Leopard Street Theatre

Veteran movie theatre owner J.W. Harper operated the Leopard Street Theatre in a converted retail building. It was just around the corner from Harper’s long-running Ideal Theatre on Waco Street. Both theatres operated exclusively in the silent era of film exhibition in Corpus Christi’s central business district.

The ventilation-challenged Leopard Street Theatre was an operational liability in the sticky summer months of Corpus Christi. In 1924, a 1,000-seat Airdome was built in the empty lot next to the Leopard Street Theatre to provide better comfort for patrons. The Leopard Street Theatre & Airdome Annex could be given consideration as the first twin-screen operation in Corpus Christi’s movie exhibition history as - unlike most airdome / hardtop combinations in which one or the other was in use - both venues were operational under a single moniker.

The Leopard Street Theatre & Airdome Annex was a short-lived exercise. The Leopard St. Theatre shedded its Airdome as Harper decided to create more modern, year-round theatres. Harper’s plan was to ostensibly replace the Ideal Theatre with the new-build Melba Theatre in 1927 and the Leopard Street Theatre with what was originally designed as the new-build New Leopard Street Theatre in the same location as the original one the following year. The Leopard St. Theatre, however, would have to be the first theatre to close because Harper and new partner James Wass needed the lot to create his New Leopard Street venue.

Under the newly-formed Harper & Wass Amusement Company, the pair would indeed launch the Melba Theatre to great success in September of 1927. Once the Melba Theatre opened, the Leopard St. Theatre just across the street was closed permanently and soon demolished. Harper and Wass Amusement continued with just two venues, the new Melba Theatre and the Ideal Theatre, the latter of which was to have operated only until the New Leopard Street Theatre opened. Harper & Wass added the neighborhood Agnes Theatre at the confluence of Agnes Street and Brownlee Boulevard in 1928.

But the new Leopard Street Theatre project would be taken over by prolific local theatre operator Bruce Collins and the spot once occupied by the Leopard Street Theatre would become the long-running Grande Theatre launching on November 25, 1928. Harper & Wass' Ideal Theatre was sold to the Robb & Rowley’s R&R Gulf Entertainment Circuit in 1928 which had also acquired Harper & Wass' Melba Theatre and Agnes Theatre in separate transactions. This ended Harper’s theatrical exhibition run in Corpus Christi.

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