The venue mentioned in the previous posting appears to be something called Crockett Cinemas 3, not the old moviehouse Crockett Theater, which is the subject of this thread.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives has two great vintage pictures of this theater. The photographs aren’t dated, but they must be pretty early; notice the ancient car and the streetcar tracks:
I worked at this theater after it had been converted to a Bookstar, part of the Barnes and Noble bookstore chain. It was an amazing space to work in—the building has all kinds of nooks and crannies that were once storage space, I guess. There’s a lovely staircase that winds to the balcony level, and the ceiling of the lobby is covered in mirrors. During the 1940s, the theater hosted glamorous premieres, and several slabs of marble in the balcony were covered with the autographs of stars like Walt Disney, Cary Grant, Ronald Reagan, and others. When Barnes and Noble was replacing the old neon signs on the marquee, I got to take home a massive metal “T.” I consider myself very lucky to have worked in the Belle Meade, although I was never able to actually see the theater in its glory years. It’s now closed while a local developer decides what to do with it.
The venue mentioned in the previous posting appears to be something called Crockett Cinemas 3, not the old moviehouse Crockett Theater, which is the subject of this thread.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives has a vintage shot:
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/images/2363.jpg
From the Tennessee State Library and Archives (the original photograph, I’m sure, looks much better):
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/images/7179.jpg
And from the Tennessee State Library and Archives, here’s a vintage shot of the Melrose:
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/images/3403.jpg
The Tennessee State Library and Archives has two great vintage pictures of this theater. The photographs aren’t dated, but they must be pretty early; notice the ancient car and the streetcar tracks:
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/images/3785.jpg
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/images/3786.jpg
I worked at this theater after it had been converted to a Bookstar, part of the Barnes and Noble bookstore chain. It was an amazing space to work in—the building has all kinds of nooks and crannies that were once storage space, I guess. There’s a lovely staircase that winds to the balcony level, and the ceiling of the lobby is covered in mirrors. During the 1940s, the theater hosted glamorous premieres, and several slabs of marble in the balcony were covered with the autographs of stars like Walt Disney, Cary Grant, Ronald Reagan, and others. When Barnes and Noble was replacing the old neon signs on the marquee, I got to take home a massive metal “T.” I consider myself very lucky to have worked in the Belle Meade, although I was never able to actually see the theater in its glory years. It’s now closed while a local developer decides what to do with it.