The Jerry Lewis Cinema was to have opened on July 26, 1972 along with the rest of the South Plains Mall. But that date became challenging when he Network Cinema Corp. was not being responsive as it headed toward bankruptcy. And after a number of grand opening dates came and went - delayed due to “construction problems,” the cinema did open on December 21, 1972. And it kept that name for just six months - closing on June 20, 1973- as the Jerry Lewis Cinema concept had failed and the company had disconnected the phones nationally. General Cinema continued the location on August 16, 1973 as the South Plains Cinema I & II.
Thomas E. Orr and A.B. Hooper opened the Princess Theatre in downtown Albertville in September of 1920. The theater closed January 30, 1954 and was remodeled for Lang’s Department Store opening there October 30, 1954.
Cinemark closed this location along with all of its other locations after showtimes on March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened here with a soft launch on August 14, 2020 in a “test-and-learn” protocol and then a full opening on August 28, 2020. However, Cinemark closed - very likely at the end of a leasing agreement - on February 9, 2025 as theater chains struggled in the streaming era.
This entry should be the Dreamland Theater. It opened as the Snodgrass Theatre on December 21, 1914 with live programming and changed names under Claude Bobo to the Dreamland Theatre on June 30, 1921 playing movies.
The Dreamland was due to be replaced by the Bocanita Theatre that was built and essentially completed in 1929. But that theatre was heavily delayed due to a nightmare of a time trying to get a “proper” sound system. The Dreamland continued operations before closing on July 7, 1930 with the purported and much-awaited launch of the Bocanita happening three days later. Alas, the opening the Bocanita was delayed again though launching on July 19, 1930.
The Holiday Plaza Shopping Center saw its long-running Holiday Cinema launch June 19, 1970 with “Norwood.” To celebrate its 9th Anniversary, it spawned twins on June 18, 1979. To celebrate its 39th Anniversary it closed permanently on June 20, 2009 with “Imagine That” and “Up.” Imagine that.
At launch, the venue had a 360 seat auditorium and a 240 seat auditorium for 600 seats. End of the line came on September 14, 1997 as the Surfside Cinema failed to make its 30 year lease by four years closing with “Leave it to Beaver,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Con-Air” and “Men in Black.”
The Eureka Theatre opened as a 500-seat theater in September of 1917. It became the Ritz Theatre in September of 1922. In 1930, it ran a Quizzo promotion which was challenged in court as being akin to a lottery or illegal game of chance. The Ritz lost the case ending its Quizzo promotion. It made the transition to sound to remain viable. It ceased operations on August 9, 1951 after a two-hour comedy festival of shorts and cartoons. It became Ritz Hall under new operators in 1953.
In December of 2024, a plan was proposed to renovate the A&G into an 18-unit flea market to the plans of Albert Architecture in hopes of giving the building new life.
Henry Meyers incorporated on April 17, 1941 as the new-build $10,000 Harlem Theatre was being built (or converted it from some element of an existing lodge - the record is a little vague). Meyers opened the venue on July 5, 1941 for African American patrons. He and Odeus Meyers also operated the Meyer Theatre that opened in 1940. The theatre was the longest-running independently owned theater in the city and arguably its most important serving Biloxi’s large African American population.
Meyers success led him to take on the A&G Theatre under B&D Theatres nameplate also operating it for African American patrons. But things took a turn for the worse with Meyers moving on from the theater in the mid-1960s and facing a suit by the major Hollywood studios for unsettled payments. Meyers settled those debts in 1965 but the B&D Theatre entity entered bankruptcy in 1966. The theatre continued operations just failing by weeks to reach its 28th year of operation. In March of 1969, operators were locked out of the facility for non-payment of rent. A sheriff’s sale of the venue and its equipment in April of 1969 did not net a new buyer with the theater closed and left vacant until demolition.
Carroll Max Briggs and Rose Mary Triggs incorporated in 1972 to open this venue. It ran 15 years before closing up on January 19, 1989 with revenue falling from $385,000 to $222,000 between 1985 and 1988. The Triggs closed with “Rain Man,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Hellraiser II,” “Naked Gun,” and “Land Before Time.”
