Bygone theaters of East Dallas

Arcadia Publishing released a new book last month titled, “Historic Dallas Theatres,” by local historian D. Troy Sherrod. It examines Dallas as the showbiz capital of Texas during the 20th century.

There was a time when the city had more than 100 theaters. In fact, Elm Street boasted almost as many vaudeville theaters and movie houses as Broadway. The book takes us through different neighborhoods, including Downtown, East Dallas and Oak Cliff, and it devotes entire chapters to the burlesque scene and segregation.

Our neighborhood makes plenty of appearances with iconic structures such as the Lakewood Theatre, listed as “the best remaining example of an Art Deco theater in Dallas.” But the East Dallas chapter is full of other historic theaters that we don’t see today.

There’s the Arcadia Theatre, which opened in 1927 as the city’s first theater with sound. In the 1980s, it became a nightclub until it burned down in 2006. Now, the site is home to Trader Joe’s.

At the corner of Mockingbird and Skillman was the Wilshire Theatre, which operated from 1946-1978. At Peak and Live Oak, now the site of a residential community, The Peak Theatre ran shows until it, too, burned down in 1956; the owner was charged with arson.

The book also covers the Granada Theater, the Captain Theatre on North Henderson, the Grand Theatre on East Grand, the Buckner Drive-In in far East Dallas and, of course, Casa Linda.

The author is a fourth-generation resident of Dallas with roots in local showbiz. His research and photos came from his own collections as well as Dallas Morning News archives, the Dallas Public Library and SMU libraries.

—Emily Toman

FOR MORE INFORMATION and to buy the book, visit arcadiapublishing.com.

For what it’s worth

Did you know you should never store textiles next to wood or paper? Over time, the acid from the wood or paper will leak out and burn the textile fibers.

Did you know you shouldn’t use silver dip cleaner because it strips off a layer of silver?

Unless you’ve spent as many years as East Dallas appraiserSusanSturdivanthas,researchingantiquesandmining through art history books, there’s no reason why you would.

“I read until my eyes bled and studied until my head fell off to learn everything I could about antiques,” Sturdivant says.

That’s a lot of studying, but there’s no reason why you need to do that — because Sturdivant and a dozen other appraisers already have, and the Dallas Woman’s Forum is gathering them all together to help East Dallas neighbors out.

On March 8-9, neighbors can attend Antiques at the Alexander to learn helpful hints, hear entertaining and informational talks about antiques and appraising, and bring their own antiques in for a value guesstimation.

Appraising antiques can be quite a task, but Sturdivant gets a kick out of it.

“Even as a full-time therapist, I always said that if I won the lottery I would go back to school and study art history,” she says.

“WhenIdiscoveredappraising,that was kind of a way I could do that and make a living doing it.”

She taught herself on the job (hence the “studied until my eyes bled” comment), and she soaked up as much information as she could from other appraisers.

“Every appraisal is different. I’ve appraisedeverythingfromfineartand Asian antiques to Klan robes,” she says.

During the event, Sturdivant plans to speak about an appraisal she once did on a piece of French porcelain.

“There were no marks on it, but there was a family crest,” she explains. “I don’t know why, but I decided I wanted to know about that crest. I spent months learning about the crest, and I can now tell you all about the Carroll family of Maryland.”

If you want to hear the extended version, you’ll have to go to the event, but tosummarize:Afterlotsofreading, Googling and making a few phone calls, Sturdivant managed to figure out the individual who originally bought the porcelain and brought it to the United States.

”It’s like solving little mysteries.”

And that’s what’s so fun about it, she says. Knowing the back-story of an antique can help raise the value, especially if it belonged to someone famous.

But not all appraisals are so complicated. With most pieces, appraisers will simply give a value based on how much it would cost to replace it with a similar piece.

At the Antiques at the Alexander event, the appraisers hope to help neighbors determine whether their items are “trash or treasure” and whether they are worth a more extensive appraisal.

“Often times, what people think is really valuable is usually not,” Sturdivant says. “People think that because something is old, it’s valuable, and that’s not necessarily true.”

Proceeds will benefit the restoration ofthehistoricAlexanderMansionat 4607 Ross, where the event will be held. TheAlexanderMansionwasbuiltin 1904 and is where the Dallas Woman’s Forum convenes.

