Film, and especially the old nitro-celluose based film, was highly flammable. The projection room floor was made of concrete to make it as close to fireproof as was possible. The projectors used carbon arc lights, so in addition to being very bright, they put off a lot of heat. The projection room was ventilated so operators could run their machines in almost the same comfort as the audience.
The screen was the latest type Day-light screen, and was perforated where the downstairs speakers were located behind it to assure all patrons the same sound volume.
Mr. Gerhard said that the average life of a sound screen was three years if unprotected. He said the holes become filled with lint, grit and other matter and begin to deteriorate in about a year. He said that this would not happen in Mt. Pleasant. He said that he could have bought a "cleanable" screen, but those had not proved practicable in other places, so he bought the best to be had.
Gold and green were used in brocaded curtains at the entrance and also in the velour drop curtains at the stage. The stage and exit drapes were made of darker velour with wide gold fringe.
After remodeling, the Martin's name was changed to The New Martin to reflect its drastic improvement. Even though a few minor construction details were unfinished, the grand opening was held Friday, September 10, 1937 with the showing of "Wild and Woolly," a rollicking comedy take-off on westerns about activities at a dude ranch. It starred Jane Withers and Walter Brennan. There was also a Pop-eye cartoon, a travel picture, and a band act.
A huge crowd was present for the opening. The theatre did not open until a little after seven, but a big crowd assembled on the sidewalk before opening time. The high school band played several songs at the entrance before the theatre opened, then left for Omaha and Naples on the Titus County Fair advertising tour.
There were other events the same night, and others said they didn't go because they thought the grand opening crowd would be too large and wanted to wait until Saturday night. Even so, attendance was all that could be expected. Mary Jane Lide, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl M. Lide, bought the first seven tickets for a theatre party she gave.
The theatre was almost filled. There were just a few vacant seats in the balcony that were due to faulty lighting that could not be repaired in time for the opening.
W. Scott Dunn, the architect who designed the Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Rowley, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Paul, Jake and Dave Lutzer, Wallace Walthall, Buddy Harris, C. E. Gerhard and Don C. Douglas of Dallas, Jack Lilly of Greenville, the Martin's former owner, C. J. Musselman of Paris and Mr. Apperson of Pittsburg attended the grand opening from other towns.
The Gerhard's friends several flower arrangements to the theatre during the evening, and they were displayed in the foyer.
To celebrate the event, the Mt. Pleasant Daily Times ran a special 24-page section dedicated to the New Martin and the Martin Theatre's history. It was the largest paper ever printed in Mt. Pleasant until then.
Ed Rowley, an owner of Robb & Rowley Theatres, had an interest in 112 theatres. He said that the newspaper's special issue with the entire paper built around the Martin's opening was the neatest and most impressive that he had ever seen printed for the opening of any theatre with which he was connected. Many Mt. Pleasant people also enjoyed reading the special edition.
From the very beginning of movies in Mt. Pleasant, the one hundred block of West Third Street had been home to a picture theatre, and the New Martin Theatre was another shining link in the chain that would last for years to come. From a very small beginning, Mt. Pleasant's motion picture theatres employed 14 people with a weekly payroll of more than $300 (about $4,500 in 2007 dollars) and a gross investment of almost $50,000 in 1937 (about $740,000 in 2007 dollars).
The New Martin Theatre again became Mt. Pleasant's premiere theater, and ran only first run pictures. Movies would now be screened at the Martin as soon or before they were shown in Dallas, Fort Worth and other larger cities. The Texan was converted to second class pictures, or those that had been previously shown here, and its admission price was reduced. The Gerhards planned to use the Palace to show westerns on Fridays and Saturdays because there was always a demand for westerns in Titus County.
By November, 1937, the Martin was showing the latest Fox Movietone Newsreels with scenes that were only a week old. The newsreels arrived directly from the Hollywood laboratories, and were shown in Mt. Pleasant on Sunday and Monday before any other town in Texas saw them. After they were shown here, they were forwarded to other towns on this circuit.
The Martin used various unique promotions to advertise movies and attract customers. In July, 1938 they installed the "Magic Eye," which automatically took a picture of everyone who entered the theatre.
Patrons passed down the "Aisle of Fortune" and the "Magic Eye" flashed on and snapped the customer's photograph. Later, certain pictures were shown on the screen, and the management paid the customers if their picture was shown. The pictures purchased were displayed in the "Family Album," placed in a prominent place in the theatre and printed in The Daily Times.
In September, 1938, the Martin participated in a national movie quiz contest sponsored by the motion picture industry. Questions were published about a selected movies that had been produced or were then in production. Entrants could win one of 5,404 cash prizes totaling $250,000 (almost $3,575,000 in 2007 dollars), with a first prize of $50,000 (about $715,000 in 2007 dollars). The Martin Theatre showed movies listed in the contest for entrants to view.
A February 6, 1940 Mt. Pleasant Daily Times article stated that Mr. Gerhard had called the Times office from Dallas to announce that he had contracted for "Gone With the Wind," the most famous motion picture of modern times. It was released only 4 weeks earlier.
The blockbuster was shown at the Martin for a full week beginning on Sunday, March 17. This was no run-of-the-mill motion picture. The theater received special instructions for showing it, which included turning out all lights except at the exits because a new dimension had been obtained in filming the picture that was a distinct departure from other motion pictures.
The Martin received two high-intensity projection lamps to be installed before the movie was shown that were said to be almost twice as bright as normal ones and were said to bring out Technicolor pictures much more clearly. They also required new power transformers.
People from all over Northeast Texas purchased reserved tickets, but there were still plenty of good seats available for every performance the week before it began.
Wanda Dalton, who later owned the Martin with her husband Charles, recalled in an interview with The Citizens Record, "They numbered the seats and sold tickets for a dollar sixty each - that was unheard of. In those days, there were no concessions in theaters. Then, you could hear a pin drop in a theater," she said. "Owners didn't want customers rattling popcorn bags. They thought it would be too big a distraction. Later, they learned it was okay to rattle those sacks because there was a lot of money in selling concessions." When the $1.60 ticket price in 1940 is scaled for inflation, it translates to roughly $23.50 in 2007 dollars.
During the war years, the Martin played an important roll by running news "shorts" between showings of the main feature. There were no televisions then, and the only way people could see what was happening was on film. In addition to news films to keep local residents informed, the Martin also showed various government propaganda films to build unity for the war effort and to help sell war bonds. In August, 1941 the Martin ran a defense film sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers to show what America was doing in its rearmament program, showing new machines, processes, and techniques used in the production of the materials.
On Wednesday, February 9, 1944, the Martin gave free admission to any patron who produced a ticket showing that they had purchased a bond in the 4th War Bond Drive. The movie was "Thousands Cheer" starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland with a supporting all star cast.
