DONOR:

Jack Weiss

SIZE:

One folder

SCOPE & CONTENT:

Photographs of the Mission Theatre, Mesilla Park, NM, 1947 -1962

BIOGRAPHY:

The Mission Theatre was built in Mesilla Park in 1935. Jack Weiss bought it in 1947.

The Indian scene mural, inside the theatre, was painted in 1935 by Seth Crews, an artist from El Paso. It was painted on plaster walls and was therefore destroyed when the building was demolished in 1962.

When Jack bought the theatre, there was no tile, the box office was free-standing and it had a plain board marquee. Jack added tile, lights, a new box office and a new marquee. A Baldwin Electronic organ was installed in the orchestra pit in 1949. Purchased in Denver, the organ provided music prior to the movie and during intermission.

Photographs in the collection include a picture of the theatre with the Franklin McKinney store next door. The McKinney's stores later became the Pic Quik stores. Campbell Cleaners and Jim Bell's barbershop were nearby, as was the Mesilla Park train station.

Photographs of a monkey in a cage driving around town, represent how movies were advertised. In this case, the movie was "White Gorilla, Devil Monster". To use as movie previews, Jack took movie pictures around Las Cruces, this attracted viewers who were often in the movies. IHSF converted these movies to a digital video format in 2001. The theatre closed in 1962.