Avalon Theatre
109 E. Scenic Drive,
Pass Christian,
MS
39571
109 E. Scenic Drive,
Pass Christian,
MS
39571
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The Avalon Theatre was oppened on April 19, 1936. Its opening feature was a repeat showing of Charles Laughton in “Mutiny On The Bounty”. Earlier in January 1936, the towns Kozy Theatre, was destroyed by a fire while playing “Mutiny On The Bounty”, so the owner of the Avalon Theatre decided to open his new theatre with that same picture.
The theatre was closed in 1960 and converted to offices. The Avalon building and all buildings around it were destroyed in 2005 by hurricane Katrina.
Contributed by
Wayne Saucier
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The Avalon was locasted at 111 East Beach Blvd., Pass Christian, MS.
Seats found a new home in the Illings Theatre in Ocean Springs, MS.
The Avalon was on East Scenic Drive near Market Street. It was one of few structures which survived Hurricane Camille along there.
Sam L. Taylor watched his Kozy Theatre burn down in a nitrate film explosion in the projection booth during a busy showing of “Mutiny on the Bounty” on January 23, 1936 which took out the Kozy Ice Cream Shoppe and Taylor’s home all in the same building. Fortunately nobody was killed.
Taylor had seen this before as he watched Fayard’s Pictorium, the nickelodeon he was operating in 1914, also get wiped out by fire. After the Kozy 1936 fire, he signed up local contractor Bernard L. Knost to rebuild a new venue called the Avalon Theatre. The plans were drawn by Moise H. Goldstein, Sr. of New Orleans.
Taylor was a programmer since the 1910s in P-C and knew he his duty was to fulfill the contract for “Mutiny on the Bounty” - the first film shown at the new Avalon on April 19, 1936. It was joined by the Moonlite Drive-In in 1950. Slidell Theatres Circuit took it on in the 1950s steering it to closure in 1959. George Bourgeois & Associates relit it and became the final operators in 1960.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed a great percentage of Pass Christian including the downtown containing the Avalon - which had become an antique store and a book store. A picture in photos shows just the auditorium remaining as the front and lobby were washed away in 2005. This theatre was at 109 East Scenic Drive.