Tower Theatre
1201 Westheimer Road,
Houston,
TX
77006
1201 Westheimer Road,
Houston,
TX
77006
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 40 comments
Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The Tower’s year-long run is mentioned in the piece.
Grand opening ad posted
Opening night February 14, 1936 photo added courtesy of Bob Staskell.
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/70 to 12/31/75. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/70 Goodbye, Mr. Chips 02/25/70 A Nice Girl Like Me 03/04/70 Putney Swope 03/18/70 Airport 08/26/70 Putney Swope 09/02/70 Move 10/14/70 Performance 10/28/70 The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker 11/11/70 WUSA 12/23/70 Little Fauss and Big Halsey 02/03/71 No Blade of Grass 02/24/71 Gimme Shelter 03/31/71 The Priest’s Wife 04/14/71 Making It 04/28/71 Waterloo 05/19/71 Dr. Strangelove 05/26/71 Villain 06/09/71 Windsplitter 06/30/71 Carnal Knowledge 10/30/71 The Devils 11/24/71 Dagmar’s Hot Pants, Inc. 12/08/71 Born to Win 12/15/71 Fiddler on the Roof 12/13/72 Man of La Mancha 03/14/73 The Sound of Music 06/27/73 The Friends of Eddie Coyle 07/18/73 Images 08/01/73 The Hireling 08/08/73 Romeo and Juliet 09/05/73 Get to Know Your Rabbit 09/12/73 Harold and Maude 09/26/73 Red Sky at Morning (That Same Summer) 10/03/73 The Naked Ape 10/17/73 The Sterile Cuckoo/Tell Me You Love Me, Junie Moon 10/24/73 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex/Bananas 10/31/73 Arnold 11/07/73 The New Land 12/19/73 The Seven-Ups 02/13/74 I Am a Dancer 02/20/74 Chariots of the Gods 03/06/74 The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe 03/20/74 Zardoz 04/24/74 Tis Pity, She’s a Whore 05/15/74 Fiddler on the Roof 05/22/74 The Super Cops 06/12/74 Andy Warhol’s L'Amour 06/19/74 The Conversation 07/24/74 Carnal Knowledge 09/11/74 Journey Through the Past 09/25/74 Escape to Nowhere 10/09/74 Love and Anarchy 10/16/74 Christina 10/23/74 Shanks 10/30/74 The Family 11/13/74 Earthquake 06/25/75 The French Connection II 08/27/75 A Touch of Class 09/03/75 Freebie and the Bean 09/10/75 A Clockwork Orange/Deliverance 09/17/75 2001: A Space Odyssey 09/24/75 Doctor Zhivago 10/08/75 Singin' in the Rain 10/15/75 Gone With the Wind 11/12/75 Psychic Killer 11/26/75 Lisztomania 12/17/75 The Greatest Story Ever Told 12/24/75 The Hindenburg
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/64 to 12/31/69. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 12/18/63 The Cardinal 02/19/64 Charade 03/18/64 The Ceremony 03/15/64 No, My Darling Daughter 04/01/64 Notorious/Spellbound 04/08/64 The Fall of the Roman Empire 06/24/64 The Long Ships 07/08/64 The Pink Panther 09/23/64 Behold a Pale Horse 10/07/64 Mediterranean Holiday 10/14/64 The Third Secret 10/21/64 Four Days in November 10/28/64 That Man from Rio 11/04/64 The Conjugal Bed 11/11/64 My Fair Lady 09/01/65 Lord Jim 10/13/64 The Great Race 02/16/66 The Agony and the Ecstasy 04/20/66 Juliet of the Spirits 05/11/66 Lord Love a Duck 05/25/66 Stop the World, I Want to Get Off 06/08/66 Ten Little Indians 06/29/66 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 10/05/66 The Idol 10/26/66 The Bible 04/12/67 The Taming of the Shrew 07/19/67 A Guide for the Married Man 10/18/67 Two Weeks in September 10/25/67 Gone With the Wind 09/25/68 I’ll Never Forget What’s-‘Is-Name 10/02/68 Hot Millions 10/30/68 Finian’s Rainbow 02/05/69 The Shoes of the Fisherman 04/02/69 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 04/16/69 Mayerling 04/23/69 The Illustrated Man 05/14/69 Before Winter Comes 05/21/69 A Flea in Her Ear 05/28/69 Hard Contract 06/25/69 The Great Bank Robbery 07/23/69 The Gay Deceivers 08/27/69 Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe? 10/01/69 Justine 10/15/69 Camille 2000 11/05/69 Take the Money and Run 12/17/69 Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/60 to 12/31/63. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/60 Porgy and Bess 02/17/60 House of Intrigue 02/24/60 Three Murderesses 03/02/60 The Third Voice 03/16/60 The Rack 03/23/60 The Moon is Blue 03/30/60 The Man with the Golden Arm 04/06/60 The Mating Time 04/13/60 Ulysses 04/20/60 Once More, With Feeling 04/27/60 Ben-Hur 10/26/60 The Alamo 03/29/61 Exodus 05/31/61 The Millionairess 06/07/61 Dentist in the Chair 06/21/61 Carry on Constable 07/12/61 La Dolce Vita 08/30/61 On the Double 09/13/61 Fanny 10/04/61 Man in the Moon 10/11/61 The Bridge 10/25/61 Double Bunk 11/01/61 The King and I 11/22/61 Blood and Roses 11/29/61 The Invasion Quartet 12/06/61 Raintree County 12/20/61 King of Kings 02/21/62 No Love for Johnnie 02/28/62 Two Women 03/07/62 The Hustler 03/14/62 Between Time and Eternity 03/21/62 Purple Noon 04/04/62 West Side Story 07/18/62 Jessica 08/01/62 Only Two Can Play 08/08/62 Mister Roberts 08/15/62 Bus Stop/The Seven Year Itch 08/22/62 That Touch of Mink 09/19/62 The Best of Enemies 09/26/62 Sayonara 10/03/62 I Like Money (Mr. Topaze) 10/10/62 El Cid 10/24/62 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 10/31/62 Father of the Bride 11/07/62 The Longest Day 02/27/63 Mutiny on the Bounty 05/15/63 Madame 05/22/63 Crooks Anonymous 05/29/63 The Mind Benders 06/05/63 An American in Paris 06/12/63 The Pied Piper of Hamelin 06/19/63 Auntie Mame 06/26/63 Cleopatra
