The following is based on my personal knowledge of the Plaza Theatre from working there as assistant manager in the early 80’s, and research from archived editions of the Monroe News Star on newspapers.com. While newspaper.com was a valuable resource, they don’t have every single issue, so issues on dates where articles may have appeared that would have announced the construction of the theatre, technical details, or grand opening events, are not available.
Twin City Shopping Center opened near the end of the 1950s as an open air shopping center. In the 1960s, the first enclosed mall in the area was built adjacent to the center. Twin City Mall opened with anchors Montgomery Ward and local department store, Selber Brothers. On Thursday, August 13, 1970 a “gala red carpet opening” was held for the Plaza Theatre and its opening attraction, “Airport”. The Plaza was a single-screen theatre and advertised as a Vistarama theatre.1 The auditorium was on single floor with a steeply raked auditorium with the walls and screen covered with gold metallic curtains. In addition to the two main aisles that ran between the center section and the left and right sections, there were also outer aisles to accommodate additional exit doors on either side of the auditorium. There was a large foyer behind the back row that was originally used as a smoking section. The foyer, along with the aisles were carpeted in the ABC/Plitt popcorn pattern. I worked at the Plaza after it was twinned and remember capacity for Plaza 1 was about 375 and Plaza II was around 225, so my best guest as a single screen would put capacity between 625-675. None of the grand opening ads mention the operating company, but I assume it was ABC-Midsouth (later ABC Interstate/Plitt Southern). I couldn’t find any information about the original sound system or screen size, but the screen was deeply curved as you could still see the holes in the floor where the original frame was anchored.
The box office, entrance doors, and two exit doors were located around the corner from the front of the building on the left. The main exit doors were three sets of double-doors on the front. There was a large marquee on the right front of the building and a huge free-standing marquee on Oliver Road at the mall entrance.
The lobby had terracotta floor tile and ran almost the entire width of the theatre. The doors to the ladies and gentlemen’s restrooms were tucked away on the other side of the lobby; ladies on the left and the men’s to the right. The small concession stand sat directly between the two auditorium doors. You entered the stand from inside the auditorium via a tiny half-door and if you stood up too soon, you would scrape your back on the door frame. There was a storage room in the corner where the drink syrup tanks and marquee letters were stored, but most of the overstock for the concession stand was kept upstairs.
The door for the stairs to the manager’s office and projection booth was located between the restroom doors. Upon reaching the top, there was a small foyer with the manager’s office to the left, doors to three storage rooms, and the booth door. A unique feature of the manager’s office was a tiny “spy” window, complete with 1-way mirror, that looked down into the lobby. In April of 1976, the office for Division Manager was relocated from Shreveport, LA to Monroe. The manager’s office would now become the office for Mr. Ben Bicknell, Division Manager and two of the storage areas were combined to an L-shaped office for the manager and assistant. (Bicknell had been promoted to corporate headquarters in Dallas by the time I worked at the Plaza and Don Furman replaced him as division manager.)
On July 1, 1977, the Plaza Theatre re-opened as a twin with Star Wars in Plaza 1 and A Bridge Too Far in Plaza 2. (The ads announcing the split advertise Star Wars was in its second week, so some lucky people got to see it on the huge Vistarama screen.) The gold curtain scheme was kept for both auditoriums and even included curtains. The screen masking was built into the curtains so there was a black “vertical line” down the middle when closed. The projectionist selected either flat or scope on the controls to open the curtains and mask the screen to the proper aspect ratio. Both screens were equipped with mono sound.
The box office and entrance doors were relocated to the front of the theatre. Patrons purchased their tickets outside and entered the door to the left for Plaza II and to the right door for Plaza I. ABC Theatres used turnstiles and tokens instead of tickets, and since there was one set of restrooms for two screens, there was nothing to divide the lobby. On busy nights with R- and PG-rated films playing, we used to have problems with underage patrons sneaking over to the R-rated film. It also caused problems when one side would sell out. People would buy a ticket for the other movie and then sneak over.
