State Theater
503 S. Polk Street,
Amarillo,
TX
79101
503 S. Polk Street,
Amarillo,
TX
79101
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October 21st, 1937 grand opening ad in photo section.
The State was one of the 3 remaining Downtown Amarillo theaters by the late ‘60s. It seemed an enormous palace of a theater when I went to see my first movie there July 13, 1966, “BATTLE OF THE BULGE”. The Downtown theaters were places that had always existed to me because they were built long before my arrival on this planet. At the time I never had a thought that they would ever be gone. I saw 106 movies at the State. The last was a re-issue of “JAWS” February 14, 1976, my 8th time to see the sharkfest. Somehow the State slipped into oblivion while I was excitedly seeing flicks in all the new multi-screen theaters. In '78 they tried to keep it going by showing Spanish movies, always a sign of doom. Amarillo National Bank bought up the whole block, leveled everything, building their new Plaza II skyscraper on the east side, and a 4-level parking garage on the Polk St side where the State and Victory Theaters were located. A big concrete wall where flickering lights once beckoned movie goers.
My dad, Jesse Comer, worked there in 1955 while he was in the Air Force. He told me about an airman friend of his he snuck into the theater – he bought him a ticket but he wasn’t supposed to go in – because he was black.
A movie ad from 1950 for the State Theatre in Amarillo starring Tyrone Power in “American Guerrilla in the Philipines”.
From 1948, newsprint coverage and photo of the world premiere of PANAHNDLE starring Rod Cameron in Amarillo.
A movie ad from 1963 for the State Theater in Amarillo.
Both the State(Fair) Theatre and the Paramount Theatre in Amarillo are listed as being operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary Hoblitzelle & O'Donnell in the 1940’s (perhaps even earlier). The same operators also ran the Rialto and Capitol Theatre’s in Amarillo.