Chieftain Theatre
3450 SW 29th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73119
3450 SW 29th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73119
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Chieftain Twin Theatre, Chieftain Twin Adult Cinema, Airline Twin Theatre
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The Chieftain Theatre opened on August 30, 1951. It was located in the Woodson Park neighborhood on SW 29th Street at S. Stults Avenue. Later operating as an adult porn theatre. In 1985 it went over to Spanish language movies and was renamed Chieftain Twin Theatre. On April 11, 1986 it was renamed New Airline Twin Theatre. It was closed in August 1987.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
Boxoffice Magazine’s reports of the seating capacity of the Chieftain differ. The December 22, 1951, issue said that it seated “about 730,” while the December 29 issue gave the figure as 750.
According to the April 25, 1966, issue of Boxoffice, Barton Theatres operated the Chieftain until that year, when all 18 of its houses were leased to a newly-formed company called Greater Oklahoma City Amusements, headed by Chicago exhibitor Lewis L. Ingram.
The September 9, 1974, issue of Boxoffice says that the Chieftain was being taken over by Okemah Shanbour. By 1975,it was being operated by Eldon Claybourne Christian, the one who was arrested for showing the movie “Sexual Customs in Scandinavia.”
I’ve been unable to find out when the house was twinned. The last mention of the Chieftain in Boxoffice is from 1976.
I’m certain the Chieftain Cinema was not a twin when I went there during the winter of ‘77. Just a guess, but probably adjoining retail footage was converted into another auditorium, rather than twiining the original cinema.
Seen here are typical examples of a vintage beefcake films;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKGN5GMw4s
What lousy marquee for a theatre,about the worse i ever saw.Surprized it ever did business.Surely, they put something up better.
Photos can’t seem to capture what the structure actually looked like. In real life it was quite a nice cinema. There was a much larger streetside marquee located on the corner intersection.
Thanks for the info,seymour cox,gotta admit that marquee on the picture looks sad.
Very sad, and shabby!
August 30th, 1951 grand opening ad in photo section.
It would be so nice if someone could come along and delete the long dead links to roadsideoklahoma, and other nonsensical isolated comments.
The former adult theatre turned to Hispanic films in 1985 known as the Chieftain Twin Theatre. It closed January 3, 1985. When the South Shields Mall was converted to an all outdoor plaza, the South Shields Twin was booted out of the mall. The operators found their new home here at the former at the former Chieftain Twin. The New Airline Twin launched on April 11, 1986, with “Rocky IV” and “Back to the Future (ad in photos) The theater’s last advertisement was on August 16, 1987 - perhaps its closing date. But it’s very likely that it returned to Hispanic screenings that were likely held there up to 1990 unadvertised in the local newspaper.
The theatre was converted for other uses which included a cabinet factory. And in the 2020s, the venue was used as a place of worship for the La Roca Community Church.