Gaston Mall Theatre
401 Cox Road,
Gastonia,
NC
28054
401 Cox Road,
Gastonia,
NC
28054
2 people
favorited this theater
The first time I heard Gaston Mall Theatre mentioned in a town called Gastonia, N.C. I felt sick! It wasn’t anything having to do with the theatre itself. It was a truly beautiful theatre with Ultra-Vision screening, the hot sell of that time.
It was because our manager and one of my best friends John Mackey, was being transferred to this North Carolina spot. But his super promotions brought life to what was a small and dying mall. At least compared to Charlotte’s malls, it was very small.
The theatre seated I’d say 620 folks. One of John Mackey’s creation was "Uncle Oscar". He would host a "Children’s Spectacular" Saturday mornings at 11:00 AM. The Gaston Mall was the place for kiddie shows, magicians, games, prizes, and a movie were often the talk of the city. No other chain in that town would have ever thought of such a thing.
Mackey explained, "I had a vision of Uncle Oscar as an old Ed Sullivan type you know, when he’s very old. Uncle Oscar dressed in baggy pants wearing a straw hat and crazied color stripes I believe".
The Gaston Mall Theatre was billed as Gastonia’s finest, and having seen a small twin inside another Gastonia Mall, it certainly was a beautiful theatre. I remember one time while visiting, John let me do the newspaper ads for "The Spy Who Loved Me". That’s something that would have never happened in Augusta.
The Gaston Mall Theatre had Ultra-Vision projection and a curved screen. They seem to play a lot of United Artists films such as "Return of a Man Called Horse" and "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot". "Freebie and The Bean" opened to huge crowds, and according to Mackey, he sold the movie not on Alan Arkin or James Cann, but on Valerie (Rhoda) Harper and Loretta (Hot Lips) Swit. Both were co-stars but as he said, both were in the huge TV hits "Rhoda" and "M.A.S.H".
I remember the projectionist there. His name was Richard, and like so many projectionists the booth was his world. Certainy there’s a story in every booth. He told me he had worked on several movies made in the Carolinas. One was "The Last American Hero" with Jeff Bridges. He would pull cable on the set, and he said he offered Bridges one glass of real North Carolina Moonshine! On the movie "Hawmps" he built a camel and had it walking up and down the busy street in Gastonia promoting that Joe Camp family film. Yeah, it’s in your blood!
John Mackey said they ran late shows but never with the crowds National Hills had, nor with any employees in Augusta who were willing to go the extra mile to promote.
John Mackey would soon transfer to a couple of ABC theatres in Charlotte before getting out of the business – not that you ever can! The Gaston Mall Theatre closed without any fanfare. The last time I saw the theatre it had become a carpet store.
Note: I want to thank Nick DiMaggio in Tampa for helping me compile so much of this history for Cinema Treasures. I thought he and I were the only ones that liked visiting old theatres. Boy was I wrong!
Contributed by
Mike Rogers
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 27 comments)
Mike, it did become a carpet outlet before they tore it down. I’ve never heard of the murder you talk about at the old Diane 29, North and South as we called them back then. However, there was a very gruesome murder not far from there in 1973 I think. The old Lincoln Academy is there at Crowders Mountain which the drive in sat next to. The girl’s name was Kathleen Smiley and I’m thinking she was from Atlanta. Very young, maybe late teens.
By the way, the name Richard Hamilton sounds familiar but I can’t remember the guy in the booth at the old Gaston mall theater.
He was a union Projectionist and like i wrote above worked on “LAST AMERICAN HERO” filmed in that area and made moonshine on the side. I was told the owner of the Diane 29 came home and found his family murdered and the next day closed the drive-in which I am told was named after a daughter. Is the BELMONT DRIVE-in going to open this summer< Iheard the lady that owned it,and I met her several times in the past when we would visit CAROWINDS and John Mackey,had died.She was a nice lady,even though I thought they should put some money in the place to fix the snack bar and restrooms.
Didn’t even know the Belmont drive-in was still open. I thought the only still going in this area was the Kings Mtn-Bessemer City drive-in. I’ve really never heard of the story about the Diane 29 family being murdered but I’m gonna check it out.
Yeah,please do on the Diane 29. I have visited Kings mtn,but never caught a film there.Beautiful Drive-in with the Mountains behind the screen. Took a few pictures of Kings Mtn. Visited the old DIANE 29 site years ago, a shopping center was in part of the old Drive-in,but part of the booth/snack bar was still standing.
Late Show by John Mackey,Big promotion with Flyers handed out all over Gastonia. “DEATH WISH” returns for a weekend Late show starting at 11:30 pm. Another big promotion with flyers{i have two} was the DOUBLE FEATURE “ELVIS THAT’S THE WAY IT IS” and “ELVIS ON TOUR” The shows ran close to three hours and Mackey said it was one of his highest grossing Late Shows.
Newspaper ad for “The Spy Who Loved Me” designed by Mike Rogers:
View link
Problem with link above…this should work:
View link
Thanks Nick. wish it would have been a friday ad and not a weekday ad.
We have put together a REMEMBERING PLITT THEATRE page on FACEBOOK if you ever worked at Plitt theatres.