Delman Theatre
3319 Raleigh Street,
Dallas,
TX
75219
3319 Raleigh Street,
Dallas,
TX
75219
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I lived across the street from the Delman during school year 1965-1966 when I attended third grade at Maple Lawn elementary. My brother and I spend many weekends at the Delman. I remember a teen age girl was there every weekend always picking on the kids. I thought her name was Shelly but, through this post, learned her name was Sally, the owners daughter! I remember seeing The Hallelujah Trail, The Sons of Katie Elder, Eldorado, The Sound of Music, Cat Ballou, Shenandoah and several other films. We lived in the Raleigh Street apartments near a park.
Hi, Steve (spthomas) !!! This is Jack. Hope you are doing well! You can reach me at . I live in the Houston area.
I’m a bit late to the party, but I just thought about the Delman and just found this site. I too worked at the Delman in 1968-1969, along with Jack Garland and several others. It was a cool theatre! My first job at 14. And I seem to remember mr. Adelman coming to town, and I think Mr. Swank. I remember going to school with a Swank, sorry I can’t remember his first name. Fond memories.
The Isadore B. Adelman Theatre Circuit may have been most known for its indoor Delman theaters in Houston, Tulsa, and Dallas though he had theaters in Abilene, and Fort Worth (Tivoli) by the time the Delman opened on Sept. 26, 1947. Deanna Durbin’s “A Hundred Men and a Girl” launched the Delman. The theater’s address was 3319 Raleigh Street with 1,150 seats. The theater was community minded hosting high school events, allowing a church to hold sermons, and showed the annual Southwest Conference films featuring local college Southern Methodist University.
Almost immediately in 1947, Adelman sued Interstate and nine film studios for what amounted to collusion in obtaining rights to show pictures. Adleman complained that he was only able to gain access to feature films 40-to-52 days after their initial release and often he was allowed to run only third-run films. That suit was a $750,000 protest lost in 1953 when the court said there was no conspiracy and appealed. He also filed suit in 1948 a $2.4 million suit alleging that booking practices caused him to close three theaters in Houston. He won $20,000 in the first phase of that suit in 1955. At Christmas of 1967, the Delman battled General Cinema’s NorthPark with “Valley of the Dolls” v. “The Graduate” for box office supremacy with NorthPark winning that round with “The Graduate” selling more tickets.
When Loew’s entered Dallas with the Downtown theater, it soon purchased the Delman theaters in Houston, Tulsa and Dallas which was approved on Nov. 21, 1969. Loew’s spent $50,000 closing the theater for refurbishing in December re-opening early in 1970. The theater struck a chord with “The Last Picture Show” among other hits before Loews dropping the theater in 1978. After film exhibition was completed thereafter, the Delman became a disco and music nightclub in the 1980s prior to being demolished.
I uploaded the grand opening ad in the photo section for this theatre.
4826 Lemmon Ave. maps the Delman to have fronted on Lemmon – it was actually about a block off Lemmon at the intersection of King’s Rd. with Raleigh.
Go by the address listed in the ad (Lemmon at Raleigh) to find the building on HistoricAerials; unfortunately, that address will not map properly on GoogleMaps because, although Raleigh still exists as a roadbed, it is now a passageway through the parking lot of an auto dealership.
A new street, which cuts off from King’s Rd. at an angle to the original Raleigh, now carries that name.
Susan, Your father would occasionally stop by. Very regal, sharp.
Thank you all for posting these comments. My father, Isadore B. Adelman, owned and operated the Delman. It makes me smile to find these memories online. Again, thank you.
An absolutely lovely theater – saw Spartacus here in its second run engagement in 1960 or ‘61; continued to visit occassionally over the years. Last time I was there was in 1972 or 73 for a second-run double-feature of Serpico and Save The Tiger – my God, after 3-4 hours of such cynicism, my date and I walked out utterly depressed! It was definitely time for some coffee & cheesecake at Phil’s Delicatessen on up around the corner. Glad they were open all nite!
I think the Delman was the first indoor theater I went to as a kid! I think it was the original ‘101 Dalmations’. Saw many movies after that and always liked the place. I thought it became a spanish language theater toward the end?
I knew Sallie! I worked at the Delman around 75-76. I worked the concession stand and later on was the asst mgr for a time. I remember she drove a huge white station wagon she called “Moby”.
How is she doing?
No, I think my sister worked there a few years later, and she never married. (At least, she hasn’t yet.)
SSwank: The more I think about it, I think it was in 1969 that she filled in and was about to get married. Was that Sallie?
SSwank: I worked there from August 1968 to June 1972. Did she have blonde hair? I think there was an older girl, named Sallie(?), who had worked there before I came. I think that after I started working there,she would occasionally fill in for somebody. I want to say this was probably 1970 and she was about to get married.
