Plaza Theatre will offer front-row attractions

By: Carol Marco, staff writer

An old building that has been "around the block" a few times is about to show it's face again.

But once upon a time, long before the building was raised, it sat upon two empty lots known as numbers nine and ten of block 27 of the original town of Altus. This little piece of nostalgia has quite a story behind it. It's a part of Altus history.

The building began its existence in 1928 as the New Empire Theatre. Real estate records maintained at the Jackson county clerk's office show a lease contract for the building filed on Oct. 1, 1931. This contract was between an Altus businessman by the name of W.T. Spears, The Consolidated Theatres, Inc. and S.H. Jones, the building owner.

The lease term was to cover a seven-year period. The conditions were that Spears and Consolidated Theatres, to be able to use the building for their theatre business, had to provide Jones $400 every month. And, on top of that, should the gross earnings of the box office receipts rise above a figure of $4,800 within a year, Spears and Consolidated had to pay 10 percent of the excess.Spears and Griffith Realty Co. purchased the building from Jones and his wife, Lillie, April 7, 1948. At that time, the revenue stamps on the deed came to a total of $106.70.

Years after the death of W.T. Spears in 1968 came the next change of the buildings ownership. Spears owned a one-half interest in a co-partnership or joint venture operated with Video Independent Theatres, Inc. of Oklahoma City, in operation of theatres in Altus at the time of his death. The Final Decree of Spears' estate was filed on June 3, 1970 and the Associate District Judge ordered that the National Bank of Commerce in Altus act as Trustee of the Spears Trust. The City National Bank of Lawton transferred their control of the Spears Trust in August of 1990 to the First National Bank & Trust of Tulsa. Both the First National Bank & Trust of Tulsa, as Trustee for the Spears Trust, and the Griffith Realty Co. sold their one-half interest each in March of 1991 to Jimmie C. Wiley Jr.

In February 1992, Wiley and his wife LaDonna issued a Contract For Deed for the property to Kerry Newell. Nine months later in November of 1992, Newell and his wife Donna and Wiley and his wife LaDonna sold their interests in the building to Brad Wenk. The Wileys had operated the theatre since they purchased it in 1991. And, Wenk and his wife Robin sold it to Southwest Investment Group later that same month. In May and June of 1993 came the supposed end to the line of ownership when Southwest Investment Group and Downtown Altus, Inc. deeded their interests to the Downtown Altus Redevelopment Trust Authority (DARTA). That is where ownership of the Plaza stood, until December of 2002 when Janice Day, a retired Braum's employee and her son, Richard pooled their cash together to purchase and become co-owners of the theater. And, so the Plaza has somewhat of a story to tell, having been one of a chain of 125 theatres operating in 58 towns and cities. By the spring of 1936 Griffith Theatres was a friendly co-operative of 80 partners, one of which was W.T. Spears.Having been hushed for 12 years now, the Plaza is about to re-enter society again as a new "Deb" in town. The Grand Opening is planned to occur before Dec. 15, provided no problems arise. Mainstreet Altus has the word that Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) would like to provide coverage of the event. Three generations of Days, mother, son and grandsons, as well as construction head Tommy Collier have performed all of the improvements themselves. A marble wall was discovered in one of the bathrooms when Collier pulled the end cap off to replace the doors.

"When I got ahold of it, it about took me down to the floor because it was so heavy," said Collier.

Janice Day, of Martha, made the decision to purchase the Plaza after her retirement from a 22-year-long managerial stint with Braums. She said she was just sitting at home and wasn't happy. "I've got grandkids and they needed a decent movie place to go to," said Day. "I felt like the kids of Altus, and my grandsons needed a good, wholesome place to go to for decent entertainment."

There won't be any "R" rated movies playing at the Plaza. "Most of them are going to be the older classics and second run movies," said Day. "Matinees will run on Saturdays and Sundays-- movies for younger kids-- and we'll probably play old westerns." Day says "you can sit with your kids and not be embarrassed" while watching movies. The theatre name is still the Plaza but the company name is now Days Past Entertainment. There are 200 seats in the balcony and 400-plus seats below, which Day has sanitized by herself, armed with rubber gloves, scraping layers of tar and gum away; scrubbing away the scuff marks from shoes placed on the back sides of the seats. Up the stairs, between the pedestals, to reach the balcony, Day and Collier accidentally uncovered the original south wall of the old grocery store before the theatre was built.

With a great deal of curiosity and after digging off two inches of wall stucco, they revealed the original Borden's sign.

The original "cry room" will be available as you enter the south side doors of the theater. The walls are all to be covered in a wine-colored velvet fabric and the carpet will be a wine color with floral pattern.

The original acoustics are still there on the walls, dated art deco, but will be covered up by the velvet fabric.

"It's just gonna look rich looking with that fabric up there and the carpet; wine colored," said Day.

The new film screen will be approximately 16 feet by 29 feet. There is a whole new sound system; a 28-channel digital surround sound with 32 speakers. Audio-Tech out of Lawton is putting in the audio system.

"They say it's one of the largest systems they've ever installed," said Collier.

A concession stand is in the planning, but to begin with, there will be a candy variety, popcorn and sodas. The walls around the concession area were green when Day approached them, but after two weeks of stripping, she managed to uncover the original art deco tiles in mint condition. The marquee sign parts are on order from Penn.

"We are hoping to have it up by the grand opening," said Day. "We are also going back to having ushers to help people find their seats."

The original ticket sales booth located outside of the theater will provide admission for adults at $3.50 and children at $1.50.

Though the original projector is still within the building, Day will not be using a projector. All movies will be the digital DVD's with surround sound.

The front entrance to the right will be dedicated to memorabilia of the theatre. Anyone wishing to donate or loan any photos or items can contact Day at 477-3015.

The theater will also offer pre-show advertising for local business people. T-shirts and hoody sweatshirts will be available for purchase, too. Day is even toying with the idea of giving brass name plates to seats for a price.

"I just hope it's what people in Altus want-- that they appreciate all the work that has been put into it and that they come see us," said Day.