Times Square Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on July 15, 2026 at 8:08 pm

The Times Square Theatre was opened by Alex Schreiber Enterprises as a partner to the Loop that had opened in February of 1928. There, the Girlesk live shows had sold out so he built a 1,700 seat venue to move the shows here which he did on October 9, 1929 with a screening of Colleen Moore in “Smiling Irish Eyes,” to boot. This was no cheap theatre. It was financed by gliding industry expert and Lockheed CEO Edward S. Evans at a cost of $300,000 - a ton of bucks for Corktown. The Spanish architecture was appropriate for the 1920s and the two-story Indiana Limestone building impressed. And the opening promised 40 people in the show.

At Schreiber’s Loop, the stage plus photoplay shows were general admission - 15 cents but at the Times Square, top tickets went for 60 cents on a reserved ticket policy. Possibly, that’s a manageable price point when times are good. But Schreiber’s Times Square opening was Time Bomb disastrous. The stock market crashed within three weeks of its opening and the Times Square policy was out of synch with the times.

The Times Square went dark three days after its First Anniversary on October 12, 1930. Schreiber Enterprises declared bankruptcy and nobody wanted to touch the liens on a one-year old, $300,000 White Limestone Elephant in the throes of the Depression. Further, the entire Corktown area would devolve into what was called Detroit Skid Row complete with flop house hotels, missions, and post-prohibition liquor stores and bars, and the two 24-hour theatres which attracted homeless folks after hours. One of those venues was Schreiber’s Loop Theatre - thankfully for him in a different corporate umbrella - that remained commercially viable along with the Lyric Theatre across the street. Both were open all night.

The Times Square was dark for more than six years. The Depression was easing somewhat. Gus Coplan formerly of the Columbia Theater, relit the Times Square - never opening the balcony which reduced capacity from 1,700 to 1,000. He stayed with it for about a year and a half and sold it to Joseph Bruzy who didn’t make it work. He then sold it to Jack Broder. Broder and Manager Hank Garish made the industry trade press for their wild programming. The Times Square programmed five to six features plus shorts for 15 cents - free parking - and, on Thursday, free dishes. There was a five cent surcharge that wasn’t shared with the studios. On changeover nights, you might see 11 features. A projectionist’s nightmare but a transient’s dream night.

The Times Square was the equivalent of a loss leader. The venue was open 24 hours a day trying to decimate the neighboring Lyric and the Loop. Those theatres wrote to distributors and to the trade press decrying the situation hoping to block clearances to the Times Square. Paramount did just that and the Times Square cut back to triple features and eliminating the spurious surcharge. The Lyric closed first and the Times Square and Loop did well with the all night format.

The Times Square Theatre and National both equipped with air conditioning by the early 1950s to become the better of the 24-hour theaters. And the Times Square survived all the way to December 4, 1958 closing with “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison” and “Indian Fighter”… make that December 5, 1958.. at 6 a.m. The former theatre was in the path of the International Village proposal. It would lead to condemnation of that entire Skid Row area and all of Chinatown.

In December of 1961, the former Times Square was one of 213 parcels along with the Loop Theatre, several divey hotels, and 35 taverns - which were awarded condemnation funding. The building was razed in 1962. And in 1965, the International Village project was DOA and the former Times Square just looked like a field.