w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
101
B
EFORE CINEMAS WERE REDUCED TO A SERIES OF
DRAB GREY BOXES WITH "STADIUM SEATING," go-
ing to the movies used to be a way of going to another
world. You left the mundane trappings of your home behind
and stepped into opulence that, more often than not, out-
shone even the film you were seeing. It was the age of movie
palaces.
The first was perhaps the Hoblitzelle Majestic Theatre in
Houston, TX. Another early example was the Regent Palace,
built in Harlem, followed by the Strand Theater in Broad-
way. There were also Sid Grauman's legendary Chinese and
Egyptian theaters in California. The construction of such
palaces would decline following the end of World War II, as
television and radio, as well as American's changing film-go-
by SHERMAN CAHILL
