Cine El Rey

The Cine El Rey symbolizes the significance of the Spanish language Film Theater (Mexican Theatres) in the Hispanic-American culture. Opened as a theater in downtown McAllen, Texas in 1947, the "El Rey" served the city's Hispanic community for forty years. Although it is simple in design and ornamentation, it is a good example of a small-town, downtown movie theater in Texas in the 1940s and was important in the life of McAllen's Hispanic community during its four decades of operation. The theater is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the areas of Entertainment and Ethnic Heritage: Hispanic, as a "Mexican Theatre" built to capitalize on the demand for Spanish-language entertainment created by the influx of Mexican Braceros into the United States during the 1940s. It is also eligible under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as a good local example of a well-preserved movie theater with Art Moderne influences.

In June 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation identified the Caminos del Rio Heritage Corridor and historic American movie theaters among the "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." The Cine El Rey fits into both categories, but fortunately, the theater will once again play a role in the city's history and the revitalization of the 33-block downtown district through its rehabilitation.

McAllen is in the geographic center of the region most recently termed "the Borderplex," which includes the four Rio Grande Valley counties (Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr) and the Northern Mexico border cities from Matamoros to Ciudad Mier. The Borderplex is a bicultural, bilingual, international metropolitan area. It is expected to reach or exceed a population of 2.5 million by the year 2001, placing it among the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. It is in the midst of unprecedented change, perhaps greater than any other area of its size in America.

Fifty years ago, McAllen had a rural, agriculture-based economy characterized by sporadic growth. Today, the area is being transformed into a major international trade area by developing first-rate commercial, retail, office, industrial, medical, retirement, and educational facilities. The promotion of international and retail trade, tourism, and manufacturing is among the most successful along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

The McAllen Townsite Company was launched on December 5, 1904. It was established on the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railroad rail lines eight miles north of the Mexican border. On February 27, 1905, its railroad depot was opened and the first buildings were erected by 1908. That year the area had a population of more than 300. By the end of that year, the Main Street area had five stores, two taverns, two lumberyards, and a Presbyterian Church. It was incorporated on February 20, 1911.

By the beginning of the 1920s, McAllen established itself as the leader in broomcorn production. The population had grown to 5,331. The rate of urban growth was partly due to the increasing service and supply needs of the agricultural economy. By that time, McAllen had two movie theaters in the downtown area, the Columbia and the Queen. In 1920, the Columbia, managed by McAllen theater pioneer L.J. "Shine" Mason,3 was renovated to provide a 70-foot stage with dressing rooms to receive the same attractions that were touring into the Grand Opera House in San Antonio. That same year, the local newspaper reported that a $25,000 pipe organ was installed in the Queen Theatre.

By the 1930s, McAllen had added the Palace Theatre on Main Street (Photo 37and 38), also managed by Mr. Mason, and the Anahuak Theatre. Karl Hoblitzelle's Texas Consolidated Theatres owned The Palace. Mexican engineer Jacobo Garza built the Anahuak at 17th Street and Beaumont. Mexican diva Esperanza Iris made a personal appearance on its opening night. It closed down during the Depression and was purchased and remodeled by the Texas Consolidated Theatres many years later. They renamed it the Azteca. The Queen continued to operate as a part of the Texas Consolidated chain until 1952.6 The Azteca closed on November 28, 1948, and was later sold to the Ruenes family.

By the end of World War II, the United States and Mexico had established the Bracero program. This program was created to help with a shortage of agricultural workers in the United States and poor economic conditions in Mexico. Each Mexican state was given a quota for the number of workers to be contracted from their state. Workers were sent to recruitment centers and turned over to the U.S. Department of Labor, which placed the workers on U.S. farms. 4.6 million contracts were issued during the life of the program.

