Athens Theatre
414 Pollock Street,
New Bern,
NC
28560
414 Pollock Street,
New Bern,
NC
28560
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Opened on April 11, 1911 as the Athens Theatre with 572 seats. By 1941, it had been renamed Show Stop Theatre and by 1943, it was the Kehoe Theatre, a name which lasted until at least 1950. The Tryon Theatre was owned and operated under Charlotte-based Stewart and Everett Theatres until its closing in the late-1970’s.
Since renovations in 1980, it is now operated by the New Bern Civic Theatre.
Contributed by
raysson
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
<<< Trylon Theatre, Also known as Tryon Theatre>>>
Trylon? Any chance that’s a typo? I also suspect this theater closed later than 1975.
PLEASE CHANGE THE NAME OF THEATER TO:
TRYON
The 1967, THE FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK of MOTION PICTURES, under Stewart & Everett Theatres, Inc., lists in New Bern: Tryon. Charles B. Trexler, President & Treas. with 69 theaters in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
A Governor of North Carolina was named Tryon, so a number of things in the state are named Tryon. Trylon was that tall “spire”? next to the sphere at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair.
Anyone have more info or photos on this theater?
I’ll bet lots of Marines went to this theater. The Cherry Point U.S. Marine Corps Air Station is nearby.
Chief Jensen
Chief Jensen, I’m shocked you didn’t quote the Rivest material as you often do! :–)
It’s a good thing, Chief, you didn’t quote Rivest, in this case, as he has the theater name misspelled as Trylon and cites an erroneous 1975 closing date. It would appear the guy who wrote and submitted the intro write-up referenced Rivest, as so many CT contributors, unfortunately, have a habit of doing.
Now that the theater name has been corrected/updated, can we fix the closing date detail?
This theatre was also known as the ATHENS, SHOW STOP and KEHOE.
Source: http://www.newberncivictheatre.org/history.html
As noted at the theater’s official web site (to which Mark_L linked above,) this house opened in 1911 as the Athens Theatre, and was designed by architect Herbert W. Simpson. In addition to The Show Shop and the Kehoe Theatre, Tryon Theatre should be listed as an aka, as the house has gone back to its original name.
The Athens Theatre was restored in 1980, and has since served as a performing arts venue operated by the New Bern Civic Theatre.
Here is a photo of the Athens Theatre taken in 2009.
If this link works (the web site is in Beta and rather temperamental) you’ll see five large thumbnails showing the Athens. They are supposed to enlarge, but I can’t get them to do so. Maybe it’s not compatible with either of my browsers.
The photos at the second link in my previous comment are now enlarging properly, so I guess they worked the bugs out of their program. One of the images is the original floor plan of the theater from the office of architect Herbert W. Simpson.
The official web site gives the address of the Athens Theatre as 414 Pollock Street. The zip code is 28560.
New Bern Civic Theatre is the name of the organization operating this house. The theater itself has returned to its original name, the Athens Theatre.
Chief Jensen is certainly right about lots of Marines going to this theatre, as it was THE grindhouse/porno theatre for Craven County from about 1974 until its closing in 1979. After the Tryon closed WCTI-TV 12(ABC) filmed scenes of the Tryon’s marquee for use on its Sunday afternoon movie. When New Bern Civic Theatre began using the theatre they originally named the building the Saax Bradbury Playhouse.