 1977
1,046 seats for the Oakwood twin cinema at opening on July 21, 1967 with The Gnome-Mobile and Hawaii. It would go from 2 to 3 to 4 auditoriums.
The Gretna Greens (with an “s”) Drive-In opened on April 9, 1953 with “Son of Paleface” and “Union Station” supported by the Woody the Woodpecker cartoon, “Born to Peck.” It operated until storm damage with its last show March 8, 1964 with “El Cid.”
Ernest Boehringer planned the Liberty Theatre in 1916 - a four aisle film theatre with what they considered novel everything - ventilation, projection, seating, you name it. And Boehringer opened the patriotically-named Liberty just prior to the end of WW1. And he placed lots and lots and lots of ads in preparation for the opening. One wondered how the Boehringer Amusement Co. could afford such a long runway for the theatre and so much in marketing dollars. The Liberty opened with “Over the Top” on July 2, 1918 as a prominent first-run house. And Boehringer likely couldn’t pay that because he left prior to the sixth month anniversary locking up after the New Year’s Eve 1918 show. Saenger took on the venue and the $14k annual leasing with a new pipe organ in January of 1919.
At its 10th Anniversary, Sanger closed briefly after wiring the Liberty for sound. And they booked the return of “The Jazz Singer” with Vitaphone disc-based audio on October 12, 1928 as the Liberty was now a second-run house.
Mort H. Singer took on the venue as part his circuit on September 24, 1936. The venue got its most significant update to a streamline moderne look after closing for a month reopening on a third-run continuous discount grind policy for a dime or 15 cents. But Singer died in 1944. On November 4, 1944, the Liberty transferred from Mort H. Singer to RKO operation. The Liberty Theatre closed as a true grindhouse with live burlesque and bawdy film content. The burley ground to a halt on March 4, 1954 with live acts and adult-themed exploitation films.
National Lumber and Demolishing tore down the Liberty Theatre for $4,400 as it joined the Parking Lot Brigade in April of 1954 for Dixie Parking Service.
Correction to the entry above: Walter Reade (with an “e”) Organization Inc. acquired the Sena Mall Cinema from Gulf States Theatres on March 27, 1967. Reade declared bankruptcy ten years later ankling the location on January 16, 1977. After the Mall operated it independently briefly, Gulf States Theatres re-contracted in late summer 1977 to operate the cinema.
Sena Mall was conceptualized in 1964. Gulf State Theatres booked the Sena Mall Cinema in its formative years starting on December 27, 1966. Walter Reade Organization Inc. acquired the Sena Mall Cinema from Gulf State Theatres on March 27, 1967 leading to a much higher profile marketing campaign and prestigious “New Hollywood” bookings for the venue. It was New York-based Reade’s first Southern cinema.
Reade filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 5, 1977. It closed around 40 locations with Reade ankling the $20,000 monthly lease owing zero dollars to the Sena Mall when it closed there January 16, 1977. The Mall operated the venue temporarily as a sub-run discount operation at $1 admission.
The Mall folks re-contracted with Gulf State Theatres - likely on a more favorable leasing agreement. The circuit struck gold with “Rocky Horror Picture Show” late night screenings beginning on June 9, 1978. But in the multiplex world, there would be no time warping as the Sena Mall location was screen-challenged and closed on May 7, 1989. Martin Wine Cellar took on the venue soon thereafter as a retail location.
Closed October 13, 1971 with The Computer Who Wore Shoes and King of the Grizzlies as a token screening following a run of adult titles ending in September of 1972 as a form of settlement.
The Grand Theatre was opened on October 7, 1942 with Ann Southern in “Maisie Gets Her Man”.
The architects of the Elysium Theatre were Fayrot and Livundale. It opened November 21, 1903 with the play, “Duchess du Barry.“
The Elysium was sold to new operators LalaBrothers in November of 1916. They refreshed the venue and changed its name to Theola - getting the beginning and end of Theodore Lala’s name in there. Ziblich Amusement Co. converted it to a movie theater, the Dreamland in 1921. The Dreamland added sound to remain viable.
United Theatres closed the venue for a major refresh in July of 1956. It spent $60,000 to reopen it on October 6, 1956. The Dreamland ended operations on September 12, 1963 with “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Bikini Beach” becoming the Paris Theatre the next day, a grind adult house, on September 13, 1964. It survived into the home video era.
The first ad for the National Theatre appeared in 1920. They installed sound to remain viable. The venue went to art and foreign language films under new operators beginning on June 11, 1965 with Jane Fonda in “Circle of Love” as the Plaza Art Theatre.
