1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25

Aggie Theater Grand Re-Opening

Provided by Pat Foster

Aggie Theather 1944 before the fire. 

Aggie Theater 1971

Campus Theater

at South Knoblock & College (now University Ave.) Current location of  Hideaway Pizza

The Campus Theatre was originally built in the early 1930s as a single-aisle theater 25 feet wide, with 450 seats. In a naming competition it became the Campus in 1938. The Cowboy, State, College, Co-Ed and Varsity finished second through sixth in the voting. A few years later, the operators decided the house was too small, and the original architect, Jack Corgan, was called in to design an expansion . In 1939, the Campus Theatre was redesigned in an Art Moderne style and was a fabulous example of 1940s Modernist. It reopened on May 5, 1939 with George Raft in The Ladys from Kentucky.The plans for this were published in the February 1, 1937, issue of Boxoffice. The project called for widening the auditorium by 15 feet and adding a small balcony to one side of the booth, increasing the seating capacity to 650. Not sure if the plans announced in 1937 were fully carried out, but the Campus was definitely remodeled two years later. The January 7, 1939, said that construction on the Campus Theatre in Stillwater, designed by Jack Corgan, was underway, and the March 11, 1939, issue of Boxoffice said that the theater was then nearing completion. Like the Aggie and Mecca, already in operation in Stillwater, the Campus was owned and operated by a partnership consisting of Griffith Amusement Company and Claude Leachman. 

Leachman Theater 

at Main & 5th St. Current location of Furniture Showcase

Opened on June 22, 1948, the Leachman Theatre was considered to be the glamorous and exciting place to take a date. The interior featured Art Deco style murals in dramatic shades including gold, mauve and purple. A gold velvet curtain highlighted the screen. This theatre also featured marble flooring and wall trim as well as deco wall sconces. It was the grandest theatre in this area. According to a former employee, the theatre was so advanced the movie could be started from the snack bar. The Leachman Theatre was scheduled to open on June 17. The house had already been under construction early that year, but completion had been delayed when a fire that gutted the Aggie Theatre in January destroyed equipment intended for use in the Leachman that had been stored on the second floor of the Aggie building. When the owner died, it fell into the hands of his daughters who turned it over to Carmike management. The Leachman family would not allow any R-rated movies which proved to be the kiss of death. In the 1970s and early-1980s many of the money makers were R-rated movies. Sadly, the theatre closed in the 1980s and is now a furniture store. Much of the interior is intact and people frequently stop to take a look. The first movie shown in 1948 was The Bride Goes Wild with Van Johnson and June Allyson, costing 50 cents with children under eleven entering for 10 cents. The two decades before World War II belonged to the Aggie; the three decades after the war belonged to the Leachman. A stroll through Furniture Showcase shows the original murals on the walls seen in historic photos documenting the theater. 

Mecca Theater 

716 South Main was the location of another downtown movie theatre. It began as the Garden Theatre in 1918, and then changed to the Abbott Theatre in 1921. It was the Mecca from 1926-1954. While other theatres showed class a movies, the Mecca was known for showing mysteries, science fiction, and westerns, and was popular with kids on Saturday afternoon. Mecca Theatre exterior had a wonderful Coney Island flavor about it and surely was very colorful. Since the Mecca often showed B-western movies the auditorium carried a western theme with faux kerosene lantern lighting fixtures. Woodie B. Sylvester of Video Independent Theatre Circuit took on the venue on June 1, 1953. They closed the Mecca with Wild Heart on July 15, 1954.

Crest Theater 

The Camera opened as a theater in 1914 in the first brick building in Stillwater formerly housing the Yost Saloon. The theater remained in business until 1955, surviving as The Crest from 1952 to 1955.

Moonlight Drive-In Theater 

We also had the Moonlight Drive In "way out" on North Main where Hall of Fame Ave. now intersects main north of Strickland Park. It operated from 1949 to 1968. Many a teenager was sneaked in while in the trunk of a car and it was a great place to "neck".