Frost Theatre

116 N. Garitty Street,
Frost, TX 76641

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Randy A Carlisle
Randy A Carlisle on September 4, 2024 at 1:07 pm

https://www.flickr.com/photos/racphotography/7979778135 My photo of the Frost Theatre.. Photo Taken: September 7 2012 Photo Taken By: Randy A. Carlisle ALL Photos (Unless otherwise stated) Copyright RAC Photography

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on January 2, 2022 at 8:20 am

The significance of this theatre is that it was completely destroyed by a May 6th, 1930 tornado still considered one of the Top 10 most destructive twisters in the history of Texas. The Frost had just made the conversion to sound films choosing the Wright-DeCoster sound system for its playout. But within months, the entire town of Frost was basically obliterated by the aforementioned tornado. The Frost Theatre was not operating during the deadly storm that cost more than 10% of the town their lives and the entire agricultural season to be wrecked.

There are multiple shots of the entire business district and town in ruins with one appearing faintly showing the remnants of the theater building next to the neighboring bank. (It’s in the photos section.) Frost Theatre owner V.B. Young survived the storm and pledged to rebuild the theatre in roughly the same spot as the original. It is not believed that he accomplished his goal and the neighboring bank took a bit more of a footprint in its relatively quick rebuilding.

In 1935, Charles Barker rebuilt and opened the new Frost Theatre with Jim Shirley. A projection booth fire on November 11, 1944 appears to have ended operations there. Due to War material shortages, Barker appears to have converted an existing retail building to a third and final location using the Frost Theatre moniker. (And if it continued in the same spot, that can be corrected.)

The Frost changed hands with Mr. and Mrs. Ross Willoughby operating it for two years after the War. Jonas Jantz and his wife ran it into the 1950s but Mr. Jantz died November 4, 1956. The theatre appears to have closed not long after his passing. (The town’s population had dropped to under 600 making further theater operation challenging especially in the television era.) The building was converted for other purposes.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 6, 2014 at 10:09 am

Back in 1916, Frost had two movie theaters. E. E. Belcia’s article “Touring Texas Small Towns” in the September 30 issue of The Moving Picture World had this paragraph about Frost:

“I next visited the little town of Frost. This is a dandy little show town, probably due to the fact that at one time W. M. Byrd and his brother were exhibitors there. M. C. Connor and his brother own the old Byrd Theatre and also a theatre in Dawson. They run an up-to-date show in both places. L. Morphew is also an exhibitor in Frost, having only recently opened the Lyric there.”
Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find any other mentions of either the Byrd or Lyric in the trade journals, and none of the Frost Theatre.

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on January 5, 2014 at 8:47 am

According to the Corsicana Daily Sun of 11/20/12, this former theater is located at 116 N Garitty. It is now home to the Frost Heritage Center.

The article gave some history of the site:

“The first business in that site was Beene Bros. Furniture and Undertakers, which sold caskets 24-hours a day, and was converted into the theater in the 1940s. When that closed in the 1960s, it housed “The Purple Radish,” a kind of dance hang-out for the high school crowd. It has since been an antique store, a video rental store, and a private home.”