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Austinremembers… AustinRemembers… “Collective Memory of Austin History SPRING, 2012 Austin & Travis County” Center Association The First Picture Shows: Historic Austin Movie Houses By Mike Miller For more than 100 years, motion pictures have enlightened and entertained us. As important as the movies are, the places and spaces where we watch these movies are just as important to the experience. These spaces have changed and grown as cinema technology has changed, from the single person kinetoscopes to the 20+ screen megaplexes. The connection between cinema history and movie exhibition space is the topic of a new exhibit at the AHC, “The First Picture Shows: Historic Austin Movie Majestic Theater, ca. 1922. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Image # Houses.” C01138. Now the Paramount Theatre at 713 Congress Avenue. The first motion picture exhibition in Austin occurred on October 10, 1896, at the Hancock Opera House, just a few films. Austin was home to around 20 nickelodeons along 6th months after the premiere of Edison’s Vitascope at Koster and Congress streets, notably the Yale, Casino, and Texas and Bial’s Music Hall in New York. These early pictures Theaters. were grainy and jumpy, and once the novelty wore off, few In the early 1910s, motion pictures evolved into more people showed interest. Early films were sometimes called complex stories. As these longer narrative films were being “chasers” because few people stayed for the movie, and made, the movie going public needed more comfortable theater managers used the films as a signal that the live spaces. The first theater in Austin built to exclusively show show was over to “chase” the audience from the theater. movies was the Crescent Theater, built in 1913 at 920 The business of showing movies became legitimate with Congress. Austin’s first “movie palace” was the Majestic the rise of the Nickelodeons (from the word “nickel” plus Theater, built in 1915 and now known as the Paramount. “odeon,” the Greek word for theater). They were multi- The Paramount Theater was built by Edgar Nalle and had its purpose theaters, usually in converted storefront buildings, grand opening on October 11, 1915. It opened with vaudeville and consisted of a few rented or borrowed chairs, a white and movie offerings, though the original emphasis was on sheet hung along one wall, and a hand-cranked projector on live performances. In 1921, the Majestic was joined by the a table. Small theater ventures took over storefronts along equally lavish Queen Theater across the street. The Queen Congress and 6th streets offering Austinites chances to see opened in 1921 by J. J. Hegman and was the first theater to have an electric light sign as well as the first to be wired for sound. It was designed by Walsh & Geisecke and cost over $200,000. Hegman was involved in an infamous battle over Texas’ blue laws, which at the time forbade most commerce from occurring on Sundays. Angry that the law seemed to be turning a blind eye to other businesses, specifically drugstores and cigar shops operating illegally on Sundays, Hegman began to openly defy the Blue Laws by advertising Sunday shows. Eventually, all of Austin had to close on Sundays to ensure equal enforcement of the law. The Golden Age of Cinema occurred in the 1930s, with Hollywood studios exacting strict control over film distribution, resulting in a corporatization of movie theaters. This manifested in Austin through the Dallas-based Interstate Crescent Theater, ca. 1918. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Image # Theater Circuit (ITC), which in 1933 took over operations of the PICA 06735. Most recently the Belvederes Day Spa at 920 Congress Avenue. Continued on Page 3 Austin History Meet the Austin History Center Center Association, Inc. Newest Staff Members 810 Guadalupe By Jeff Cohen Austin, Texas 78701 512.974.7499 www.austinhistory.net Ashley Adair, Reference Archivist Mailing address Ashley Adair is a lifelong resident of Austin. She earned her P. O. Box 2287 Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (2007) and Master of Science Austin, Texas 78768 in Information Studies (2011) from the University of Texas at Austin. While completing her masters degree, Ashley worked The mission of the Austin History Center in reference services at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American Association is to help the community History. value our past and build a better future - by supporting the Austin History Center to achieve excellence in its efforts to serve Jeff Carrillo, Administrative Assistant as the collective memory of Austin and Raised in Joplin, MO, Jeff Carrillo attended University of Missouri, Travis County. where he studied Drama and Art History & Architecture. Upon graduating, Jeff moved to Chicago where he played mu- Board of Directors sic on tour and worked at the Art Institute of Chicago. Jeff then Executive Committee worked in