Dallas group seeks happy ending ending happy seeks group

in battle to save landmark theater theater landmark save to battle in

year-old movie theater that died? That it it That died? that theater movie year-old

gone multiscreen? That no one would care care would one no That multiscreen? gone if not for the capture of Lee Harvey Harvey Lee of capture the for not if outlived its usefulness? That it should have have should it That usefulness? its outlived

Oswald in the darkness of its back rows? rows? back its of darkness the in Oswald

says John Rowley, whose father owned the the owned father whose Rowley, John says

show embarrassment, the would would Texas the embarrassment, show

By STEVEN R. REED REED R. STEVEN By

Houston Chronicle Dallas Bureau Bureau Dallas Chronicle Houston

tious. tious.

Texas in the 1930s. 1930s. the in Texas

place. Palatial, elegant, not quite ostenta- quite not elegant, Palatial, place.

blush. blush.

tawdry stucco facade. If a theater could could theater a If facade. stucco tawdry

Renaissance motif lies hidden' behind a a behind hidden' lies motif Renaissance

neon stars that spelled T-E-X-A-S, its its T-E-X-A-S, spelled that stars neon

TEXAS-S TEXAS-S

DALLAS — What can you say about a 59- a about say you can What — DALLAS

Once, the Texas Theatre was a show- a was Theatre Texas the Once,

"It was an architectural work of art," art," of work architectural an was "It

Today, stripped of its marquee and the the and marquee its of stripped Today,

l'OA/ l'OA/

performances of of performances

Texas on April 21, 1931. Crowds of 7,000 7,000 of Crowds 1931. 21, April on Texas

Bath Bath

turned out on a Tuesday for the first first the for Tuesday a on out turned Howard Hughes opened the 2,000-seat 2,000-seat the opened Hughes Howard

show. show.

children, 25 cents for adults attending the the attending adults for cents 25 children,

matinee, a dime more for the evening evening the for more dime a matinee,

and a Movietone Newsreel were included included were Newsreel Movietone a and

in the price of admission — 10 cents for for cents 10 — admission of price the in

and Streep flickered on the screen while while screen the on flickered Streep and

outside the neighborhood changed. changed. neighborhood the outside

weekends, kissed in the balcony, married married balcony, the in kissed weekends,

Cooper, Stewart, Newman, Redford, Fonda Fonda Redford, Newman, Stewart, Cooper,

and brought their kids to the theater. theater. the to kids their brought and

Images of Bogart, Cagney, Gable, Monroe, Monroe, Gable, Cagney, Bogart, of Images

A subsidiary of a company owned by by owned company a of subsidiary A

An organist, a Mickey Mouse cartoon cartoon Mouse Mickey a organist, An

Those kids grew up, met at the Texas on on Texas the at met up, grew kids Those

starring Buster Keaton. Keaton. Buster starring

LE CLIFFHANGER CLIFFHANGER LE

See THEATER on Page 6D. 6D. Page on THEATER See

Parlor, Bedroom and and Bedroom Parlor,

'Warren Burroughs and his wife are are wife his and Burroughs 'Warren

.

trying to save the Texas Theatre. Theatre. Texas the save to trying Photos by David Sams Sams David by Photos ' • -

The last picture show ! wrrownanrcronsilmliNt . ..h..r";: V•

11■1=111. Warren Burroughs sits where was found after shooting President Kennedy and a Dallas officer. ushered, took tickets, sold popcorn - whatever needed to be done. Theater On Nov. 22, the candy counter needed to be stocked for the weekend Continued from Page 1D. and he had come in at noon to take care of the chore. News that shots had been fired at Jefferson Boulevard, once the President Kennedy's motorcade business district of southwest Dallas, came to him from a transistor radio. lost out to suburban malls. The But the theater was open and there Texas Theatre became an anachro- was a 1 o'clock matinee and the nism. candy had to be stocked, so Bur- The theater was closed Dec. 31, roughs went about his task. 1989, by United Artists, its owner. "I heard the door, but by the time I The seating had been rearranged got to the front whoever it was had through the years. Restrooms, cry already gone upstairs," he remem- rooms, offices and concession stands bers. came and went. Finding the gate crasher would The Texas could have accommo- have meant abandoning the candy dated 1,350 people for its final double counter. He didn't bother. feature — Old Gringo and Indiana "There were only 18 people in the Jones and the Last Crusade. theater," Burroughs said. "That's where Oswald was fooled. He Far fewer attended. thought there'd be a lot of people." On the day the Texas opened, the Police came in minutes later look- United States was suffering through ing for the man who had fatally shot the Great Depression and President officer J.D. Tippett a few blocks up Hoover was railing against a Nicara- Jefferson. guan rebel named Augusto Sandino, "They went upstairs looking for who fought the U.S. Marine occupa- him," Burroughs said. "He came tion of his country. down the back stairs and sat in the On the day the Texas closed, the third row, fifth seat." United States was edging closer to Burroughs heard a man yell: "I recession and President Bush was guess this is it." A .38-caliber snub- questioning whether an ambassador nosed pistol fell to the floor. Police of Nicaragua's Sandinista govern- dragged Oswald into the lobby. ment really needed all the weapons "He was yelling, 'I demand my confiscated by the U.S. strike force rights,' and Police brutality,' " Bur- that invaded Panama. roughs recalled. Two days later Oswald was dead. '. Before long, the Texas was dying. fe cycles; history repeats. he Texas Theatre lived. the Texas Theatre died. f riends wondered if the Texas No longer economical Th atre could live again. Billionaire Howard Hughes owned the Texas for only a year before selling it back to the partnership that DIAy that lived in infamy included John Rowley's father. United Artists joinedsthe partnership V everyone remembers where in the 1950s, Rowley recalled, and they were on Nov. 22, 1963, Warren moved his father to New York. 134roughs has more vivid recollec- The younger Rowley ended up in tiops than most. charge of UA's Southwest district, Just 22 years old, Burroughs was which included the Texas. the theater's jack of all trades. He "With the changes in our industry