Designed by Dallas architect W. Scott Dunne for Interstate Theaters (1936). The photo above shows the building after its conversion to a Mexican restaurant. Only the facade and marquee survive.
Historic photos of the building as a theater are at: http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/tower.html
Saw “Singing in the Rain” and “The Sound of Music” here on re-releases. Great memories.
I think the Tower was used for some of the Sensurround pictures of the mid-1970s…I saw Earthquake there when it first opened.
Visited El Real Tex Mex in November 2011. The marquee looks very nice, and overall things look about as good as you can expect for a theater converted to a restaurant.
The Tower was renovated in 1978 for live performances. Remember seeing The Manhattan Transfer there. The Broadway Musical ‘Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ started a run of more than a year in 1979, in an independent production separate from the National company. Saw it several times at the Tower. Other touring Broadway and off-Broadway shows played there, notably ‘Agnes of God’ with Elizabeth Ashley and Mercedes McCambridge, and ‘Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You’
The interior photo is not of the Tower. It is actually the Delman Theatre. Same architect. Here is the correct photo of the Tower http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=e_bb_2358
Does anyone know how much of the theater remained intact during the Hollywood Video days. The video store was not that big. I always wondered what was behind those walls
Here’s a photo from April: http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/texmex.jpg
And the restaurant’s website has a nice nighttime photo of the marquee: http://elrealtexmex.com/
It looks like the Tex-Mex restaurant is now open. They have also spruced up the marquee and facade of building.
View link
The owners of Midtown’s Reef restaurant, along with former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh, plan to open a Tex-Mex spot in the Tower Theater (formerly Hollywood Video) at 1201 Westheimer.
The deal was reported here this morning.
We had a chat with Bill Floyd today at Reef, and he confirmed that he and chef Bryan Caswell are partnering with former Houston Press restaurant critic Robb Walsh on a new Tex-Mex spot that will go into the Tower Theatre location on Westheimer near Montrose. Permitting has already begun, and the handsome Art Deco design will be kept intact. The great old balcony is also being rebuilt. Floyd says the new as-yet-unnamed spot will seat 300 and be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Look for it to open right after January 1.
The Tower opened at 7:30 p.m. on February 14, 1936. The premier feature was “Barbary Coast†with Miriam Hopkins, Edward G. Robinson, and Joel McCrea. Opening night festivities included a 30-piece symphony orchestra and Blackstone the Magician. The correct zip code for this theater is 77006.
A 1948 view of the Tower Theatre in Houston.
“Photo Courtesy of the Public Domain”
A 1948 view of the Tower Theatre in Houston.
“Image Courtesy of the Public Domain”
I am researching a story for NPR involving this theater. Some time in the late 70’s, Ella Fitzgerald performed here – I would very much like to talk to anyone who saw her there, and in particular, the date and the names of her musicians. I’d also love to talk to anyone who was there when it was a disco. Thanks.
Current exterior and historic interior and exterior photos of the Tower Theater are online at www.houstondeco.org
There are several views of the Tower on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/2m8tdb
BTW, I also saw Cyndi Lauper @ the Tower, while it was called Clubland.
I got to know Ross Vallone in the early 70’s. He was managing the River Oaks, when it was still owned by Interstate.
Movie Palaces: A Retrospect (http://www.moviepalaces.net/) contains some great shots of the Tower during its prime.