Worth the Drive • Globe Theater in Bertram

by Rachel Strickland

To tell the story of the Globe Theatre in Bertram, Texas, it is necessary to go back in time to early 1935, when the citizens of Bertram decided it was time for their small town to have its own theater. A building contract was granted to Marble Falls residents C. C. Cardwell and Mike Toliver, and construction began. In July 1935, the Bertram Enterprise newspaper wrote that the new theater would be “one of the prettiest theaters to be found in Texas in a town the size of Bertram, or even larger.” Finally, on August 20, 1935, the theater opened its doors.

As Bertram’s new theater didn’t have a name yet, the owners held a contest and Roy Dycus won for suggesting Globe Theatre.

Ownership of the Globe eventually went to Tommy Knight, who had begun working at the theater when he was still just a child. Tommy ran the theater until it was no longer profitable, and was still collecting tickets at its last movie showing in 1982. The theater remained deserted until 2009 when friends Zach Hamilton and Lance Regier purchased it with dreams of renovating it and bringing it back to its former glory.

In late 2015, after years of intensive restoration, the Globe Theatre reopened and is now owned and managed by Hamilton’s sister, Emily Ann Jones, and her husband, singer Jesse Lee Jones.

MUSIC DREAM

Emily Ann’s family has called Bertram home since the 1960s and passed down their love of music for generations. Emily Ann began singing in church as a child and, in her late teens, began recording and touring with some big Texas artists, which got her on the Texas circuit. In 2012, Emily Ann won a singing competition in Austin and got a record deal, but instead, found herself at a live music bar in Nashville called Robert’s Western World, where she met her husband and became his artist-manager.

In 2014, Emily Ann hosted a songwriter’s TV show out of the Broken Spoke, a famous dance hall in Austin, which gave her the opportunity to form a relationship with many talented artists. “Music has always kept me grounded,” she says. “Some way, somehow, life always brought me back to music.”

Today, the Globe features big artists in the industry who want to play for a smaller audience, since the Globe only seats 248. Emily Ann says that when she and her husband reopened the theater, they featured names like Bruce and Kelly Willis, Leroy Parnell, Jesse Daniel, and Robert Earl Keen right before he retired.

While the Globe mainly puts on live music these days, they still show movies on occasion, particularly during the holiday season. They also host weddings, birthday parties, and memorials, and are in the process of opening a biergarten next door.

Every first Wednesday, they host free Honky Tonk Wednesdays where folks come out and dance to different bands. Emily Ann is also working with the governor’s office to have Bertram designated a music-friendly community so they can host festivals and receive sponsorships from historic groups to preserve live music venues and live music in general.

PRESERVING HISTORY

Emily Ann and her husband are enthusiastic about preserving downtown Bertram’s history and have purchased multiple pieces of real estate in hopes of restoring and preserving them. “We see a lot of potential, and so we’ve got some real estate we’ve slowly been rehabbing,” she says. “We like to preserve, and we like to educate about the history so people will respect it. Change is inevitable, and growth is happening. You have to embrace the growth, but there’s a way to do it so people will respect the history and retain the traditional aspects of a small town.”

Many people don’t realize all that downtown Bertram has to offer, she adds. “There’s Standard on Vaughan, which is a full mixology bar, Flanigan’s Distillery across the street, and three wineries within five minutes of downtown. It’s really starting to grow around here, and we’re true advocates for supporting the local community.”

GLOBE THEATRE • 132 W. Vaughan St, Bertram, TX 78605 • GlobeTheatreTX.com