Canova Theater
Main Street,
Conover,
NC
28613
Main Street,
Conover,
NC
28613
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The b/w vintage photo on the site above was given to me by Big Time for a Dime author, Conover NC resident and fellow CT member, Don Barker. I now have it framed. Thanks Don.
Vintage photo on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/57gk4p
donnie 1: Thanks for the email as I had forgotten about my post here in 2006.
anyone wishing to have photos of any of my history projects, re'; theaters, let me know.
Any one wishing to have information of this ‘home-town'theater let me know, via e mail. I have jsut finished a book, BIG TIME FOR A DIME, a history of all 90 theaters in the catawba valley of WNC, yes, ninety silver screens., ;; To Patsy, Clemmer is retired. Living in HKY. Mathews was not in the movies business, but in one of the most sucessful builders in WNC. We here in Conover a very glad he restored the building., other wise, like all the other theater building, it would have been demolished. It will not be a theater again. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nccconov/canova.htm
And if I get to Conover this winter during my stay in NC, I will check out this town and this former theatre.
I see that Mr. Clemmer was a Hickory architect as he doesn’t seem to be listed under architects.
KenRoe: Thanks for the additional information. Too bad Mr. Matthews' love of movies didn’t allow him to see fit to restore it as a theatre rather than serving as the Matthews Construction Co. If so, he would have had to level the slanted floor that theatres all do have or had!
The opening film at the Canova Theatre was Lew Ayres in “The People vs. Dr Kildare”.
The Canova Theater closed in the late 1960’s. The building was purchased by Bobby Matthews of the Matthews Construction Company (as he loved the movies so much and it brought back memories) and it served/serves as the headquarters for his firm (which is currently listed on the internet at 210 1st Avenue South).
Thanks Patsy. I hope that you have a Safe and Happy Holiday too!
Lost Memory: Thanks as I know I can always count on you for a theatre answer or photo. Happy Holidays!
From what I have read about this theater, it closed in the late sixties. I have no idea if it ever opened again or if the building is still standing or not.
Is this theatre still operating as a theatre in Conover NC?
The Canova came in fourth place in the 1942 Edition of the Theatre Catalogue for design and construction excellence. Here is the story:
“CONOVER, April 10, 1942.—The fact that the Canova Theatre in Conover has been chosen fourth among several hundred picture houses throughout the United States and Canada, has just been announced by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc., of Philadelphia.
For the first time in the thirty years of the motion'picture industry, annual awards for design and construction excellence in theatres are being announced in the 1942 Edition of the Theatre Catalogue. A committee composed of prominent theatre circuit executives, specializing theatre architects, and air-conditioning, sight and sound engineers chose the “perfect 36” from several hundred theatres constructed in the United States and Canada, and each is being awarded a merit scroll.
The most outstanding in each of three size classes will also be awarded a bronze plaque which designates it as the “Best” of the year. Recipients of these “Best” plaques are; the 575 seat College Theatre, Brookings, S. D., owned by Frank J. McCarthy; the 960 seat Village Theatre, Houston, Texas, owned by Interstate Theatres, Inc., and the 1604 seat Beach Theatre, Miami Beach, Fla., owned by the Paramount Theatre interests. The fourth ranking theatre, the Canova, at Conover, is owned by the Colonial Theatres, Inc., of Valdese, which is managed by George D. Carpenter. It has a seating capacity of 500 and was designed by R. L. Clemmer, Hickory architect.
The handsome building on Main street was erected last Spring by Herman Sipe and Company, local contractors, and is owned by V. O. Sipe. Its opening date on May 28, 1941 was a gala event in the town and surrounding community. Throughout the year the management has arranged a splendid showing of the latest pictures, special features and news reels. An anniversary week is being arranged for observance next month, Hall Houpe, the local manager, said today.
Through a strange coincidence “Canova” was chosen for Conover’s new theatre when the committee on names met in Valdese last year, and, from a long list, selected the name which was originally given to the little village when it was founded nearly seventy years ago.
From old records it was that a lady teaching school in the little log school house where the town’s first citizens learned to “read, write, and cipher,” chose the beautiful name “Canova” in honor of an Italian sculptor. It was later changed to Conover, however".
[Hickory Daily Record, April 10, 1942]