photograph courtesy balton sign company
It was just a little neighborhood theater, like many others in Memphis, but the Joy, shown here in 1948, featured an eye-catching marquee, designed by the Balton Sign Company.
Dear Vance: When he was a kid, my father remembers spending Saturday afternoons at the Joy Theater, somewhere in south Memphis. I can’t find such a place. Can you help? — T.J., Memphis.
Dear T.J.: I wouldn’t include your question in this magazine if I couldn’t answer it. You know, slumped here in my La-Z-Boy, thinking back to “the good old days,” it’s hard to remember a time when we couldn’t watch a movie on our smartphones, laptops, or other computer gadgetry whenever we felt like it. But not really so long ago, no matter how eager we were to see our favorite movie star, we had to wait until the latest picture came to a brick-and-mortar theater. Then we walked, drove, or took a streetcar to enjoy the experience with our friends and neighbors.
The first-run movies from the major studios usually premiered here at the air-conditioned movie palaces Downtown, such as the Malco, Warner, Loew’s State, and Loew’s Palace. But most of us also had our favorite neighborhood theaters, which were smaller, less swanky places where a particular film might run for weeks, such as the Rosemary, Lucianne, Ritz, Linden Circle, Suzore, Bristol, Park, and yes, the Joy.
City directories and newspaper articles show that a small theater called the Rex opened in the 200 block of East McLemore in 1912. According to CinemaTreasures.com, this operated as “an early open-air theater, or airdome.” I have to admit I’d never heard of such an establishment until now. In 1926, it apparently became a regular indoor movie theater called the Cameo, a lovely name indeed, which stayed in business until 1935.
That’s when new owners renamed it the Joy. The location at 278 East McLemore — at the northwest corner of East McLemore and Latham — was a good one. In the 1930s, the area was home to an astonishing variety of small businesses. On the same block as the Joy, a stroll down the sidewalk would lead customers to Graves & Steuwer Jewelers, Jim’s Cleaners, Haverty Furniture, Moore’s Barber Shop, the Railroad Grill, Smith’s Billiard Parlor, Rosenblum Dry Goods, Levin Shoe Repair, Byrnes Plumbing, Piggly Wiggly, Wadlington Pharmacy, Krouse Bakery, Dixie Cleaners, Church Hardware and Feed, a Standard Oil gas station, and even Alf Bourlan’s Poultry.
I never found a decent image of the Rex, Cameo, or even the Joy as it looked when it first opened. In 1948, though, the management decided to revamp the Joy and hired the Balton Sign Company to design an eye-catching neon marquee. That’s the later version of the Joy you see here. Note the lighted posters, the modern-looking double doors with oval windows, and the box office to the side of the entrance. Look closely, and a fellow wearing a cap and uniform — military or police, I can’t tell you — is reading a newspaper outside the entrance.
I can date the photo precisely because of the movies featured in the double-billing, which was standard practice of the day. For as little as a dime, T.J., your father enjoyed a full-length movie, then a cartoon or a thrilling serial featuring Buck Rogers or the Lone Ranger, and then — stuffed with popcorn, candy, and a soda — he could watch another full-length movie. It was a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
According to the “NOW SHOWING” poster outside, “Fear rides beside every passenger on the Berlin Express!” a 1948 thriller starring Merle Oberon and Paul Lukas. Meanwhile, according to IMDB.com, 13 Lead Soldiers was a crime mystery featuring the famous (but fictional) detective “Bulldog Drummond.” Here, played by actor Tom Conway, “Captain Drummond is called in to solve the murder of a man from whom two lead soldiers were stolen. Drummond learns that the two soldiers were part of a set of 13 which formed the key to a hidden vault …” — okay, just find the movie and see for yourself what happens. They’ve already lost me here.
Ten years later, on November 4, 1958, the manager of the Joy Theater, a fellow named Willie Shapiro, told reporters he was closing the movie house and selling the building to the Teamsters Community Building Association, who would use it as a union hall. Shapiro was busy with other ventures; he owned the Lamar Theater and the old Capitol Theater, about a mile east on McLemore. He later closed the Lamar and sold the Capitol to a brother and sister, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, who converted it into a recording studio. They combined their names to form their new company, and perhaps you’ve heard of it: STAX.
The Teamsters operated the former Joy Theatre for only a couple of years, when a classified ad announced the building was for sale. A search for that address in old newspapers turned up nothing after the late 1960s. I’m sorry to tell you, T.J., that if you search for the Joy Theater, where your father spent his Saturdays, all you will find today is a vacant lot.
Got a question for Vance?
Email: askvance@memphismagazine.com
Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101
Online: memphismagazine.com/ask-vance
Or visit him on Facebook.
