Tennessee Theatre

Shook his hand! I had the “cue” cards that were his lines, then gave them to my sister-in-law. I was too young to know what they could be worth! She has no idea what happened to them. I never took old posters from the theatre or anything. One girl took photos of us in our finery the night of the Grammys (yep… we got to go, rode the city bus in our evening gowns! Those were the days!), but I’ve forgotten her name. I need to make a list as I remember all the people I met. I knew some of the people who worked at the Paramount and Lowes too. LOL… there was a XXX movie theatre on Broad, we went there to buy hotdogs… we couldn’t get any farther than that.

There was a huge winding stairway going stories up back stage. The story was that in the days of live shows, an actress had climbed to the top and jumped to her death.

The movie screen, from backstage was transparent, we could watch the people watching the movies, without them knowing it… now that was interesting!

There was an usher’s room, with lockers downstairs, dressing rooms WITH stars on the doors (our place to sneak down for a bit of alcohol). And there was a complete private screening room downstairs, a precious tiny stage, which I never saw in action.

There were catwalks for days backstage, for stories high. We would go walking around them. We went in on our days off just to roam the theatre.

The popcorn was popped downstairs and sent to the lobby via a dumbwaiter. I worked in the concession stand and was later elevated to “Box Office Girl”. :)

I worked at the TN in 1972 until about ‘74. I was one of the three who were allowed to stay during the 6 weeks we were closed to prepare for the Grammy’s in '73 (?). I shook hands with Ringo Starr, Andy Williams, Helen Reddy, met the 5th Dimension… I could go on and on. I was too young and stupid to take a camera! The crew they brought in totally rebuild our stage, taking it out several feet and I think giving it a couple of side stages. Andy Williams was the host and walked in every morning with a cup of coffee (I guess!) and said, “Good Morning, Ladies”. (I was 15) They totally rebuilt a dressing room downstairs (leftover from the life show days), building a wet bar in for Mr. Williams, even having a local artist come in and paint a mural on one of the walls. I still am in contact with a couple of my co-workers there. I’m 54 now. It was the job of a lifetime and the Best Theatre EVER. I mourn it dreadfully. If anyone would like to know more, if I remember, please feel free to email me, I am a writer on Examiner.com so my email is public anyway!
and if anyone remembers me… please write!!!

Another thought of the Tennessee Theatre. While working at the Loews Crescent down the street sometimes when it was slow I would wander down the block to the Tennessee to see some of the concerts playing there as posted above. One night Ricky Nelson was playing there and I came down just to see some of the show before I went back to work.I got in free,there was only about 300 people in attendance,and Ricky seemed pissed, sorry to say and only played for about 35 minutes and left,so I got to see the whole show after all.It was his last Nashville apperance before his death.His backing band was the Stone Canyon Band.Concerts only lasted a few years before the theatre and office building was razed.

Glad to see MARTIN THEATRES up there. Was watching our award winning local news here and they were talking about the past flood in Nashville and who was to blame for so many deaths. They misspelled TENNESSEE. Left out an “S”.

Yes Mike I saw the photos and programs saw many movie there and worked just down the street you know.

Tlsloews,hope you see these great pictures.

Not to be a downer, but there were several factors that led to the demise of Nashville’s Tennessee Theater as a live performance venue. The loading dock was a joke. The power grid was seriously taxed by the demands of touring sound and lighting co.’s, and when those lights went on, the place turned into an oven. Also the acoustics, especially the low end, were not good, probably because the room was so narrow and long. I played a gig there in 1980 and attended several other concerts.

By the mid-80s downtown Nashville was a ghost town after dark. I imagine it was extremely difficult to book any nationally known acts in there and harder still to sell tickets. Even if you could have backed a Brinks truck up to the place and gutted it, you would still have had a 50’s-era Art Deco (not America’s finest moment in architecture) narrow box in a bad location for the next 10 years.

I, too, was sad to see it demolished, but I also knew what it was up against. As a child growing up in Knoxville in the 60’s, my weekends were spent at the Tennessee and Riviera on Gay St. Nashville’s Tennessee was unfortunately nothing like Knoxville’s. Add to that the urban decay of the surrounding area, and you start to see why there was not a big preservation/restoration movement.

By the way Patsy the Tennessee Theatre did not have country decor,it had Tennessee History decor.Nashville is a city,just close to the country.We have got the best of both worlds.Capitol city and cows within 20 miles of each other.

You are right Joe that is a picture of the upper level were you could go into the balcony.They also had smoking loge up there too, and restrooms, I think at one time they was another concession stand up there I may be wrong. I know they had concessions and beer stands in the upper level when they had concerts there in the late 70,s.

tisloews: Interesting to read that there was talk of tearing down the old Opry, but then again it doesn’t surprise me after learning that Nashville demolished the Tennessee Theatre with all of its country decor.

Patsy it is funny that you said that I have lived in Nashville all my life and I have never been to the Grand Ole Opry. I have been to other shows at the Ryman and the “New” Opry house though.It a tourist thing most people that live here do not care much about the Opry.Johnny Cash used to bring his kids to the Loews Madsion almost every Saturday when he was in town and no one seemed to even notice him.

At one time there were 4 theaters on the same side of Church Street.The Crescent,The Tennessee,Loews Vendome, and the Paramont all in operation,also there was an adult house that I won,t name.

You know we always let the cops in free in Augusta.One time at REGENCY someone spotted a man in CINEMA ONE with a gun on his side. and told me.Of course, i had to walk over and ask for his badge.Thank goodness he was a cop and understood.