As Dean Wakely sits in the foyer of the H&S Theatre, he smiles while recalling his childhood running around the historic business and building.
“I got stuck running the projectors when I was 12 and 13,” he said. “So, I’ve been up there for, well, since I was 12 years old, working almost every day.”
His father, Harold Wakely, purchased the business in 1975 and then the building in 1976, and it’s been in the family ever since. Dean spoke about being up at the theatre as a child, sneaking candy from the snack stand, and, of course, working the projector.
But H&S Theatre has been a part of the downtown Chandler landscape for far longer than that.
The theatre first opened on Sept. 16, 1926. It was owned and built by Col. Richard Hoover and Herman Gerald Stettmund, who made up the H&S in the name. According to newspaper reports, it opened with three vaudeville acts before the silent film “The Wanning Sex,” starring Norma Shearer. An article that ran in The Lincoln County News in 1981 by Sally Ferrell and Pam Gibson spoke of fortune tellers, mediums and other sideshow-esque acts. It was also used for productions by local church groups and other organizations. It later became the first theatre in Lincoln County to show “talkies.”
About two years after its opening, the Hoovers sold their half to the Stettmunds. Herman’s wife, Stell, ran it after his death in 1944. It then changed hands to James Leonard in 1972 before Harold purchased it, though Stell and Pearl Turner had ownership of the building.
Harold said he worked at the theatre as a projectionist in high school, joking that he was actually quoted in the newspaper around that time, saying he wished to own it someday. Fast forward to the 70s, and the theatre was going downhill under the owner at that time. Harold’s son Alan was working there as a projectionist. While Harold said he didn’t quite have the money to buy the business and building, working as a mechanic, they made it work.
Harold recalled that his late wife Norma was skeptical when they first started the process, but after it was all said and done, she called up her brother to brag.
“She called and said, ‘Guess what, George?’He said, ‘What’s that?’She said, ‘We own a theatre now.’She was as excited as I was, but she didn’t want to show it too much,” he said. “She was a great help. I had a great wife.”
Harold said they focused on making it a place for families and kids, though they did show popular movies of the day like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” He chuckled, recalling how that brought in a Baptist preacher, who told him he shouldn’t be showing something like that.
“In a way, I understood, but the one scene that he really obj ected to, I fixed it to where you couldn’t see it,” he said. “I just cut it out.”
The movie theatre truly was a family affair with Harold’s children all working alongside him and his wife. They’ve seen movie technology change over the years, going from projectors that required constant monitoring and precise timing to change over to fully digital. Harold saidhis son Alan was most excited about going digital, though he tragically died in a motorcycle accident before the transition was complete.
Dean said they started fixing up the interior of the theatre around 2005. They repainted everything and purchased new seats and a new popcorn machine. They then replaced the sound system and screen before purchasing a digital projector. However, the theatre still has the original terrazzo floor.
He said they did pretty well from 2000 until the pandemic hit in 2020, which had a drastic effect on movie theatres across the nation. Harold added that if they had had any debt, they probably wouldn’t have survived.
Today, it’s still a family affair. Dean said it’s only him, his wife Tina and his kids, and occasionally some nephews. His grandchildren run around, getting their own soda from the soda machine at times.
Attendance has been soso. They recently screened the new Spider-Manmovie, which did well, though “Paw Patrol” after it was slower. The couple said that they just aren’t making big movie series like Harry Potter, Twilight or The Hunger Games anymore, which really brought out crowds.
Harold said Harry Potter was a film that was particularly memorable for the crowds.
“When we run the midnight Thursday show, by 9 o’clock, they’d be sitting on the sidewalk lined up all the way down to the end of the block,” he said.
The Wakelys plan to keep the theatre in the family and to keep running it for as long as they can.
“Unless it just gets to be too much where we ’re coming up here for nothing,” Tina said.
The theatre is open Tuesday through Sunday, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show starting at 7:30 p.m. It is currently screening “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie,” with the next film, “Practical Magic 2,” set to start on Sept. 11.