Knox Theater

1932 photo added courtesy of Stella Simms via the Traces Of Texas Facebook page.

MELenns – what a crock… you have about a dozen sockpuppets and you’ve been going around for ages doing this sort of thing. Show absolute proof there was ever such a thing as the AllisonWonderland Concert Lightshow — that one could actually go to, pay for entrance, and order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from 29 jellies and 4 nut butters.

Permit me to introduce myself, I am M. E. Lenns, writer, and official biographer of AllisonWonderland, the creator of the Crystalume, the lumiast who owns the AllisonWonderland Concert Lightshow, and former occupant of the AllisonWonderland which was in the Knox Street Theater in 1970. The amazing history surrounding the Knox Street Theater as far as AllisonWonderland is concerned could possibly be summed up with the phrase: “It’s a small world”. Our story begins back in the ‘40s, and '50s. There was at that time in Dallas, a journalist whose name was Louis Mandel. He was an entertainment critic, and movie reviewer for one of the Dallas newspapers. He had a wife Edith, a son Geraud, and a daughter Judith Ann. He was well known amongst the entertainment community in Dallas, and at one time even rented a room in his house to Aaron Spelling, the television producer of such shows as “The Mod Squad”, “The Rookies”, “Charlie’s Angels”, and “Beverly Hills 90210”. Louis Mandel was also friends with Baruch Lumet, who appeared in the films “The Pawnbroker”, “The Group”, and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask”. Baruch Lumet was the father of Sidney Lumet, the movie director, producer, and screenwriter who produced such movies as “12 Angry Men”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Network”, and “The Verdict”. Baruch Lumet was also the Director of the Dallas Institute of Performing Arts and had an acting school, the classes of which were held in the Knox Street Theater. Louis Mandel’s wife Edith and his daughter Judith Ann were both students of Baruch Lumet, as were Jayne Mansfield and William Tobe Hooper who went on to direct “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Poltergeist”. Louis Mandel’s daughter Judith Ann, married a lighting engineer whose name was Gerry Zekowski, and who became one of the world’s foremost lighting experts and a vice-president of Lightolier, a manufacturer of commercial lighting fixtures. All right, with that said as background, let’s focus on AllisonWonderland. Allison was a studio musician, and graphics artist in Hollywood in the late '50s, working at the H&R Recording Studios. He moved to Dallas 1963, where he was an electrical sign designer with Liberty Industries. Liberty Industries opened a branch in Houston, and Allison moved to Houston to be their art director. He subsequently left Liberty, and started the Prelude Art Studios, The Mob Modeling Group, and Mediassociates Advertising. In 1967 he was awarded second place for his design for The Watergate by CA magazine, the bible of the commercial art industry. He was funded by a patron, Mr. H. Alvin Lott, of the H.A. Lott Contractors and Engineers construction company who built The Astrodome, The Tower of the Americas, and The Summit, among many other projects. Allison designed and did the initial advertising for the Brake Check Brake Centers. But Allison wanted to get back into the entertainment industry, and started the AllisonWonderland Concert Lightshow, performing with such artists as Seals and Crofts, J.J. Cale, Buddy Miles, Richie Havens, Mother Earth and Charlie Neville. He decided that he would like to have a venue where he could perform every night, and so in 1970 he moved back to Dallas, and went to work for Liberty Industries again. He and a fellow named Bruce Varnado, and another fellow named Lynn Weatherford leased the Knox Street Theater, and fixed it up to be a concert hall, lightshow, and old time movie theater. Allison and Varnado lived in an apartment in the balcony. The theater needed seats. Weatherford obtained a bunch of them from the Dallas Independent School District. Allison had two 15’-0" X 15'-0" Polacoat Lenscreen rear-projection screens. Varnado and Allison buit two screen frames in the theater, along with a pair of Klipschorns, and a pair of McIntosh tube amplifiers for sound. The motif of the entertainment was old time silent movies on the east screen, lightshow on the west screen with the popular music of the time as sound. During this time, there were “film festivals” featuring The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and the screening of the 1932 classic horror film “Freaks”. Also during this time, The AllisonWonderland hosted concerts and had a free stage/open mike where fledgling entertainers could come and perform. One of the free-stagers was a fellow named Kent Skinner, who has gone on to become one of Dallas’s favorite Deep Elm performers and recording artist. Also at the Knox Street Theater was another part of the AllisonWonderland called “Through the Looking Glass”. Allison, being a sign designer designed the sign so that it was installed backwards, making it readable by looking at it in a mirror. “Through the Looking Glass” was the concession area for the theater. It served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with twenty-nine different jellies, six different nut butters, and four different kinds of bread. Allison personally painted the facade of the building with vertical stripes, and up at the top in an oval frame with a portrait of “Mr. ZigZag”. The place became a center of the Dallas hippie counter-culture, being written up in the “Hooka Underground Newspaper” (Hooka being the acronym of “Humanitarian Order Of Kosmic Awareness”). The AllisonWonderland had a house band called “Fair and Warmer”, comprised of Craig Crowell on drums, Grizzly Crowell on bass, and Allison on guitar, keyboards, and lead vocals. Eventually, an offer that was too good to refuse was made for the venue, and after a “good bye” weekend, Allison and his crew, which included Mary-k Ashley Wilson, Chet Bonar, Linda Smith, and the Crowell brothers, moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas where Craig and Grizzly had a home in a little place north of Fort Smith called Figure Five. The AllisonWonderland subsequently moved back to Houston to produce a weekly television show called “Sensatiation” which was broadcast in Houston by KPFT, Channel 26, and simulcast with KLOL Radio. “Sensatiation” was directed by Kenan Branham, with Jay Menier doing the camera work, Pat Fant handling the audio simulcast, and Mary-k Ashley Wilson was the executive coordinator. The show was sponsored by the Globe Discount City Record Centers. It aired on Saturday at midnight till 12:30 a.m. All right, with that as background, let’s get to the “Small World” part of the story. Allison was living in Houston doing Crystalume lightshow performances for private audiences. A fellow named Bill Klaus was an engineer with Bechtel Corporation and was a regular at Allison’s performances. It was one of Klaus’s duties with Bechtel to specify lighting fixtures. Thus it was that he came in contact with Gerry Zekowski, the lighting specialist, who had married Judith Ann Mandel, one of Baruch Lumet’s Knox Street Theater acting school students. Klaus mentioned the AllisonWonderland to Zekowski, and recommended that he take in a performance. Zekowski made arrangements to see a personal performance, and upon the conclusion of the performance, Zekowski told Allison that he thought Allison was the messiah. Allison denied being any kind of messiah, and Zekowski told Allison that he was in no position to tell him who his messiah was. Zekowski subsequently became one of Allison managers, arranging for him to do shows for conventions, business meetings related to the lighting industry, and a performance at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. Eventually Allison went back to Hollywood with the Crystalume and worked with various bands such as Saroyan, which was fronted by Hank Saroyan, a director with Dick Clark Enterprises. While in Hollywood, Allison came into contact with Baruch Lumet, and Allison would take Lumet to his doctor’s appointments. There are many more interesting anecdotes regarding this subject, but they are probably best left for later posts. If there are any of the Dallasites who used to come to the AllisonWonderland at the Knox Street Theater, and have any comments or questions, I would be more than happy to expostulate further. I am currently putting together a “tell all” biography of Allison that will be published posthumously. Till next time Knox Street Theaterers. MEL

