Award-winning author and presenter Mike Robertson of Austin, who visited more than 250 old movie theaters across the state of Texas during the Covid pandemic, brought the history of movies dazzingly to life on the silver screen at Spur’s Palace Theater Saturday night.
The crowd assembled to witness Robertson’s multimedia extravaganza was small—proving, sadly, the guest speaker’s theory that ever since streaming entertainment took over during social-distanting times, people more often choose “convenience over committment” just as they did when televison posed a threat to movie houses in the 1950s.
But Robertson’s talk also showed how cities around Texas have made creative use of their old theaters, as Spur has done on a modest level.
He had just come off a gala anniversary engagement at the National Theater in Graham, where a pizza parlor and a mini golf course had been added adjacent to the proud old movie house. Many of Robertson’s examples had converted, in whole or in part, to hosting live band performances or stage productions. One—the renovation of the art-deco Plaza Theater in Laredo, will feature multiple levels of spaces for small groups inside the large theater, as well as an outdoor second-level stage, as the focus of a downtown pedestrian district.
Spur’s 1929 Palace, with its handsome Spanish Revival facade and fully restored blade sign, took its place proudly in Robertson’s montage of photographs. The audience got to enjoy the clear sound of the upgraded audio system, a benefit to any future event. They also were challenged to think how Spur can make even more of its cinema treasure, by serving as a unique and attractive gathering spot for residents and visitors alike.
Robertson’s talk is hardly the end of the conversation for Spur—more aptly, “The Show Must Go On” in ways that appeal to a variety of ages and audiences.
Watch for your chance to share your ideas in next week’s Texas Spur.
SOUND ADVICE Johnathan Smith er of Tarpley Media. (right) installed and tested the Palace Theater’s new audio equipment last week. Below, presenter Mike Robertson filled the giant screen with hundreds of images he’d taken of historic Texas movie houses. | TEXAS SPUR PHOTOS
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