Shady Oaks Twin Cinema

The Jerry Lewis theatre circuit announced three locations in the mid-cities area between Fort Worth and Dallas in 1971. The Hurst location launched in 1972 and was the only one to have opened as a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema. The Grand Prairie location was about to have its November 1, 1973 opening as the second Lewis Twin but the circuit went bust and that theatre would open as the Safari Twin Cinema in 1974. The third location - a Jerry Lewis Twin at Loop 820 - was completed but appears to not have opened.

The Shady Oaks Shopping Center was announced in 1959 and opened with a Safeway Store in 1961 and a Gibson’s Discount Department Store. The Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema launched across from Gibson’s on March 31, 1972 at 401 West Bedford-Euless Road. It opened with “Tora, Tora, Tora” and a double Ape feature with “Planet of the Apes” and “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”.

But about a year later, Lewis and the parent company, Network Cinema Corporation, were heading toward bankruptcy. This location changed its name on September 4, 1973 to the shopping center’s name of the Shady Oaks Twin Cinema. This theater had many operators. T&S Theaters, who ran locations including the Cineworld and Pioneer 4, took on the operation in 1976.

In 1978, the cinema had two final operators, the final who relaunched the theater on April 9, 1978 with a grand reopening. Just four weeks later, the Shady Oaks Twin Cinema appears to have discontinued operations on April 27, 1978 closing with “Pete’s Dragon” and “The Gauntlet”. The Cinema was repurposed for other retail purposes and was still standing in the 2020’s in the Shady Oaks Shopping Center.

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