Venerable Austin Theatre Closes - Goodbye, Dobie

Rumored for at least 2 years but still coming as a surprise, the staff of the dobie theatre were informed Wednesday August 18th that their last day of official operation would be Sunday August 22. Despite the fact that it was located in the center of the University of Texas campus, one of the most populous universities in the nation, ticket sales had been declining for years, despite an upsurge in attendance over the last year.
One of the first arthouse movie theatres in Austin, the Dobie virtually kick-started Richard Linklater's career with its screenings of arthouse classics such as the films of Akira Kurosawa. The theatre was also the original location for Quentin Tarantino's first film fests, which took place in the '90's.
"I want to thank Scott Dinger for starting the Dobie theatre in the late '70's - early '80's," general manager Heather Cain said to a crowd of over a hundred students gathered in the Egyptian Room to attend the very last official screening at the theatre, a sneak preview of the teen comedy EASY A, sponsored by collegemoviereview.com, on August 23.
The Egyptian Room, you ask? Yes, the four screening rooms in the Dobie were decorated according to separate and distinct themes, just like my favorite beachside inn in Port Aransas. Screen one was The Library, with bookshelves and red surtains painted on the walls. The last movie shown on that screen was fittingly the competently quirky and full of inside jokes Will Ferrell- Mark Wahlberg comedy THE OTHER GUYS, which I saw Sunday night. Entertaining spoof of cop/action movies.
Screen two, the largest room in the Dobie (which sat maybe a little more than 150 people) was my favorite, the Egyptian Room. The walls of this room had enough Egyptian symbolism painted on them to make Madame Blavatsky proud. Yes, this room was replete? with huge murals of Isis, Osiris and Horus and their attending servants. The column in the middle of the room was even painted in Egyptian lore.
"So what are they doing with the artifacts from the Egyptian Room?" I asked Manager Heather Cain on Sunday night. "Are they stripping the room? May I have some of the pieces?"
"I think they're leaving the rooms intact for now." Heather replied.
Screen three was the Gothic Dungeon. Detailed and fierce gargoyles were painted on the walls overlooking their prey from the barred stone doors. I remember seeing a Bresson retrospective sponsored by the Austin Film Society in this theatre room back in the early 2000's. It was creepy seeing JOAN OF ARC in a room that looked like a dungeon.
"What are they doing with the gargoyles?" an older gentleman asked Heather on Sunday. "May I have one?"
The fourth screen was the Art Deco Room and the smallest one in the theatre. The columns painted on the walls were reminiscent of the sets for the 1930's serial classic FLASH GORDON. Seems like I might have seen something in that room, but my green-saturated hazy mind wants to make up romantic screenings that probably never happened, like maybe seeing the Queen-fueled camp classic FLASH GORDON (1980) in that room. That would have been a classic screening, if it ever occurred.
Soon I will upload the photos of the rooms I took on the last official night that the Dobie was open to the public.
----------------------------by Anne Heller