Emory Theatre
1439 Oxford Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30307
1439 Oxford Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30307
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 26 - 45 of 45 comments
The last theatres I knew of which were equipped with 70mm were the Fox, Tara, 12 Oaks, Delk, Towne Center, the Plitt Phipps Plaza, Stone Mount Twin and Merchants Walk. This was back in the late 70s, early 80s. I’m pretty sure the Fox still has 70MM and possibly the Tara. Was the North Dekalb about the same layout as the Lakewood? What was the capacity seating for these the theatres both prior to and after conversion to twins?
As far as road show engagements went, the Roxy Theatre presented AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS in Todd AO circa 1956. In December, 1959 they presented BEN HUR in Ultra Panavision 70. It is my understanding that these were shown in 70mm.
Of course, the Roxy showed three strip Cinerama in ‘56-'57. However, I am not sure if the exclusive run of BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI circa '57’–‘58 was the 70mm blow up version or not. So, there is a reasonable question about just which theater had 70mm projectors first. Honestly, I don’t know.
Always felt very fortunate to have seen LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in the first week of its Atlanta road show engagement. Still have my program book. However, I did wish there had been a larger theater available with a larger screen. With the demolition of the Paramount in 1960; the demolition of the old Rialto in 1962 (the new one did not open until the late spring of ‘63); and the Roxy already booked (possibly with MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY remake), there was a real shortage of first class venues in the city. The Rhodes wasn’t bad, but LAWRENCE deserved a real movie palace. The Fox was out of the question for a road show. It was my impression that the Loews Grand wasn’t interested in a road show unless it was GWTW.
Hopefully, someone can enlighten us on these matters.
The Rhodes installed new Century 35-70mm equipment in 1960 for CAN CAN. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA played its entire road show run in 70mm at the Rhodes.
I was told those projectors were the first 70mm machines in Atlanta. I haven’t been able to verify that item, but I haven’t found a contradiction either.
In 1980, I showed brief revivals of DAYS OF HEAVEN, 2001, and MY FAIR LADY (horrible, faded print) in 70mm at the Rhodes. Those were probably the last 70mm presentations at the theatre.
Wondered if the Rhodes Theare was actually equipped to show 70mm films? I saw LAWRENCE OF ARABIA there and always wondered if they showed a 70mm print.
That should have said “pre-1968 Emory” design above.
I don’t know about Storey having theatres in other states, but they did have successful operations in Gainesville, GA over the years. I lost the inside track of them after 1980.
Curtains are goners nowadays because of the lucrative screen advertising during Intermissions.
The Rhodes was Storey’s flagship theatre until they sold the house in 1980 to Movies, Inc., which later consolidated with Landmark Theatres.
There were, perhaps, similarities in the Rhodes and Emory Cinema’s marquees, but mostly in the lettering. The Rhodes also had a ticket desk inside the front door which the new Emory did also. That’s about it.
Of course, the Rhodes also had me for its projectionist in 1980. That’s a similarity, right?!
The auditorium of the Rhodes was the icky Storey pink I mentioned above. It was that color in 1965 during my first visit and remained pink to the end, approx. 1983.
The Rhodes auditorium also had fancy light fixtures mounted to the walls which reminded me of chandeliers. They were on dimmers. This felt like a room Ben Franklin would watch movies in.
Okay, here’s how the pre-1998 Emory Theatre was designed.
On the sidewalk, there was a small ticket kiosk, barely comfortable for one cashier to sit. Customers bought tickets here and could walk around the box on all sides. About 10 feet from the sidewalk were a pair of exit doors and a pair of entrance doors.
Above the sidewalk, a traditional triangular marquee with two sides for letters (3 lines each). It said EMORY on the tower on the point and there was a modest amount of neon, backed by flourescent tubes.
On either side of the box office, two poster cabinets for 40 x 60 sheets on the sidewalk and in the alcove to the side and back of the box office, there was space for five more posters.
Enter the front door, doorman on the right, concession stand in the center. The concession counter was three sided: drink machine and candy on one, more candy on the next, and the third side was the popcorn kettle and counter space. This general area for the concession was the size of a small bedroom. Opposing 40 x 60 posters were on the side walls.