The Plaza Art found a very large audience in 1972 with its “Underground Cinema” series that included “Deep Throat.” That brought legal scrutiny, as well, and the Plaza went back to more art centric fare. The Plaza appears to have gone out of business on February 12, 1976 with “Shampoo.” In August of 1976, it was given zoning approval to modify to a church.
Antoine Demharters and R. Theriot spent a scant $5,000 building the Peacock Theatre in 1927. It appears to have opened November 20, 1927 silently with “The Cat and the Canary.” In September of 1929, the venue added sound to remain viable. It appears to have closed on May 24, 1959 with “Some Like it Hot” and a jazz concert featuring “The Last Straws.”
On May 15, 1960, it returned as the Peacock Theatre showing art films beginning with “The 400 Blows.” It closed January 4, 1968 with “Up the Down Staircase” and “Any Wednesday.” It became a church with few changes in 1969 as it was offered in late 1969 as a functional theater.
For its final run, it became the Cinne Arts - an adult theatre in the porno chic era - playing “Red Man Cometh” on February 19, 1970. The theatre operated by General Theatrical Enterprises Inc. was rebranded as Studio Cinema on July 4, 1970 and constantly under police surveillance. It was closed by Judge Walter F. Marcus, Jr. on May 18, 1971 - one of six adult cinemas close that day. By October, the venue had been transformed into a skating rink ending its cinematic run of almost 44 years.
The suburban Jeff Theatre launched on September 9, 1940 with “If I Had My Way (I’d go to the Jeff Theatre)”. The name was taken from the “Jeff” or Jefferson Parish and run successfully in the War years but was gone in the early TV age.
The Jeff was refreshed and reopened on July 27, 1951 with “Great Missouri Raid” for its final stretch run. Just months later, the Jeff was reduced to two day a week operation and the remodeling money went for naught with the Jeff closing permanently on December 15, 1951 with “Cavalry Scout” and “Ma & Pa Kettle.” A classified ad soon appeared selling off 940 theatre seats. The long-running Jefferson Feed Store opened in the location on October 3, 1959 keeping the cinema’s attractor.
September 9, 1940 grand opening with “If I Had My Way (I’d go to the Jeff Theatre)”.
The Reliance Theatre opened in an existing 19th Century building on September 1, 1912 by Ed Medus and E.L. Boudreaux. Reliance faded and the property was auctioned off in 1914. Charles Vogt reopened the Reliance and - sadly enough - he also found reliance fading and the property was at its second forced auction on Valentine’s Day of 1918.
WW1 Veteran Alonzo Patterson took on the venue changing it to the Laurel Theater. George De Reyna operated In 1922 and old it for $6,300. John Winberry sold it to the Laurel Theatre Company. Winberry then sued the Laurel Theatre Company two years later. In 1930, the venue was equipped with new projectors able to project sound on film titles.
In December of 1935, new operators rebuilt the theatre as a streamline moderne complex likely keeping some foundational elements of the original structure but little else. It reopened as the New Laurel Theatre in 1936. A year later, the entire theatre was redecorated and re-reopened as the new, New Laurel Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1937. Samuel J. Right Jr. and Frank Lais, Jr. were the final operators of the Laurel Theatre and they booked Dixie Film Exchange titles to little success. The pair closed the Laurel permanently on March 27, 1955 with Laurie Anders as the “Marshal’s Daughter.” The theatre was sold for an austere $11,200 price point and used as a warehouse and, later, as an auction house.
Appears to have opened as Rosenberg’s Hall in 1891. In September of 1909 it opened as the Happy Hour Theatre. In 1915, it installed a pipe organ which was used for silent films. It was sold to the St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in 1935. Hurricane Betsy damaged the organ in 1965 and the 50-year old organ was retired after receiving and installing their new M. P. Möller unit (Opus 10678). Meanwhile, the Happy Hour continued and was showing Spanish language films on weekends.
Original grand opening was on January 29, 1926 with “The Gold Rush.” It became an African American Theatre in 1956 for its final run which ended on March 26, 1957 with United Theatres closing after showing “Francis in the Haunted House” and “First Texan.” It became a church after five years of vacancy.
Opened April 23, 1916 as the Star Theatre. In 1924, it became the new Cortez Theatre. The Cortez closed likely completing its second 20-year leasing period on December 9, 1956 with “Attack” and “Crashing Las Vegas.” It was offered for sale for $22,500.
The venue dates back to 1918. Its last film was April 8, 1966 with “Shane.” Neither Shane nor the Bell Theatre would come back as fired destroyed the building in the early hours of April 9, 1966.