San Carlos Theater
S. Main Street and W. Wilson Avenue,
Coolidge,
AZ
85128
S. Main Street and W. Wilson Avenue,
Coolidge,
AZ
85128
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I lived in Coolidge from 1945 – 1960 and I need to correct information on what was the Studio Theater. There seems to be some question about the Mauk Theater. The Mauk Theater became the Studio sometime around 1941 or 42. The front of the Theater was changed during a remodeling. There is picture that appears In the San Carlos page of an interior of the Theater that is posted by CinemaTreasures.org as being the San Carlos. This is the Studio seating interior. The San Carlos had a balcony.
Thanks for the comment, Dale. Information about the theaters in Coolidge has been pretty sparse so far. We don’t have a page for the Studio, but we do have a page for a Mauk Theatre that opened in the mid-1930s. We haven’t been able to find out very much about it.
My first comment on the Mauk’s page has a link to a photo of it. I have been wondering if the Mauk was the theater that later was renamed the Studio. Perhaps you could take a look at the photo and let us know if it was the Studio or not (assuming it hadn’t been remodeled and become unrecognizable before you saw it?)
My name is Dale Evans and I worked for Roy Tharrington as a relief projectionist at The Studio and San Carlos theaters in 1957 and was made the full time projectionist at the Prince Drive in 1957-58. I not only was the projectionist at the drive in but also the maintenance man. I repaired many a speaker torn off by people who drove off forgetting that they still had the speaker in the window.
Roy Tharrington was a pioneer in the Arizona movie business. He and his wife Thomasene moved to Arizona in 1941 and drove from town to town showing movies after setting up folding chairs and a screen. They worked hard and ended up in Coolidge where Roy, with Thomasene’s help managed the Studio, The San Carlos, The Prince Drive In, and the Isis in Florence
I know this because I married Thomasene’s baby sister, Wanda and became part of their family.
The Studio was our best house and the San Carlos was number 2. I know that the San Carlos was was number 2 because it never got the big first run movies ran all of the B movies and I had to burn the shortie arc rods from sent over from the Studio.
Working for the drive in made for a long day, noon to past midnight. The rule was that if you bought your ticket by 10PM you got to see both features, it was a drive in, always a double feature, and it seemed like that happened almost every night.
Many a night I showed a full show to just one or 2 cars parked on the back rows at 1 in the morning. To this day I doubt if any of them could tell you what that last movie was about. :–)
I was just 21 then, fresh out of the Navy with a wife and 1 daughter and a son who was born October 12, 1957 at the Florence Hospital. That was 58 years ago and the hospital, the theaters, Roy, Thomasine, and Wanda who was my wife for 42 of those years are now gone.
I am adding this to the history because at 78 I had better get it done while I an still around.
Here is a photo of the San Carlos Theatre in Coolidge, Arizona, dated 1939.
I lived in Coolidge from 1950 to 1959 and remember the two theaters on Main Street, plus the drive-in south of town. I seem to recall that the Studio theater had the KCKY radio station studio located upstairs above the theater. That would have been where Dwane Eddy got his start by visiting his friend Lee Hazelwood who was a DJ there in the early 1950’s. The Studio theater was located on the SW corner of Roosevelt and main, and is now a vacant lot. The San Carlos was just south a couple blocks on Main across the street.
My name is Janis Tharrington Kellogg. My father Roy Tharrington was the manager of the Long Theaters in Coolidge, Az from approximately 1943-44 to 1961. The Studio Theater was located at 208 North Main Street (corner of Roosevelt and Main) and the San Carlos Theater at 321 South Main Street, between Wilson and Harding. There was also a drive-in theater at the south end of town name the Prince Drive-In which I think was build in the 50s. As I can remember the Studio Theater was remodeled shortly after my dad became manager. Don’t know for sure but seems like it had a different name before the remodel. All these theaters are gone now, demolished. There was another theater put in quite a number of years after 1961. It was located on Coolidge Ave just west of Arizona Blvd. It may have been the “Mauk” theater listed on the Coolidge website.
Kermo I took tickets and ran projectors 59-60’s my name is Rudy Flores did you work with me?What year did you work there? Thank you
I grew up in Coolidge in the years 1944 thru 1959….I took tickets at the San Carlos theater in Coolidge,Arizona.
Just remembered…I went to see Elvis Presley in “Love me Tender” at the Studio Theater in Coolidge,Arizona…..Seems me and a couple friends of mind were asked to leave for making fun of it…..Those were the days……..
The Studio is listed in the 1963 IMPA. I am hesitant to add it as a new theater as it may be an aka for this house.
I lived in Coolidge for 2 years from 2000 through 2002. The person who I knew in town told me that there were only 2 theatres there.He grew up there and his mother (who since passed in 98) and father had lived there for over 40 years. The Chamber of Commerce is indeed located on Central avenue. If it had not been demolished most of the buildings from the 40’s are gone. Even a one time major department store sits on Central ave with it’s doors shuut. I stated on the Casa Grande Paramount page that when the I-10 Freeway was built and bypassed Coolidge traffic through town dried right up. Although there is a Main Street in Coolidge it is not really the main street any more. Arizona Ave (rt 87) runs through what ever business district there is. It has 2 lanes each direction (N/S) a middle lane for turns and parking on either side. Main street has 2 lanes and parking. There is not a whole lot going on there. The streets roll up at about 6PM.
lostmemory;
Just for information on theatres listed in F.D.Y. for Coolidge, AZ
1941
Coolidge…390 seats
Rex Closed
San Carlos…750 seats
1943
San Carlos…750 seats
1950
San Carlos 7th & Main Street 750 seats
Studio 6th & Main Street 400 seats
Could be the Studio Theatre is the Coolidge Theatre re-opened?
No mention of a Mauks Theatre though.
The Film Daily Yearbook:1950 edition gives an address of 7th Street and Main Street. These do not map out as they run parallel several blocks apart. The seating capacity is listed as 750. It is also listed as open in the 1941 edition of F.D.Y. with the same seating capacity.