Another unique feature of the Plaza lobby was it had curtains in front of the auditorium doors that were used in the daytime. The front of the Plaza faced west and on sunny days, especially mid to late afternoon, sunlight would flood the auditorium when the doors were opened by patrons going to the concessions stand or restrooms. The projection booth was directly above the concession stand and created an overhang that made a perfect spot for the curtains. It wasn’t a perfect solution because even with light-blocking curtains, there was still light that reflected in from the lobby on really bright summer days.
I was in my early 20’s when I worked at the Plaza and have a many fond memories of working there. I remember getting in big trouble from Mr. Furman, the district manager, when I got the auditoriums switched for the opening weekend of Ghostbuster and Gremlins. I didn’t think it was such a big deal because we were sold out all weekend long. Of course the receipts we called in for each film were wrong, so someone up the chain of command had to call the studios to let them know of the mix up.
I left the Plaza and Plitt Southern Theatres not long after my auditorium mix up. I had started as usher at the Paramount Theatre in Hot Springs, AR when I was 15 and I was ready for something new. Not long after I left, Plitt was bought out by Cineplex Odeon. It looks like the building is still there and has been repurposed for business offices. I believe the Pecanland Mall and its 10-screen cinema opened in 1985, so I assume the screens went dark at the Plaza, not long after that.
1 - WidescreenMuseum.com lists Vistarama on its One-Hit Wonders page with the following description: Vistarama is a wide-screen system of photography and projection employing an anamorphic “squeeze” lens by which images twice normal width are compressed on regular 35MM and 16MM negatives. Projected through either the Vistarama or other anamorphic projection lens, the picture is spread to an aspect ratio of 1 to 2.55. (1 to 2.66 if shot full aperture.)
Does anyone know when it will open as an AMC? It’s way past mid-July. It’s listed on AMC’s website but no showtime information. I contacted AMC via Twitter over a week ago and no reply.
Lately this cinema claims some films are shown on a “large format screen” which is a bit of a false-hood. The auditoriums/screens are the same size as when they were originally built. They do have two decent sized screens (#1 & #2) but there is nothing special about them. When a film is 2.35.1 (scope/Panavision), it’s advertised as “large format.” When a flat film (1.85.1) plays on the same screen, that screen is no longer considered “large format”. When a scope film movies to one of the small auditoriums, the small screen is advertised as “large format”. I’m sure the good people of Hot Springs don’t know the difference.
This cinema does not have stadium seating. In fact, all 10 houses are the same size with about 75 seats on an almost level floor. Hot Springs is in dire need of a modern and up-to-date cinema.
From what I’ve seen, most cinemas that sell alcohol in certain auditoriums are “21 and up” so he wouldn’t be subjected to being “in a dark theatre with a man drinking alcohol next to him.” I wonder if he would be OK with a woman sitting next to him drinking?
This is the first cinema I’ve attended with recliners and I must say I really like them and I found the staff very friendly. I would assume this cinema is hurting with the Rave/Cinemark 18 not far away but I wonder if they are also planning to added food service. The auditorium I was in still had the old fire marshal sign posted and it said the capacity was 257. I counted about 75 of the reclining seats so that’s a huge drop in seating capacity.
After the Rave 18 (now Cinemark) in Little Rock, this has become my favorite cinema. I’ve only seen films in the RPX auditorium and their sound system rivals some THX certified houses I’ve attended. It does have one irritating “flaw”: since the rocking-chair seats are leather, you can hear them squeak during quiet parts as patrons are rocking, so you get this moving surround-effect of leather rubbing. It’s very distracting.Maybe this will go away as the cinema ages but their presentation and sound is top of the line.
I’m not sure how to update the map/image above, but it’s wrong because it’s showing an area near Hot Springs Mall. The Sunset was located directly across Central from K-Mart (now currently Central Station Marketplace) which was/is at 3310 Central Ave. When the land was sold, a Wal-Mart was built but it’s now closed and moved farther south on Central.
I have many fond memories of the Robert E. Lee. I drove from Gulfport MS several times to see films on their big screen. I saw Aliens and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there in 70MM and I still have the one-sheet from Blue Velvet they were giving away during its run.
