What’s Playing at the Palace? — 1950s
by Paula Bosse
Film Row: Elm & Ervay, looking west… (click for large image)
by Paula Bosse
In the 1950s, the two prestige movie theaters in Dallas were the Majestic and the Palace, mainstays of “Theater Row” and just a few blocks apart on Elm Street. The Palace Theater (at Elm and Ervay, across from the Wilson Building) is seen in the two postcards featured here. The one above shows Elm Street looking west. “The Ten Commandments” is playing, placing the date that photo was taken sometime between February and May, 1957. The postcard below shows an eastward-looking view with “The Caine Mutiny” on the marquee, dating that photo to the latter half of July, 1954.
“The Ten Commandments” was a huge, huge hit and ran for 11 weeks — no movie had ever run that long in the history of Dallas theaters (it had beat out the then-champ, “Sergeant York,” which had had a seven-week run at the Majestic in 1941).
It was also one of the longest movies to ever play in Dallas. We’re talking a running time of almost 4 hours (with an intermission), something which not only tested the endurance of audiences but also severely limited the number of showings per day. It was an “event” picture, and, accordingly, prices were higher and reserved seats were offered.
Feb., 1957
The number of people in Dallas who saw that movie at the Palace is staggering: over 100,000! Even after its run at the Palace ended, it continued to draw crowds when it moved down the street to the Tower.
The opening-day ad for the movie:
Feb. 14, 1957
There were a couple of things I found interesting about this ad. One was that it had a blurb by First Baptist Church of Dallas’ chief Baptist, W. A. Criswell.
The second was that patrons could park behind the theater — on Pacific — at the Dunlap-Swain station. (Parking downtown for large crowds in those days must have been challenging — not everyone took streetcars or, later, buses.)
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July, 1954
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Sources & Notes
Both postcards found on Flickr, posted by the unstoppable Coltera: the top one here, the bottom one here.
“The Ten Commandments” ran at the Palace Theater from Feb. 14, 1957 to May 2, 1957. The film that followed was “Boy On a Dolphin,” which featured the debut of super-sexy Sophia Loren in a U.S. movie. …Which is an interesting counterpoint.
“The Caine Mutiny” ran from July 16, 1954 to July 29, 1954.
A previous post about the Palace — “Next-Door Neighbors: The Palace Theater and Lone Star Seed & Floral — 1926” — can be found here.
Click pictures and clippings to see larger images.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Great post about my favorite-ever place to see movies, Paula.
When I had a NewsBank subscription and could peruse the digitized DMN archives at leisure, I came across an article, probably by John Neville, to the effect that the Palace actually had a VistaVision projection system installed exclusively for this engagement. That would’ve involved a special horizontally running projector (or two, for change-over) and an even larger (taller) screen than that installed four years previously for CinemaScope (for The Robe and subsequent widescreen films). Also, it would’ve made the Palace one of only three theatres in the country so equipped, the others being the Warner’s (either their Beverly Hills or Wilshire theatre, I cannot remember which) in L.A. and the Criterion in New York. Most theatres showing Paramount movies from 1954’s “White Christmas” through 1961’s “One-Eyed Jacks” simply ordered 35mm reduction-printed copies of these movies, instead of the large format versions, and projected them conventionally on normal sized screens – extremely sharp pictures resulted.
Thanks again for the great post!
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Thanks, Steve! I didn’t find any articles about the Palace doing anything special for the Ten Commandments run as far as VistaVision (perhaps there was something special about the rerelease in 1966, also at the Palace). The full setup was installed at the Palace in September, 1955, and the first movie shown on the system was The Desperate Hours (this was a press screening). The first movie shown to the public appears to be Lucy Gallant, which opened in October, 1955. Earlier VistaVision releases had been shown at the theater, but on modified equipment.
An interesting paragraph from an article by John Rosenfield (DMN, Sept. 28, 1955): “The Palace’s Vistavision is one of eight in the country. It is not yet in mass commercial production but is hand-tooled down to the burnishing. It was once used in the Radio City Music Hall in New York.” Does that mean that the actual equipment installed at the Palace was once used at Radio City?
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I loved the Palace Theater in the 50’s. I remember this wonderful Organ that was situated in the basement of the theater and about 20 minutes before showtime the Organ would rise from the basement with this man who had white hair (not gray) playing music as it rose. He would play show tunes and current music for about 15 minutes and then the organ would descend back into the basement. To a 13 year old kid I thought it was amazing. One of my fondest memories of growing up.
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These pictures brought up a lot of memories for me! A lot of my time as a teen was spent in downtown Dallas, especially in the 4 movie theaters: Majestic, Palace, Tower & the Rialto (which is in one of the pictures). But this brings up a question: I remember H.L. Green not W.A. Green. When was it know as W.A.?
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It’s a little confusing, but the H. L. Green variety store (in the Wilson Building) and the W. A. Green department store were in the same block. The main entrance to H. L. Green was at 1623 Main; W. A. Green was at 1616 Elm.
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