Ambassador Theatre
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
2 people
favorited this theater
The Ambassador Theatre was the foremost movie theater in Raleigh for decades.
The Ambassador Theatre showcased the films of M~G~M, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, etc. At least one premiere took place there — “Bright Leaf” in 1950.
It was demolished in March 1989 when Fayetteville Street was turned into a mall.
Contributed by
Edward Wright
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Recent comments (view all 45 comments)
I found a picture i took of the marquee on the Varsity. MCDONALDS was in the space of the marquee.
The architect was Erle G Stillwell.
I can state the the Ambassador was not a Cinerama theatre, because I was there at the time that “Grimm” and “West” would have been shown in that process. I had to go to Charlotte, which was the only venue in the state to have Cinerama capability.
B&W newsreel footage of the 1950 world premiere of WB’s “Bright Leaf” can be viewed here: British Pathe
THE SOUND OF MUSIC played at the Ambassador Theatre for an astounding 61 weeks during its initial run in 1965. Not only did it broke all attendance records,but other films like CLEOPATRA, HOW THE WEST WAS WON,and BEN-HUR had capacity crowds during its run at this theatre.
Viewed “2001 A SPACE ODDESSEY” 70mm in 1969 prior to flying away for short Navy career!
ctrwd: You’re right. The Ambassador Theatre had a widescreen Cinemascope projection. That was installed during the renovation process in 1953 for it’s Eastern North Carolina Premiere of THE ROBE.
The Carolina Theatre in Downtown Charlotte was the ONLY moviehouse in the state that had the Cinerama capability and the only venue where certain films were presented in the Cinerama format.
The seating capacity for the Ambassador Theatre was 1,477. A lot of great films played here…not only did HOW THE WEST WAS WON,and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM played here but THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BEN-HUR, EL-CID, CLEOPATRA, and other blockbusters like THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, and it’s 61-week astounding run of THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY played here and was given the exclusive engagement treatment in 70MM and 6 Track Stereophonic Sound in 1969.
GONE WITH THE WIND played here as a exclusive reserved seat engagement on January 29,1940. It was one of the two theatres in the State that showed it. The other was at the Carolina Theatre in Charlotte.
David Lean’s DOCTOR ZHIVAGO was also a reserved seat engagement at the Ambassador Theatre in mid-1966. In fact,DOCTOR ZHIVAGO replaced the long-running THE SOUND OF MUSIC after it’s astounding 61-week run.
NEXT ATTRACTION: “GRAND PRIX” in 70MM. Speaking of “GRAND PRIX”,if you want to see this in Cinerama,you had to go to the Carolina Theatre in Charlotte to see it in the Cinerama format.
Did PLANET OF THE APES played here too?