I saw so many movies at the Ridglea, even though I lived in nearby Arlington. Eventually, as an adult, I moved to Fort Worth. I saw movies such as Disney’s FOLLOW ME BOYS, ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE GODFATHER, STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, ALIEN, THE THING, and SUPERMAN. I think the last couple of movies I saw there were the James Bond movie LICENCE TO KILL and BABETTE’S FEAST.
As a founder of the Fort Worth Film Festival I was involved with the Ridglea during the days that Wesley and Richard were running movies in one of the upstairs auditoriums. Me, a friend and one of the other founders took turns running movies on the weekend there utilizing video projection.
While exploring some of the non-public areas I discovered what amounted to a couple of rows of seats that were being held as replacements for damaged seats. Boy, would I have loved to have gotten five or six of those!
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.
Back around 2000, give or take a year or two, the Fort Worth Film Festival was interested in establishing its offices at the New Isis. To that end we took a tour of the building, which I had not been in since seeing the James Coburn movie HARRY IN YOUR POCKET there. During that time period the theater was running triple bills for $1.00!
Frankly, a restoration would mean gutting the building and starting over due to the poor condition of the auditorium. The structure itself seemed sound save for the roof.
The wooden seats were falling over and would need replacing. A hole in the ceiling had let flocks of birds into the building, not to mention rain. The area between the first row of seats and the theater “stage” looked like a creek bed because there was so much mud and rock debris there.
Naturally, new projectors would be necessary.
It was quite sad. Consequently, it hasn’t surprised me that no one has purchased the building given the tasks that lay ahead.
The original Palace Theatre — not to be confused with the presently operating AMC multiplex located a few blocks away — was closed in 1976. It was originally an Opera House, hosted Vaudeville performers and many other live acts.
The theater was home to one of the longest burning Edison light bulbs. Installed in September of 1908, the bulb is still burning, now on display at the North Fort Worth Historic District Museum located in the Stockyards. As of September, 2010, the bulb is now 102 years old.
The Palace hosted GONE WITH THE WIND during its 70mm reissue. Some other films that played the Palace: The 1967 CASINO ROYALE, THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES, Monte Hellman’s THE SHOOTING, Sergio Leone’s DUCK, YOU SUCKER, PLAY DIRTY with Michael Caine, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, and Robert Aldrich’s THE DIRTY DOZEN.
Woody Woodall was manager of the theater during the GWTW run. Formerly, he had been the longtime manager of Interstate’s Arlington theater in Arlington, Texas.
I saw so many movies at the Ridglea, even though I lived in nearby Arlington. Eventually, as an adult, I moved to Fort Worth. I saw movies such as Disney’s FOLLOW ME BOYS, ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE GODFATHER, STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, ALIEN, THE THING, and SUPERMAN. I think the last couple of movies I saw there were the James Bond movie LICENCE TO KILL and BABETTE’S FEAST.
As a founder of the Fort Worth Film Festival I was involved with the Ridglea during the days that Wesley and Richard were running movies in one of the upstairs auditoriums. Me, a friend and one of the other founders took turns running movies on the weekend there utilizing video projection.
While exploring some of the non-public areas I discovered what amounted to a couple of rows of seats that were being held as replacements for damaged seats. Boy, would I have loved to have gotten five or six of those!
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.
Back around 2000, give or take a year or two, the Fort Worth Film Festival was interested in establishing its offices at the New Isis. To that end we took a tour of the building, which I had not been in since seeing the James Coburn movie HARRY IN YOUR POCKET there. During that time period the theater was running triple bills for $1.00!
Frankly, a restoration would mean gutting the building and starting over due to the poor condition of the auditorium. The structure itself seemed sound save for the roof.
The wooden seats were falling over and would need replacing. A hole in the ceiling had let flocks of birds into the building, not to mention rain. The area between the first row of seats and the theater “stage” looked like a creek bed because there was so much mud and rock debris there.
Naturally, new projectors would be necessary.
It was quite sad. Consequently, it hasn’t surprised me that no one has purchased the building given the tasks that lay ahead.
The original Palace Theatre — not to be confused with the presently operating AMC multiplex located a few blocks away — was closed in 1976. It was originally an Opera House, hosted Vaudeville performers and many other live acts.
The theater was home to one of the longest burning Edison light bulbs. Installed in September of 1908, the bulb is still burning, now on display at the North Fort Worth Historic District Museum located in the Stockyards. As of September, 2010, the bulb is now 102 years old.
The Palace hosted GONE WITH THE WIND during its 70mm reissue. Some other films that played the Palace: The 1967 CASINO ROYALE, THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES, Monte Hellman’s THE SHOOTING, Sergio Leone’s DUCK, YOU SUCKER, PLAY DIRTY with Michael Caine, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, and Robert Aldrich’s THE DIRTY DOZEN.
Woody Woodall was manager of the theater during the GWTW run. Formerly, he had been the longtime manager of Interstate’s Arlington theater in Arlington, Texas.