Then there were six more doors going to an interior lobby about 12 feet deep to the back wall of the auditorium. This area was mostly a lounging space with two couches and a chair and a water fountain — and the crossover to the restrooms. Any noise in this area would be heard in the auditorium.
Men’s room on the left. Ladies room, slightly more elaborate, on the right. There were big viewing windows with Venetian blinds in them on the left and right sides of the central auditorium wall. We always kept the blinds closed, but I guess you could allow standing room only crowds to watch the movie from the lobby.
Enter the auditorium on the left or right aisle. Auditorium seats were in three sections. About six seats were on each row of the side sections and 12-14 on the middle section rows.
There was a respectable CinemaScope screen mounted on the stage which had a 4-foot wide walking area in front to the footlights. Behind the screen, there was a very shallow backstage which mostly housed the speaker and curtain, motor, and riggings.
There was an old-fashioned household-style radiator on the auditorium floor in front of the stage. That was the heater. The air conditioner was a water-cooled system, but ample.
The theatre was in grind mode until 1998, so we rarely ever stopped film all day long. Part of that practice was in order to keep the lights down low so customers wouldn’t notice the wear and tear and grime on everything. (A standard theatre lighting practice even today.)
There were two storefronts in the theatre building, too. The right side was the Emory Barbershop for years and years. The left side was numerous things, most notably Stan’s Sandwich Shop through the mid and later ‘60s.
Storey, not Story, got it! Didn’t they also run a couple of theatres in Tennessee and Alabama as well?
Bummer about the closing of the Delk. Was there when it was being built in the 1980s. One of the last theatres constructed in the area with curtains that actually worked and 70mm projection.
Storey Theatres no longer exists. The chain was sold to Regal Cinemas in the mid-1990s.
Only the Town Center (Kennesaw) remains open in the Atlanta area.
Storey built Town Center as an 8 — then 12 — in the mid-80s, but Regal has reconfigured everything and expanded to the 16 screens of today.
Storey’s Delk 10 (Marietta) has apparently been closed by Regal. Seems like it was still open fairly recently.
The North 85 Drive-in, Atlanta’s newest drive-in, built by Storey in 1965, was demolished in 1998. Regal built the Hollywood 24 hardtop on the property.
The television group is Storer.
Jack – Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought the real purpose of this website was to solidify our collective murky memories. Hopefully, people will remember just how much fun going out to the movies could be. Then traditional movie exhibition may survive in the brave new world of home entertainment we may be seeing in the near future.
As far as my muddled memory goes, I have a little trouble distinguishing the look of the Emory before the renovation with the look after the renovation. Afterward, it reminded me a little more of the renovation done on the Rhodes Theatre. If memory serves that was also a Storey operation. As far as their other interests go, I couldn’t say. It’s been a long time since I lived in Atlanta.
Nobody remembers Laura Antonelli’s movies, they just remember her! Go to www.imbd.com and look up her credits.
My murky memory is beginning to solidify! I do remember Laura Antonelli although I don’t recall any of her films right off hand. I am still unable to recall the interior of the Emory, but the description of the North Dekalb was right on the mark. What ever became of the Story chain? Didn’t they also own a couple of television stations, like WAGA in Atlanta?
The Glen Theatre was in neglect in the 1950’s! It was strictly a neighborhood grind house without any pretentions to class. But I could walk to Glenwood from my house in East Lake on the border of Decatur. The Glen usually had a special Saturday bill starting at 1:00PM. There I managed to catch Hammer horror movies that I either missed first run, or wanted to see again. Ah, the cinema of guilty pleasures!
My dad took me to the Kirkwood a number of times in the 1950’s. It became an Adults Only theater circa 1960. We ALL followed the ads!
The last time I attended the Emory “Cinema” was December, 1974. the feature was MALAZIA. Does anyone remember Laura Antonelli? Could anyone who ever saw Laura Antonelli forget her?
The last time I attended the Decatur was in 1970. That was the year I left Atlanta to go to school in New York City, and stayed to live there for about 30 years. From 1970 to 2003, I usually only saw Atlanta for relatively brief periods. The changes really jumped out at me!
The 1950’s and ‘60’s were a gentler age. By my count, in the early 1950’s Atlanta had about three dozen neighborhood “hardtops” catering to the white population. There were another half a dozen “colored theatres” and about eight or nine drive-ins. That was in an era when the population of the Atlanta metropolitan area was something over half a million. When the population of the city reached one million in 1960, there were actually fewer theaters.
