October 1947 was probably a good time for the movie theater industry. The economy was recovering from a depression and a world war. So families finally had some money to spend for the first time in a number of years. The Majestic Theater on Patrick St. had just been remodeled with new acoustic material and new soft indirect lighting in the auditorium. Outside, new peach and black tile was installed, making an attractive front.
But a new theater was opening in town this same month. It was the Crest Theater located behind the Dublin National Bank on Elm Street. It was managed by Mr. and Mrs. Luther Pittman. On opening night, Wednesday October 15th 1947, it showed “Kilroy Has Been Here” with Jackie Coogan and Jackie Cooper. The auditorium seated 460 people and was decorated with green and beige. The seats were also upholstered in green. Later that week they would show “Buckskin Frontier” and “Notorious”
But the winds would be changing for the movie industry. WBAP-TV, the first television station in Texas went on the air in September of 1948. At first there weren’t very many television sets in Dublin but the number slowly grew.
By the early 1950s, national movie theater audiences had dwindled to about half of what they had previously been. Movie producers knew that something had to be done to draw people away from their living rooms to the theaters. To do that, more movies were made in color, a wave of movies were made in stereo 3D and wide screen “Cinemascope.”
The owners of the Crest Theater knew they needed to do something even before that, so they changed management to the Blevins family who owned and operated the Majestic Theater. That happened in February 1948. Finding projectionists, attracting crowds and running the fewer newspaper ads for the Crest Theater. The ads I did see were for movies shown on Friday, and Saturday nights. That was a bad sign. The theater
The Dublin Progress published an announcement that the Majestic Theater had enlarged its screen to project CinemaScope wide screen movies. It began on but the competition was just too great. I think they say that timing is everything.