Title: Walter L. Morris Theater Collection

Date/Date Range :   1910s-1990s (bulk 1940s-1960s)
Morris, Walter Lee, 1906-1985
Extent: 3.5 linear feet

Abstract:

The collection contains material from Walter Morris, operator of the Capri and Tower Theaters in Knoxville. Correspondence, photographs, legal papers, blueprints, newspaper and magazine clippings, and promotional information is included. There is also material about the lawsuit against theater monopolies in Knoxville and Morris' work at other theaters in East Tennessee.

Call number: MS-2738

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

Aquisition Information:

This collection was acquired by UT Special Collections in May 2004.

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 L. Morris Theater Collection, MS-2738. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of six series:

1. Series I: Professional Information, 1928-1999
2. Series II: Theater Materials, 1940s-1992
3. Series III: Legal and Financial Records, 1940s-1980s.
4. Series IV: Clippings and Articles: 1910s-1990s
5. Series V: Photographs, 1920s-1970s
6. Series VI: Miscellaneous, 1950s, 1983

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.

The collection contains material from Walter Morris, operator of the Capri and Tower Theaters in Knoxville. Correspondence, photographs, legal papers, blueprints, newspaper and magazine clippings, and promotional information is included. There is also material about the lawsuit against theater monopolies in Knoxville and Morris' work at other theaters in East Tennessee.

Also see MS 1073: The Walter Morris Film Collection.

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