The event features two days of lectures, lunch and appraisals. Call 214.823.4533 or visit alexandermansiondallas.com for more information and ticket prices.

—Brittany Nunn

Patient Quote of the Month:

“I wish that the rest of me looked as good as my teeth. Let’s add a couple of stars to Dr. Slate’s rating.”

What’s kickin’?

Craic, the Irish vernacular for “fun,” is what Gaelic football is all about. At least that’s what the East Dallas version of it is all about — community, camaraderie and some good, old-fashioned fun.

Gaelic football — by all appearances a soccer-rugby hybrid — originated in Ireland, and immigrants brought it to the United States. In 2010, Dallas started its own team (at the request of the Austin team, so it would have another Texas team with which to butt heads), which happens to be based right here in East Dallas.

Four years ago, East Dallas resident Kevin McCann gathered a group of buddies, and shortly after that neighbor Emmett Long rounded up several more. Together, they created the first Dallas team under the North American Gaelic Athletic Association.

They call themselves the Fionn Mac Cumhaills (pronounced “Fin Me-kool”), after a benevolent giant from Irish mythology; they started an all-female team a couple of years ago. Now there are more than 55 men and 35 women who play. The teams aren’t made up of solely Irish men and women. Several nationalities are represented, and the team is “anxious to expand their recruitment,” spokeswoman Catherine Pate says.

Gaelic football is an intense, high-action sport that “combines the agility of soccer, the pace and high scoring of basketball and the fielding skills of American football,” member Kandace Walters says.

At a glance, it might look like soccer, until you realize the players are running with the ball in their hands. Pate says that was the biggest hang-up she had to overcome when she started playing because it felt like “traveling.”

In Gaelic football, the players run with the ball for four steps, and then either bounce the ball on the ground, kick the ball back to themselves, or pass it to someone else. Then four more steps and repeat, except they can’t bounce it on the ground twice in a row; that would be too easy.

The East Dallas group hosts a weekly “boot camp” followed by a training session, as well as pub leagues in the summer.

There are four Texas teams — Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — that play each other frequently, and they travel to other states to face off with other cities. They also compete at nationals, which will be held in Boston this year. Last year, there were 86 teams at nationals.

The group also plays hurling and camogie. And when the team is not on the practice fields, you can usually find its members in one of the various Irish pubs around East Dallas, celebrating their Irish, or not-so-Irish, heritage.

—Brittany Nunn FOR PRACTICE TIMES AND LOCATIONS, or to learn more about the organization, visit the website at dallasgaa.com.

Clocking out

These days, if you want to find neighbor Charlie Dalton, don’t head to Ralph Austin Jewelers, where he’s been repairing watches and jewelry for more than 32 years. Instead, Dalton is spending more time at his favorite neighborhood haunts — shooting the breeze with friends and neighbors at Gold Rush Café or knocking a golf ball around at some of the area golf courses. The 66-year-old decided to retire from the jewelry-repair business and handed the keys to Ralph Austin Jewelers over to a jeweler from Duncanville, Robert Milke, and his son, Tanner Milke. Dalton’s father-in-law founded Ralph Austin Jewelers in the SkillmanLive Oak shopping center in 1966 and ran it until Dalton took over in 1982. Before he moved to East Dallas, Dalton received his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas in Austin in 1969, and then he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for 13 years. He began occasionally helping his father-in-law at Ralph Austin Jewelers and enjoyed the work. “Watch repair is pretty complicated,” Dalton says. “There’s a lot to learn about that, but jewelry repair can be, too, especially the finer stuff.” When he took over, he only had basic knowledge of jewelry and watch repair, so he had to learn the rest of it on the fly, but after three decades of perfecting the trade, he’s now one of the few jewelers who knows how to repair old, mechanical watches — you know, the ones that don’t run on batteries. But he’s still learning, he insists. “If you think you’ve learned it all, then you’re in trouble,” he says with a laugh. Although it has been fulfilling work, Dalton, who hasn’t taken more than three or four consecutive days off in 32 years, has some new things on his agenda. “I’d like to travel,” he says. He’s planning to hang around to pitch in part-time until June or so, but after that, it’s off to Europe. —Brittany

Nunn