Okay, so it wasn't me jumping out of the plane, but it is still fun to watch and take pictures.  The jump took place in Cushing, which boasts a nice skydiving facility called Skydive Oklahoma.  A friend had decided to perform a tandem jump, so we made the trek to watch her plummet from the sky.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to make some stops on the way, though.

The first stop was Stillwater.  Its not exactly on the way to Cushing from Oklahoma City, but its not horribly out of the way.  I had visited Stillwater on a previous photo expedition a few years ago to document the remains of Stillwater's three drive-in theaters.  Only one provided much photographic interest.  At the time, though, I wasn't really actively researching cinemas.  So, a return trip with the camera was a necessity to try and fill the gaps.  I was able to photograph four theaters with a good degree of certainty.

The Leachman was easy to find as its marquee is still present and it strongly presents itself as a former theater even under its current guise as a furniture store.  I took some photos of what I think was the Camera Theater.  The building at the address neither looked old, nor looked like a theater, so I am somewhat dubious that the building is orignal.  I have been surprised before, though, so I went ahead and snapped a few angles.  The third theater was the Satellite 1&2.  Satellites seemed to haunt college towns in Oklahoma.  Theaters of the same name were located in Norman and Ada.  Like its siblings, this theater was nothing to write home about.  It was built in the corner of a strip mall with an enclosed store front.  Tall plate glass windows rise in front of the area of the mall that was the theater, but other than that there are no other distinguishing features.  Chalk this one up to a cheaply built cinema catering to the Oklahoma State residence halls located just across the street.  Norman's Satellite was in a nearly identical situation - in an enclosed strip mall just across the street from the dorms.  Coincidence?  I think not.  The final theater that was photographed was the Aggie Theater.  Though it no longer resembles a theater, it does have a beautiful ironwork staircase leading up the side of the building and a sharp streamline sign for Teubner and Associates.  For the record, though, Teubner and Associates have also vacated the building.  A bank now holds the location, and I applaud them for keeping the sharp looking Teubner signage.  And just for good measure, I zipped up Perkins Road and took some pictures of the Carmike multiplex.  Alas, though, I was not able to completely visit all of the existing theaters in town.  The Campus Theater is still lurking around somewhere and I have yet to verify the addresses of some of the other former picture houses.

Next stop was Cushing.  We zipped down 177 and turned east on Highway 33 which, incidentally, could use resurfacing.  Cushing is an interesting town - definitely an oil boom town.  It has a nice downtown area, but the city really hasn't done as good of a job maintaining and revitalizing the area as other Oklahoma towns have.  It has potential, though.  The first stop was the Little Harlem Theater.  I was 99.99% sure this theater would not be there from reading posts on Cinema Treasures, but I was there so I figured I would make sure.  The only thing I found was a foundation - no surprise there.  From there we moved on to Cushing's business district in search of some downtown cinemas.  The first pleasant surprise was a beautiful mural depicting the late Sundown Drive-In Theater.  The mural spanned the entire length of one building, reaching almost have a block.  Just around the corner to the east was the striking and still operating Dunkin Theater.  In the window were pictures of other downtown movie houses.  The cinema was showing Harry Potter, and I hoped to return later for the screening.  Down the road was another striking theater, though I don't know if it ever served as a movie theater.  It is the location of a community theater, but it has a nice marquee and the building has been carefully restored.  As I was taking pictures of this community theater, the building next door caught my eye.  I scrolled back through my photos (bless digital technology) and lo and behold, the building to the east was Cushing's Paramount Theater.  This was a pleasant surprise as I didn't have an address for the Paramount.  Though other theaters existed in Cushing, I was running out of time before jump time.  We ran down the road so that I could explore the old Cushing train depot.  What a sad sight!  The building is a gorgeous structure, similar in look to other Sante Fe depots in the state.  Unfortunately, this one has been left to rot.  The building has been completely gutted, and vandals have broken through the boarded up doors and windows.  Since neer-do-wells had breached the building, I figured my good-intentioned self could go as well.  Stepping inside, I found the building to be completely covered in graffitti.  And, of course, were the obligatory satanic symbols.  Each room had to be entered separately, and one I jumped right back out of after I activated a swarm of sleeping birds.  Though it was gutted and tatted, it was still fairly clean inside with the original tile and woodwork still present in places.  Hopefully this will be the recipient of a restoration in the future, as the strong brick building should surely outlast our current economic downturn.

Well, exploration was over and it was time to go watch the jump.  A long wait ensued, but the friend made the jump and landed with only minor incident.  We missed the movie, though.  :(