Title: Walter Morris Film Collection

Date/Date Range :   1948-1977

Extent: 7.5 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection deals with cinematic material belonging to Walter Morris, native Knoxvillian who spent over 50 years in the management and ownership of motion picture theaters in Knoxville and throughout the United States. This material consists primarily of promotional items known as ticklers in the trade, plus various trade publications and journals.

Call number: MS-1073

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Walter L. Morris donated this collection to the University of Tennessee Special Collections library in 1980.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Walter Morris Film Collection, MS-1073. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of four boxes.

Walter Lee Morris was born in Knoxville on August 18, 1906. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville from 1924-1926. It was during his school years that his theater career began when he worked as an usher at local Knoxville theaters. He later became a district manager for Paramount, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. In the 1940s, he was responsible for the construction and management of theaters at Oak Ridge for the War Department. Returning to Knoxville in the 1947, he built and operated the Pike and Lenox theaters, which he remodeled and renamed in the 1960s as the Capri (or Cinerama-70) and Tower Theaters, respectively. Mr. Morris was the driving force behind the successful lawsuit which broke up the film distribution monopoly in Knoxville. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Theater Owners of America, of the Rotary Club, and of the Motion Picture News' Round Table, as well as president of the Tennessee Theater Owners of America, and a special field advisor for the Council of Motion Picture Organization. He married Mary Moore around 1932 and had two children, Walter and Marianne. In August 1985, he passed away at age 79.

This collection deals with cinematic material belonging to Walter Morris, native Knoxvillian who spent over 50 years in the management and ownership of motion picture theaters in Knoxville and throughout the United States. This material consists primarily of promotional items known as ticklers in the trade, plus various trade publications and journals.

• Morris, Walter Lee, 1906-1985.
• Tennessee -- Knoxville -- Theaters.