Eltex Theater

There were two Eltex Theaters in diminutive Elgin, Texas. The second was opened in 1941 lasting until a fire in April of 1983 - a Streamline Moderne style house that has its own Cinema Treasures page. The first began in the nickelodeon era by the E.W. Nichols family as the 250-seat Imp Theatre - according to some reports - in 1911. It co-existed with the town’s more fancy live event house, the Bassist Opera House. One of the Nichols’ five sons, John E., returned from his World War I duty and was assigned theatre operation duties.

The Imp Theatre reduced to four day a week operation in January of 1918 as a result of “Hooverization” - a national World War I strategy to save food in order to win the War effort. On October 10, 1918, it closed briefly along with the great majority of U.S. movie houses for the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Other than, the Imp Theatre operated on a daily basis into the late-1920’s.

As the film industry was transitioning to sound and looking for names to call the fledgling talkies industry, Nichols suggested Seephonic Pictures as a possible branding of the new technology. The Imp Theatre closed in 1930. The closing was a confluence of many issues including the lack of attendance for the Imp’s silent film and live programming fare, the great cost of transitioning the Imp Theatre to sound technology for a small town cinema, and the onset of the Depression - to say nothing of the passing of father, E.W. Nichols in late-1928. But the non-support of the term “Seephonic" suggest by Nichols must have also stung somewhat. The Nichols sold the venue to Dale Wilson leaving the cinema industry.

Wilson wired the Imp Theatre for sound calling it the New Theater temporarily. He changed the name to the Eltex (sometimes El-Tex, short for Elgin, Texas). Wilson operated it for most of the decade (although he had hired two managers in the early-1930’s neither of whom lasted long in their positions). By the 1940’s, with the town’s two brick factories heating up and Camp Swift nearby, Wilson would create a new build cinema in 1941. The new showplace was ready September 25, 1941 opening as the New Eltex Theatre. The original Eltex Theatre closed permanently on September 24, 1941 with Constance Moore in “Las Vegas Nights". Less than a year later, Wilson would create a second theater to accommodate the War effort in the Elgin Theatre.

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