Pen Theatre
The Pen Theatre was a 575-seat movie theater the opened on East Cervantes Street in 1946, the second largest in the city at the time. Owned by Oscar L. Germany and managed by Clinton Vucovich, the whites-only theater was constructed of concrete with ornamental brick at a cost of $100,000. Delta Theatre Supply furnished the equipment.[1] The building also housed commercial spaces on both sides of the theater, and a parking lot in the rear had a capacity for 525 cars.
Soon after the theater opened, newspaper advertisements were published that criticized the Pen's managers for refusing to employ union operators. The ads were signed by W. A. Brown, secretary of MPMO Local 60, IATSE, and addressed to "all union workers, sympathizers and those aiding and supporting organized labor, and their relatives and friends."[2]
In May 1963, the Pen Theatre was purchased by Arnold Gary of Birmingham, Alabama. Though the Pen was at the time a second-run theatre, Gary negotiated a deal with United Artists to bring first-run movies to the theatre.[3]
References
- "O. Garmany to Build Pensacola House." Boxoffice, October 27, 1945.
- "Pensacola Theatre Opens; Managed by C. Vucovich." Boxoffice, July 6, 1946.