Many Texas cafes, barbershops, and in some instances theaters, however, refused entry or service to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.9 Some theatres, like the Capitol in Austin, Texas, showed Mexican movies after midnight. Others, like the Ropes in Ropesville, Texas, segregated the Mexicans by requiring them to sit on the balcony. A report from the "Home Theatre in Whiteface, Texas, reports that the "Exhib (exhibitor) believes in segregation." In Texas, some of the larger towns and towns with a large Spanish-speaking population had theaters where Spanish-language films were exhibited. These operated mostly in the southern part of the state. Their houses were mostly small, poorly ventilated, and were cursed with third-rate equipment. Field representatives for Spanish-language film distributor Clasa-Mohme described many of these theatres as "shacks" and "tents." These little houses charged extremely low rates, fifteen and twenty cents, whereas American houses in the same cities were charging thirty-five and forty cents. Even with the lower rates, they often had small houses. Income for many of the Mexican families had income ranging from eight to ten dollars per week.

The arrival of the Bracero had a tremendous impact on the growth of the Mexican population in the United States. In the 1940s and 1950s, Spanish language film distributor Clasa-Mohme's field salesmen were continuously analyzing census data to estimate the Mexican population in Texas cities. The Clasa-Mohme archives are full of reports on the arrival of farm workers into potential markets. This new audience was looking for entertainment. The standard American fare being supplied to the local cinemas did not supply the Mexicans with the rough comedy, lusty singing, and blood and thunder they got with charro films (Mexican westerns) and comedies produced in Mexico starting in the late 1930s, and whose rate of production grew dramatically during the 1940s. These films make up El Siglo de Oro del Cine Mexicano ("Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema").

The Texas Spectator, (August 16, 1946) reported that "a new industry is developing in Texas, and the monopolies are getting ready to take it over," referring to the Spanish-language theater industry. The major theater chains had been watching this growth but had not expanded into it:
... But now the battle for the Spanish-language film industry is on. Independents here and there in the state, particularly in the larger cities... are battling with Interstate, and at the moment are holding their own... Everybody in the theatre business who stands and checks the flow of patrons into one of these houses is trying to muscle into the industry. Here is something new everybody is trying to get in on it while the money is flowing. And Interstate is preparing to protect itself. Interstate is beginning to expand.

In 1946, the Interstate Theatres, through Texas Consolidated, owned three properties in McAllen: the Palace, Queen and Azteca theaters. That same year, Texas Consolidated Theatres purchased land on the 26th block of South 17th Street in McAllen from Severo and Rumalda Barrera. Seventeenth Street, La Dies y Siete, served as the heart of the downtown area that serviced the city's Hispanic community. The land would be used to build a state-of-the-art theatre to provide Spanish-language features for McAllen's Mexican community.

According to Interstate records, the company assigned the theatre a manager almost a year later on May 1, 1947. The city manager, L.J. "Shine" Mason, oversaw operations for the four theaters in McAllen. Mr. Mason, known as McAllen's theater pioneer, had been a resident of the city since 1917. Mr. Mason appointed Antonio J. Balderas to manage their new property. Mr. Balderas had been working with the Texas Consolidated Theatres since 1937., beginning at age 17. After returning from duty in World War II he received the El Rey assignment. Texas Consolidated's Dallas offices supplied the architectural plans and hired McAllen contractor W.E. Crawford to build the facility. The Saturday before the inauguration of the building, Mr. Balderas was working at the Azteca, two blocks away. It rained very hard that night. After closing the Azteca that evening, Mr. Balderas walked down the street to check on the new building. When he entered, he discovered that the roof had leaks and that the rain had caused the auditorium's ceiling to collapse. Shine Mason was contacted and Crawford and his crew came in that night and by the next day, the ceiling had been replaced. The theatre opened on the following Thursday, May 1, 1947. Invitations, printed in Spanish, read:

Queda Ud. Cordialmente invitado a la Solemne
Inauguracion de nuestro
Cine El Rey
de esta ciudad que se verificara el Jueves Iro. de
Mayo de 1947 a las 7:30 P.M.
Se pasara por la pantalla la Pelicula por el
Genial Actor Comico
Tin Tan
"Hay Muertos Que No Hacen Ruido"
Interstate Circuit, Inc. - McAllen, Texas

("You are cordially invited to attend the solemn inauguration of our Cine El Rey of this city that will take place Thursday 1st of May of 1947 at 7:30 P.M. Showing on the screen will be the film by the Genial Comic Actor Tin Tan "There Are Dead People Who Make No Noise" Interstate Circuit, Inc. - - McAllen, Texas"). According to Noe Mendoza, a lifelong resident of 17th Street, the opening night was fue el evento del año ("the event of the year"): "All the ushers were dressed in Mexican folk costumes. My sister was one of them. Este cine era de nosotros ("This was our theater") I spent a lot of time in here."

