The movie began at 8:30. It was the "Gay Retreat," a 1927 Ben Stoloff war comedy movie that held the audience's attention from beginning to end. The movie starred Sammy Cohen, Ted McNamara, Gene Cameron, and Betty Francisco. Wealthy Dick Wright (Gene Cameron) wanted to fight in World War I, but the army and navy both turned him down because he was a sleepwalker. He decided to join an ambulance unit, and his chauffeur and valet (Cohen and McNamara) went along to protect him. They wound up on a regular troop train and landed in France as privates. They got involved in several wild adventures, and the chauffeur and valet happened upon an enemy detachment. By disguising themselves in German uniforms, they captured the enemy soldiers and returned home as heroes.
On June 4, 1928, S. G. Fry bought the Titus Theatre's equipment and lease from East Texas Theatres, but continued to use the Palace as his base of operations.
Just over a month after purchasing the Titus, Fry and Associates sold both the Palace and Titus theatres to the Lilly Brothers on August 20, 1928. The Lilly Brothers, John E. Lilly of Sulphur Springs and A. W. (Jack) Lilly of Greenville, successfully operated theatres in several Northeast and East Texas towns including Clarksville, Commerce, Greenville, Honey Grove, Sulphur Springs, and Winnsboro at the time they purchased the Mt. Pleasant theatres.
After studying the two theatre's business conditions and locations, the new owners decided that Mt. Pleasant was too small for two full-time theatres. They had installed new projection equipment in the Titus, and it was largest and best equipped theatre. The new owners felt that it was the logical theatre to operate regularly and began daily shows there on Monday, September 3.
Beginning the following week, they closed the Palace except for Fridays and Saturdays when they mainly showed westerns.
On Monday, December 16, 1929, after installing new equipment, the Titus Theatre showed Titus County's first "talkie." The advent of sound movies changed the public's expectations. The Palace, which was not equipped for sound, continued to operate for a short time but soon closed.
Even though it no longer showed movies, public meetings were held in the Palace. When Mt. Pleasant was working to secure the Texas Milk Products plant, a public meeting to acquaint farmers with the benefits of dairying was held at the Palace on Friday night, March 28, 1930.
In January, 1932, the Palace hosted a series of dairying schools for local farmers to keep them informed on the latest dairying methods.
After being closed for some time, in early October, 1933 the Palace's owners decided that the Titus and Palace could both be operated profitably and began put the Palace in shape for use. New sound equipment was ordered, and the building's interior was remodeled to improve acoustics for the use of sound. The exterior was freshened to make it more appealing.
Now equipped for sound, the Palace opened on Friday night, October 27. Manager Ben Patrick originally planned to open the Palace on Friday and Saturday to show westerns at a low admission price. By showing westerns at the Palace, the Titus could offer better weekend shows. However, by the time remodeling was complete, he decided to open the Palace every weekday night and show westerns and second run pictures.
Shelton and William Rhea "Ray" Gerhard and Lutzer Brothers bought the Martin and Palace Theatres on April 1, 1935. The Gerhards moved to Mt. Pleasant to operate the theatres. Very shortly after arriving, the Gerhards began making improvements to the Palace.
Titus County was very racially segregated, and Afro-Americans could not buy a ticket and sit in the main theatre to watch a movie. One of the first things the Gerhards did was to announce on April 10, 1935 that they planned to add a balcony in the Palace for Afro-American's use. The new balcony extended about fifteen feet from the projection booth toward the screen and seated fifty-six. It was accessible by two stairways, one on each side of the theatre entrance.
They bought a new set of Peerless lamps for the Martin's projectors and moved the ones then in use at the Martin to the Palace to project a better image on the screen.
The Gerhards planned to remodel the Martin, but instead purchased the Texan Theater on the northwest corner of the square in the fall of 1936. This gave them ownership of all three Mt. Pleasant theatres. The focus of the "best" theatre was shifted with the purchase and a new "pecking order" was created.
They improved the Texan extensively, including removing the stage and installing more seats. The front of the building was remodeled and neon lights were added. The lobby was improved, the balcony enlarged, and the sound system was upgraded.
Because the Texan was the largest, it was used for first run and more important pictures, the Martin showed features that could not be accommodated at the Texan, and the Palace showed mostly westerns. Occasionally, the Palace was used to show special-interest shows. One was a five-reel wildlife conservation movie shown in cooperation with the local game warden on Friday morning, May 21, 1937.
The Gerhards finally got around to remodeling the Martin. The correct term is really rebuilding the Martin. The only parts of the existing building that was re-used were the two side walls joining other buildings. The rest of the Martin was torn away and completely rebuilt.
The old Martin showed its last movie on Monday night, May 31, 1937. As soon as the movie was over and the show closed, workers began removing the old seats so that the wood floor could be removed starting the next morning.
From the time remodeling work began, movies scheduled for the Martin were shown at the Palace until remodeling was complete.
The New Martin Theatre once 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.
However, Mt. Pleasant had too many theatres in ratio to its population to be profitable, so they closed the Palace and only operated the Martin and the Texan.
On Thursday, December 23, 1937, the Gerhards bought the Queen Theatre in Mt. Vernon from Theo Miller.
Immediately after that night's show, they began installing a larger screen and making other improvements. As part of the remodel, the Palace's sound equipment was moved to Mt. Vernon to replace the Queen's antiquated equipment.
On Tuesday, July 5, 1938, Clarence Badt, who was in charge of the Badt estate, awarded O. L. Crigler a $4,500 contract to remodel the building formerly occupied by the Palace Theatre.
The contract called for tearing out the former theatre's floor and converting the building into four separate small stores. New plate glass fronts would be installed along the structure's entire length facing Madison Avenue. The corner building was arranged to face both Third and Madison Streets. A new awning was built all around the building.
In addition, new fronts were planned for the building facing the square occupied by Thomas Hardware, and for Masters & Thomas funeral chapel that faced West Third Street. There, the front of the funeral chapel was made to conform to the theatre building's new front.
Both building roofs were to be repaired and other improvements made.
Mr. Badt said that all four small stores had already been leased, and would be occupied in early fall.