Right now I strongly suspect that the movie business is in for another shakeup in the not too distant future, not unlike the post World War II era. The 1948 Federal Court Consent Decree; the impact of television; and changing public tastes caused thousands of movie theaters across the country to close in from from the late ‘40’s into the mid '50’s.
In the coming years, we may see something reminiscent of that era when home theater converges with home computers and on demand delivery of programming is possible via high speed interconnets. If Sony and Toshiba can agree on a single standard for High Definition DVD, then we may see a quantum leap in home theater systems (and in time more affordable prices). That doesn’t spell good news for traditional movie exhibition.
Many of us old time movie lovers may be playing out our own versions of the denoument of CINEMA PARADISO.
>>As a boy I also attended Kiddie Matinees at the Emory (although not as often as at the Decatur or the Glen).>>
I only did Kiddie Matinees at the Emory, as I recall. I could walk there from my house less than a mile away. Can you imagine a 7 or 8-year-old kid walking alone to the movies today? I was lucky to grow up in those gentler times.
The Emory eventually played the same Saturday morning films as the Decatur. The Glen was too far away. I saw only one film there, a reissue of THE BELLBOY in 1967. I visited a friend in the projection booth a couple of times. The theatre was in huge neglect, but I think about it often, intrigued by its small balcony.
It’s funny to be reminded of the fact that most of the neighborhood theaters in Atlanta typically changed their programs twice a week.<<
In the ‘50s, the Emory changed movies three times per week, I’m told, on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Fridays and Saturdays were usually western double features. (Note: The westerns may have only played on Saturday, I’m not certain on this point, but they did change three times per week.)
I saw that Friday-Saturday booking pattern occur a few times up until, maybe, 1964. There didn’t seem to be a real need to do such changes anymore, but there could have been make-goods involved or a favor to some studio booker. Who knows?
>>The auditorium of the Emory reminded me a bit of the one at the Kirkwood Theatre at 1965 Boulevard Drive, SE, in Kirkwood.<<
I never attended the Kirkwood. It was an Adults Only house in my youth. I used to follow their newspaper ads, though. ;–)
>>The last time that I was in Atlanta in 2003, it appeared to me that DeKalb County is not very well served by quality movie theaters.<<
Yep. But the metro area keeps expanding and new megaplexes pop up to fill needs. It is shocking to me to look at the movie pages in the newspaper and while there may be more screens than ever, there are very few actual locations, compared to the old days.
>>The Decatur Theatre at 527 N. McDonough Street, just off the square in Decatur was seperate and distinct from the DeKalb Theatre.<<
I was also the projectionist in the Decatur Theatre on Fridays during 1966-67. It could still do good business, but the decline was underway.
I never heard anyone at any time compare the Emory to the North DeKalb, before or after the renovation. I was the final projectionist in the old incarnation and the first one in the remodeled operation. I was around during the preparation months, some of the construction and installations, and for nearly two years afterwards.
I assisted the Operations Manager of the company and another executive with the installation of the replacement screen. These were the guys handling the day-to-day on the remodeling and making the decisions. If anything, they were trying to make the theatre appeal to the Emory University students. That was their focus, not matching up to the North DeKalb, yesterday’s news. The Emory was all about being NEW, thus the name change to “Cinema,” considered NEW and swinging at the time — at least, by those gentlemen.
If anything, the North DeKalb was more akin to others in a long line of modern theatres pre-dating it in Atlanta starting at the beginning of the decade, including the Rialto, Martin’s CINERAMA, Westgate, Greenbriar, Lenox Square, Toco Hill, Eastgate (Suburban Plaza), and Village.
The new Emory design was a sign of the times, not the past. If there were any continuity connections to the North DeKalb, they were simply industry trends and to save money. Glossy white enamel is cheaper and less labor-intensive than fancy wallpaper — and certainly more economical to spruce up in the years to follow. Storey Theatres was notorious for squeezing a penny. If there was any similarity to these two theatres it was simply because management had learned certain ways to save money on the previous job.
