Cabana Theatre & Phase II

Newspaper listed for the Malco Cabana and Phase 2 ended in 1991. It was never called the Hamilton Mall cinema.

The Hamilton Hills Shopping Center (HHSC) had opened theater-less in 1969 anchored by a Gibson’s discount store. Earl Bankston, a projectionist at Malco, decided to patent a new concept for watching movies. Its home was at the Northern most point of HHSC. Ed Weaver, Jr. - one of three partners on the project - was the official architect although Bankston’s input is fairly easy to spot.

This odd complex was a three-level approach that mixed the best worlds of the drive-in and the traditional theater. Sofa-styled seatings in the two upper level floors provided individual viewing rooms with private sound controls and temperature control. For many, the movie was the second-tier attraction. Well ahead of its time was the ability to order from your seat and the food would be delivered to your private “cabana.” To top of this early 1970s concept, shag carpeting. Your read correctly, authentic era shag carpeting. The cabanas ranged from the Grande Cabana (8 people) to Double (6 cap) and Regular Cabanas (2-3 cap). In-advance reserved seating was available - another feature ahead of its time.

The lower level provided more traditional, communal seating but arranged differently with six seats in a row for group viewing in the Gold Room, the Green Room, and the Red Room. 308 seats on the main level and 92 on the upper two levels made up 400 seat capacity in the $150,000 theater. The experience was so unique that the local newspaper columnist said it was the most important exhibition development since sound in the “Jazz Singer.” Wow! And as a projectionist, Bankston designed a 100 feet area for pure blackness and more realistic projection on the city’s largest screen. Finally, single-button projection controlled the pre-show, the show, and the post-show. The patented pre-fab design would allow for easy replication all over the globe. This is one of the more interesting 1970s-era theaters in the database.

Signing a 20-year leasing agreement with HHSC but the idea of making a lot more of these theaters - as was the case with the talkies in the “Jazz Singer” era - was tamped down. Malco announced a new twin theater in 1975 and, ever the competitor, Bankston decided to add a second viewing option to the Cabana. “Phase II” was the twinning of the venue first advertised on August 29, 1975 and was (would be) the first twin indoor theater in Jackson’s history beating the Malco Twin by a bit. That date of opening for Phase II and its twin was March 5, 1976 (resulting in over six month’s of “opening soon” ads). The relaunch occurred with “Lucky Lady (Cabana)” and “Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (Phase II).” Tickets were replaced with tokens leading to no need for ticket takers. The 240 extra seats in Phase II apparently made capacity 640 for the building.

The Malco Twin opened that same Fall and the two duked it out for the best films. And to the eyeball, the Cabana overspent on advertising and marketing often not landing the mega hits and getting burned on blind bidding of movie contracts common in competitive situations like this. Further, no franchisees signed up to provide Cabanas in their communities so the lack of franchise fees had to have stung financially. As money eroded and losses mounted, Bankston finally sold out to his old employer on April 18, 1979. Malco now owned all seven cinematic properties in Jackson.

The Cabana initially closed after Labor Day 1990 shows while Phase II was downgraded to a discount subrun about a month later in October of 1990. With more product that screens, however, Malco relit the Cabana for its final first-run hit with “Predator 2” But Malco downgraded both in January of 1991 likely ending with the 20-year leasing agreement’s expiry closing on January 13, 1991 with “Quigley Down Under” being your last chance to be in the Cabana while “Ghost” played the Phase II - either for $1.50. The building was sold an demolished in short order in 1991 for O'Charley’s Restaurant & Lounge.

It might be pointed out that this was a totally unusual and patented proof of concept design that really didn’t connect with the traditional cinema exhibitors. It times out, however, with an entrepreneurial era of cinema in which inventors and dreamers like Bankston were trying to shake up the cinema exhibition world.