Queen Theater
300 W. Milam Street,
Wharton,
TX
77488
300 W. Milam Street,
Wharton,
TX
77488
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The Queen Theater was operated by Long Theaters in 1943 and they were still the operators in 1950.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
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This site makes some references to the Queen Theater in Wharton, Texas in a story on playwright Horton Foote (The Trip to Bountiful), who grew up there. It was his neighborhood movie house and old enough to show silent films. They review his biography by Charles S. Watson, which states it contains a photo of the Queen Theater.
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This theater is not the same as either the Rio on Main Street or the Plaza on South Houston Street (the other two theaters in town). Newsman Dan Rather is from Wharton, also.
The street address for the Queen is 300 W. Milam St, Wharton, TX 77488-4918.
There’s a good view of the old theater building on Google maps, at the intersection of Polk and Milam. Not hard to spot which building was the theater.
Was this the old Queen theater by chance??? (sorry, don’t know how to show neater links here).
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You have the right intersection, John. The building on the northwest corner (to the left of the silver Cadillac) is the Queen Theater.
The Queen’s first manager was Mr. Joe L. Santos. On August 26, 1929, “Drag” (starring Richard Barthelmess, Lucien Littlefield, and Alice Day) was the first talkie to show at the Queen.
The Queen opened on August 5, 1925. According to opening day ads, the doors would open at 7:15 p.m., and the picture would start half an hour later. The premier feature was “Classmates” with Richard Barthelmess and Madge Evans. An architect from Houston named Green designed the Queen. Among the songs played on the organ before the show were “You Are Just a Flower from an Old Bouquet” and “For You Alone”.
The last Queen ad I could find in the Wharton Spectator was dated January 13, 1955. That Friday and Saturday, “Jack Slade” and “Private Eye” were scheduled, with “Poker de Ases” showing on Sunday.
To sepiatone, if you get to Austin this summer before Aug.17, the Austin History Center has an excellent display set up with photos and artifacts from the earliest Austin movie theaters through the 1970’s . http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/