Delman Theatre
4412 S. Main Street,
Houston,
TX
77002
4412 S. Main Street,
Houston,
TX
77002
3 people
favorited this theater
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Reopened by Loews on December 25th, 1969. Ad posted.
“Cinema Houston” says that it closed on February 5th, 1978
Opened on November 27th, 1934. Grand opening ad posted.
RSM3853:
From August 1968 to June 1972, I worked as an usher, doorman, and then assistant manager at the Delman Theatre in Dallas during my junior high/high school years. The Dallas and Houston Delmans played many of the same movies of course. The Dallas Delman was also the location of Adelman’s General Manager, Harry Sachs. Each night all of the Delman theatres in Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee would call in their box office figures to us and we would place them under Mr Sachs' door.
Movies that played at the Delman Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/73 to 12/31/75. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The Dates given are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/73 1776 03/14/73 Billy Jack 03/28/73 Lost Horizon 06/06/73 Paper Moon 10/31/73 The Way We Were 12/19/73 Papillon 03/13/74 The Last Detail 05/01/74 Badlands 07/10/74 For Pete’s Sake 09/11/74 Harrad Summer 10/09/74 The Gambler 11/20/74 The Klansman 12/18/74 The Phantom of the Paradise 01/22/75 Malizia 02/12/75 The Stepford Wives 04/09/75 Harry and Tonto 04/23/75 Hearts and Minds 05/14/75 The Savage is Loose 05/21/75 Mandingo 09/17/75 The Man in the Glass Booth 10/08/75 Hard Times 11/12/75 Mahogany 12/17/75 The Story of O (I may have only scribbled down first-run films for this last batch, omitting second runs, etc., because I don’t think “Mandingo” stayed at the Delman for 4 months! But these are all my notes.)
Movies that played at the Delman Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/67 to 12/31/72. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The Dates given are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/67 Gambit 02/15/67 Georgy Girl 05/03/67 Blow-Up 06/28/67 Woman Times Seven 08/09/67 The Jokers 09/13/67 Our Man Flint/In Like Flint 09/27/67 Accident 10/04/67 Becket 10/18/67 The Birds, the Bees, and the Italians 11/15/67 The Sound of Music (pop prices) 12/13/67 Privilege 12/20/67 Valley of the Dolls 04/10/68 Closely Watched Trains 05/01/68 Elvira Madigan 07/17/68 How Sweet It Is! 09/04/68 The Secret Life of an American Wife 10/16/68 The Split 11/06/68 Penelope 11/13/68 Benjamin 11/27/68 Barefoot in the Park/The Odd Couple 12/18/68 Romeo and Juliet 03/26/69 The Love Bug 06/25/69 Goodbye, Columbus 09/24/69 Easy Rider
12/17/69 (Closed for refurbishing – purchased by Loew’s – renamed Loew’s Delman)
12/24/69 The Secret of Santa Vittoria 01/28/70 Gaily, Gaily 02/25/70 Z 04/22/70 The Kremlin Letter 04/29/70 Women in Love 05/27/70 Fellini’s Satyricon 06/24/70 The Landlord 07/15/70 The Strawberry Statement 08/12/70 They Call Me Mister Tibbs 09/02/70 The Revolutionary 09/16/70 The Angel Levine 09/23/70 Threesome 10/21/70 The Baby Maker 11/18/70 The Twelve Chairs 12/23/70 The Owl and the Pussycat 05/26/71 Lawrence of Arabia 06/16/71 Billy Jack 08/18/71 The Anderson Tapes 09/29/71 Drive, He Said 10/13/71 See No Evil 11/03/71 The French Connection 12/22/71 $ (Dollars) 02/16/72 The Last Picture Show 07/26/72 Butterflies are Free 10/25/72 The Deadly Trap 11/08/72 Dirty Little Billy 12/20/72 1776
Movies that played at the Delman Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/63 to 12/31/66. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The Dates given are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/63 In Search of the Castaways 02/06/63 Son of Flubber 04/10/63 The Miracle of the White Stallions 05/22/63 Sundays and Cybele 05/29/63 The Wrong Arm of the Law 06/12/63 Savage Sam/Yellowstone Cubs 07/17/63 Summer Magic 09/04/63 The Mouse on the Moon 09/18/63 Of Love and Desire/Marilyn 09/25/63 Oklahoma/The King and I 10/02/63 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 10/30/63 Fantasia 11/20/63 The Incredible Journey 12/25/63 The Sword in the Stone 02/05/64 Lilies of the Field 02/19/64 The Misadventures of Merlin Jones 03/25/64 A Tiger Walks 05/06/64 South Pacific 05/27/64 The Bridge on the River Kwai 06/17/64 The Three Lives of Thomasina 07/08/64 The Moon-Spinners 08/26/64 Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 10/07/64 Looking for Love/Kill or Cure 10/14/64 The Incredible Journey/20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 10/21/64 Mary Poppins 02/24/65 Those Calloways 03/31/65 World Without Sun 04/07/65 Seance on a Wet Afternoon/Dr. Strangelove 04/28/65 Girl with Green Eyes/That Man from Rio 05/05/65 Lawrence of Arabia 05/12/65 Harlow (Electronovision) 05/19/65 The Hustler 06/09/65 Marriage, Italian Style/Two Women 06/16/65 Tom Jones 06/23/65 Von Ryan’s Express 09/01/65 Casanova ‘70 09/29/65 Laurel & Hardy’s Laughing 20s 10/06/65 The Secret of My Success 10/27/65 Shenandoah/Charade 11/03/65 Carousel/Flower Drum Song 11/10/65 The Collector/Bambole 11/17/65 The Sword in the Stone/The Incredible Mr. Limpet 12/01/65 The Railroad Man 12/08/65 The Longest Day 12/22/65 The 10th Victim 01/26/66 Darling/Love with the Proper Stranger 02/02/66 Darling 03/09/66 An Evening with Batman and Robin 03/23/66 The Leather Boys 04/06/66 The Trouble with Angels 05/25/66 Born Free/The Golden Horseshoe Revue 06/29/66 The Guns of Navarone/Born Free 07/20/66 Dear John 09/14/66 The Sleeping Car Murder 09/28/66 Morgan 10/19/66 Gigi 11/09/66 The Wrong Box 12/21/66 Gambit