Passing along some info I received from Ms Jeanette (Tomato Lady) on this Theatre……… here are the correct facts on first the Ronile which opened August 1, 1922 at 7PM showing Saturday Night, a Cecil B. deMille movie at 3220 Knox. There is a 1924 photo looking east with a pharmacy on the left, then the Ronile next door but the telephone pole blocks the vertical. The Knox Street Theatre opened July 15, 1932 showing Johnny Weismuller (sp) in Tarzan the Ape Man. It had changed hands a few times. Closed in 1952, but then it still showed up at the same address in 1956, Nov. of 1957, 58, 59 and the owner was Beruch Lumet who lived at 4616 Cole. In 1961 he also owned the Lumet School of Acting. This info came from Dallas Times Herald articles. In the Dallas directory by 1962 through 1965 there was no listing and the building was vacant. Then in the 1970s the Allyson Wonderland was in the building, the front of which had been remodeled kind of colored stripes as in Danny’s 1971 photo. Also Phantasmagoria (sp.) was a disco club in it during those years if you look up that bit. Also some time about 1936, it was sold to Interstate. The theatre had originally been one screen with about 500 seats. In 1972 Paul contacted a man named Mr. Roberdeaux offering to lease it and have it as a movie house once again but they couldn’t come to terms and Roberdeaux died.

It was the RoNile in 1924, but don’t know when it changed.

Knox Theatre was open at least by 1936. It was owned by Bob Glass, an electrician who made lots of money during the Depression converting theatres all over Texas to sound. With his money he bought the Knox Street Theatre, one on Oak Lawn Ave, and 2 in Beaumont. Out on the remodeling circuit he met my dad, Sam Brown Lewis, who was working for King Scenic as a contractor redecorating theatre interiors. My dad was very good at this; and became well-known in Texas in that industry. Bob hired Dad away from King Scenic to run (manage) the Knox and the Oak Lawn one. This, he did until Bob sold the two theatres to Interstate Theatres (Majestic, etc.) around 1938. My brother, Sam Jr., operated the popcorn concession at the Knox for 2 ½ years, both while Dad ran the place and after Interstate took over. Bob made Interstate honor the deal Bob made with my brother that he could keep the concession through school. My brother paid the shine man at the barber shop next door 75 cents a week to clean the machine. Sam, Jr. sold the machine for $100 the night he graduated from North Dallas High School in May, 1939. Jerry Lewis

There is a Pottery Barn at this address now. No resemblance to the building in the 1983 photo.