Showplace 4

Was this theatre similar to the Showplace theatre in Lubbock? Was it part of the Noret chain?

Showplace 4 opened in April 1977. It did not use union projectionists so I was not allowed to see movies there since I was associated with IATSE Local 469. They picketed the place for months but this is Texas so all their effort was in vain. My first movie there was August 14, 1977, “Mac ARTHUR”. I went with a union member. SP4 was a first run theater until the ‘90s when they started showing second run movies for a dollar. It was a very simple theater and died quietly in 2002. But I did see the first “STAR TREK” movie there December 7, 1979.

Of the Showplace’s auditorium’s, the one in the back was the best, and the biggest, although it’s size would be pretty mediocre by today’s standards. But at least it could show films in their proper aspect ratio. The other three auditoriums pretty much had all presentations, 2.35 or 1.85, shown on the same format of screen, just like the Fox Theatre.

Ronnwood is mistaken, it became a second-run theater in 1985, not in the ‘90s. In fact, THE KARATE KID started showing there in the summer of 1984, then ended up staying for over a year after the it became a one-dollar cinema.

I saw STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE there on Dec. 8, 1979, and remember that, prior to the opening credits, it had an overture. The last film I saw there was THE PHANTOM MENACE in late 1999, which was kind of fitting to see the worst Star Wars movie at what had become the worst theater in town.