Princess Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on October 26, 2026 at 7:02 am

The Princess, the Cozy Theatre and the Opera House - doing live event programming- co-existed in late 1913. The Cozy and the Princess merged in 1914. Then the Opera House was fitted with projection from the Cozy for a period. But it was the Princess that stood the test of time operating from some 52 years.

The Princess Theatre scuffled between 1929 and 1930 as three operators and a consortium of local merchants tried to get the theatre through the onset of the Depression and the conversion to sound. Mr. Wolf bought a low-cost sound system that didn’t work out and sold the venue to J.E. Feldhaus who then sold it to C.E. Hartsell. Hartsell moved the venue to sound on film improving things in 1930.

Soon, Mr. E.C. Arehart was next through the door as operator in the early 1930s. Contracts for films at the Princess ranged from $15 to $30 which likely was limiting profit margins, as well. Of “Dancing Pirate,” Arehart wrote, “Technicolor without real stars and good story don’t mean a thing. This was a terrible Sunday bust.” Ouch.

The Princess was taken over by Mr. and Mrs. W.G. Hosrstman likely on a 25-year lease in 1942 as its final operators. In December of 1953, they converted the Princess to widescreen and improved sound. They had assistance from local retailers with merchant screenings as television had eaten into the audience by 1957.

Mr. Horstman was diagnosed with cancer in 1962 and, despite being quite ill, continued running the theatre as projectionist. On December 9, 1962, during a screening of “Jack, The Giant Killer,” he died on the job. (We salute his dedication.) Mrs. Horstman carried on to May 22, 1966 closing with Martin & Lewis in “Living it Up.” She sold the building with contents for $2,200 after plans to reopen by others fell apart in both 1966 and 1967. The theatre and Princess marquee were removed from the building in December of 1967.