The Cordova was open in 1972 if memory serves correct it was April
Francis Boucher was the manager , he also continued to manage the Florida Theatre downtown Pensacola. The Florida Theatre remained opened for several years after the Cordova was open! and was not torn down!
Pensacola Little Theatre took over the building many years later and preformed many plays out of the building.
While the Florida has many memories it will never be considered a pretty theatre by any means.
The lobby was smaller than most peoples master bedrooms these days !
The one thing the Florida was known for was breaking attendance records for Walt Disney movies which caused Walt himself to visit the theatre in 1962 where he presented Francis Boucher with a Mickey Mouse watch with the inscription To Francis from Walt ..
The Original Cordova never had 70 MM
The comments above also said that ABC Theatres built a twin downtown which is not true, ABC was one of the many companies to have owned the Saenger Theatre built The Plaza Theatre behind the old Town and Country Plaza shopping center the theatre was built close to where the old Pensacola Fairgrounds were , this building was not torn down either it was first sold to a church and now its being used as some type of construction business office’s
You have to think way back to remember all the theatre’s that were downtown ,,, The Florida , The Rex , The Saenger , and even longer to remember The ISIS , they was also The Pen Theatre which was on the corner of Cervantes and Alcaniz it closes many years ago and a bank was built on that lot
As to the comment above about being at the Cordova on opening night and going to see Living Free ,, Im racking my brain really hard but Im almost positive that side 2 which we used to call the blue side because of the seats and curtains opened that night with The Last Picture Show
which we all thought was kinda funny
Well your memory is almost correct, The Plaza was built as a single screen theatre with 2 projectors almost facing each other while shootiing into a box of mirrors , this was called ultravision which gave a very clear picture all across the super large screen.
In around 1974 the second theatre was added and in 1978 theatre one was split into 2 theatres
the theatre ran only one screen for over 90 days while crews worked day and night to get theatres 1 and 3 open as fast as possible
I remeber before that many movies that played attracted large crowds but no of them compaired to the little ol' movie that started in June of 1977 that had people lined up for hours to see Star Wars..
I grew up working with my dad along with many life long friends in this theatre and missed the days where it was the showcase of Columbus
Well your memory is almost correct, The Plaza was built as a single screen theatre with 2 projectors almost facing each other while shootiing into a box of mirrors , this was called ultravision which gave a very clear picture all across the super large screen.
In around 1974 the second theatre was added and in 1978 theatre one was split into 2 theatres
the theatre ran only one screen for over 90 days while crews worked day and night to get theatres 1 and 3 open as fast as possible
I remeber before that many movies that played attracted large crowds but no of them compaired to the little ol' movie that started in June of 1977 that had people lined up for hours to see Star Wars..
I grew up working with my dad along with many life long friends in this theatre and missed the days where it was the showcase of Columbus
The Cordova was open in 1972 if memory serves correct it was April Francis Boucher was the manager , he also continued to manage the Florida Theatre downtown Pensacola. The Florida Theatre remained opened for several years after the Cordova was open! and was not torn down! Pensacola Little Theatre took over the building many years later and preformed many plays out of the building. While the Florida has many memories it will never be considered a pretty theatre by any means. The lobby was smaller than most peoples master bedrooms these days ! The one thing the Florida was known for was breaking attendance records for Walt Disney movies which caused Walt himself to visit the theatre in 1962 where he presented Francis Boucher with a Mickey Mouse watch with the inscription To Francis from Walt ..
The Original Cordova never had 70 MM The comments above also said that ABC Theatres built a twin downtown which is not true, ABC was one of the many companies to have owned the Saenger Theatre built The Plaza Theatre behind the old Town and Country Plaza shopping center the theatre was built close to where the old Pensacola Fairgrounds were , this building was not torn down either it was first sold to a church and now its being used as some type of construction business office’s
You have to think way back to remember all the theatre’s that were downtown ,,, The Florida , The Rex , The Saenger , and even longer to remember The ISIS , they was also The Pen Theatre which was on the corner of Cervantes and Alcaniz it closes many years ago and a bank was built on that lot
As to the comment above about being at the Cordova on opening night and going to see Living Free ,, Im racking my brain really hard but Im almost positive that side 2 which we used to call the blue side because of the seats and curtains opened that night with The Last Picture Show which we all thought was kinda funny
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Well your memory is almost correct, The Plaza was built as a single screen theatre with 2 projectors almost facing each other while shootiing into a box of mirrors , this was called ultravision which gave a very clear picture all across the super large screen.
In around 1974 the second theatre was added and in 1978 theatre one was split into 2 theatres
the theatre ran only one screen for over 90 days while crews worked day and night to get theatres 1 and 3 open as fast as possible
I remeber before that many movies that played attracted large crowds but no of them compaired to the little ol' movie that started in June of 1977 that had people lined up for hours to see Star Wars..
I grew up working with my dad along with many life long friends in this theatre and missed the days where it was the showcase of Columbus
Well your memory is almost correct, The Plaza was built as a single screen theatre with 2 projectors almost facing each other while shootiing into a box of mirrors , this was called ultravision which gave a very clear picture all across the super large screen.
In around 1974 the second theatre was added and in 1978 theatre one was split into 2 theatres
the theatre ran only one screen for over 90 days while crews worked day and night to get theatres 1 and 3 open as fast as possible
I remeber before that many movies that played attracted large crowds but no of them compaired to the little ol' movie that started in June of 1977 that had people lined up for hours to see Star Wars..
I grew up working with my dad along with many life long friends in this theatre and missed the days where it was the showcase of Columbus