Comments from WillardWood

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WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Sky-Way Drive-In on Feb 9, 2008 at 12:15 pm

Ken, all I can say is WOW. Thank you for sharing the pic of the Skyway drive-in theater. That pic brings back so many memories and good memories at that. One would be my parents taking us kids to see movies. Another would be the taking of my g/f in Brainerd to the drive-in at the Skyway. Again thank you so much for sharing. Willard.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Sky-Way Drive-In on Nov 8, 2006 at 2:22 pm

Jim, if you do have pictures, it would be wonderful to see them. I believe I was at every drive in your grandfather built and owned. as a teen ager. By the way, my father in 1958 took me to the Skyway on Sunday morning to “teach me” how to drive the ole Chevy family car. He would get so mad at me. driving around the spacious lot. Thank you. Willard

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Rogers Theatre on Nov 8, 2006 at 2:19 pm

Lost Memory, thanks for the article. I remember well the Krystal there, and also the train station (N,C, and StL) I believe the General was there until the state of Georgia had a favorable court order to force its move back into Georgia.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Riviera Theatre on Nov 8, 2006 at 2:06 pm

i believe the Riviera Theater in North Chattanooga, screened in parallel with the Brainerd Theater. I remember one Sunday my dad and I (I was a kid) took a reel of “Halls of Montezuma” or “Red Skies of Montana” from the Brainerd to the Rivera and swapped a reel as each theater had two of the same reels and was missing one. That was like 55 years ago. (showing my age).

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Martin Theatre on Nov 8, 2006 at 2:01 pm

RICHARD1938, you have brought back so many good memories. I never went to the Cameo Theater, but I did see one or two movies at the Capital Theater. I was graduated from City High School in 1960. . My father worked parttime at the Brainerd Theater in the fifties at night mostly. My grand mother was a manager at the Park Theater in the mid fifties. I believe the Park was in Highland Park on McCallie Ave. Jim, I do not remember the manager at the State/Martin, but wasnt the State part of the Independent Theaters? Willard.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Brainerd Theater on Nov 8, 2006 at 1:50 pm

Jim, my father was the assistant manager at the Brainerd Theater. He knew one of the Solomon brothers (not sure which one). His was a part time job at night and weekends. This would be in the early fifties. Yes there was a cry room and party room. Seems like the party room was upstairs beyond the projection room, and the cry room was on the first floor behind the right rear seats in the auditorium. I remember the Skyway Drive In Theater for taking my high school girl friend out there. WHAT FUN!. This would be in the late fifties. The kiddie matinee was always packed from what I could remember. The skating rink was almost across the street that dead ended on Brainerd Rd. (Oriole Dr). We lived on that street, so we always would walk to the Brainerd. I went to Sunnyside Elementary, Brainerd Jr. High. and Chattanooga (City) High. You have brought back a lot of memories. Thank you. Willard.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Martin Theatre on Aug 4, 2006 at 7:14 am

Richard1938, yes there was the Mickey Mouse Club with Teena, but I saw the club at the Brainerd Theater before the Saturday kiddie matinee movies in the 1950’s. There was a Dixie Theater near the old Patton Hotel. I never went there, but it seemed as if it showed B westerns usually as a double feature. I also believe it had an entrance at each end of the theater.

WillardWood
WillardWood on Apr 22, 2005 at 4:14 pm

The Dixie Theater in the early fifties used to show double feature B type movies. I believe that they were mostly westerns. It seems as if there were two box offices on each end of the theater on two separate streets. I never went there, but I believe I remember riding a city bus near the Dixie.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Park Theatre on Apr 22, 2005 at 4:11 pm

I may be wrong, but I thought in the 1960’s when I was in college that the Park Theater was replaced by a plumbing and piping business. My grandmother used to be an assistant type manager at the Park in the fifties, but I do not remember for how long.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Paramount Theatre on Apr 7, 2005 at 11:06 am

Yes, unfortunately, the Paramount was demolished in the seventies I believe in order to build an office building and semi-complex. Many wished that Jackson’s leaders had had the foresight to preserve the theater and refurbish it for special vintage movies, plays, and concerts as other cities have done.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Martin Theatre on Apr 6, 2005 at 10:09 am

I agree with Mr. Aldridge that the State Theater was operating at least back to the early fifties on Market Street. I can remember riding the bus downtown to see “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” in 1957 at the State Theater.

WillardWood
WillardWood commented about Brainerd Theater on Apr 6, 2005 at 10:02 am

i believe the Brainerd Theater was opened in the summer of 1948. My parents worked part time there in the fifties. I have a photograph from the Chattanooga News-Free Press showing my grandmother (she worked at the Park Theater) standing in front of the new cinemascope screen that was installed in 1953. I saw many a movie at the Brainerd. I remember some of the staff that worked there in the fifties, including Miss Plemons as manager.