The Decatur Theatre at 527 N. McDonaugh Street, just off the square in Decatur was seperate and distinct from the DeKalb Theatre. The latter was located at 130 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue, on the opposite side of the courthouse square in Decatur. While the Decatur Theatre continued in operation into the 1970’s, the DeKalb Theatre ceased operations about 1954. The site was gutted and turned into a J.C. Penny store. The DeKalb was one of a group of Atlanta neighborhood theaters that closed in the early to mid 1950’s. Some of the others included the Little Five Points, the Fairfax, the West End, the Empire, the American, the Brookhaven, the Ponce de Leon, and the Tenth Street. Remember, these were theaters that serviced the white community in an era of racial segregation. The so called “colored theaters” were a different story altogether.
When the Emory was renovatedn in 1968, it’s very likely that the intention was to emulate the look of the North Dekalb Theatre (which had originally opened in 1966). However, fundamentally the Emory still resembled the smaller Atlanta neigborhood theaters of similar vintage like the long gone Kirkwood, Ponce de Leon, and Tenth Street Theatres. To the best of my recollection, none of them had more than about 500 seats.
The original North DeKalb had an all shopping mall theme when built in 1966. The lobby was sparse and flourescent with bench seating along the walls, similar to something you might find in an airport. The portion of the lobby over the concession stand (against the rear wall of the auditorium) was two stories high. Open air staricases went up for the Ladies on the left and right for men. The projection booth and manager’s office were nestled between these two areas.
The auditorium walls and screen curtains were covered in wide one-inch stripes of alternating dark blues and purple shades, colors continued throughout the building. The seats were plush rocking chairs; something the Emory never enjoyed.
There was no proper stage, but three or so small steps up to a narrow and carpeted landing beneath the North DeKalb’s large screen.
Neither incarnation of the Emory would be comparable, except the 1968 version did have glossy white walls in the lobby, but few theatres didn’t have white walls. The Emory Cinema’s color was bright red throughout, seats, curtains, etc. The older version’s interior favored browns. There were periods when the original theatre was painted in baby blue or pink on the outside. (Mr. Storey, reportedly, loved pink and most of his locations went through a pink phase.)
I don’t believe either the North DeKalb or the latter Emory Cinema would be considered colonial. If anything, they were pushing for a modern, even a futuristic look. The Emory had been intentionally gutted from the sidewalk back to the stage in 1968. With the exception of some restroom fixtures, nothing the public saw was the original architecture or incidentals. Everything was redone or hidden.
Could you possibly be confusing the Emory with the more similar Decatur Theatre, Storey operated off the square in Decatur? I’ve heard it referred to as the Decatur-DeKalb, too. It was bigger and longer, but had a stage and fixtures similar to the original Emory Theatre.
At the time of its opening, everyone remarked on how modern the North DeKalb appeared. It was a new era for Storey Theatres, not a throwback.
The association between the Emory & North Dekalb was based on my finite memory of the theatres. In that both have been gone for over twenty years and with no available photographs of the theatres in which to reference, I posted a log on each in hopes that someone can help fill in the spots that time has erased. What I recall is that both had a stark white foyer and lobby and, for lack of a better description, an understated colonial theme. Prior to North Dekalbs’ conversion to a twin, didn’t it have the same type of stage as the Emory?
Great post, Mike! The CINEMA PARADISO parallel is very evocative. Like you, I couldn’t see any similarity between the Emory and the original North DeKalb Theatre. As a boy I also attended Kiddie Matinees at the Emory (although not as often as at the Decatur or the Glen). It’s funny to be reminded of the fact that most of the neighborhood theaters in Atlanta typically changed their programs twice a week. The auditorium of the Emory reminded me a bit of the one at the Kirkwood Theatre at 1965 Boulevard Drive, SE, in Kirkwood. In 1985, I stopped by the site of the Kirkwood to see the theater while it was in the process of being demolished. It evoked old memories for me.
The last time that I was in Atlanta in 2003, it appeared to me that DeKalb County is not very well served by quality movie theaters. Given the value of real estate in town and the changing demographics of many neighborhoods, I suppose that’s understandable. Change is inevitable, but the kind of changes we see can be rather sad.
The Emory Theatre was my second home during childhood. I was in it every Saturday morning for the weekly kiddie shows of old movies and then stayed through to see the regular feature, as they didn’t clear the house between dayparts. I began this practice around the age of 7 in 1959.
