Majestic Theatre

908 Rusk Street,
Houston, TX 77002

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc.

Architects: John Adolph Emil Eberson

Styles: Atmospheric, Italian Renaissance

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News About This Theater

Aug 25, 2006 — Houston interstate theaters

Ticket office of the Majestic Theatre, Houston, TX in 1926

The Majestic Theatre opened on January 29, 1923 with Larry Semon in “The Counter Jumper” plus vaudeville acts on the stage and Henry B. Walthall appearing in person on the stage in “The Unknown”. This was the third “Majestic” Theatre in Houston. It was equipped with a Kilgen organ.

The Majestic Theatre was John Eberson’s first atmospheric style theatre he designed. Eberson was renowned for theatre projects in New York and Paris. It was built by Mellie Esperson. The Majestic Theatre was Houston’s first theatre with air-conditioning.

The Majestic Theatre was owned by the Interstate Theatres Inc. chain (they also owned the Majestic Theatre in Dallas and the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio). The Majestic Theatre was built in a garden style and the ceiling was blue with stars moving overhead, lots of statues, etc. and was very ornate.

This was a first-run house from the day it opened until the day it closed. Sadly, this beautiful Italian Renaissance style palace was closed on September 26, 1971 with Tom Stern in “Clay Pigeon” and was immediately demolished.

Contributed by Stan Gilmore

Recent comments (view all 70 comments)

RSM3853 on December 26, 2012 at 11:02 am

Movies which played at the Majestic Theater in Houston, TX from 1/1/69 to 12/31/71. Research from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The date given is the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/69 Hellfighters 02/05/69 Pendulum 02/19/69 Angel in My Pocket 03/05/69 Secret Ceremony 04/02/69 100 Rifles 04/23/69 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 04/30/69 They Came to Rob Las Vegas 05/07/69 The Sweet Body of Deborah 05/14/69 A Fistful of Dollars/For a Few Dollars More 05/28/69 How to Commit Marriage 06/11/69 Once Upon a Time in the West 06/25/69 Mackenna’s Gold 07/16/69 The Lost Man 08/06/69 Stiletto 08/20/69 Eye of the Cat 08/27/69 Death Rides a Horse 09/10/69 3 into 2 Won’t Go 09/17/69 The Learning Tree 09/24/69 Some Kind of a Nut 10/01/69 Paranoia 10/08/69 The Good Guys and the Bad Guys 10/22/69 Inga 11/05/69 de Sade 11/19/69 Fanny Hill 12/17/69 Naked as the Wind from the Sea 12/24/69 The Arrangement 02/18/70 Tell Them Willie Boy is Here 03/11/70 The Lawyer 03/25/70 Bloody Mama 04/08/70 Sweden, Heaven, and Hell 04/15/70 The Honeymoon Killers 04/22/70 Female Animal 04/29/70 Scream and Scream Again 05/06/70 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly/Hang ‘Em High 05/13/70 Barquero 05/27/70 The Losers 06/10/70 Beneath the Planet of the Apes 07/08/70 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls 07/29/70 Kelly’s Heroes 08/26/70 Soldier Blue 09/16/70 The McMasters 09/23/70 Darker than Amber 10/07/70 Monte Walsh 10/21/70 Hotel 10/28/70 The Student Nurses 11/04/70 Colossus—The Forbin Project 11/11/70 Machine Gun McCain 11/18/70 Dirty Dingus Magee 12/09/70 Rabbit, Run 12/16/70 Eva 12/23/70 There Was a Crooked Man… 01/20/71 Death Rides a Horse/Barquero/Sabata 01/27/71 Perfect Friday 02/03/71 The Swimming Pool/Monique 02/10/71 Her & She & Him 02/17/71 The Battle of Neretva 02/24/71 Patton 03/10/71 The Last Grenade/Ali-Frazier Fight 03/17/71 The Projectionist 03/24/71 Get Carter/Kenner 03/31/71 Madron 04/07/71 Brother John 04/14/71 Sudden Terror/The Grasshopper 04/21/71 War Between Planets 04/28/71 The Night Visitor 05/05/71 The Left-Handed Gun 05/12/71 The House That Dripped Blood 05/19/71 The Racing Scene 05/26/71 Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die 06/09/71 Relations 06/16/71 Fanny Hill/Inga 06/23/71 Big Jake 07/07/71 Shaft 08/11/71 The Last Run 08/18/71 Night of Dark Shadows 08/25/71 The Todd Killings 09/01/71 Evel Knievel 09/15/71 Two-Lane Blacktop 09/22/71 The Clay Pigeon no listings after this – theater closed???

ejones880 on July 13, 2013 at 7:16 am

Three Stooges Texas Connection

The Three Stooges performed here during the vaudeville area which would have been during 1921-1934 for them. At the time they were working with Ted Healy and the act was called “Ted Healy and his Stooges”. Healy was the star and was the most successful vaudeville performer in the country making $9000 a week in the 20s. Healy started out as a cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle and met vaudeville performers and entered Show Business. You can hear a radio interview with Moe Howard talking about when they performed at all the Majestic Theaters in Texas and did a joke about Baylor University and the people of Texas where planning on throwing eggs at them! Its on the DVD Stooges Men Behind the Mayhem

http://www.amazon.com/Stooges-The-Men-Behind-Mayhem/dp/B00080ZGZQ

http://ladailymirror.com/2013/05/31/the-death-of-ted-healy-part-4/

billbremer on August 8, 2013 at 5:16 am

The first Majestic in Houston opened in 1905 on Congress Ave. That location was closed when the Majestic on Texas Ave opened, in 1911. In 1923, the Majestic on Rusk opened and the Texas Avenue Majestic was renamed the Palace. All three Majestics were operated by Karl Hoblitzelle’s Interstate Theatres.

DJRage70 on November 29, 2013 at 5:30 pm

Which Majestic are we looking at here? I found these pictures of the demolition… http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/sets/72157621832310328/

the interior on each is different

DavidZornig on March 12, 2015 at 7:38 pm

Photo added courtesy J.R. Gonzales, via the below link. Copy and paste link. One comment from the Traces of Taxes Facebook page said the Majestic Theatre was later incorporated into the Houston Chronicle building.

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/

Lgn33 on April 2, 2015 at 3:26 am

The Houston Majestic was the first fully atmospheric theater, however, John Eberson’s first partial or prototype atmospheric theatre was the Indiana Theatre in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Indiana Theatre’s construction started before the Wichita Orpheum and was completed 8 months before the Orpheum. Excavation for the Orpheum didn’t begin until July 28, 1921, whereas construction of the Indiana Theatre had began in February 1921, if not earlier. The Indiana opened January 28, 1922 while the Orpheum followed later that year on September 4. Many elements that were first used by Eberson in the Indiana were copied verbatim in his later theaters.

DavidZornig on December 20, 2019 at 2:09 pm

1933 photo added credit Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.