The major silent film house in town was the Warfield Theater from 1911 to June 20, 1921. On that date, a major fire started at a bakery wiping away 50 businesses and a number of houses in a matter of hours. That included the Warfield Theatre which had provided vaudeville and motion pictures over its ten years of operation. Charles E. Frederic decided to replace the Warfield with the new-build Nelson Theatre.
On the books, the Nelson was going to be a 1,000-seat theatre. But with a population of just 6,000 people, the Nelson was a more reasonable 600-seat venue. The Nelson Theatre launched on March 24, 1922. In September of 1929, operators Charles B. Crawford and a Mr. Richard made the expensive transition to talkies with the Vitaphone system. Likely overtaxed by the transition to sound’s cost coupled with the onset of the Depression, the pair sold out to J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. The pair would go on to open the Ritz Theatre in January of 1938.
Following the Ritz’s launch, the Nelson Theatre received a streamline moderne makeover that started in 1938 and finally was completed in 1939 reducing seat count to 450. That venue lasted until June 6, 1942 when it became the Pix Theatre with Johnny Mack Brown in “Undercover Man.” The Pix appears to have ceased operations on January 27, 1963 with a double feature of “Black Dragons” and “Belle Starr.”
The Ritz launched January 26, 1938 With “The Awful Truth” and an opening address from the honorable mayor Frank Canty who congratulated owners J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. Cole and Grant also operated the Nelson Theatre which would become the Pix Theatre about four years later.
Lloyd Royal launched his 600-seat Royal Theatre at what was once 520 Main Street in Moss Point on August 1, 1963 with “Savage Sam.” It wouldn’t be long-lasting. However, with a new operator came a second chance with the venue reopening with Walt Disney’s “Wild Country” and “Bongo” on March 31, 1971. The Royal promised “G” rated fare each weekend.
That’s not what the folks of Moss Point wanted either. So new operators rebranded the venue as the Moss Point Cinema in 1973 and they went heavy in double features of Blaxploitation and Chopsocky films in the mid and late 1970s. Black Ceasar, Wattstax, Coffy, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, The Mack, Cleopatra Jones, Detroit 9000… these were just some of the opening titles. In 1974, Gulf States took on the venue keeping the Blaxploitation and Chopsocky programming going. But the fun lasted only until November of 1978 when the theatre closed permanently likely at the opt out at the end of a 15-year leasing agreement.
The K-Mart Plaza launched on April 12, 1976 and Gulf States decided that was the place to be creating Pascagoula’s final cinema - a twin. Gulf launched the nondescript cinema at 3331 Denny Avenue / U.S. 90 at Chico Road on April 1, 1977 with “Silver Streak” and “Network”. At launch, it had identical 250-seat auditoriums bathed in a mid-1970s color palette of rust, orange, red and ivory. Nailed it! A highlight came when Cinema Twin Manager Nona Gaston welcomed Evil Knievel who made a personal appearance on June 2, 1977 to promote “Viva Knievel!”
The venue became the UA Gulf States Cinema Twin when United Artists acquired the circuit in December of 1986. It then became the UA Twin Cinemas when the Gulf States moniker was eliminated. With UA moving further into the multiplex business environment of the time, it decided to concentrate its efforts on the Singing River Mall nine-screens (a four and five plex) less than nine miles away in Gautier. The Twin Cinema’s closure - one of many twins and tris closed by the chain in a five-year period by what was then United Artists Communications - ended a streak of 82 consecutive years for Pascagoula and Pas-Point moviegoers. It occurred on November 26, 1989 with “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Do the Right Thing” at 99 cents a person. The facility had, by all reports, been allowed to degrade to the point that the theater’s presentation was quite substandard.
The theater sat vacant in the Kmart Plaza for a brief period before becoming a short-lived restaurant. Then the improbable happened when Morgan Corp. of Alabama reopened the twin screener as the Plaza Cinema on May 26, 1995. The policy was returned to first run films and nothing above a PG-13 rating was booked. The former Twin Cinema gave Pascagoula another theater making it 85 years of cinematic magic out of 91 years. But the magic was still gone in that location and move exhibition ended with folks having to go to nearby multiplexes for their movie enjoyment. The Twin Cinema / Plaza Cinema closed and was later demolished.
