LOCAL

Spam awards, fires and Peter Pan add to history of 1950s San Angelo theater

San Angelo

SAN ANGELO – This San Angelo theater opened in 1950, and it has been running shows ever since.

The Angelo Civic Theatre, 1936 Sherwood Way, is fairly recognizable by its tall tower and green and white art deco style.

Some longtime San Angelo residents may recognize the building as the former Parkway Theater.

Joy Melvin remembered going to the Parkway to see musicals and baseball movies, which are her favorites. At the time, she was Joy Sellars and lived a few blocks away.

"I would go at 1 p.m. and had to be home at dark," Melvin said. "I usually had 25 cents (which was) nine cents for admission, five cents for candy and a dime for a drink...I had a penny left over. It was nice, you could watch movies over and over."

In the theater's early years, it showed Disney's Peter Pan. For this Disney classic, they sold green and red feathered "caps" for $1, according to a 1953 San Angelo Standard-Times article.

The Parkway was also home to the St. Luke United Methodist church in 1952. It didn't stay for long, and is now at 2781 W. Ave. N.

The Parkway Theatre became the home for Angelo Civic Theatre in 1980.

Though the place was filled with sweet memories and stunning movies, not everything was motion-picture perfect. In a nine year period, the Parkway caught fire and was robbed.

An improperly-wrapped wire sparked a fire, which caused $15,000 in damages, on Oct. 3, 1954. In the confusion, $35 were also stolen from the cash register. Two fire trucks from Central Fire Station and one from West Side were there for more than 90 minutes, according to an archived article.

Another robbery took place on Feb. 15, 1963, where a "lone bandit" with his head covered by a "stocking" robbed the Parkway at 9:40 p.m. and made off with $445.30.

In 1968, the Parkway underwent a $50,000 remodeling project, which included a glass front for the box office, a cactus garden, new carpet, concession fixtures, screen, reupholstered and reconditioned seats, acoustical ceiling and a sound system.

Parkway kept its name for 12 years before it was sold for $115,000 to the Angelo Civic Theater in 1980.

The Angelo Civic Theatre takes over

Boasting roots of 134 years, the Angelo Civic Theatre traced its beginning to a "dramatic society" from Nov. 21, 1885.

This group tried to raise money for a town clock, according to ACT's website. Economic issues and two world wars halted the efforts, but — as they say — the show must go on.

Places where the group performed before moving to Sherwood Way include the San Angelo College Auditorium, City Auditorium and American Legion Hall, according to the archives. They have also been known as the San Angelo Community Playhouse and the San Angelo Community Theatre.

The troupe renovated the Parkway to seat 230 people in 1980 and opened-up for the premiere in the new theater on Feb. 25, 1982, and the first production was the musical "Oklahoma" by Oscar Hammerstein II.

One interesting bit of history occurred on July 30, 1953.

While San Angelo may not host the Oscars, Angelo Civic Theatre had its own awards show — The Georgies — which took its namesake from actors who played multiple roles in a production. When someone played more than one role, they were named Georgie or Georgina in the listing.

Actor Alan Dean accepts the Georgie Award for Best Actor in a Drama from award presenter Karen Pearson, in this July 31, 1983 photo. This was the first year of the Georgia Awards, where they were presented cans of Spam.

The first award show had actors and actresses taking home cans of Spam as their trophies and thanking the "Institution for the Creatively Insane" instead of the academy, according to a July 31, 1983 article.

For those interested in catching a show at this piece of San Angelo history, check out what's coming on their website.

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Alana Edgin is a multimedia journalist covering Breaking News, Entertainment, Education and Real Estate for GoSanAngelo.com. If you have a news tip, either send it to Alana.Edgin@gosanangelo.com or News@gosanangelo.com. You can also call Alana at 325-659-8381.

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