I found this picture in a junk shop in Wichita Falls, Texas.
It is an unusual photograph because it was taken at night. Night photographs are easy for our modern cameras but not so for the old early film cameras in 1937
Now how would we know it is 1937? After studying the photograph for some time, here is what is barely visible on the marquee:
Parkway Theater
News shorts and features (on the walls either side of the entrance)
Now playing (as shown on the changeable marquee):
Deana Durbin Three Smart Girls Ray Milland
Pete Smith Gilding the Lily
Gifts from the Air Cartoon
Three Smart Girls
Bank Nite 25c
Three Smart Girls was released in December of 1936 and the Pete Smith special on the history of feminine makeup was released in February 1937.
So now we know when... but where is this theater?
A search for name brought zero results, leading one to suspect that it is probably not still in operation, if indeed, still standing.
After some fine leads from some Flickr friends, (a click on the above photograph will take you to the conversation), I was led to The Jack White photograph collection and THIS PHOTOGRAPH and explanation.
So now we know where.
From the Fort Worth Forum a contributor writes: The Parkway Theater at 8th Ave and Park Place was one of the nicer suburban theaters. We would go to the Saturday kid show and eat a ton of popcorn and candy and see a double feature and cartoons for probably less than fifty cents. The Parkway was one of the plusher Interstate houses, as was the 7th St. Theater. As near as can be found, the theater stood until about 1963.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH shows where the theater stood. It is now part of a parking lot for a shopping center.
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