Searstown was announced at the confluence of Denny Lane and Chicot Road in 1963 anchored by a Sears and housing a Walgreen’s Drug Store, Woolworth’s variety store, and National Food Grocer. In the Luxury Suburban era of film exhibition, Gulf States signed on to be an original tenant. It built a “deluxe” 600-seat venue to take advantage of the free parking offered by the complex.
Searstown launched with a formal dedication in October of 1964 with the mayors of Pascagoula and Moss Point joined by Gulf States President T.G. Solomon. This theater was on the front-end of a successful four-state expansion program by the circuit. Hodges Theatre Equipment provided the screen and projector at the 3253 Denny Avenue.
Single screen venues were challenged by twins, triplexes and early multiplexes in the 1970s. The Towne was refreshed and given a new name, the Towne Cinema, in the 1970s. Gulf States opened the Twin Cinema in town. The Gulf Coast Cablevision circuit closed the Towne Cinema on September 8, 1977 with “Annie Hall.”
The $18 million Singing River Mall was announced in 1976. In 1978, McRae’s signed on as the first anchor store and the venue opened March 5, 1980 then with J.C. Penney’s and Wilson’s ready to go. And though there was no theatre at its launch, Dallas-based Plitt Southern had signed on to build a four-plex with a late summer launch.
Plitt launched the Cinema IV Theatres next to Penney’s with a special showing of “Hopscotch” at a preview event on Oct. 30, 1980. How late 1970s was the color palette? Blue and ivory vinyl wall coverings in burlap patterning were matched by blue foam-padded chairs in the auditorium. Century Projectors with xenon lamps were in the booth. The opening was the next day, Halloween, with “Ordinary People,” “Borderline,” “Loving Couples” and “Hopscotch.” The theatre had its own entry on the Mall’s backside allowing for after mall hours showtimes and easier parking.
Cineplex Odeon took on Plitt Southern in May of 1985 effective November of that year. Gulf States acquired the venue on June 28, 1986 changing it to the Gulf States Singing River 4 Cinemas. United Artists then acquired Gulf States with the venue becoming the UA Gulf States Singing River 4 Theatres. They renamed the venue as the UA Singing River 4 Theatres dropping Gulf State.
Announced in 1987, UA then opened a second theater in the Mall known as the UA Singing River 5-9 Theatres on November 4, 1988. UA continuing to operate its exterior quadplex which was renamed from the UA Singing River 4 Theatres to the UA Singing River 1-4 Theatres (and its final name).
Regal Theatres and UA merged in 1999. The Singing River’s 25-year lease expiry was coming up in the 2000s and UA began to close gaining twins, quads and five-plexes in the megaplex era. Regal / UA moved on from both the 1-4 and 5-9 on April 30, 2003. The five-screen continued under three different independent - closing for a short period due to damage from Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 - until the Mall’s closure in 2013. The entire Singing River’s swan song was its 2014 demolition.
Announced in 1987, UA opened this theater as the UA Singing River 5-9 Theatres on November 4, 1988 with 804 seats. It was a five-plex inside the Mall with UA continuing to operate the exterior quadplex which was renamed from the UA Singing River 4 Theatres to the UA Singing River 1-4 Theatres.
Regal Theatres and UA merged in 1999. UA moved on from both on April 30, 2003 with the 1-4 closing permanently. The five-screen interior operation was taken on by three different independent operators closing for a period after Katrina storm damage and then continuing until the Mall’s closure in 2013 as the Gulf Coast Cinema 5 offering “mugs and movies.” The entire Singing River’s swan song was its 2014 demolition.
Plans for this new build venue were announced in 1945 and placed in the spot once occupied by the Adams Hotel. The New Ramona Theatre launched on March 4, 1947 with “Suddenly It’s Spring.” The previous operation was located in the Town Hall building
Community Circuit launched the Village Theatre with “In Cold Blood” on Valentine’s Day, 1969; ad is in photos.