This is my favorite cinema in Little Rock and I’m excited to see they are adding (or modifiying an existing house)to RaveXTreme-Big Screen Experience. Their website says they will open with MIB3 on May 23. WOO HOO!
I recently saw “The Avenger’s” on their IMAX screen and while the auditorium is rather small compared to some IMAX cinemas I’ve attended, their projection and sound in this house was frigging awesome. I could feel my chest vibrate when the bass kicked in and the digial projection was sharp and clear.
I saw “Brainstorm” in 70MM at the Heights. They had a huge screen and I remember the sound being very loud, especially during the scenes of the “brain recordings.”
Oh how Hot Springs needs a new up-to-date cinema. I recently saw “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and while the staff is friendly and they have great popcorn, the film presentation was just terrible. This cinema was built in the early 80’s, way before digital sound. All five auditoriums have DTS and when “Apes” would have a quiet spot, the sound next door from “Cowboys and Aliens” would come rumbling through. I guess was really made me made was that Apes is in 2.35:1 aspect ratio but they had the screen masked off for 1.85:1 so there was a bit of the image on each side that projected on the side walls. I guess they think Hot Springs movie-goes don’t know they difference. I don’t care for 3D films so I haven’t had the chance to see a 2D film in the large, stadium house.
My sister and I saw Jaws on opening day at the Malco Twin in Hot Springs, AR. Rhonda was 17, I was 14. It began to storm that afteroon as we waited in line so we were soaked to the skin by the time we made it inside. The theatre was packed and it was the first time I remember getting to sit on the balcony. The combination of the theatre’s AC and our wet clothes made for a chilly experience but the chill soon went away after the opening scene. Like most 14 year olds at the time, I had a Jaws poster on my bedroom wall, read all I could about sharks and I still have a paperback book called “The Making of the Movie Jaws” by Edith Blake. I also have the 25th Anniversary DVD and I second the suggestion for a 35th Anniversary theatrical re-release AND for the film to be released on Blue-Ray as well.
The overview is correct. Twin City “Shopping Center” opened in the 50’s, Twin City “Mall” in the 60’s, and the Plaza in 1970.
The following is based on my personal knowledge of the Plaza Theatre from working there as assistant manager in the early 80’s, and research from archived editions of the Monroe News Star on newspapers.com. While newspaper.com was a valuable resource, they don’t have every single issue, so issues on dates where articles may have appeared that would have announced the construction of the theatre, technical details, or grand opening events, are not available.
Twin City Shopping Center opened near the end of the 1950s as an open air shopping center. In the 1960s, the first enclosed mall in the area was built adjacent to the center. Twin City Mall opened with anchors Montgomery Ward and local department store, Selber Brothers. On Thursday, August 13, 1970 a “gala red carpet opening” was held for the Plaza Theatre and its opening attraction, “Airport”. The Plaza was a single-screen theatre and advertised as a Vistarama theatre.1 The auditorium was on single floor with a steeply raked auditorium with the walls and screen covered with gold metallic curtains. In addition to the two main aisles that ran between the center section and the left and right sections, there were also outer aisles to accommodate additional exit doors on either side of the auditorium. There was a large foyer behind the back row that was originally used as a smoking section. The foyer, along with the aisles were carpeted in the ABC/Plitt popcorn pattern. I worked at the Plaza after it was twinned and remember capacity for Plaza 1 was about 375 and Plaza II was around 225, so my best guest as a single screen would put capacity between 625-675. None of the grand opening ads mention the operating company, but I assume it was ABC-Midsouth (later ABC Interstate/Plitt Southern). I couldn’t find any information about the original sound system or screen size, but the screen was deeply curved as you could still see the holes in the floor where the original frame was anchored.
The box office, entrance doors, and two exit doors were located around the corner from the front of the building on the left. The main exit doors were three sets of double-doors on the front. There was a large marquee on the right front of the building and a huge free-standing marquee on Oliver Road at the mall entrance.
