New Marker at Texas Theatre Has Historical Error - Dallas, TX - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

by JASON WHITELY

Posted on December 10, 2013 at 9:54 PM
Updated Tuesday, Dec 10 at 11:00 PM

DALLAS — The Texas Theatre was the largest suburban movie house of its kind in the state when it opened in 1931.

"Everyone supports history, and we want to make sure history is correct," said Brian McKay of the Oak Cliff Foundation, which bought the building in 2001.

But history remembers this theater on Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff as the refuge Lee Harvey Oswald sought as he tried to dodge police.

Officers arrested him inside on the afternoon of November 22, 1963 for shooting Officer JD Tippit several blocks away.

But today outside the theater, a new Texas historical marker tells a different story.

The silver letters on the cast aluminum say Oswald was apprehended here for President Kennedy’s assassination. In reality, police didn’t file that charge against Oswald until nearly midnight on November 22.

"It is a small error, but a significant error, and we believe history should be recorded accurately," McKay said.

The Texas Historical Commission does not check for accuracy on applications for markers, according to Bob Brinkman, the program’s coordinator. That's up to the county historical commissions and the groups that apply for markers, he explained.

But in this case, Brinkman said, the state actually relied on information within the National Register of Historic Places to write this marker — not knowing that that information was incorrect.

As it turns out, the National Register has had the inaccurate story element in its file since the Oak Cliff Foundation applied for national historic status on the theater in 2002.

Brinkman said the state did not catch the historical mistake in its year-long process, either.

Farris Rookstool III, a JFK historian who wrote the historical marker for Officer Tippit's shooting scene, first discovered this mistake when the Texas Theatre dedicated its new marker last month.

"To have that kind of mistake at the front door of one of Dallas' most iconic landmarks is embarrassing,” Rookstool said. "Not only for the landmark, but also the Texas Historical Commission and the Oak Cliff Foundation."

The Oak Cliff Foundation said it intends to fix the record at the National Register, and will spend $1,600 to cast a corrected marker in late January.

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At present, the marker text is as follows:

Constructed in 1931, the Texas Theatre was designed by architect W. Scott Dunne. The "Texas," the largest suburban theater in Texas when it was built, is an "atmospheric" theater, a genre designed to enhance the fantasy and exoticism of the movies. The two-story building, originally owned by C. R. McHenry, is located at the commercial heart of the community of Oak Cliff. The original appearance of the theater evoked an Italian medieval structure with Venetian influences expressed in the decorative brickwork and stone.

The interior of the theater was designed with a Venetian Court theme, complete with sound effects, clouds, and night sky of 118 twinkling stars in the auditorium. The original movie equipment was Motiograph Deluxe sound equipment, an extreme rarity at the time. The cooling and ventilating was almost entirely invisible to the audience and consisted of two blowers powered by ten horsepower motors. In warm weather, the air was cooled through water. A renovation prior to 1956 resulted in the addition of stucco over the brick and stone façade.

On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended inside the auditorium for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, propelling the Texas Theatre into the international spotlight. In April 1965, the theater was remodeled extensively on the exterior and interior. The uppermost section of the façade was removed and the theater’s vibrant designs were sealed under stucco. The theater closed in 1989 but had a short revival in 1991 when it was used in the filming of the movie "JFK." In 2001, the Oak Cliff Foundation bought the theater. This Dallas landmark was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Type of publication: Television When was the article reported?: 12/10/2013 Publication: WFAA - Channel 8 (Dallas) Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Crime

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