P.S. If any of you Orpheum Theatre guys and gals are on facebook, I am . Also Paul Kneipp but I had a previous account that I no longer use under that name and well, it’s a mess… Hope you can find me. Would love to exchange stories.
I was the manager of the Orpheum in the mid 70’s. I was the projectionist when the riot broke out. Mitchell Theaters had turned the theater into a one that showed primarily “black” movies (yes, there really was such a thing back then). Anyway it was premier night for a really big one called “Monkey Hustle”. Well the turn out was incredible and the manager at the time “Clint B.” just kept selling tickets. There were over 800 tickets sold and we had patrons in the lobby, on the stairs, on the balcony rails, everywhere. So the patrons who couldn’t see the movie started getting a little (understandably) upset. One thing led to another, a fight broke out in the theater then spread to the lobby. Eventually, police and fire department units showed up from everywhere around Waco, even as far away as Temple!!
When the smoke cleared, the manager was in deep trouble, not only because of the over selling of seats, but because he claimed that somehow the cash taken in, which was in a canvas bank bag, had mysteriously gone missing. Like in all of the confusion someone had laid their hands on it and “poof” no more money. I and the General Manager and Jim Mitchell were not fooled by this and the manager was fired. Welcome ME to the new managers job.
P.S. If any of you Orpheum Theatre guys and gals are on facebook, I am . Also Paul Kneipp but I had a previous account that I no longer use under that name and well, it’s a mess… Hope you can find me. Would love to exchange stories.
I was the manager of the Orpheum in the mid 70’s. I was the projectionist when the riot broke out. Mitchell Theaters had turned the theater into a one that showed primarily “black” movies (yes, there really was such a thing back then). Anyway it was premier night for a really big one called “Monkey Hustle”. Well the turn out was incredible and the manager at the time “Clint B.” just kept selling tickets. There were over 800 tickets sold and we had patrons in the lobby, on the stairs, on the balcony rails, everywhere. So the patrons who couldn’t see the movie started getting a little (understandably) upset. One thing led to another, a fight broke out in the theater then spread to the lobby. Eventually, police and fire department units showed up from everywhere around Waco, even as far away as Temple!!
When the smoke cleared, the manager was in deep trouble, not only because of the over selling of seats, but because he claimed that somehow the cash taken in, which was in a canvas bank bag, had mysteriously gone missing. Like in all of the confusion someone had laid their hands on it and “poof” no more money. I and the General Manager and Jim Mitchell were not fooled by this and the manager was fired. Welcome ME to the new managers job.