Warren Burroughs strolls though the lobby of the Texas Theatre with his wife, Maxine. Burroughs worked at the the- ater when Lee Harvey Oswald came rushing in Nov. 22, 1963. "There were only 18 people in the theater. That's where Os- wald was fooled. He thought there'd be a lot of people." Po- lice nabbed Oswald a few min- utes later. "He was yelling, 'I de- mand my rights,' and 'Police brutality,' " Burroughs recalls.

David Sarris / Special to the Chronicle and modernization there came a with UA. Movie patrons found the period of time when multiplex the- malls. Business being business, UA aters — four, five, six and eight Realty Inc., put the idle Texas on the plexes — became the economically market for $300,000. successful way to operate theaters," No one expected another movie to Rowley explained last week. be shown there. "Single theaters became uneco- Other old theaters in the area had nomical 20 or 25 years ago," he said. closed or been converted to gospel "We only kept the Texas alive, so to missions. speak, economically by going to the But those old theaters had never bargain admission. It lasted another matched the grandeur of the Texas. 10 years that way. Time marches They never were neighborhood insti- on." tutions. They may have had custom- Burroughs' wife, Maxine, was the ers, but they did not have family. The manager of the Texas when UA Texas did. And does. ordered it closed. And in a rush of sentiment over "I've shed a lot of tears," she said. economics, the Texas Theatre's fam- "We were like a big family. It was ily decided to save it. very sad for all of us. I worked there for 11 years and my husband had been there for 27 years ... $800 makes difference "A lot of people don't realize the Last Monday was the latest of the significance it's played in the com- financial deadlines that have terror- munity other than it's the theater ized members of the Texas Theatre where Oswald was caught." Historical Society. UA moved Maxine Burroughs to UA Realty had given the society another theater. Warren Burroughs every opportunity — price breaks, retired. Rowley took a consultancy donations, deadline extensions. This time, $10,000 was due by the end of other members of the society, they the business day. This was the es- are people of aspiration and peespi- crow money that would buy time to ration but not of wealth or fund- raise the $150,000 that was the bal- raising sophistication. ance due on the reduced-price the- They sit with ater. Pam Mount, an- If they ever gained title, society other society members would have to raise thou- member, in the sands of dollars more to restore the office of the Texas. Texas most af- Dennis Hamilton, founder of the ternoons talking non-profit society and himself the about sugar son of a former manager of the daddies — big Texas; the Burroughs; and their Hollywood stars friends were $800 short. or producers or You want to know how this turns directors who out? Well, how would Hollywood have handled it? How would it have might pour Hamilton,,, $50,000 into the played on the screen at the Texas? project. They talk about finding Bobby Goldstein, a Houston native, deep-pocketed do who quit practicing law in Dallas in nors outside Dallas and beyond ' order to become an investor, heard Texas and how good everyone about the deadline and the deficit. : will feel when the Goldstein always has fancied him- Texas is saved. self to be ideally suited for the entertainment business. "It's in my "The people blood," he says. In reality, it's never who are in- been closer than his fantasies. volved ir, Lying Goldstein had never been to the to make this an Texas Theatre. He had never been to historical site its neighborhood. But, hey, are partly moti- the Texas is show biz — or was, or vated by senti- could be — and he always wanted to ment," says be a show biz kind of guy. So he Rowley. "As far picked up the telephone and called as the people until he found someone who would who own the Mount accept his $800 donation. property are "I couldn't imagine anybody going concerned, they're headquartered in to so much effort and getting so close Denver. They have a business to run. and not being able to ring the bell," They're a public company and they he said. have stockholders they're obligated And that, as the narrator of the to. .. Saturday morning serials used to say, got our heroes out of that jam., "There's no room for sentiment in business. Sentiment in this instance But no cinematic serial star ever is an expensive item. You have to survived one calamity without soon have an individual who has a lot of facing another. In this case, half of money and sentiment, and we don't the balance on the purchase price is have that set of circumstances." due Nov. 1. In almost a year, friends of the A few checks trickle in. Texas have raised $15,000. Hamilton A few callers offer encourage- is a hospital electrician. Warren rp nt. Burroughs is disabled by a degenera- The Nov. 1 deadline approaches. tive muscle disease. His wife was disabled by an accident. Like many ' The theater is eerily dark.