Mecca Theatre
111 Walnut Street,
McAlester,
OK
74501
111 Walnut Street,
McAlester,
OK
74501
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Paramount Pictures Inc.
Functions: Dance Studio
Styles: Mission Revival
Nearby Theaters
Opened c1912 the Mecca Theatre was designed in what was then fashionable Mission/Craftsman styling. Form follows function exterior lines were strong and to the point. Milar wall sconces lent a warm glow to a wainscoted auditorium. Seems this was strictly a cinema as a stagehouse was never installed.
Exact operating dates are now murky, but word or mouth states it closed in around 1941/1942.
Contributed by
Red Ball
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
E.L. Jack Johnston was operating the Mecca Theatre in 1931, when a letter he wrote in praise of Universal serials was published as part of an ad placed by Universal in the August 4, 1931, issue of Exhibitor’s Forum. Johnston died in 1964, and the brief obituary published in Boxoffice mentioned that he had once operated a theater at McAlester, but did not give the years of its operation.
Whenever the Mecca closed, Jack Johnston was gone from McAlester sometime before 1944. He ran a classified ad in the March 11 issue of Boxoffice that year, seeking employment as a theater manager and giving a P.O. Box address in Cordell, Oklahoma. The ad said he was currently employed in California but would be available April 2. Some years later he bought the Washita Theatre in Cordell, operating it until his death.
Here is a modern view of the former Mecca Theatre (photo left, bldg with green awning), now Jodie’s Dance Studio,
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