Plaza Theater

Poplar Plaza Shopping Center facing Poplar

Now a Bookstar

The Plaza was originally one screen with a unique glassed-in party room upstairs,
which allowed kids to make all the noise they wanted without disturbing the other patrons. The sound of the movie was piped into the party room so the kids could watch the movie. The theater was divided into two screens in the 1970s.

The lobby went straight back with the concession stand on the left, then curved to the left. The doors to the two screens were then on your right, with the restrooms on your left. The restrooms had separate sitting rooms that you entered first.

Movies shown at the Plaza Theater:

Old Yeller (1957)
Mary Poppins (1964) (Anyone who could say
"Superfragicalilisticexpialidocious" got in free.)
Alice's Restaurant (1969)
The Big Fix (1978) starring Richard Dreyfuss

Send us your memories of the Plaza Theater
and the movies you saw there.

Submitted by: Edwin Samuelson : 18 May 2008, 00:04

Some other films that played The Plaza:

Spacehunter (1983)
The Fly (1986)
Transformers The Movie (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Follow That Bird (1986)
Full-Metal Jacket (1987)
Million Dollar Mystery (1987)
Police Academy 4 (1987)
Ernest Goes To Camp (1987)
and let's not forget the last two movies ever to play there: The Principal and Dirty Dancing (1987)

The reason the theatre closed - they were planning of doing a state of the art renovation of the entire Poplar Plaza complex, but the plans fell threw and sadly the wonderful theatre was closed for no reason at all.

Submitted by: Shawn : 21 May 2009, 17:30

I was there for the Follow That Bird movie with my cousin.

Submitted by: peter wertz : 03 Feb 2010, 01:29

Let's not forget the midnight showings of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" every Friday night in the late 70s.

Submitted by: Randy McCord : 06 May 2010, 21:43

I only remember the bad movies I saw at the Plaza. Three come to mind, BOOM with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton: neither one of them probably remember making the movie, it was so bad we walked out, around 1973 I think. The other stinker was Bronco Billy with Clint Eastwood, introducing Sondra Locke, his lover, who also couldn't act. Also mid 70s. The Body Snatchers remake with Donald Sutherland was the third stinker in the 80s. Neat place though.

Submitted by: Donna : 25 Jun 2010, 17:29

I worked at the concession stand at the Plaza part time from 1971 until 1975 as a teenager. Mr. Ken Godere was the manager for many years, as early as 1967, and possibly earlier. My starting hourly wage was $1 an hour. We wore navy skirts, white shirts and bow ties as a uniform. Mr. Grubbs worked as a doorman and Mr. Frederico was the projectionist for many years. Originally, the Plaza had only one large screen. It was later divided into two theaters. Jack and Mae Sibley's paintings hung in the lobby for sale and Mr. Sibley would often drop by with new paintings. American Graffiti was one of the longest running movies that was shown there in 1973. On occasion, Elvis would rent the Plaza theater for a private party.

Submitted by: Roy Nelms : 25 Oct 2010, 14:44

I remember seeing several movies at this theater. One's that come to mind were Mary Poppins, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World,Others that I cannot remember.

Submitted by: LaoK : 01 Mar 2011, 23:06

I remember seeing Gandhi (1982) at the Plaza, and it had an intermission. Now even the Bookstar that replaced the theater has closed, a victim of online competition...

Submitted by: Chris : 25 Apr 2011, 03:02

Saw Rocky III there in '82. I was just a kid, but i remember at the end of the film....a standing ovation! The theater was such a cool building.
Bookstar is now closed.....i hope it never gets demolished.

Submitted by: Scott : 23 May 2011, 20:57

I'm from Indiana but came to Memphis every summer as a child to visit relatives. I could be mistaken, but I think I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey at this theater. It looks very much like I remember it. This would have been 1968? It was a nice theater with one big screen. My cousin Joe Lee took me.