Ambassador Theatre
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 45 comments found
Did PLANET OF THE APES played here too?
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.
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.
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.
Viewed “2001 A SPACE ODDESSEY” 70mm in 1969 prior to flying away for short Navy career!
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.
B&W newsreel footage of the 1950 world premiere of WB’s “Bright Leaf” can be viewed here: British Pathe
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.
The architect was Erle G Stillwell.
I found a picture i took of the marquee on the Varsity. MCDONALDS was in the space of the marquee.
Hey, thanks.it is a pity MCDONALDS left. Ithink I took pictures inside the hamburger stand, I remember one sheets framed around the resturant. LECO lights shinning down on the tables.
Ok, everyone for those interested the former McDonald’s later Hillsborough St. Textbooks was originally the Varsity Theater.
I’ll post photo links (of the bookstore anyway) at the Varsity Theater, Raleigh, NC link here on Cinema Treasures.
Here is a more current picture of the former movie theatre on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, across from NCSU campus, that had a McDonald’s restaurant in it back in the 1980’s:
View link
Yup, there was a McDonald’s restaurant located in a former movie theater on Hillsborough St. facing North Carolina State University.
As I recall the McDonald’s closed and later became a bookstore providing college student’s supplies called Hillsborough St. Textbooks.
Here is a link to a picture of their marquee:
http://www.indyweek.com/pdf/052709/Textbooks.jpg
Maybe someone can identify the name of the theater originally. I imagine it is already listed on this site!
Iwent to a McDONALD’s in Raleigh years ago and i swear the McDONALDS was built in an old Downtown theatre.Does anyone up that way have any info on that old theatre?
I was present when the Ambassador on Fayetteville St. was torn down in March of 1989. The city of Raleigh was secretly trying to have it demolished and I called up Channel WPTF Channel 28 (at that time they were the NBC affiliate) so they could alert the local Preservation Historic group in Raleigh. But, too late. I still have a video of myself being interviewed on that fateful day.
The news crew met me out there to film the demolition. Can’t believe it has already been 20 years ago since then!
If the above links don’t work, here is the page with photos of this theater and other Raleigh theaters.
Here is a 1947 photo of the Ambassador and this is an undated interior photo. Let me know if the links work.
It appears there is some confusion over exactly what is meant by terms such as “roadshow” and “Cinerama.” Raysson: do you have any evidence that the Ambassador (or any theater in Raleigh for that matter) showed movies in Cinerama?
Don’t forget about the most successful roadshow movie ever: “The Sound Of Music,” which had a record-setting 61-week run at the Ambassador.
Cha: I have not eaten at Regas, but have been told about this long established restaurant through Atlanta friends whose daughter lives in Knoxville.
According to a map from the Raleigh City Museum I have about Fayetteville St., the Ambassador was located 115 Fayetteville St which would place it one and a half blocks up from where some one mentioned it being at the RBC Building which is located at the 300 block of Fayetteville St. which is also located beside the WTVD Channel 11 Raleigh studios (which was also the old Hudson-Belk Building). The theatre was named the Ambassador in recognition of Josephus Daniels being the ambassador to Mexico at the time.
Patsy: I remember the one in Raleigh had an upstairs and had round columns with ornate work at the top of the columns. Quite art deco as I remember The Ambassador as being. Have you ever eaten at Regas in Knoxville? Local/authentic/original. It’s still there.
Cha: Funny that you should mention the S&W Cafeteria. I have visited 2 other cities…Knoxville TN and Asheville NC where they “had” S&W Cafeterias. The one in Asheville was very art deco and it’s a shame most or all of these cafeterias are gone now!
I would love to see any pics of the theatre, outside or especially inside. I remember going with my mother & father & my mother commenting on how women dressed up in downtown Raleigh. Heels, gloves, purses, hats….implying that she was a bit under dressed. I remember going to the S&W cafeteria downtown.