Gem Theater, New Orleans Louisiana

Date added: March 14, 2025

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Louisiana
Theater

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The Gem Theater is a good example of a first-class theater built specifically for African Americans in their respective neighborhood. Theaters such as the Gem were symbolic during a time of segregation and allowed for the African American residents to have their own theater where they were not specifically relegated to one section due to segregation.

Segregation was in place throughout the country in the 1940s and 1950s and as with other public establishments, theaters had separate entries for whites and African Americans. They also had separate ticket booths as well. These entry routes bypassed the main lobbies and usually included a steep, narrow stair that led to an upper balcony where they sometimes had more uncomfortable seats and fewer amenities than the white theatergoers. As the popularity of movie theaters grew throughout the country, traditionally African American neighborhoods began to get their own theaters, such as the Gem. One source notes that this trend served to keep African American patrons in the neighborhoods where they lived.

Of the 21 theaters that were once located in the Uptown area of New Orleans, 11 have been torn down, 6 are significantly altered and have been adapted for business use, 2 have been converted to residences, and 2 are vacant and ready for adaptive reuse. One is the Gem. And other than the recently restored Carver Theater, this appears to be the last example of a single screen neighborhood theater targeting an African American audience in New Orleans. Of the original 21 in the Uptown/Broadmoor area, only two were designed for African Americans, the Gem, and the Ritz.

The Gem Theater opened in 1951 and was the last African American theater to be built in the area. It was initially conceived in 1948 by the Bijou Amusement Company of Memphis, Tennessee, as the company's third theater in New Orleans. Their other two theaters, the Ritz on LaSalle in Central City and the Palace on Iberville, both catered to African American audiences. Like these theaters, the Gem was purposely built to target the residents at the Calliope (later called B.W. Cooper and now demolished) Housing Project and the surrounding Broadmoor area with a place where they were not relegated to the balcony.

The Gem was designed by local architecture firm of Dreyfous and Seiferth in 1948. Its heavy masonry construction and deep pilings have helped this building survive through the decades. Very few theaters of this type remain as noted above, and most have been demolished or redeveloped for other uses to where they are no longer recognizable as historic African American theaters.

The theater itself sat 1000 people and had wood laminated seats. It included a first floor of seating and a mezzanine where the projection booth was located. It was certainly state of the art at the time as it was cooled with 60 tons of air conditioning. In addition to films, the theater also had live shows on its 31'x14' stage. Two adjacent dressing rooms, which are still intact, were designed for each side of the stage.

As with the Ritz and the Palace, the Gem Theater rarely advertised. Word of mouth was sufficient enough to get attention for the theater. While it did not actively advertise, it still sometimes made the news with the performers and celebrities who stopped by. Famous African American baseball star Roy Campanella was in New Orleans with his team and while there, he and his other team members competed in a quiz show at the Gem Theater. Hundreds of African American children got to hear these famous players answer questions and talk about opportunities that were available to them.

In addition to sports stars, the Gem also attracted stars from the music genre. Avery "Kid" Howard, a Jazz trumpeter and bandleader, played at the Gem. Acts like Alton Purnell, a singer and dancer, and "Lollipop" Jones, a comedian, also performed at the Gem.

Some of the films that ran at the Gem include "Giant from the Unknown," with Edward Kemmer and Sally Fraser and "She Demons," with Irish McCalla and Ted Griffin. An advertisement announcing these two films offered them as a double feature and patrons could get in free if they brought in the actual advertisement. A similar promotion was run for free admission for "Baby Face Nelson" and "Wings of Eagles." The Gem and The Palace both ran "Adam and Eve" at the same time in wide-screen Eastman Color.

The Gem Theater closed and was put up for sale on February 2^nd, 1960. Just eight months later, it was being offered for rent for $700 per month. By the end of the year, it had sold for $65,000 to radio station WBOK. In January 1961, plans were drawn up to level the floor, double the mezzanine, and lower the ceiling, likely for use as studio space for the radio station. However, this work was never done. The station began selling off the theater seats for $1.50 each and the theater was listed for sale again in 1964. Meyer's Auto Parts eventually bought the building and added on an addition for a store at the rear corner. They used the actual theater for storage space.

During the second quarter of the 20^th Century, the firm of Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth was prolific and important in designing buildings of smaller scale, such as the Gem Theater, up to very large scale, such as Charity Hospital in New Orleans, and the new State Capitol and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The firm's name varied over the course of the early 1900s and by the time the Gem was designed in 1948, they were known as Dreyfous and Seiferth as Weiss had moved on to a new firm with Edward B. Silverstein. Dreyfous retired in 1960 and Seiferth continued practicing until 1970.

From 1951-1960, the Gem Theater was the only neighborhood theater for the area's African American residents. It was an important source of entertainment and a significant place where they could, for a few hours at a time, escape the day to day rules that came with segregation in New Orleans. It was a first-class theater built specifically for the neighborhood's African American residents and gave them a chance to have their own theater where they were not required to sit in a specific place.

Building Description

The Gem Theater is located at 3940 Thalia Street. Designed in the Art Moderne style, the theater was built in 1951 as an African American Theater. It is a two-story space with a stepped stucco facade with yellow and maroon tiles along the bottom of the facade and a projecting aluminum marquee flanked by movie poster display windows on each side. The side walls have multi-lite metal windows and there are two small one-story additions added to the rear in the 1960s. The interior has lost many of its finishes, but the overall, bones of the building comprising the large theater space with second-floor mezzanine is intact. The original bathroom spaces and concession space are also still intact. The building has suffered significant structural damage to the floor necessitating its removal and leveling.

The facade is mostly stucco with decorative raised vertical bands on the central portion. A projecting aluminum awning comes out from the center in a polygonal shape. Originally, below the awning, there was a central ticket booth and three doors on each side. These are no longer extant. Above the awning were two neon-lit signs that said "Gem." On each side of the central entrance bay are three movie poster openings. The central one is skinnier than the two flanking it. The large central entrance bay is recessed and the side walls of the recess are angled. Each of these also holds a movie poster with signage above that says "Now," to show what movies were currently playing. These are intact.

Each side elevation is exposed masonry with three window openings. Most of these have their original 24 light metal windows. One on the left side has been boarded over. As stated previously, a small one-story concrete block addition is located on the rear of the right side. This was for a 1960s auto parts store that used the Gem for storage. It connects via the rear entry on this side. Its facade faces S. Broad Street and is a typical 1960s brick veneered facade with an aluminum and glass storefront. There is a second addition off the rear, which was constructed at the same time as the other addition based on the matching brick used in its construction.

The interior has been stripped of most original material finishes, but the overall large volume of space and layout remains intact. The first floor had a central ticket booth, which is no longer standing. On the left side of the entrance are two small bathrooms and on the right side was the concession stand. To the right of the concession stand are the stairs leading up to the mezzanine. In the main theater space, there is a large central stage with dressing rooms on each side. The walls of the dressing rooms are curving walls. The ceiling would have been finished and is currently exposed metal structural framing. The mezzanine level features a projection room. The floor has been removed as the foundation was not properly laid and split. It is being repaired with concrete to match, but poured correctly.