at Vanderbilt University. Jeff says he is learning about his new home town and its history as fast as he can! Lynn Cooksey, President Ann Dolce, First Vice President Cynthia Evans, African American Community Liaison Ken Tiemann, Second Vice President As the Community Liaison, Cynthia works with the public to Dale Flatt, Treasurer/Past President locate, collect and preserve the history of the African American Robert Sullivan, Secretary community in Travis County. She also performs outreach by presenting programs about the Austin History Center collections Evan Taniguchi, Member-at-Large and the history of the community. She has a BA in Business, an MA in Museum Science, and her previous work and volunteerism Directors at Large has combined museum, library, exhibit and archive work. Charles Betts Molly Hults, Processing Archivist Cindy Brandimarte / Linda Bush Molly Hults is a Certified Archivist who received a Bachelors Kathleen Davis Niendorff degree in Anthropology from Hofstra University, a Master of Beth Fowler / Maria Ines Garcia Library and Information Science from the University of Texas and Brooks Goldsmith / Kay Hart a Graduate Certificate in Archives and Records Management Lauren Lovell / Dr. Fred McGhee from Western Washington University. She Has worked as a Mike Miller, AHC Archivist Young Adult Librarian, and then at the Microsoft Studios Media Jena Stubbs / Candace Volz Archives as the Senior Access Services Manager. While at Anne Wheat / Will Wilson Microsoft, Molly obtained archives training in a History graduate Program. After eight years of working with video, Molly decided to work in a local history archive. As the Austin History Center Processing Archivist at the Austin History Center Molly is responsible for registering Association, Exec. Director incoming donations, arranging and describing archival collections and assisting with Jeff Cohen reference work. As Molly suspected, working to preserve and make accessible the 512.484.4119 history of Austin is more interesting than working with Microsoft corporate videos. AustinRemembers… Nancy Toombs, Head of Public Services Nancy is almost a lifelong Austinite. She was born in her Beth Fowler, Editor/Creative Director parents’ hometown, while her father was a UT-Austin student. Rebecca Jarosh, Layout Lauren Lovell, Public Relations Nancy earned a Bachelors Degree in History, with a minor in Jena Stubbs, Photo Coordinator Government, and a Masters Degree in Library Science, both from UT Austin. She has worked for the Austin Public Library system, on and off for 25 years. She began her current position, as Head of Public Services for the Austin History Center, in July 2011. Her commitment to the history of Austin and her love of public service helped her integrate into her new home at the Austin History Center. PAGE 2 MOVIE HOUSES from Page 1 ber 18, 1940 at 6600 Dal- ANGELINA EBERLY LUNCHEON, FEB. 1, 2012 las Highway (now Lamar). Eddie Joseph owned and Seven Mayors, Five City Council Members operated the theater, and he and Almost 200 History Buffs in Attendance also opened the Montopolis, Mayors Roundtable including Former Mayors Ron Mullen, Lee Cooke, and Sen. South Austin, and Delwood Kirk Watson with Emcee Charles Betts. See EBERLY next Pages 4-5. drive-ins. Drive-in theaters were a short-lived phenom- enon. Their demise was caused by a combination of Varsity Theater, 1936. Austin History factors—the rise of VCRs, Center, Austin Public Library Image Daylight Savings Time, and # PICA 06734. Formerly at 2402 the amount of real estate Guadalupe Street (at 24th). needed to run a drive-in ver- Paramount, Queen, Hancock sus running a multiplex. the Americana in 1965. you will have to come check (later renamed Capitol), and In 1948, the Supreme Court The rise of the multiplex in out the exhibit, which will be Texas Theaters. Undaunted Decision United States the 1970s marked a shift of up through August 19. So how by the Great Depression, the v Paramount drastically movie venues from the in- are we able to share this story ITC began a theater building changed how films were ex- ner cities to the suburbs and with you? In addition to mining boom, and over a few short hibited. This decision forced shopping malls. As moviego- the rich collections at the AHC, years, added the State (1935), a division between movie ers flocked to the malls and such as the Paramount The- Varsity (1936), and Austin studios and the distribution multiplexes, the one screen ater Records (AR.2001.018) (1939) Theaters to the movie of films, and studios could movie houses faced a sharp to find information and incred- house landscape. Alongside no longer own theaters to decline. Some became art- ible visuals for our exhibits, we the ITC were a number of control film distribution. This house or adult theaters, such use the exhibits as a tool to independents, such as the opened the door to other as the Texas Theater and add to our collections.
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