Jewel Theater
321 E. Main Street,
Ardmore,
OK
73401
321 E. Main Street,
Ardmore,
OK
73401
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Following information comes courtesy of Joe Vogel;
The Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, September 17, 1938, says this: “…a Negro house, the Jewel, 400 seater at Ardmore, being opened by P. H. James who also operates the new Jewel, Negro house, here….” That’s the earliest mention of James or the Jewel I’ve found in Boxoffice.
A brief notice of the death of P. H. James appeared in the Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, November 15, 1965: “P. H. James, former operator of the Jewell Theatres here and in Ardmore, died in a nursing home. He also had owned and operated the Jay-Kola Bottling Co. Survivors include the wife, two daughters, two sons, a brother and one sister.”
Percy James, and African-American businessman, built four Jewel theaters (named after his daughter) in Ardmore, Wewoka, OKC, and Amarillo.
The one in OKC is closed but still standing. I don’t know about the rest of them.
Listed in Film Daily Yearbooks 1940- 1955 as being a Negro theatre.