The Gem Theater: February 2018

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.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Cavalier Theater

The Cavalier Theater was an American theater on an Army compound in Yong Ge Go, South Korea, 1959/60. This was located at CC #1 (Community Center #1). There were at least five community centers spread across the DMZ. My MP unit was stationed on a hill about a mile from Yong Gi Go, where CC #1 was located. I don’t remember ever going to this theater, but thankfully I did get a picture of it. A Korean girl I dated took me to a Korean theater to see HURRICANE with Jon Hall once. It was in English, with Korean sub-titles. I believe that’s the only time I went to a Korean theater, too. But my memory isn’t very good any more.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Magazine Stand

Old Magazine Stands. Here’s another shot of a downtown magazine vender.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

The Spider's Web

The Spider’s Web, a 15-chapter serial from Columbia in 1938. Based on the popular pulp magazine of The Spider from Popular Publications, it starred Warred Hull as Richard Wentworth/Blinky McQuade/The Spider, and Iris Meredith as Nita Van Sloan. Richard Fiske played Jackson, Kenneth Duncan played Ram Singh, and Donald Douglas played Jenkins. The Octopus, dressed in a white robe and hood so that even his gang didn’t recognize him, was after the power structure of the city; the utilities, construction, and transportation. To reach his goals he killed and tortured. Warren Hull was excellent as the warring Spider against the underworld, though I thought Kenneth Duncan was a poor choice for Ram Singh – or maybe it was just the writing that left him weak in the part. Still, an excellent old serial.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Indiana Street and State Theater

Indiana Street & The State Theater, from a Wichita Falls postcard, shared by Mark Beauchamp. What a great memory. A reason to save old postcards.

The Gem Theater