Campus Theatre
214 W. Hickory Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
214 W. Hickory Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
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The Campus originally housed 1,350 seats when it opened, marking it one of the largest small-town movie houses in all of Texas at the time.
The Campus closed as a movie house in 1985 and left it abandoned for 5 years until reopening as a Live theater in 1990.
Thanks for not vandalizing the theatre from November 3rd, 1957
Higher quality grand opening ad:
Campus theatre opening Tue, Oct 4, 1949 – Page 29 · Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Texas) · Newspapers.com
Southwest premiere of Bonnie & Clyde at The Campus at 04:41 https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc701867/
Grand opening ad in photo section.
This theater has now been officiallyy designated as a Texas landmark: View link
October 4th, 1949 grand opening ad is at View link
A promo shot for the October 1949 opening of the Campus Theatre in Denton Texas.
Hi Guys,
Gotta put in my two cents.
Yes, Henrietta is a very small town in North Central
Texas.
Population in 2000 was just over 3,000. It’s not
considered a neighbor of Denton and nowhere near it's
size. Denton has two universities and is the county
seat. Heck, when I went to North Texas ( now UNT ) our
university alone had 12,000. I think back then with
TWU we made half the population of 40,000. I think
Denton is closer to 130,000 now.
The Campus (off square note your photo you can see the
courthouse over neighboring building) is still there
they are live performance theater, the Fine Arts ( on
the square ) still stands, hosts a church I believe,
the XXX Theater ( on square )long ago closed but is
now occupied by a business. There was at least one
other movie theater away from the square on University
Drive I think. I got a ticket for a red light there
after we’d seen some movie on rodeos done in the
fashion of “On Any Given Sunday”. I seem to remember 2
drive-in theaters but can’t recall names. Do remember
seeing “Death Race 2000” (starring David Carradine) at
the drive-in north of town. We had a car full, it
rained buckets, and we were more interested in downing
the case of beer we brought! Still it was a funny
movie then and now.
As for theaters there now? Well, there’s a large mall
south of town on I-35 called Golden Triangle Mall.
There’s bound to be a plex there and more around town.
Town’s changed alot since my college days in 1970's
Ken
OK, I won’t post any others. I didn’t know you were on it.
Here is a 1956 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6c2pp2
A 1985 photo of the Campus Theater in Denton.
My photograph of the CAMPUS View link
Is this part of the Fry Street area which is in jeopardy of being knocked down by developers?
The film which opened The Campus Theatre in 1949 was the national premiere of I WAS A MALE WARBRIDE, starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The premiere was held at the new theatre because Ann Sheridan was really Clara Lou Sheridan, a Denton native. And yes, John Wayne, Jeff Chandler, a couple of other stars, and some starlets, one of whom was Mary Murphy, came to Denton and The Campus in the fifties in an effort to lure people away from their tv sets and back into the theatres—exciting stuff for then small town Denton. For years the theatre held Saturday morning Kiddie Shows, which included an old movie (usually a western or horror film—I saw many Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney classics there), lots of cartoons, and sometimes a live talent show. The Kiddie Shows, ostensibly for children, became very popular with teenagers, who really went, of course, to meet and greet school friends and classmates more than to see a movie. The Campus was a beautiful art deco house; the girls and women especially loved the pink tinted mirror in the ladies room because it made them look great! Thanks for letting me reminisce about this wonderful old theatre. M Elliott
I just missed the premiere of the Bonnie and Clyde film at the Campus and deeply regret the fact. As a student at the University of North Texas (NTSU at the time) I did get to know a gentleman who supplied a number of the cars used in the film…his garage/playroom was behind a house I lived in. I also made numerous trips to the small towns where large portions of this film were shot (Krum,Ponder,Pilot Point, and Argyle).
I spent many hours in the theater and it’s companion around the block on the town square the FineArts theater (not on this list). I saw Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyessy as a first run film there. I ditched studying for finals once to see a double feature of Sergio Leone movies with Clint Eastwood… The Good,Bad,and the Ugly plus Fist Full of Dollars. ( I did fine on the exams. ) I also stood in a line around the block through one and a half showings of The Exorcist. The theater was packed. Funniest thing happened shortly into the film a couple got up and started to leave. On their way out somebody called to the guy by name and asked “What’s the matter?” “Oh, she’s scared.” came the sheepish reply. The audience roared with laughter.
While attending school I entertained the thought of becoming a projectionist and went to the Campus to talk to the projectionist there. I was invited up to the projection booth and we had a nice long talk.(Other than the Mid-Cities[not on this list] drivein theater, for which I worked the concession, I’d never had access to a booth.) When we finished the gentleman let me watch the rest of the movie he was showing during our talk….Fellini’s Satyricon.
Seems I recall a fire there during the 80’s. Anybody know anything about that?