Carolina Theatre
309 West Morgan Street,
Durham,
NC
27701
309 West Morgan Street,
Durham,
NC
27701
5 people
favorited this theater
The Carolina Theatre’s main auditorium, Fletcher Hall (1,016 seats), a vintage 1926 performance hall, is a rich part of Durham’s history and is the last remaining of 13 original theaters in Durham.
Fully restored by architect Daniel P. Coffey and reopened in 1994, it is the only historic performance space of its beauty and intimacy in the Triangle. The complex, which is owned by the City of Durham and managed and operated by the Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc., also includes two new state-of-the-art cinemas of 276 and 76 seats.
Contributed by
Stephen A. Martin
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Yes,not only THUNDERBALL,AND YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
and DR.NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE not to mention
a double bill of GOLDFINGER too. All of the Bond films starring Sean Connery did huge business at the Carolina. I do recall back in early 1971 or 1972 where DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was on the double bill with either YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE or GOLDFINGER at the Carolina too.
It also showed ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE(George
Lazenby). The only Bond films that played at the Carolina starring Roger Moore were LIVE AND LET DIE and
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN,which were on a double bill with either DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER or GOLDFINGER.
Carolina Theatre bids farewell to Campanero. Read the full feature story at:
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/news_durham
For the record: the Carolina played all the Bond films first run, from “Dr. No” thru “The Man with the Golden Gun”, because it was the United Artists outlet in Durham. (Film booking practices changed in the mid-‘70s and all chaos broke loose.) And, since the Bond pics were huge box office, of course UA re-released them on double bills and the Carolina had those too.
For the record: the Carolina Theatre was also showed first-run films that became the outlet for Universal too. A lot of films that played at the Carolina were huge crowd pleasers among them were “Airport”,
“Day of the Jackal”,“American Graffiti”,“The Sting”,and “Earthquake!"
to name a few. And just like the Bond films that played at the Carolina,Universal also re-released their features on double bills and the Carolina had those as well. All that would change by 1975 when film booking practices changed the landscape,and all hell broke loose when all of the Universal films would change outlets ending a long relationship with the Carolina Theatre.
FYI: All of the Clint Eastwood films that were released under Universal Pictures also ran as first-run features at the Carolina Theatre as well,among them were “Play Misty For Me”,“Two Mules For Sister Sara”,“High Plains Drifter” to name a few as well as some of the Clint Eastwood films that were released under United Artists,namely “Hang Em' High”,and “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”,and his earlier works “A Fistful of Dollars”,“The Good,The Bad,and the Ugly” ran also as first-run features that were colossal boxoffice hits,of course UA re-released them on double bills,and the Carolina had those too.
A lot of UA films played at the Carolina Theatre:
“THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN"
"IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT"
"THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN"
"MIDNIGHT COWBOY"
"ELECTRA GUIDE IN BLUE"
"THE HOSPITAL"
"FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE"
"A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS"
"THE GOOD,THE BAD,AND THE UGLY"
"FIDDLER ON THE ROOF"
"BRANNIGAN!”
A lot of the Universal films played at the Carolina Theatre:
“TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD"
"THE BIRDS"
"MARNIE"
"TORN CURTAIN"
"TOPAZ"
"FRENZY"
"AIRPORT"
"HELLFIGHTERS"
"THE WAR WAGON"
"THE SECRET WAR OF HARRY FRIGG"
"AIRPORT"
‘COOGAN’S BLUFF”
For the record: All 4 of the Beatles films also played at the Carolina as well. From the record-breaking
“A Hard Day’s Night”, to the other Beatles movies like “HELP!”, “Yellow Submarine”,and “Let It Be” played to capacity crowds. They played first-run at the Carolina,because it was the outlet for a lot of films released under United Artists. And just like the Bond pics were huge boxoffice,of course UA re-released these Beatles films as double bills(one had a double feature of “A Hard Day’s Night”,and “HELP!” that was in re-release)which were huge boxoffice draws themselves.
sadly,the Theatre Chain I worked at,we never got UA product.I missed all the 007’s,but Dirty Harry made up for it.
The name of the architectural firm was Milburn, Heister & Company. According to the firm’s page at North Carolina State University’s Architects and Builders web site, it was founded in 1909 by Frank Pierce Milburn and Michael Heister, and Milburn’s son, Thomas Yancey Milburn, later joined the firm. The elder Milburn retired in 1925 and died in 1926, so the Durham Auditorium was probably one of the last projects he worked on.
Here’s a nice black-and-white photo of the Carolina Theatre, by Caroline Culler.