Fox Theatre

RPulliam on July 24, 2006 at 12:36 pm

From 1957, the year I moved to Greenville SC as a 7-year-old, until the mid-1960s when I was in my teens, downtown Greenville featured the Carolina (the largest screen in the city at the time…super-wide CinemaScope screen), the Fox, the Center and the Paris theaters. The Center and Paris were on the same block. One showed rereleases, often in double-bill, and the other showed both rereleases and adult-themed titles. Both these theaters may have had different names in earlier years. But I distinctly remember them as the Center and Paris during my years there.

There was another theater in the City limits…the Plaza, at the Stone Plaza shopping center. The Plaza generally got all the MGM and United Artists pictures (although it did show “My Fair Lady”), the Fox got the Disney and Universal films, and the Carolina go the 20th-Fox, Columbia and Warner Brothers films (I saw “Cleopatra,”, “The Robe”, “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music”, “The Cardinal,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Bunny Lake is Missing,” “The Music Man,” “Gypsy” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” all at the Carolina).

In 1965, the Mall Cinema was built behind the Wade Hampton Mall. This theater showed Warner Brothers, United Artists and American-International films. Later came the Astro I and Astro II built next door to the Star Lanes Bowling Alley down 291 By-Pass (a few miles down from McAlister Square, which also featured its own theater complex in the last 1960s. At the Astro theaters, I saw “Funny Girl” and “Camelot” and “Finian’s Rainbow.” The Carolina was being closed down about that time.

Someone indicated the Fox was demolished. The entire block remains intact, including the space the Fox occupied, but it’s possibly been totally rehabbed for some other purpose since the theater closed. Theoretically, it could be restored.

clw2000 on May 31, 2006 at 10:33 am

Hello –

I enjoyed the comments and am moving to Greenville within a year or so. I am interested in opening a theater for independant/arthouse/classic/foreign films. I will be moving from Columbia where we have the Nickelodeon which does a great job. I am early in the process, so anyone who would like to help or offer information would be appreciated. I’ll keep it at that for now. I can be reached at

Joe Vogel on February 17, 2006 at 8:22 pm

Ah, so it is. My mistake. I just checked their Greenville, South Carolina page and there are no pictures there of any theatres except one modern multiplex. In fact, none of Greenville’s old Main Street theatres are listed on that site at all, not even the Carolina (my link to the Carolina in my earlier comment doesn’t work for some reason.) At one time, there were apparently six theatres on Main Street: The Bijou, the Carolina, the Rivoli/Fox (all listed at CT), the Casino, the Rialto, and the Majestic (not yet listed.)

Patsy on February 9, 2006 at 3:54 am

Joe: I looked at the site you posted and thought it listed them under Greenville NORTH Carolina.

Patsy on February 8, 2006 at 4:33 am

Any photos, anyone?

Patsy on March 8, 2005 at 1:37 pm

This town has a very quaint downtown area and so it’s sad to read that Greenville doesn’t have at least one quaint single screen theatre. Greenville has alot to offer along with having several institutions of higher learning.