Cine El Rey

By the beginning of the 1920’s, 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, was being 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 1930’s, McAllen had added the Palace Theatre on Main Street, 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," on 17th Street and Beaumont. Mexican diva Esperanza Iris made a personal appearance 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. 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 those workers to be contracted from their state. These workers were sent to recruitment centers and turned over to the U.S. Department of Labor, who placed the workers in U.S. farms. 4.6 million contracts were issued during the life of the program.

However, many cafes, barbershops, and in some instances theaters, refused the entry or service. Some theatres, like the Capitol in Austin, Texas, showed the Mexican movies only after midnight. Others, like the Ropes in Ropesville, Texas segregated the Mexicans by requiring them to sit in 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, where 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 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 1940’s and 1950’s, 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, l***y singing and blood and thunder they got with the charro films (Mexican westerns) and the comedies. The Mexicans got this in the pictures that Mexico started producing in the late 1930’s and whose rate of production grew dramatically during the 1940’s. These films make up El Siglo de Oro del Cine Mexicano, ("Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema").

In 1946, the Interstate Theatres, through Texas Consolidated, owned three properties in McAllen: The Palace, The Queen and the Azteca. 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 theatre was assigned a manager almost a year later on May 1, 1947. The city manager, L.J. "Shine" Mason, oversaw operations for the four theaters in the McAllen. Mr. Mason was known as McAllen’s theater pioneer and 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. He was 17 years old at the time he started and after returning from duty in World War II he received the El Rey assignment. The architectural plans were sent from Texas Consolidated’s Dallas offices. McAllen contractor W.E. Crawford was hired 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 part of 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 Thursday.

According to a lifelong resident of 17th Street, the opening night "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 theatre opened May 1, 1947. Invitations were sent out. The printed invitations were in Spanish and read:

"Queda Ud. Cordialmente invitado a la Solemne

Inauguracion de nuestro

Cine El Rey

de esta ciudad que se verificara el Jueves 1ro. 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 Mu***os 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")

On opening night, May 1st 1947, German Valdes "Tin Tan," made a personal appearance and gave both a comedic and musical performance prior to the movie screening. Tin Tan was a Mexican comic actor of mythic proportions. He played the streetwise pachuco ("Zoot Suiter"). Tin Tan appeared in 103 films between 1944 and 1977. He was the first of many of Mexico’s greatest actors and actresses who made personal appearances on the El Rey stage. Some of these included El Trio Los Panchos, Pedro Infante, Pedro Armendariz, Sara Garcia, Mario Moreno "Cantinflas," Luis Aguilar, The Soler Brothers, Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez, Antonio Aguilar, Tito Guizar and Lucha Villa.

Large posters were hand painted by local artist Felipe Perez for each new film. He continued painting these boards until 1951. The theatre served as the premiere entertainment center for the city’s Hispanic community and was the center of the barrio’s activities. The neighborhood children were given free passes and bags of candy on Christmas Eve. Regional talent competed weekly for prizes at El Rey’s sponsored talent shows known as “Los Aficionados.” "Chi Cho" Delgado, who composed the classic “La Estrellita” and renowned composer Rafael Ramirez often accompanied the local talents on piano. These contests were extremely popular and continued well into the late 1980’s. Some regional talent that became national stars were: Carlos Guzman, Baldemar Garza Huerta aka Freddy Fender, Wally Gonzales & Laura Canales

In 1973, Eduardo Izaguirre purchased the theatre from what had by then become ABC-Interstate. The Izaguirres continued showing Spanish-language product but the Mexican motion picture industry had slowed down and by the mid 80’s the theatre turned to showing second-run American features up till the mid 1990s. From 1996-1998, Mr. Izaguirre leased out the theatre and was used as a religious outreach center.

In 2002, husband & wife team Ann & Luis Munoz acquired the theatre and undertook the massive effort of renovating Cine El Rey to its original state. In 2002, Cine El Rey was deemed as a Historical National Landmark by The United States Department of Interior.

The Munoz team was key in securing Cine El Rey as the flagship for the creation of McAllen’s Entertainment District. This effort afforded a future for many other businesses to open such as restaurants, special eateries both as food trucks and pop ups plus a diverse group of themed night spots such as dance clubs, pubs and bistros.

In 2007, brothers Bert & Isaac Guerra took the reigns of the iconic theatre and expanded the theatre’s content limited to not just Movie Screenings but Live Musical Performances, Theatrical Plays, Fashion Shows, Dinner Shows, Stand-Up Comedy Shows, Community Engagement Gatherings and even offering weekly family friendly traditional Lucha Libre & American style Wrestling.

Never leaving its true roots of cinema, Cine El Rey continues to be a haven for Independent Film & Documentary Work. Its survival is a testament to the meaning of community by supporting Cine El Rey’s future while preserving its past. Its history embodies the diversity of what America is all about and more importantly, its doors are open to ALL.