Comments from spfx

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spfx
spfx commented about Rogers Theatre on Jun 20, 2009 at 12:33 am

Earl Owensby had premier’s of many of his movies at the Rogers Theater. It was also used in the prodution of several of his movies. Back in 1982 i worked on a movie that he shot there called “Brother Dave Gardner Live and In Concert” If you would like to see what the theater looked like then you can see it in that movie. It is for sale at http://www.earlowensby.com/gardner.html

I think you may find some clips of Brother Dave on youtube, he was a very funny man.
Earl Owensby was the father of film making in North Carolina and one of the first people to exploit the foreign film market.

His films contained no nudity, profanity, and the good guy always won. His films have been dubbed in many foreign languages and are still in demand today. The last time i stopped by his studio a year or so ago he had just reprinted some of his films and had them canned and waiting for ups to pickup and deliver to Russia.

In many ways he was way ahead of Hollywood. 3D movies are once again in the theaters and he tried to bring 3D movies back in 1982 with a movie called “Rottweiler” aka “Dogs From Hell”. He produced a number of 3D movies during the 80’s.

spfx
spfx commented about Rogers Theatre on Jun 19, 2009 at 11:56 pm

When i was a kid i remember going to several movies at the old Rogers Theater. Back then it was segregated, whites in the main theater, and blacks in the balcony. If you look in the pictures that are posted above you will see a white door to the left of the main entrance. That was the entrance that black people used to go to the balcony. There used to be a water fountain right inside that door if my memory serves me that had a sign on it “Blacks Only” Their also used to be a sign outside that door that said the same thing. I remember getting in trouble for drinking out of that fountain one time when i was little. I didn’t understand what the big deal was then and i still don’t today. I just figured it was one of them adult deals that us kids did not understand. Last time i was in there that sign was still inside that door.