Screen With A Voice – A History of Moving Pictures in Las Cruces New Mexico
Preview… 1
1. Inventing Moving Pictures – A Brief History… 3
Peephole Moving Pictures… 3
Projected Moving Pictures… 4
1896 – 1897… 7
Consolidation and Failure… 8
Film Censorship… 11
Rise of the Nickelodeon… 11
Motion Picture Patents Company… 12
Busting the Patents Monopoly… 13
Photos… 14
2. Moving Pictures Arrive in Las Cruces… 17
El Paso… 17
Las Cruces… 20
Photos… 23
3. Business Flourishes – 1909-1914… 31
Las Cruces Still a Backwater… 32
Pictures Made in Las Cruces… 33
Crystal Theater Changes Hands… 34
Drive-In Theater Invented… 35
Airdome… 35
An Innovative Promotion… 37
Photos… 38
4. War Years – 1915-1919… 43
A New Theater Company… 43
Consolidation and Turnover… 44
World War I Declared… 45
World War I Ends… 48
Photos… 49
5. The Twenties – 1920-1925… 55
Theaters Continue to Change Hands… 55
A New Owner… 56
Theaters Sold Again… 58
Shock of Competition… 58
Photos… 59
6. Coolest Place in the Valley – 1926-1929… 63
Rio Grande Theater Opens… 63
Laubach Struggles to Compete… 65
Rio Grande Gets a Wurlitzer Organ… 66
Star Theater Burns Down… 67
Fox Buys the Rio Grande Theater… 67
Las Cruces Gets Talkies… 69
First Talkie… 69
Stock Market Crashes – October 24, 1929… 69
Screen with a Voice… 70
Photos… 71
7. Depression Years – 1930-1939… 75
New Theater Opens – Del Rio… 75
Las Cruces Gets BILLY THE KID World Premiere… 76
William Fox Forced Out… 78
Surviving the Great Depression… 79
New Movie Tax… 79
Rio Grande Theatre Burned… 80
Del Rio Theater Burns… 81
Del Rio Theater Re-Opens… 82
Studio Anti-Trust Suit… 82
Photos… 83
8. Mesilla and Mesilla Park… 89
Mesilla… 89
Mesilla Park… 90
Photos… 92
9. The Forties – 1940-1949… 101
Las Cruces Gets a Second World Premiere… 101
BILLY THE KID Opens… 103
New Theater Announced (State)… 104
Black Clouds Gather… 104
War Declared… 105
State Theatre Opened… 105
Del Rio Theater Upgraded… 106
Smoking in Theaters Banned… 107
THIS IS THE ARMY… 107
Competition Returns… 108
Germany and Japan Surrender… 108
Mission Theater Turns Over Again… 108
“First” Drive-In Theater… 109
Fox Remodels Theaters… 110
Photos… 111
10. Fifties and Beyond… 121
Korean War… 121
New Drive-In Theater… 122
Plaza Theater Closed by Fire… 122
A Decade of Competition… 123
Organ Drive-In Theater Renamed Fiesta… 124
Mission Theater Falters and Fails… 124
Rio Grande Theater Remodeled… 124
Adult Movies Arrive… 125
Aggie Drive-In Theater… 125
HANG ‘EM HIGH… 126
Plaza Theater Converted to Stores… 127
Drive-In Consolidation… 127
Video-Twin Theater… 128
Allen Theaters Arrive… 128
Rio Grande Theater Closes… 129
Doña Ana Arts Council Acquires Rio Grande Theater… 129
Photos… 130
Appendix A – Theaters – 1906 – 2009… 167
Appendix B – Movies Mentioned in Text… 172
Notes… 173
Index… 181
