100th Anniversary Celebration 2024

100th Anniversary Celebration 2024

Bishop Twin Theatre hosts centennial event

By Christina Reed
The Hired Pen

Bishop, CA—It was a gala event, with a 1920s styled-elegance. Many of the residents of the Owens Valley walked through the entrance to the Bishop Twin Theatre with new eyes as they took in the 100-year-old theatre’s lobby, and the notion / transformation of the entertainment it’s brought over the decades. Trussed up in 1920s chic, folks entered the lobby to acknowledge quite a feat in the 21st century. A real motion picture show theatre, going into the next generation’s memories of popcorn, soda, candies, and great movies. Harry Holland’s “Dream” come true, with all of the elements of an iconic motion picture itself, the concept of a movie theatre in the western frontier.

“Bishop Theatre Harry Holland’s Dream” is a wonderful way to acquaint yourself with this unusual story, and the book is rich in detail, humor, and fanciful thinking turned reality. Holland was a “Ventrioquist. Showman. Philanthropist. Meet Harry Holland, the man at the heart of early Owens Valley theatre culture,” says the back piece of this handy, very readable book. The theatre wasn’t always where it is today, and like the motion pictures’ evolution over time (from traveling entertainers, and stage shows to sit-down entertainment on the big screens), Holland’s big dream continued from Bishop’s Opera House (on East Line Street) in the early 1900s, to the current theatre’s location on Main Street in Bishop, CA. For a time, Holland’s efforts took him to the Gem Theatre (currently the business of Rusty’s Saloon on Main Street), and many folks were needed to pull off the acts. There were pianists (to play the music), entertainers to perform, a motion picture machine operator, door men, ticket sellers, and a host of others helped create the magic throughout the weeks. These folks in turn became loyal patrons to the movies as well, and the economy of Bishop did well too. Holland overcame doubts about the quality of going to a “motion picture show,” and he maintained a high-quality establishment and movie-goers could expect movies Holland had approved with his high standards, so that aspersions couldn’t be cast upon his theatre, the entertainment, or its patrons.

“The show must go on…” was what Holland thought after the old Opera House burned to the ground in 1924. A new location was needed, and the Watterson brothers had a “row of cement (fire proof) buildings along Main Street,” Holland’s book explained. The decision was made to open the theatre, and “the property of the present-day Joseph’s Bi-Rite Market was vacant and used as a parking lot.” Initially, the theatre was half its present size, and Holland’s notions were to expand on this space. And, on March 20, 1924, Holland opened the doors for the “showings of “Pioneer Trails,” starring Cullen Landis and Alice Calhoun, and “The Covered Wagon,” starring J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, and Alan Hill,” according to the family’s book. The theatre’s front / façade was remodeled in 1941, and the heavily detailed art deco design of the past was transformed into the “Streamline Moderne style, a less intricately ornamental simplification of classic 1930’s Art Deco design.” Plans are underway to remodel the theatre again, in the 21st century, and current owners Holly and Larry Mullanix envision the older architectural designs of the past, for the both the contemporary and future of theatre entertainment. (Source: “Bishop Twin Theatre Harry Holland’s Dream” by Katie Bird)