Jeffrey Liles of the Kessler Theater last week posted this photo of the theater in the 1950s.
The Kessler was built as a cinema in 1941. Gene Autry, who owned several theaters in Oak Cliff, bought it in 1945. A tornado hit it in 1957, and a fire around 1960 put it hopelessly out of commission until Edwin Cabaniss resurrected it in 2010.
Cabaniss is now doing the same for The Heights theater in Houston, which was built in 1928.
Check out our history of Oak Cliff movie theaters in the November Advocate.