The star of the opening night film, German Valdes ("Tin Tan") was a Mexican comic actor of mythic proportions, often playing the streetwise pachuco ("Zoot Suiter"). Valdes appeared in 103 films between 1944 and 1977. He was the first of many of Mexico's greatest actors and actresses to make personal appearances on the El Rey stage. Some of these included El Trio Los Panchos, Pedro Infante, Pedro Armendariz, Sara Garcia, Antonio Aguilar, Tito Guizar, and Lucha Villa.

Advertising for the theater was in the area's Spanish newspaper "El Echo." The first piece of advertising for the theatre in an English newspaper is found in the May 22, 1947 issue of The McAllen Evening Monitor. The ad reads, "En Persona! Wu Li Chang-Fu Le Ming Famoso Ilusionista," ("In Person! Wu Li Chang-Fu Le Ming 'Famous Illusionists"). Advertising for the theater stopped by June 1 and did not reappear until April 22, 1948, and then appeared regularly. Local artist Feline Perez painted large posters by hand for each new film. He continued painting these boards until 1951.

The theatre continued to serve as the entertainment center for the city's Hispanic community for the next forty years. Jaime Castillo, who started work at El Rey in 1954, remembers that the theatre was the center of the "barrio's activities." The neighborhood children were given free passes and bags of candy on Christmas Eve. Local talent competed for prizes at theatre-sponsored talent shows. "Chi Cho" Delgado, who composed the classic La Estrellita, and composer Rafael Ramirez often accompanied the local talents on piano. These contests were extremely popular and continued well into the late 1980's. After 47 years in the theatre business, Jaime continues to work as a projectionist in Corpus Christi, Texas.

In 1973, Eduardo Izaguirre, whose parents owned several theatres in the McAllen area, purchased the theatre from what had by then become ABC-Interstate. The Izaguirres continued showing Spanish-language products but the Mexican motion picture industry had slowed down and by the mid-80s the theatre turned to show second-run American features. Unable to compete with the larger multiplexes, Mr. Izaguirre closed the El Rey in 1988. It was used as a religious outreach center from 1996 to 1998.

Architectural significance

The Cine El Rey is significant not only for its associations with Spanish language entertainment on the Texas-Mexico border but also as an exceptionally well-preserved example of a post-World War II theater displaying the Art Moderne styling which had become popular for commercial design in the 1930s. Although commonly associated with the earlier decade, postwar architects and designers returned to the style after the wartime lull in commercial construction. The theater features Moderne elements such as a polygonal entrance, porcelain enamel panels, terrazzo floors, geometric patterns below the relatively large marquee and on the parapet, and extensive use of neon not only in the sign but as a decorative element under the canopy. The bold geometric patterns in terrazzo and neon serve as a visual invitation into the building.

Downtown Revitalization and Cine El Rey Preservation

The City of McAllen has developed a "Master Plan" for the revitalization of downtown McAllen. The Downtown Improvement District (DID) is a 33-block area with almost 300 businesses. These businesses draw from a customer base of more than 500,000 in Hidalgo County, Texas, and 750,000 people in nearby Reynosa, Mexico. The purpose of the revitalization is to develop an environment that will be "inviting, visibly secure and in turn help to enhance the profitability of all those that have businesses or investments in McAllen." Part of the plan is the attraction of new "entertainment type" businesses "such as a cultural arts center." to the DID.

Luis and Ann Muñoz purchased the theatre from Mr. Izaguirre in June of 2001 for $150,000. Using their own money and an SBA loan, they plan to perform a Certified Rehabilitation to the Secretary of Interior's Standards under the direction of the Texas Historical Commission. The facility will serve as a performing arts center and will be used for smaller theatrical tours, concerts, film festivals, historical films, and lectures, meetings and will house the local community college's Hispanic theatre company. The owners feel that this rehabilitation will not only serve to recapture the qualities of an Art Moderne theater built for the exploding Mexican bracero population but that it can also serve as a cornerstone to McAllen's downtown revitalization efforts.