History of the Princess Theater
The Early Years
In 1922 James “Uncle Jim” Warren Simpson constructed the Princess Theatre. Prior to this time, movies were shown in the Town Hall located on Donnelly Street which was severely damaged by a fire shortly after this new theatre was completed. On July 4, 1928, the projector caught fire in the middle of the night and burned up the shops and the theatre front. During repairs, a temporary 'open-air' theatre was assembled on the side of the building on Alexander Street where wooden folding chairs were placed on the ground for locals to sit on while the movie was projected onto the wall of the building.
The "New" Princess
The “New” Princess was completed January 10, 1929. The Princess Theatre and the two side buildings were repaired and renovated to have the Mediterranean Revival-style façade we see today. The post-fire Princess had seating for 600 persons with fire exits designed to empty the movie theater in less than a minute. Theatre manager William J. Gorman said the “latest approved type of Phototone is being installed, declared “to give a perfect reproduction of disc records, so well, in fact, that it is as good as if an orchestra or artist were in the auditorium”. Motion Picture history was made at the Princess Theatre in Mount Dora on February 14, 1929 when, for the first time ever in Lake County, “Talking Movies” appeared on the big screen. “This will be accomplished by means of the Synchrotone", Gorman had said, "one of the latest talking devices, somewhat similar to the Vitaphone”.
Today
Many locals today can remember buying candy and watching the latest movies on Saturday afternoons for $.25. Some of the movies shown were Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” and Ross Hunter’s movie “Airplanes” starring Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset, and Helen Hayes. During the Jim Crow era, local Black people were allowed to watch the movies but had to enter through this door on the left and sit in the balcony section. They could also reach the concession stand through the same door. Thankfully, times changed and, after desegregation, that policy was eliminated. After the theatre closed on January 6, 1973, a discotheque called 1001 Nights opened for a short period, followed by a gift shop, then an antique mall. It has since stayed empty and abandoned.
Historical Photo Gallery
