Sooner Theater Building

The Sooner Theatre Building dates back only to 1929. But its site - where Norman's Main Street crosses the Santa Fe tracks - has been some thing of a social and cultural center since the April 22, 1889, "run" that turned the virtually treeless prairie into an "instant town." The first post-run holiday celebration came on July 4 of that year. A large brush arbor was erected at Main east of the tracks. At the invitation of town officials Big Jim's band of Absentee Shawnee Indians came in from their camp east of Norman (his descendants, the so-called Little Jims, still live in the Little Axe community, now a part of the sprawling college town) to present a stomp dance for a crowd estimated at 1,500.

By the end of 1889 the first brick building in Norman, the Adkins Brick Building, had been erected on the theater site, at 101 East Main, Norman's first Christmas and New Year's dances were in the Adkins building that year. Here, too, on December 5, 1890, local talent gave the new town its first "legitimate theater," The two-act play, Among the Breakers, was presented to what was reported in the papers as a sell-out crowd. Among the cast were Tony Nolan, W. C. Dillingham, and Mrs. Maud Dillingham, all three of whom have descendants still living in Norman.

It was in 1928, however, that entertainment came permanently to 101 East Main Street. That year Harold Gimeno, later to be described as one of Oklahoma's first significant architects, was just beginning his career. The son of Professor Patricio Gimeno, artist and long-time University of Oklahoma faculty member, he had graduated from OU in 1918, gone on to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture. In time he returned to Oklahoma and in 1928 he bought the Adkins building, razing it to make way for his Sooner Theater, It was the first business structure in Norman to em body the Spanish style he personally preferred ... a style then becoming increasingly popular all across the country, especially for use in the new-fangled "movie palaces".

Gimeno subsequently built a number of houses in Norman and nearby Oklahoma City, all in the same Spanish revival style, nearly all of which survive, The Sooner, however, is believed to be the state's oldest surviving example of the Spanish style movie house, Adding to its significance is the fact that the elder Gimeno, as an artist, cooperated with his architect son on much of the detail painting in the theater auditorium.

The Sooner opened February 10, 1929, Norman's first "talkie" theater. It also had a fully equipped stage and regularly presented acts from the Orpheum circuit as well as presentations by local groups, Community organizations, in addition, sometimes rented the theater for special events. It remained in continuous use as a movie theater unt11 June 1974, when it finally closed, for good, after nearly a half-century of service to the community.

Despite a certain surface dowdiness, the Sooner is basically sound, and essentially intact "The construction materials," says Fred D, Shellabarger, a local architect, "are used honestly and the interior decor, with massive painted wood trusses and walls of exposed brick and tile, has a really great ambience." This architectural significance, along with the affection built up over the years by its significant role in the social life of the community, has led to formation of the non-profit Sooner Theater of Norman, Inc. The board of directors includes representatives of the Cleveland County Historical Society. Norman Arts and Humanities Council, Norman Board of Park Commissioners, Norman Chamber of Commerce, and Civil Improvement Council. Plan 1s to purchase, restore, and maintain the old Sooner theater as an historic landmark, and to operate it as a community service for a full range of cultural, artistic, and educational purposes,