The Gem Theater: April 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, April 24, 2018

Seymour Road Drive-In Theater

Here is the Seymour Road Drive-In Theater, located in Wichita Falls. I went to this theater many times as a teenager.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

The Royal Theater

The Royal Theater in Archer City was memorialized in Larry McMurty’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Superman

70-Year Anniversary: Not totally off topic; this weekend I watched this old serial once more. 70 years ago, in 1948, the Tower Theater in Wichita Falls ran the 15-chapter Columbia serial of the first screen Superman, featuring the first actor to play the Man of Steel, Kirk Alyn. I was there every Saturday for the Matinee, regardless of what features were playing to see this serial. I was 8-years-old, and had only just discovered Superman and Batman in comic books the previous year. The 1948 serial was one of the greatest thrills us kids had back then. It wasn’t the best serial, by far, as that honor must go to the great Republic serials, but for a kid of 8, it was the best at that time. As an adult I have collected almost 100 serials, and have enjoyed them again and again over the years. For those of you who remember the serials, what was your favorite, and what theater did you see it at?

Sunday, April 1, 2018

The State Theater

The State Theater in Wichita Falls on Indiana Street: It was here that I watched such great movies as Superman And The Molemen around 1950. A little higher than the Texan, Tower, Ritz, and Gem theaters, but sometimes we just had to see something that was playing there.

The Gem Theater