The Martin Theatre in Thomson was the place to be seen. As the name implies, it was operated by Martin Theatres of Georgia, and it opened in the early 1950's.
On Main Street, the Martin Theatre was a disconcerting presence in the middle of a small town street, surrounded by mom & pop stores.
The nearest theatres were the Knox Theatre, Warrenton, and up the road the Wilkes Theatre. But the Martin Theatre, with its grand old entrance to a much larger theatre than Warrenton or Washington, had a huge balcony, by small town standards.
The Martin Theatre also had a boxes letter sign reading 'MARTIN', with a marquee below it.
It was twinned sometime in the late-1970's or early-1980's, and the balcony became a small theatre, much like the Carolina 1 & 2 in Hendersonville, NC.
The original 35mm projectors upstairs were scrapped for a platter downstairs in the old theatre and a platter in the new smaller theatre.
I guess the upstairs theatre seated 125 people. The larger original theatre after being remodeled probably sat about 500 folks. The original screen was still in place for a large viewing. I bet "2001: A Space Odyssey" would look great there.
Today it is called the Thomson Twin Cinema. did attend a showing there one night. Bill Barkley, Ray Hutto & myself (Mike Rogers) visited the Knox Theatre in Warrenton. On the way back, Ray wanted a visit with the owner of the Thomson Twin Cinema. So I watched Bill Murray in "Quick Change" in the old theatre on that big screen.
I noticed they ran first-run movies concurrent with Atlanta, but instead of the $10.00 price in Atlanta, seats at the Thomson Twin Cinema were $5.00. What a deal those folks in Thomson get.
I can't remember what was playing at the upstairs theatre that night, but it was packed. We only had a few watching "Quick Change", and I thought they need to switch theatres. This was on a weekend evening. All this in a small town off the I-20.
Contributed by Lost Memory, Mike Rogers
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