In the mid 1980’s the Delman was converted to a rock club called “Mother Blues” which had been at a couple of other locations in the previous decades. It went out of business pretty quick. Then it sat vacant for awhile. My father and I would try and keep it secure, but vandals would break in and steal the copper piping etc. Finally it was demolished, which was complicated by it being full of asbestos. Pretty depressing. My old man designed a lot of buildings in Dallas and didn’t like seeing his torn down. I don’t suppose any architect does. It was a cool theatre in it’s heyday, when single screen houses were the norm. I.B. Adelman had an office with the entrance off the back parking lot that he occasionally used. It was like a time capsule with this hip mid-century office furniture. JGarland, did you ever work with my sister Sallie Swank?
Mr. Harry Sachs, the General Manager of Adelman Theatres,was a wonderful, kind person.
My sister worked at the Delman before I did. She got me the job there as a doorman/usher. I was 14. During my first few months there,my mother didn’t like for me to change the marquee if it was raining and also wouldn’t let me work during the Easter holiday. As a result, the manager rightfully fired me. My sister, who was working at another theatre, took me to see Mr. Sachs and explained that my mother was crazy. Mr. Sachs hired me back without telling the manager, who wasn’t happy about it initially. I eventually became the manager’s right hand man and his assistant manager. The manager and I became very close, he was like a father to me.
I have always been grateful to Mr. Sachs for giving me a second chance. He passed away in 1971, I believe, from cancer. Beautiful man.
With regard to Sswank’s comment just above, this web page with an inventory of items relating to Arch B. Swank Jr. contains the following reference:
Smith, Raymond F. and A.B. Swank Jr., Architects
“Delman theater, Dallas.” Architectural Record 105:84-7 (Jan. 1949). Illus, plans, diags.
An item in the January 12, 1946, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, headed “New Dallas Theatre for Delman Circuit” says that architect Raymond F. Smith was preparing the final plans for Delman’s first theater building project in Dallas, to be called the Delman Theatre, and that construction was scheduled to begin within 90 days. However, the location the article gave for the project was Lemmon Avenue and Schley Street, confirming JGarland’s comment of August 11, 2008, above.
The December 13, 1947, issue of Boxoffice contains a brief item saying that I.B. Adelman and Harry Sachs were allowing an Episcopal congregation to use their new Delman Theatre in Dallas for services until the congregation’s new church was completed. The opening of the Delman must have taken place in 1947, then, and the architects apparently were Raymond F. Smith and Arch B. Swank Jr, not W. Scott Dunne. Dunne did design the earlier Delman Theatre in Houston, though.
Arch B. Swank designed the Delman in 1947. He was friends with Isadore Adelman. It’s definitely been demolished.
The style was modern. Wonderful balcony (where you could smoke!!!). I was told that prior to the Supreme Court civil rights rulings, persons of color were required to sit in the balcony, but I don’t know if that was in fact true. It also had a “cry room” upstairs for moms with babies.
In its heyday, the Delman was one of the top suburban theatres, along with Northpark, the Esquire, and the Inwood.
The last manager I worked for there was a gentleman from Memphis whose claim to fame was that he had fired Elvis Presley when Elvis was an usher at one of the Memphis theatres in the 1950’s.
I moved out of town in the late 70’s. When I returned in 1994 the theatre was gone. There was an auto dealership there and behind it alongside the Tollway was a large apartment complex. The street which ran in front of the theatre was itself gone! I believe the street was called Raleigh.
I worked at the Delman Theatre from 1968 to 1972. It was located at Lemmon Ave at the North Dallas Tollway, not at the Hackberry address. During my time there we had first run, city exclusive on the following movies: Easy Rider, Romeo & Juliet, The Love Bug, and The Last Picture Show. The theatre was originally owned by Adelman Theatres. The general manager for Adelman Theatres, Mr. Harry Sachs, also had his offices there. Adelman Theatres from across Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee would call in each night with their box office numbers. Loew’s bought it in 1969 or 1970 and closed it for about 3 months for remodeling. Great place. I started out as an usher for $1.25 per hour and eventually became assistant manager and then acting manager.
Loew’s acquired this theater in the late 1960s, I believe, and then it was known as the “Loew’s Delman”. In 1969, the corporation constructed the first downtown movie theater in years in Dallas at One Main Place, Elm at Griffin. The theater was initially known just as “Loew’s”; then “Loew’s Downtown” It was later triplexed, demolished. As for the Delman, it was a nice theater—saw the first re-issues of “The Sound of Music” and “Camelot” here when I was a teen.
Delman architect was W. Scott Dunne.