Comments from ballen270

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ballen270
ballen270 commented about Princess Theater on Oct 29, 2012 at 11:52 am

I know for sure that it ran in the early 90’s. I went there. I own the original 16mm camera’s that they ran there in the 1970’s and I also own the 35mm camera’s that ran after that until the closing in the early 90’s.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about McCutchen Theater on Oct 20, 2012 at 8:48 am

What is going o with the McCutchen now. I went over there several years ago and was interested in buying. Someone told me the roof had completely fell in. I just left. I bought a theater that had severe roof problems and didnt want to go throught that again.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Fulton Theater on Oct 16, 2012 at 3:24 pm

If I remember right back a long time ago there was some sort of office that was rented out. The office was on the upstairs in the front of the building on the east side. Wick Smith bought the place after it closed and turned it into a disco. He spent a fortune in that place. All of the seats were taken out and sold to Booth seating out of Memphis. I don’t know if Wick sold them to Booth or the people who owned it before did. There were several people who actually owned the building. Jane White Firestone and Joe Fall. I can’t remember who else. I think Malco leased the building from them. The Eagles later moved in. The downfall to that building was that they let the roof get bad and didn’t keep it repaired. The roof on top was the shape of a letter “W” with two drainage gutters. The one in the back completely collapsed letting water go in directly in front of where the screen once stood. The mortar and the bricks were another issue. They were supposely made over where the Fulton Electric company is now located at a foundry. The Front cap of the building was newer bricks and was in great condition. The sides and the back were all original and I think were put there in 1899. If I am not mistaken it was the first Theater to have air conditioning in West Kentucky. Don’t quote me on that one. It was a ground water circulating air conditioning system.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Varsity Theatre on Oct 14, 2012 at 7:36 pm

This theater I believed was built by a contractor named Ruffin. One of the owners told me that years ago. I believed he said it opened in 1933. The same people that owned it also owned the Starlight Drive in and the Sunset Drive in. My friend lived upstair in it for years I think after it closed. It had a apartment upstairs. In about 1992 a man named David Christian who managed the theaters in Union City reopened it for a while. He got sick and they closed it. In the time that it reopened I remembered seeing House Sitter with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. The same guy that built this one also built the one in Hickman Kentucky. It is a shame that this place is not used as a theater. One of the best in the area.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Fulton Theater on Oct 14, 2012 at 9:54 am

Thinking back I think the Theater open September the 7th of 1937. I believe the first movie was “The Good Earth” with Paul Muni. I will have to research it. I know the theater was renovated in 1950. I have pictures of it after the renovation. I think the theater was originally Warner Brothers and Malco bought it in 1950. A friend of mine worked at the theater in the late forties and early fifties. He met his first wife there and her name was Virginia Brady. She worked there also. I know she died a few years later like in 1957 and is buried in Greenlea Cemetery. The building was originally the T. M. Franklin dry goods store.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Gem Theatre on Oct 13, 2012 at 3:06 pm

I went in this building a few years ago with one of the city officials there with me. I was thinking of buying it because the lobby looked in such great shape and I thought maybe the rest was in that condition also. The auditorium is in bad shape I mean terrible. They might as well tear it down.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Cardinal Drive-In on Oct 13, 2012 at 2:51 pm

I noticed the other day ago the screen is gone.

ballen270
ballen270 commented about Fulton Theater on Oct 13, 2012 at 2:38 pm

The last picture that was shown at the Fulton Theater was “The Deep.” That was on Feb. 28, 1978. If I remeber right the Fulton Theater was opened in early September 1938 because of some writing that was carved into one of the attic rafters by a Joe Fall I believe.