Stratford Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on February 21, 2022 at 3:55 pm

The address of this former theatre dated back to the 1870s when Restein Hall served as a meeting place for many political discussions all the way until 1913 when it was razed. August W. Becker, H.W. Becker and Jacob Becker decided to buy the property to build a new $50,000 movie house. The venue was deemed fireproof using structural steel and concrete in its construction.

H.W. Becker was one of the pioneering area theatre operators when live theater changed over to photoplays. Becker’s moved from the New York market into the Philadelphia area when we acquired Fox’s Pleasure Palace in 1898 and changed it to Becker’s Lyceum Theatre. As for this entry, local accounts show the building and opening of this theatre in 1913 (aka the Becker Brothers' Theatre).

The Beckers sold off this theater in 1921 for $63,000 to Abe Wax. The theatre was given a refresh becoming the Stratford Theatre around September of 1921. The theatre added sound to remain viable. Late in 1955, it had a major refresh complete with widescreen presentations. The Stratford ran into a challenging period becoming an ultra-discount sub-run house at a quarter a ticket hoping to get anyone to walk through the front door.

The Stratford closed on January 15, 1963. Shockingly, the venue found another operator reopening July 15, 1963. That operator, Gregory Faramelli, was beaten by patrons in August of 1963 - a sort of welcome to the neighborhood moment. The Stratford appears to have ground to a halt following showings of “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” Chapter 11 of the serial, “Batman and Robin,” and “I Spit on Your Grave” on October 5, 1963 at the time of its 50th Anniversary and end of a leasing period. There were more bookings for the theatre, but they appear to have not been run. The theatre has since been razed.

kencmcintyre on June 21, 2009 at 2:41 am

The Rite Aid was built on the southeast corner of 7th and Dickinson after the Stratford Theater was razed. You can see that the theater extends almost to the street while the drugstore, a much smaller building, is set well back in the property with parking in front.