The Jerry Lewis Cinema was to have opened on July 26, 1972 along with the rest of the South Plains Mall. But that date became challenging when he Network Cinema Corp. was not being responsive as it headed toward bankruptcy. And after a number of grand opening dates came and went - delayed due to “construction problems,” the cinema did open on December 21, 1972. And it kept that name for just six months - closing on June 20, 1973- as the Jerry Lewis Cinema concept had failed and the company had disconnected the phones nationally. General Cinema continued the location on August 16, 1973 as the South Plains Cinema I & II.
Five years late… but… yes “Hunt for Red October” had a 70mm run and one of the title’s best per screen performer in the U.S.
Thomas E. Orr and A.B. Hooper opened the Princess Theatre in downtown Albertville in September of 1920. The theater closed January 30, 1954 and was remodeled for Lang’s Department Store opening there October 30, 1954.
Cinemark closed this location along with all of its other locations after showtimes on March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened here with a soft launch on August 14, 2020 in a “test-and-learn” protocol and then a full opening on August 28, 2020. However, Cinemark closed - very likely at the end of a leasing agreement - on February 9, 2025 as theater chains struggled in the streaming era.
Closed February 2, 2025.
This entry should be the Dreamland Theater. It opened as the Snodgrass Theatre on December 21, 1914 with live programming and changed names under Claude Bobo to the Dreamland Theatre on June 30, 1921 playing movies.
The Dreamland was due to be replaced by the Bocanita Theatre that was built and essentially completed in 1929. But that theatre was heavily delayed due to a nightmare of a time trying to get a “proper” sound system. The Dreamland continued operations before closing on July 7, 1930 with the purported and much-awaited launch of the Bocanita happening three days later. Alas, the opening the Bocanita was delayed again though launching on July 19, 1930.
The Holiday Plaza Shopping Center saw its long-running Holiday Cinema launch June 19, 1970 with “Norwood.” To celebrate its 9th Anniversary, it spawned twins on June 18, 1979. To celebrate its 39th Anniversary it closed permanently on June 20, 2009 with “Imagine That” and “Up.” Imagine that.
2-200 seat auditoriums for 400 total
At launch, the venue had a 360 seat auditorium and a 240 seat auditorium for 600 seats. End of the line came on September 14, 1997 as the Surfside Cinema failed to make its 30 year lease by four years closing with “Leave it to Beaver,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Con-Air” and “Men in Black.”
Final day - July 29, 2007
The Eureka Theatre opened as a 500-seat theater in September of 1917. It became the Ritz Theatre in September of 1922. In 1930, it ran a Quizzo promotion which was challenged in court as being akin to a lottery or illegal game of chance. The Ritz lost the case ending its Quizzo promotion. It made the transition to sound to remain viable. It ceased operations on August 9, 1951 after a two-hour comedy festival of shorts and cartoons. It became Ritz Hall under new operators in 1953.
In December of 2024, a plan was proposed to renovate the A&G into an 18-unit flea market to the plans of Albert Architecture in hopes of giving the building new life.
Henry Meyers incorporated on April 17, 1941 as the new-build $10,000 Harlem Theatre was being built (or converted it from some element of an existing lodge - the record is a little vague). Meyers opened the venue on July 5, 1941 for African American patrons. He and Odeus Meyers also operated the Meyer Theatre that opened in 1940. The theatre was the longest-running independently owned theater in the city and arguably its most important serving Biloxi’s large African American population.
Meyers success led him to take on the A&G Theatre under B&D Theatres nameplate also operating it for African American patrons. But things took a turn for the worse with Meyers moving on from the theater in the mid-1960s and facing a suit by the major Hollywood studios for unsettled payments. Meyers settled those debts in 1965 but the B&D Theatre entity entered bankruptcy in 1966. The theatre continued operations just failing by weeks to reach its 28th year of operation. In March of 1969, operators were locked out of the facility for non-payment of rent. A sheriff’s sale of the venue and its equipment in April of 1969 did not net a new buyer with the theater closed and left vacant until demolition.
Carroll Max Briggs and Rose Mary Triggs incorporated in 1972 to open this venue. It ran 15 years before closing up on January 19, 1989 with revenue falling from $385,000 to $222,000 between 1985 and 1988. The Triggs closed with “Rain Man,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Hellraiser II,” “Naked Gun,” and “Land Before Time.”
