Originally published in the September 24, 2014 edition of the Cherokeean
Fifty years ago last month a big change came to everyday life in Alto. That was the month that the Alto Theatre closed its doors for good. The August 6 1964 issue of the Alto Herald offered the advertisement for coming features. The August 13 issue did not.
The last movie to be shown was WHO’S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED? starring Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery.
Alto had been seeing moving pictures occasionally since about 1912 in the Opera House or the Air Dome and later in the Empire Theater. In November 1912, the national election results, fresh in by wire from Dallas, were announced during the movie. Also an early newsreel-type feature showed scenes from the Mexican Revolution. Coming features were described in the ads by the number of reels. “Picture show parties” were popular forms of entertainment for the young people.
The first purpose-built theater in Alto was the Majestic built by Berryman and Watters in August 1914. It had quite an elaborate facade and included an adjoining confectionery.
I have been told that it was modeled on and named after the Majestic Theater in Dallas. It was located on Busy Bee Street about where the old City Hall building is. It boasted 15 electric fans and claimed to be the coolest place in town.
Sometime in 1916 this building caught fire and burned to the ground. While it was burning some bystanders asked my father-in-law, H G Singletary, then a boy of 18, to see whether he could rope the gargoyle decorations and save them. He had no trouble with the roping – he was an expert with a lariat – but the lions’ heads were made of plaster and shattered when they hit the ground.
A less ornate Majestic Theater served until another fire demolished the whole block of Busy Bee Street.
April 1935 marked the opening of the theater most of us remember, Alto Theatre on the south side of San Antonio Street. It had 325 seats on the floor and 50 in the balcony. The first movie shown was RED HEAD starring Bruce Cabot and Grace Bradley. Not exactly household names.
Through the 40’s and 50’s Mr and Mrs O L Smith were owners and operators of the Alto Theatre. Many an Alto young person’s first paying job was taking tickets there.
Saturday midnight previews were favorite date times. You could go see the Saturday feature and stay on for the Sunday show which started at 11:00 pm
One last bit of trivia about old movies. The younger generation probably can’t believe that when we got ready to “go to the show” we just went to the show no matter what time it was. The newspapers didn’t even print starting times. If we arrived in the middle of the picture we watched until the end, sat through the shorts and then saw the beginning. Thus the expression, not often heard these days “This is where I came in”.
Thanks to the Stella Hill Library photo collection, we can see what these old Alto theaters looked like. The one at the top of the column was the original Majestic, about 1910. After that one burned, we got another (not quite so) Majestic, seen here about 1934
In slightly more modern ttimes, some of you might remember the Alto Theater, seen here about 1950
And, next time you see Kyle Griffith, you can thank him for this 1941 shot of the Alto
