Centre Theatre for the Arts

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We could probably safely change the name of this theater to Centre Theatre. Oklahoma weather can rarely be praised for encouraging historical preservation, but this is definitely an exception. The facade blowing off this old closed-down theater was probably the best thing that could have happened to it. The work done is stunning in person.

The Centre Theatre opened 1 December 1944.

I worked at the Centre/Cinema Theatre from 1968 until 1991. Have a lot of wonderful memories of fun events and great friends during that time. From 1969 until 1991 the theatre was managed by Curtis and Geraldine Bullington, very good friends of mine. I worked in the projection booth, box office, concession booth, as well as tore tickets and janitoral work. I also worked during that same time at the old Squaw drive inn. The screen tower is still standing, and the last time I was there, the old projection booth and concession stand was still standing as well. It was definitely a wonderful time being there all those years.

Jerry Dyer

Nice color shots can be seen on this interesting site …
Trolly Town Music Hall (nee-Centre), 110 S. Bickford, El Reno, OK.
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/351

I also took some photos of the abandoned Squaw Drive-In in El Reno. They are located at View link

Mother nature is helping the restoration effort. Its nice to see that the original design is still present under the ugly facade.

The Centre Theatre was scheduled to open on December 1, 1944, and was one of the few new theaters to be completed in the U.S. during WWII. The issue of Boxoffice Magazine published the following day featured a rendering of the Centre’s handsome Art Moderne exterior as the front plate of the magazine’s Modern Theatre section.

An article in the magazine included a small reproduction of architect Jack Corgan’s original floor plans, and one of his sectional drawings of the house showing some nice scroll-work on the side wall. The Centre was of reinforced concrete construction, featured a section of stadium seating, and took three years to complete due to wartime shortages of manpower and materials.

Architect Corgan worked on the design and on getting priorities for building materials in his spare time, as he was drafted shortly after receiving the project and served as a flight instructor in the Army until late 1944.

The Centre was owned by Griffith-Consolidated Theatres, Inc., and was a replacement for a theater on the same site which had been destroyed by fire.

A 1987 view of the location of the former Centre Theater. Words fail me in describing how UGLY the “Cinema” is compared to its former self as the Centre. Leveling it would have been more dignified than this deplorable re-do.

Don..

Original name of the Tiffany Cinema was the Centre Theatre.

That was the Tiffany that we saw, then. There was a cafe with good food across the street, near a nostalgia store.

I drove past a theater in El Reno last week that was simply marked “Cinema” in script. The theater was closed. I’m not sure if this is the same theater, but I do have a picture that I can post when I get back home.