Movies that played at the Delman Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/60 to 12/31/62. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The Dates given are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/60 John Paul Jones 01/13/60 A Star is Born 01/20/60 Edge of Eternity/Yesterday’s Enemy 01/27/60 It Happened in Rome/Too Many Crooks 02/10/60 A Touch of Larceny 02/24/60 The Diary of Anne Frank 03/09/60 Operation Petticoat 05/11/60 Wild Strawberries 05/25/60 The Lovers 06/22/60 Around the World in 80 Days 07/20/60 Company of Hearts 08/03/60 The Greatest Show on Earth 08/17/60 Sons and Lovers 09/07/60 The Day they Robbed the Bank of England/Platinum High School 09/14/60 The Magician 10/05/60 The Jungle Cat 11/02/60 The 400 Blows 11/09/60 The Captain’s Table 12/21/60 Spartacus 03/15/61 The Virgin Spring 04/05/61 The Entertainer 05/24/61 Tunes of Glory 06/21/61 The League of Gentlemen 06/28/61 Never Take Candy from a Stranger/Beyond All Limits 07/05/61 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 07/19/61 A Raisin in the Sun 08/02/61 A Cold Wind in August 08/16/61 The Truth 09/20/61 Secrets of Women 09/27/61 Picnic/The Caine Mutiny 10/04/61 Hiroshima, My Love 10/11/61 Pure Hell at St. Trinian’s 10/18/61 Season of Passion 10/25/61 The Mark 11/15/61 The Man Who Wagged His Tail 11/22/61 Two-Way Stretch 12/06/61 Rocco and His Brothers 12/13/61 Never on Sunday/Room at the Top 12/20/61 Mysterious Island 12/27/61 The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone 01/17/62 Call Me Genius 01/24/62 The Devil’s Eye 02/07/62 Leda 02/14/62 The Happy Thieves 02/21/62 Pinocchio 04/04/62 Splendor in the Grass/Fanny 04/11/62 Moon Pilot 05/16/62 Through a Glass Darkly 05/30/62 Pollyanna 06/06/62 Big Red 07/11/62 Oklahoma 08/01/62 Jack, the Giant Killer 08/08/62 Harold Lloyd’s World of Comedy/La Belle Americaine 08/22/62 Never Let Go/It Happened in Broad Daylight 08/29/62 A Taste of Honey 09/19/62 Wild Strawberries/Lesson in Love 09/26/62 Secrets of Women/The Virgin Spring 10/03/62 Waltz of the Toreadors/Damn Yankees 10/10/62 Almost Angels/Lady and the Tramp 11/14/62 Phaedra 12/05/62 Operation Snatch/Behind the Great Wall 12/12/62 The Magnificent Seven/The Pajama Game 12/19/62 In Search of the Castaways
Originally, this was the Delman but I remember in the 70’s the theater name was changed to the “Loews Delman,” which leads me to believe that the Loews chain bought it. I also remember it as the Maceba. I saw the band “Love & Rockets” play there. Rumor has it that it was owned by black Muslims and as the story goes, they were outraged when Slayer was booked to play. Shortly after, it was closed and demolished, as was most of the buildings around it.
The Delman Theater’s grand opening was at 6:15 p.m. on November 28, 1934. According to the Houston Post for that day and the next, the Delman was built by I.B. Adelman, owner/operator, and managed by L.O. Daniel, Jr. W. Scott Dunne was the architect. The premier feature was “Baby, Take a Bow†with Shirley Temple and Jimmy Dunn. The Delman was Houston’s first theater to be built especially for sound pictures. The projection and sound equipment was “the newest and most expensive type, an exact duplicate of that of Radio City Music Hall”. The auditorium was finished with acoustical plaster to absorb echoes and permit best sound presentation. The Delman was heated and air-conditioned.
Actually the Delman was renamed Maceba. I attended some performances there but Maceba lasted a very short time.
Here are photos from 1983 and 1984:
http://tinyurl.com/c8ohgm
http://tinyurl.com/c4rynw
Pro User says:
The Delman was closed for some time when it was rented to a black theatre group that renamed it Macabar for a short time. It never panned out and I’m not even sure how many performances were presented there..not many. There was a fire in the buildings next door which sealed the Delman’s fate and later transients broke into the theatre setting it on fire…then it was razed. It did not look like much from the outside but the inside was very, very pretty.
A view of the Delman Theater here during a short period when it was known as the “Macabar”.
Here are some classic shots of both the interior and exterior of the Delman. Wasn’t this theatre just up from the Garden District?
There is a picture here
View link
The Delman was a very popular venue for Disney releases and re-releases during the ‘60s.
In 1960, the owners spent a fortune remodeling the theater for the Houston premiere of SPARTACUS. They did a beautiful job and hsd a great presentation. They felt the picture would play six or seven months. It flopped and was gone in two. This great epic bombed in Houston. They spent all that money and never got another roadshow hard ticket picture.
The Delman Theatre was located at 4412 S. Main Street and it seated 1239 people.