The lobby had terracotta floor tile and ran almost the entire width of the theatre. The doors to the ladies and gentlemen’s restrooms were tucked away on the other side of the lobby; ladies on the left and the men’s to the right. The small concession stand sat directly between the two auditorium doors. You entered the stand from inside the auditorium via a tiny half-door and if you stood up too soon, you would scrape your back on the door frame. There was a storage room in the corner where the drink syrup tanks and marquee letters were stored, but most of the overstock for the concession stand was kept upstairs.
The door for the stairs to the manager’s office and projection booth was located between the restroom doors. Upon reaching the top, there was a small foyer with the manager’s office to the left, doors to three storage rooms, and the booth door. A unique feature of the manager’s office was a tiny “spy” window, complete with 1-way mirror, that looked down into the lobby. In April of 1976, the office for Division Manager was relocated from Shreveport, LA to Monroe. The manager’s office would now become the office for Mr. Ben Bicknell, Division Manager and two of the storage areas were combined to an L-shaped office for the manager and assistant. (Bicknell had been promoted to corporate headquarters in Dallas by the time I worked at the Plaza and Don Furman replaced him as division manager.)
On July 1, 1977, the Plaza Theatre re-opened as a twin with Star Wars in Plaza 1 and A Bridge Too Far in Plaza 2. (The ads announcing the split advertise Star Wars was in its second week, so some lucky people got to see it on the huge Vistarama screen.) The gold curtain scheme was kept for both auditoriums and even included curtains. The screen masking was built into the curtains so there was a black “vertical line” down the middle when closed. The projectionist selected either flat or scope on the controls to open the curtains and mask the screen to the proper aspect ratio. Both screens were equipped with mono sound.
The box office and entrance doors were relocated to the front of the theatre. Patrons purchased their tickets outside and entered the door to the left for Plaza II and to the right door for Plaza I. ABC Theatres used turnstiles and tokens instead of tickets, and since there was one set of restrooms for two screens, there was nothing to divide the lobby. On busy nights with R- and PG-rated films playing, we used to have problems with underage patrons sneaking over to the R-rated film. It also caused problems when one side would sell out. People would buy a ticket for the other movie and then sneak over.
Another unique feature of the Plaza lobby was it had curtains in front of the auditorium doors that were used in the daytime. The front of the Plaza faced west and on sunny days, especially mid to late afternoon, sunlight would flood the auditorium when the doors were opened by patrons going to the concessions stand or restrooms. The projection booth was directly above the concession stand and created an overhang that made a perfect spot for the curtains. It wasn’t a perfect solution because even with light-blocking curtains, there was still light that reflected in from the lobby on really bright summer days.
I was in my early 20’s when I worked at the Plaza and have a many fond memories of working there. I remember getting in big trouble from Mr. Furman, the district manager, when I got the auditoriums switched for the opening weekend of Ghostbuster and Gremlins. I didn’t think it was such a big deal because we were sold out all weekend long. Of course the receipts we called in for each film were wrong, so someone up the chain of command had to call the studios to let them know of the mix up. I left the Plaza and Plitt Southern Theatres not long after my auditorium mix up. I had started as usher at the Paramount Theatre in Hot Springs, AR when I was 15 and I was ready for something new. Not long after I left, Plitt was bought out by Cineplex Odeon. It looks like the building is still there and has been repurposed for business offices. I believe the Pecanland Mall and its 10-screen cinema opened in 1985, so I assume the screens went dark at the Plaza, not long after that.
1 - WidescreenMuseum.com lists Vistarama on its One-Hit Wonders page with the following description: Vistarama is a wide-screen system of photography and projection employing an anamorphic “squeeze” lens by which images twice normal width are compressed on regular 35MM and 16MM negatives. Projected through either the Vistarama or other anamorphic projection lens, the picture is spread to an aspect ratio of 1 to 2.55. (1 to 2.66 if shot full aperture.)
Does anyone know when it will open as an AMC? It’s way past mid-July. It’s listed on AMC’s website but no showtime information. I contacted AMC via Twitter over a week ago and no reply.
