The Edna Theatre celebrates its 75th birthday on Friday, March 14, the venerable old movie house born on that date in Edna in 1950. Its grand opening all those years ago remains one of Edna’s most lively and momentous occasions. Swinging open the doors of the prominent new architectural gem anchoring the city’s downtown business district garnered widespread excitement and set off a resounding city-wide celebration. It’s a date and a fete worth remembering, and the Texana Arts Council hopes to capitalize on the magic of that moment by launching its first major construction project in the group’s determined journey to bring the landmark structure back to life.
Fortunately, there are still a few people left around Jackson County who fondly recall events of that opening day. We are also fortunate to still have a few copies about of the fascinating 56-page Grand Opening Program, an artifact of the event left behind to commemorate the excitement of that day. The Program was published by the then Edna Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s booklet not only celebrates the building’s opening but also reads as a testament to the dynamism and optimism of postwar Edna and Jackson County. Brimming with congratulatory advertisements from a host of local businesses as well as outof- town contractors who constructed the building, the Program featured the chamber’s extensive membership roster of some 140 active businesses. In addition, inserts lauded the city’s schools, churches, and oil and agricultural interests of the time. The obvious pride and enthusiasm felt by city and chamber leaders of that period is palpable, with one especially impactful statement spotlighting for readers the many improvements then rising in Edna: “The town’s progress since the return of World War II veterans has been phenomenal. There are many young businessmen in Edna who are putting their shoulders to the wheel and helping with the job of making the town bigger and better, and finding the task a real pleasure. Nothing is more worthwhile than making your home [town] more attractive to yourself and to everyone else living near you. Successful cities don’t just happen,” they wrote, “They have to be built!”
The opening evening was designated as “Cowboy Night” in Edna.
Festivities began at 5:30 with a street parade led by the Edna High School Band, followed immediately by the band’s concert entertaining the throngs of excited moviegoers in front of the theatre under a new tower of glistening neon lights. The band’s performance that evening was carried in a live simulcast over radio station KIOX, a station still very much around.
Theatre doors officially opened at 6:30, and at 6:45, the first-ever screen attraction rolled off stateof- the-art movie projectors bringing Hollywood stars William Bendix and Collen Gray to the screen in the romantic comedy “Father is a Bachelor”.
Immediately after the screening, acknowledgements continued with a dedication ceremony on stage presided over by the Long Theatre Company’s General Manager, L.O. Wallace, replete with comments by the company’s Director of Public Relations, Glen McClain, and accompanying responses by Edna’s mayor, Harry Mauritz, and Chamber of Commerce President, R.E. Lee. The evening culminated with an on-stage performance by Charlie Walker and the Texas Rangers, Walker being a regular Saturday morning celebrity on the KIOX radio set and the designated “Top Hand” of the Texas Ranger Kid’s Clubs that were a fixture at all sixty Long theatres around South Texas.
Thus, it was on this festive night in 1950 that the town embraced its new Edna Theatre, welcoming it as an important new entertainment asset and a major contributor in local efforts to help the entire community grow” bigger and better.”
Although a lot has changed in Edna since then, even today board members at the Texana Arts Council are at the task of restoring and repurposing the old Theatre and reviving it as a regional entertainment and cultural arts venue. They are convinced that a rejuvenated entertainment hall on Edna’s Main Street can once again inject renewed pride and vitality into Edna’s downtown business district. Even seventy-five years after the theatre’s opening, its promise is still there according to TAC President, Shelley Srp!
“The Edna Theatre is a magnificent, historically significant structure”, observed Srp. The fact that a building of this magnitude was even constructed in the midst of Edna’s downtown all those years ago remains a tribute to the vision and determination of past leaders within our community.
Certainly, after 45 years of sitting vacant, it’s going to take a lot to bring it back, but a restored Edna Theatre still holds every bit as much promise for our community today as it did in 1950.” She and her Board of Directors believe this fervently, and so apparently do the over 550 donors who have generously contributed to TAC’s restoration efforts thus far!
So, in concert with the Theatre’s 75th birthday, Srp and her colleagues are rolling back the curtains to officially announce the art council’s first major construction plans – a roughly half-million-dollar endeavor to completely replace the building’s aging roof over the next few months. On Friday, Ms. Srp proclaimed “we are proud to announce that in the 30 months since the Texana Arts Council acquired the Edna Theatre, we have successfully raised the funds necessary to buy the building outright, to make necessary cosmetic clean-ups, and now to finally replace the entire theatre roof, which allows TAC to secure and “dry-in” the whole facility to protect it against further internal deterioration as the remaining work goes on.”
Srp reported that her group “has plans in place, funds in hand, bids on the table and currently anticipating final construction approval from the Texas Historical Commission!
We believe we will be in position to issue contracts very soon and our patrons and supporters will begin to see construction progress within months.
This is a huge first step for us in our ongoing journey to restore the building and represents a major down-payment on all the work that’s going to be required going forward.
While there’s still much more to do, we can’t help but be excited and hope that the good folks of Jackson County will be as well!”
Srp also hinted at other possible near-term developments, including the prospects of partnering with the City of Edna to repair and relight the theatre tower, returning the once familiar glow of the city’s namesake over Main Street each evening, a source that has been missing for the past few years.” She says there will be more to come on this soon.
The Theatre leader ended by conveying the TAC board’s deep appreciation for the enormous community support received by the Council from the beginning, and likewise commending the hard work put in by TAC board members – both past and present.
“Bringing the theatre back under local stewardship; generating the architectural plans for redesign and business model to accommodate full-scale operations and now beginning the initial stages of construction has required major commitments of time and money.
None of what we have achieved over these first two and one-half years would have been possible without the hard work of TAC’s volunteer board members, and the enthusiastic support we have received from throughout our community. Not only have individual donors been generous, but we have been fortunate to have received key grants from statewide foundations and have especially benefited from the big lift supplied by local foundations such as the Laura and K.R. Miller Foundation, Building Bridge Foundation and LNRA.
To each and every Jackson County patron who has made a donation or bought an event ticket to support us, to every business that sponsored an event, and to the foundations and organizations who have invested in our vision and ventured grants to us, we convey our deepest gratitude. We hope that the roof work soon to begin on the theatre is a source of pride to every stakeholder”, said Srp.
But then, just as quickly, Srp reflects that “We realize that this is only the first milestone in a long road still ahead, but it is a moment worth celebrating. Much obviously remains to be done, but with continued community support and contributions, and perhaps the possibility of a few more “angel investors” in the future, we are absolutely confident that we can achieve this prize on behalf of our community.”
“We are here as long as it takes”, Srp says. “and it will be worth it all when this grand new theatre opens once again, and our town can celebrate all over again with the pride and exuberance that showed out on that March day seventy-five years ago!”
EDITORS NOTE: Readers will also see a related TAC story in this issue regarding the area High School Art Exhibition, an event set to open on March 14th, which coincides with the Theatre’s 75th Anniversary.
