Gayety Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on May 23, 2025 at 4:17 pm

The Gayety Theatre dates back to at least 1919 and possibly earlier. It was located just across the street from the Denver Theater and opened by Leon B. Lewis & Louis Richker. The Denver and Gayety were independent venues with distinctive fare. The Gayety opted for independent features and exploitation films. As the local paper’s policy frowned upon such films, the Gayety is not regularly listed in its formative years. The Gayety had a neighboring cigar and confectionery serving as its de facto concession stand for a period of time.

In the 1930s, the theater has multiple fires, arrests for unsavory activity, and debt collection activity. It also showed Spanish language films in the Fall of 1936 hoping to find its audience other than exploitation and four-wallers. Lewis would go on to create the more popular New Liberty Theatre and the similar Ideal Theatre while continuing the Gayety. Lewis closed the movie house in August of 1948 and he died just days later. The venue’s likely operational lifecycle was likely on a 30-year leasing agreement from August of 1918 to August 1948.