Lately this cinema claims some films are shown on a “large format screen” which is a bit of a false-hood. The auditoriums/screens are the same size as when they were originally built. They do have two decent sized screens (#1 & #2) but there is nothing special about them. When a film is 2.35.1 (scope/Panavision), it’s advertised as “large format.” When a flat film (1.85.1) plays on the same screen, that screen is no longer considered “large format”. When a scope film movies to one of the small auditoriums, the small screen is advertised as “large format”. I’m sure the good people of Hot Springs don’t know the difference.
This cinema does not have stadium seating. In fact, all 10 houses are the same size with about 75 seats on an almost level floor. Hot Springs is in dire need of a modern and up-to-date cinema.
From what I’ve seen, most cinemas that sell alcohol in certain auditoriums are “21 and up” so he wouldn’t be subjected to being “in a dark theatre with a man drinking alcohol next to him.” I wonder if he would be OK with a woman sitting next to him drinking?
This is the first cinema I’ve attended with recliners and I must say I really like them and I found the staff very friendly. I would assume this cinema is hurting with the Rave/Cinemark 18 not far away but I wonder if they are also planning to added food service. The auditorium I was in still had the old fire marshal sign posted and it said the capacity was 257. I counted about 75 of the reclining seats so that’s a huge drop in seating capacity.
After the Rave 18 (now Cinemark) in Little Rock, this has become my favorite cinema. I’ve only seen films in the RPX auditorium and their sound system rivals some THX certified houses I’ve attended. It does have one irritating “flaw”: since the rocking-chair seats are leather, you can hear them squeak during quiet parts as patrons are rocking, so you get this moving surround-effect of leather rubbing. It’s very distracting.Maybe this will go away as the cinema ages but their presentation and sound is top of the line.
I’m not sure how to update the map/image above, but it’s wrong because it’s showing an area near Hot Springs Mall. The Sunset was located directly across Central from K-Mart (now currently Central Station Marketplace) which was/is at 3310 Central Ave. When the land was sold, a Wal-Mart was built but it’s now closed and moved farther south on Central.
I have many fond memories of the Robert E. Lee. I drove from Gulfport MS several times to see films on their big screen. I saw Aliens and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there in 70MM and I still have the one-sheet from Blue Velvet they were giving away during its run.
This is my favorite cinema in Little Rock and I’m excited to see they are adding (or modifiying an existing house)to RaveXTreme-Big Screen Experience. Their website says they will open with MIB3 on May 23. WOO HOO!
I recently saw “The Avenger’s” on their IMAX screen and while the auditorium is rather small compared to some IMAX cinemas I’ve attended, their projection and sound in this house was frigging awesome. I could feel my chest vibrate when the bass kicked in and the digial projection was sharp and clear.
I saw “Brainstorm” in 70MM at the Heights. They had a huge screen and I remember the sound being very loud, especially during the scenes of the “brain recordings.”
Oh how Hot Springs needs a new up-to-date cinema. I recently saw “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and while the staff is friendly and they have great popcorn, the film presentation was just terrible. This cinema was built in the early 80’s, way before digital sound. All five auditoriums have DTS and when “Apes” would have a quiet spot, the sound next door from “Cowboys and Aliens” would come rumbling through. I guess was really made me made was that Apes is in 2.35:1 aspect ratio but they had the screen masked off for 1.85:1 so there was a bit of the image on each side that projected on the side walls. I guess they think Hot Springs movie-goes don’t know they difference. I don’t care for 3D films so I haven’t had the chance to see a 2D film in the large, stadium house.
My sister and I saw Jaws on opening day at the Malco Twin in Hot Springs, AR. Rhonda was 17, I was 14. It began to storm that afteroon as we waited in line so we were soaked to the skin by the time we made it inside. The theatre was packed and it was the first time I remember getting to sit on the balcony. The combination of the theatre’s AC and our wet clothes made for a chilly experience but the chill soon went away after the opening scene. Like most 14 year olds at the time, I had a Jaws poster on my bedroom wall, read all I could about sharks and I still have a paperback book called “The Making of the Movie Jaws” by Edith Blake. I also have the 25th Anniversary DVD and I second the suggestion for a 35th Anniversary theatrical re-release AND for the film to be released on Blue-Ray as well.