Select Theater

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Mineola, Texas is not a town that came late to the picture show. No sir.

By the time the Select Theater opened its doors in 1920, this town had already cycled through six, count 'em, six entertainment venues going all the way back to 1886. The Select was number seven in that long line, and Mrs. Martha Hooks, known to most folks as Mattie, she had a name already waiting for it.

She named the place for Select Pictures, a Texas motion picture franchise, and just like that, the Select Theater was born. Mrs. Hooks and her husband R.

T. Hooks ran the place together for many years, and by all accounts they kept the lights on and the reels turning. Then came 1948, and Mineola decided it was time for something grander.

The Select got itself a full remodel. They put in a gradually sloping floor so nobody in the back row was straining over somebody's hat. They raised up an elevated stage.

And then, well, then there was the tower. The new neon tower sat on a two-part revolving base, stood twenty-four feet above the ground, and was visible for miles in every direction. You can imagine what that must have looked like on a clear Texas night, that spinning neon beacon calling folks in from across the county.

From 1961 all the way to 1986, two longtime employees managed the Select, keeping the tradition alive between them. In 1986 a theater company assumed operation, and another chapter turned. Seven venues since 1886, and the Select stood at the end of that line, glowing twenty-four feet high for anyone willing to look.

What the marker says

The Select Theater was the seventh in a long line of Mineola venues dating from 1886. Mrs. Martha (Mattie) Hooks named the theater for Select Pictures, a Texas motion picture franchise, in 1920. Mrs. Hooks and her husband R. T. Hooks operated the Select Theater for many years. In 1948 the Select was remodeled with such features as a gradually sloping floor and an elevated stage. The new neon tower had a two-part revolving base, stood 24 feel above the ground, and was visible for miles. The theater was managed by two longtime employees from 1961 to 1986, when a theater company assumed operation. (1998)