The Gem Theater: Double Feature Weekend

Introduction

Downtown Wichita Falls, Texas, in the mid 1940’s was a bustling metropolis for a boy of 7 just away from the farm and ranch community where he was born. My father, a cook and cowboy by trade, had just started as one of the first cooks for the Casa Manana restaurant in 1947. He moved us to an apartment on Ohio Street, right across from the Gem Theater, between 7^th and 8^th Streets. It’s here that we would stay for the next three years. The Gem Theater became a magic palace for a young mind. But it had to share that distinction with the rest of the magic that was Wichita Falls. I attended San Jacinto and Carrigan elementary schools, as well as Reagan Junior High, and belonged to the Boys Club on 6th Street. Please join, and share your stories and pictures through a Guest Blog, of early Wichita Falls - or your home town. Contact me at fadingshadows40@gmail.com or leave a comment. We could use old pictures of movie houses, drive-in theaters, and other nostalgic pictures related to our youths.

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Double Feature Weekend

Double Feature Weekend: Lash LaRue in Border Feud and Ghost Town Renegades. Everything buy the cartoon, chapter play, and newsreel (LOL). One of my childhood heroes was Lash LaRue. I got to meet him and Al “Fuzzy” St. John at the Wichita Falls (Texas) Auditorium around 1950, when I was ten years old. I got a pat on the head by Lash at the end of their act. It was a wonderful time being a kid.