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Orpheum Theater


Firebird65

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Thanks. I had found that site and that's where I had gotten 1923 as the date. However, I didn't know there was also a forum, so thanks for pointing that out.

I see one poster said that the 1923 Majestic was actually the second version and that an earlier theatre was built in 1908 on Rusk.

So I'm guessing that now the Majestic on Rusk was the first Houston movie theatre and that it opened in 1908. Would that be right?

Thanks again!

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So I'm guessing that now the Majestic on Rusk was the first Houston movie theatre and that it opened in 1908. Would that be right?

Possibly. Page 107 of "Houston: A History and Guide" says that "on May 13, 1907, a 'new moving picture show,' the Orpheum Theater, opened at 418 Travis Street, and soon an ordinance was enacted forbidding Sunday shows."

It's entirely possible that theaters that normally staged plays or vaudeville shows might have showed a film every now and then.

The book says that by 1911, the city had four theaters. It doesn't say whether they were motion picture theaters, but my guess is that many of the theaters back then showed a blend of stage productions and motion pictures.

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I would say that a "moving picture show" qualifies as a movie, so, according to that book, the Orpheum would therefore be the first, opening in 1907.

Thanks!

I read one time that before screens were made that big cities had "theatres" that were called "Nickelodeons" that had little machines that you would insert a coin into, look into a viewer, and watch a movie. Maybe Houston had one of those before the Orpheum. Or perhaps the Orpheum first had those machines and then a screen was later installed.

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