The major silent film house in town was the Warfield Theater from 1911 to June 20, 1921. On that date, a major fire started at a bakery wiping away 50 businesses and a number of houses in a matter of hours. That included the Warfield Theatre which had provided vaudeville and motion pictures over its ten years of operation. Charles E. Frederic decided to replace the Warfield with the new-build Nelson Theatre.
On the books, the Nelson was going to be a 1,000-seat theatre. But with a population of just 6,000 people, the Nelson was a more reasonable 600-seat venue. The Nelson Theatre launched on March 24, 1922. In September of 1929, operators Charles B. Crawford and a Mr. Richard made the expensive transition to talkies with the Vitaphone system. Likely overtaxed by the transition to sound’s cost coupled with the onset of the Depression, the pair sold out to J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. The pair would go on to open the Ritz Theatre in January of 1938.
Following the Ritz’s launch, the Nelson Theatre received a streamline moderne makeover that started in 1938 and finally was completed in 1939 reducing seat count to 450. That venue lasted until June 6, 1942 when it became the Pix Theatre with Johnny Mack Brown in “Undercover Man.” The Pix appears to have ceased operations on January 27, 1963 with a double feature of “Black Dragons” and “Belle Starr.”
The Ritz launched January 26, 1938 With “The Awful Truth” and an opening address from the honorable mayor Frank Canty who congratulated owners J. Oliver Cole and E. Forest Grant. Cole and Grant also operated the Nelson Theatre which would become the Pix Theatre about four years later.
Lloyd Royal launched his 600-seat Royal Theatre at what was once 520 Main Street in Moss Point on August 1, 1963 with “Savage Sam.” It wouldn’t be long-lasting. However, with a new operator came a second chance with the venue reopening with Walt Disney’s “Wild Country” and “Bongo” on March 31, 1971. The Royal promised “G” rated fare each weekend.
That’s not what the folks of Moss Point wanted either. So new operators rebranded the venue as the Moss Point Cinema in 1973 and they went heavy in double features of Blaxploitation and Chopsocky films in the mid and late 1970s. Black Ceasar, Wattstax, Coffy, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, The Mack, Cleopatra Jones, Detroit 9000… these were just some of the opening titles. In 1974, Gulf States took on the venue keeping the Blaxploitation and Chopsocky programming going. But the fun lasted only until November of 1978 when the theatre closed permanently likely at the opt out at the end of a 15-year leasing agreement.
The K-Mart Plaza launched on April 12, 1976 and Gulf States decided that was the place to be creating Pascagoula’s final cinema - a twin. Gulf launched the nondescript cinema at 3331 Denny Avenue / U.S. 90 at Chico Road on April 1, 1977 with “Silver Streak” and “Network”. At launch, it had identical 250-seat auditoriums bathed in a mid-1970s color palette of rust, orange, red and ivory. Nailed it! A highlight came when Cinema Twin Manager Nona Gaston welcomed Evil Knievel who made a personal appearance on June 2, 1977 to promote “Viva Knievel!”
The venue became the UA Gulf States Cinema Twin when United Artists acquired the circuit in December of 1986. It then became the UA Twin Cinemas when the Gulf States moniker was eliminated. With UA moving further into the multiplex business environment of the time, it decided to concentrate its efforts on the Singing River Mall nine-screens (a four and five plex) less than nine miles away in Gautier. The Twin Cinema’s closure - one of many twins and tris closed by the chain in a five-year period by what was then United Artists Communications - ended a streak of 82 consecutive years for Pascagoula and Pas-Point moviegoers. It occurred on November 26, 1989 with “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Do the Right Thing” at 99 cents a person. The facility had, by all reports, been allowed to degrade to the point that the theater’s presentation was quite substandard.
The theater sat vacant in the Kmart Plaza for a brief period before becoming a short-lived restaurant. Then the improbable happened when Morgan Corp. of Alabama reopened the twin screener as the Plaza Cinema on May 26, 1995. The policy was returned to first run films and nothing above a PG-13 rating was booked. The former Twin Cinema gave Pascagoula another theater making it 85 years of cinematic magic out of 91 years. But the magic was still gone in that location and move exhibition ended with folks having to go to nearby multiplexes for their movie enjoyment. The Twin Cinema / Plaza Cinema closed and was later demolished.
