Now & Then
San Antonio Theatres: Now & Then
A Santikos Theatre ticket taker, 1989
photo by Gary Yantis
Welcome to
San Antonio Theatres:
Now & Then
My name is Gary Yantis and I have been collecting the history of our theatres since 1978 when I had the opportunity to photograph the Majestic Theatre after it was remodeled.
I am joined by Bob Polunsky, movie critic and life time resident of San Antonio with 50 years of theatre experience. Also joining me is book publisher Alice Geron and Professor John Igo, theatre critic and live theatre historian. And now we are adding Gerald Lyda to our cast.
Princess Theatre, 1913-1929, San Antonio, TX, San Antonio Express-News.
I have been working on this website for about a three months and it now has 170 pages which can be viewed by using the Table of Contents or the Alpha-Index above.
The website is split into three main parts. We have placed the current theatres in the upper part of the Table of Contents. Just click on the company name and you will find the appropriate theatre. The theatres have maps and links to the theatres to view current
films and purchase tickets online.
Balconies, Majestic Theatre, 1929-present, San Antonio, TX, Photo by Gary Yantis.
The second part of the Table of Contents will take you through the history of the movie theatre business, starting with nickelodeons, then silent theatres, movie palaces, on down to a history of the older multiplexes.
The third section has links to historical theatres and websites in other cities, Bob Polunsky's page, movie ads, and some famous people that have contributed to San Antonio's theatre history.
Wonder Theatre, 1965-1987, San Antonio, TX, photo by Gary Yantis.
We hope you enjoy this site and come back and see us often. It is always changing.
Gary YantisPlea: If anyone has information or photographs on any of the old theatres in San Antonio and they would like to share the information or pictures, we would be glad to post that information on the appropriate page, giving full credit.
About the Forum: The Theatre Forum is free and is set on auto so that anyone can go up to the forum, register and then post a comment. Please use it.
July 3, 2008: On the 20th of June, radio station, WTMJ, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ran an article on drive-in theatres and featured our page. The result was 1998 hits from June 21, 2008 through July 2, 2008. I want to thank the station for their article on their website and I am creating this link to their page.
May 1, 2008: I've added some links to various sites that work with Film Making in San Antonio.
May 1, 2008: Larry Ratliff will be featuring our site on his blog page in MySA.com. I have created a page for Larry and you can reach his blog site by going to his page above.
February 29, 2008: Alice Geron has a new book that she has just published. Check her page for details.
On February 25, 2008, Harry Geron, husband on our own Alice Geron, passed away at the age of 86. He was a graduate of the 1940 class at Jefferson High School. There was a memorial service at Porter Loring Mortuary on McCullough at I-35 Thursday, Feb. 28, 1:00 pm. He was buried in Waco on Friday, Feb. 29. Our condolences Alice.
February 7, 2008, I just received this e-mail this evening:
On Friday, February 8, 2008, Choosetube.com will be opening a San Antonio acting competition called "So You Think You Can Act?" This competition is planned to be held at various locations around San Antonio in front of live audiences. Each part of the competition will be filmed and aired on Choosetube.com.
The grand prize is $1000.00 cash, a 1 hour photo shoot, a featured 3 page pictoral in Chosen Magazine, and a trophy signifying the winner as "Best Thespian"
We anticipate great publicity as a result of this competition. We would like to extend the opportunity to your actors to compete, and to your theaters to be one of the locations for the competition. We will have 13 episodes to film, and currently have 2 confirmed locations.
For more information, please visit www.choosetube.com after 12pm on Friday, February 8, 2008, or call 210-745-0770.
Scottie C. Jackson
"Allergic to Mediocrity"
January 28, 2008, added Mike Panasenko. Mike, GWhopper to you fans of Gone But Not Forgotten (GBNF for short) forum members of City-Data.com, has agreed to join us here at San Antonio Theatres: Now & Then. It is great to have his expertise at San Antonio history.
Welcome GWhopper.
January Updates archived.
December Updates archived.
November Updates archived.
October Updates archived.
Copyright . Gary Yantis. All rights reserved.
Email me:jackharris@att.net, check out my main page: 2020Gary's Place