By 1962, I landed a job distributing coming attractions flyers to the cars parked at the neighborhood stores. I got free passes to the movies for the weekly duty.
In the summer of ‘63, I became a regular errand boy of sorts and managed to infiltrate the projection booth that fall, befriended by the operator, who became my mentor and great friend through life. No kidding, it was CINEMA PARADISO. Our story parallels that movie.
In the summer of ‘64, I began to learn how to thread and operate the projectors in earnest. I remember this occuring during a two-week sub-run of CLEOPATRA. Two weeks was the longest planned engagement to date in the theatre, which generally changed films on Sundays and Wednesdays in those days. On rare occasions, a first-run film might be booked for an entire week.
Although I became a capable 35mm projectionist at age 12, I had to wait to grow older before being left alone to work the booth. This delay was felt necessary to not rock the boat with the corporate management of Storey Theatres. (Darn ageism!)
Meanwhile, I worked in the concession stand. Two months before my 14th birthday, I ran the movies by myself for an entire day on a Saturday in January, 1966, showing a reissue of SHANE. I became the theatre’s regular relief operator until I graduated from high school in 1970 — and in the summers of ‘67, '68, and '69 I ran the booth 7-days per week, full-time, as my mentor had moved to greener pastures.
I have never been able to determine when the Emory Theatre was built, but I did discover old receipts dating back to 1939. There were 492 seats in the original auditorium, very much considered a small theatre. Nowadays, 492 seat rooms are practically non-existent. They’re considered too big!
During the summer of 1968, the theatre shuttered for five weeks for an extensive renovation, following a retread double feature of THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER and RED LINE 7000. It reopened in August as the Emory Cinema. My memory is HERE WE GO ‘ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH was the first film. The bookings became more arty, geared to Emory University’s students and the upscale neighborhood’s residents. The theatre’s new furnishings were bold and contemporary for the time with an enlarged lobby and all-new seats and screen in the auditorium. The exit was relocated and the revised seating approximated 450.
The two 35mm projectors (probably in use since the ‘30s) were standard Simplex heads with RCA soundheads. Great machines, warhorses. In 40 years around booths, I’ve never seen another pair like them. Peerless Magnarc carbon arc lamps were the light source until spring 1970, when reel-to-reel automation was installed utilizing Xenon bulbs. I ran that garbage a few times before leaving to work for the local projectionists’ union after I turned 18.
I recall showing MEDIUM COOL and EASY RIDER (Christmas ‘69), mentioned in the earlier post, at the Emory. It certainly was not the inspiration for the much larger, original North DeKalb Mall Theatre. There were no similarities at all except they were movie theatres with a lobby and a snack bar. I filled-in at the North DeKalb concession stand its first Christmas during the first non-road show run of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Later, I was the full-time projectionist there from November, 1972, through June, 1973.
The Emory became a 99 cents house in the mid-‘70s — not a good sign for a long future. But an accidental grease fire in an adjacent storefront took out the entire strip of stores in the Emory Village. I’m sure the theatre’s wooden auditorium flooring didn’t help matters. The structure literally burned to the ground. I’m fuzzy on the time line, but I’ve been told recently that the final film was a sub-run of ANIMAL HOUSE, which would date the fire to early '79.
Today, a Domino’s take-out is on the site of one of the theatre’s two storefronts. The remainder of the theatre property is grassy and was never redeveloped. I revisit it from time to time.
The Emory Theatre on Oxford Road was located adjacent to the Emory University complex. Emory – that’s Coca Cola U. to the uninitiated, because of the endowments from the owners of Coke (hey, I’m not knocking it, I was born in Emory University Hospital). This was a typical second run neighborhood house that happened to be located in a particularly nice area in Dekalb County. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s it generally booked typical commercial releases. By the late ‘60’s, Story Theatres began to book more edgy releases, probably trying to attract more of the university crowd. By the late '60’s and early '70’s, I remember seeing EASY RIDER, MEDIUM COOL, THEY SHOOT HORSE DON’T THEY and MALAZIA there. On a return visit to Atlanta, I was surprised to find that the theater had been torn down. Fire seems to be the fate of a number of older movie houses (could that have anything to do with insurance policies?).