Dietz, Prince & Fischrupp architectural sketch in photos.
Searstown was announced at the confluence of Denny Lane and Chicot Road in 1963 anchored by a Sears and housing a Walgreen’s Drug Store, Woolworth’s variety store, and National Food Grocer. In the Luxury Suburban era of film exhibition, Gulf States signed on to be an original tenant. It built a “deluxe” 600-seat venue to take advantage of the free parking offered by the complex.
Searstown launched with a formal dedication in October of 1964 with the mayors of Pascagoula and Moss Point joined by Gulf States President T.G. Solomon. This theater was on the front-end of a successful four-state expansion program by the circuit. Hodges Theatre Equipment provided the screen and projector at the 3253 Denny Avenue.
Single screen venues were challenged by twins, triplexes and early multiplexes in the 1970s. The Towne was refreshed and given a new name, the Towne Cinema, in the 1970s. Gulf States opened the Twin Cinema in town. The Gulf Coast Cablevision circuit closed the Towne Cinema on September 8, 1977 with “Annie Hall.”
The $18 million Singing River Mall was announced in 1976. In 1978, McRae’s signed on as the first anchor store and the venue opened March 5, 1980 then with J.C. Penney’s and Wilson’s ready to go. And though there was no theatre at its launch, Dallas-based Plitt Southern had signed on to build a four-plex with a late summer launch.
Plitt launched the Cinema IV Theatres next to Penney’s with a special showing of “Hopscotch” at a preview event on Oct. 30, 1980. How late 1970s was the color palette? Blue and ivory vinyl wall coverings in burlap patterning were matched by blue foam-padded chairs in the auditorium. Century Projectors with xenon lamps were in the booth. The opening was the next day, Halloween, with “Ordinary People,” “Borderline,” “Loving Couples” and “Hopscotch.” The theatre had its own entry on the Mall’s backside allowing for after mall hours showtimes and easier parking.
Cineplex Odeon took on Plitt Southern in May of 1985 effective November of that year. Gulf States acquired the venue on June 28, 1986 changing it to the Gulf States Singing River 4 Cinemas. United Artists then acquired Gulf States with the venue becoming the UA Gulf States Singing River 4 Theatres. They renamed the venue as the UA Singing River 4 Theatres dropping Gulf State.
Announced in 1987, UA then opened a second theater in the Mall known as the UA Singing River 5-9 Theatres on November 4, 1988. UA continuing to operate its exterior quadplex which was renamed from the UA Singing River 4 Theatres to the UA Singing River 1-4 Theatres (and its final name).
Regal Theatres and UA merged in 1999. The Singing River’s 25-year lease expiry was coming up in the 2000s and UA began to close gaining twins, quads and five-plexes in the megaplex era. Regal / UA moved on from both the 1-4 and 5-9 on April 30, 2003. The five-screen continued under three different independent - closing for a short period due to damage from Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 - until the Mall’s closure in 2013. The entire Singing River’s swan song was its 2014 demolition.
Announced in 1987, UA opened this theater as the UA Singing River 5-9 Theatres on November 4, 1988 with 804 seats. It was a five-plex inside the Mall with UA continuing to operate the exterior quadplex which was renamed from the UA Singing River 4 Theatres to the UA Singing River 1-4 Theatres.
Regal Theatres and UA merged in 1999. UA moved on from both on April 30, 2003 with the 1-4 closing permanently. The five-screen interior operation was taken on by three different independent operators closing for a period after Katrina storm damage and then continuing until the Mall’s closure in 2013 as the Gulf Coast Cinema 5 offering “mugs and movies.” The entire Singing River’s swan song was its 2014 demolition.
The Lake Twin 2 Drive-Ins (plural naming) was at 1906 Ingalls.
Plans for this new build venue were announced in 1945 and placed in the spot once occupied by the Adams Hotel. The New Ramona Theatre launched on March 4, 1947 with “Suddenly It’s Spring.” The previous operation was located in the Town Hall building