Daniel Village Theatre

Never date an employee dept. I took my Concessionstand Girl,Cathy to see NETWORK at the Daniel Village. I was hoping Columbia 1 and 2 would get it,but Georgia Theatres got all the UA product. Cathy, having still working at COLUMBIA 1 and 2 and should have known better talked through the entire movie.

It wouldn’t be long before GEORGIA THEATRES twin this beautiful theatre. One of the last movies to play in that single seat house is the forgetable THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN with Ben Johnson who must have needed a paycheck. RATED R. Jan. 28 1977.

THE MALTESE BIPPY was playing July 22 1969.

I had read this was one of the worst movies made in the 60’s and good old Daniel Village got stuck with it. In the ritzy neighborhod near Daniel Village i think it was safe to say that CHE! died a quick death. Rated M. {no GP rating yet.}

All i was saying or meaning to is NATIONAL HILLS was the only theatre in town that ran 70mm. Heck, I have a section of 70mm print from SOUND OF MUSIC. At National Hills like i guess Certain theatres in the states had the MGM 70mm MOVIE line up: RYAN'DAUGHTER, SOUND OF MUSIC, GONE WITH THE WIND,and 2001. Seemed like every fall those classics would hit town. Of the four 2001 was the only one i cared about, Too many crazy old white ladies would come To SOUND OF MUSIC and would complain about the theatre being Too HOT or COLD, TOO loud or offened by a trailer. I hated It.

They’re positive it was at Daniel Village that they saw The Sound of Music. Why do you say it had to be at National Hills? National Hills hadn’t even been built yet when The Sound of Music played in 1965.

I think this is where my parents saw The Sound of Music. They talked about how great an experience it was. Must’ve been 70 mm?

I saw BLACKBEARD’S GHOST a DISNEY movie at DANIEL VILLAGE and also the DORIS DAY movie WITH SIX YOU GET EGGROLL.

AFTER STARTING the DANIEL VILLAGE TWIN CINEMA with the opening of SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT in may ;here it is August 24 1977 and that silly movie is still playing there.

CLOSED FOR REMODELING; ILLUSION
By Gregory E. Nicoll BEll RINGER NEWSPAPER.

CLOSED FOR REMODELING is one of those films which appears with no advance publicity,is sparsely attended,and fades into obscurity after a brief and inglorious week of exhibition. In this case , However, Augusta moviegoers should pay more attention since CLOSED FOR REMODELING is a local production.Brainchild of the manager of the DANIEL VILLAGE THEATRE, CLOSED FOR REMODELING is a curious human drama of men hired to perform some minor renovationsin an East-Georgia city.

The film follows them through an entire day of work, Arriving at 9;00 am to their eventual departure in the late afternoon,with generous amounts of screen time alloted to the grueling tedium of their monotonouslabor.

I banged on the theatre’s door last week.MOst of the people inside began to shout" We are CLOSED FOR REMODELING!“ Indeed they are. THIS FILM which would be about nothing without its stars. They are actually CLOSED FOR REMODELING. and they have every right to be proud of it.

There is at least one staff member who manifestly dislikes the production,though he too acknowledges the pivotal role of the actors in the making of this film,what it is, I refer to the nameless person who answered the phone Sunday afternoon and announcedin an apologetic tone"I am sorry but we are CLOSED FOR REMODELING" Such remorse over participation in so fine a film seems strange indeed.

Just a guess on what happened with respect to “Mary Poppins”: When it premiered in August 1964 in LA and opened in other major U.S. markets during the final four months of 1964, it was a roadshow (reserved-seat, two-a-day) attraction. There’s a good chance Augusta did not have an option to get a print until the spring of 1965 by which time it could be the Daniel Village’s inaugural attraction.

Bear in mind that late 1964’s other huge musical release was the roadshow of “My Fair Lady,” which opened later in 1965 for just two weeks at the Daniel Village.

If your date is correct, then Boxoffice has provided the most extreme examples of delayed reporting I’ve found yet. Announcing a groundbreaking when the building has already been completed is pretty drastic. Maybe somebody at Georgia Theatre Company was slacking off and sending the press releases out months late.

The opening date currently given in the intro doesn’t match up with the information published in Boxoffice Magazine. The October 9, 1964, issue of Boxoffice had an article about the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Georgia Theatre Company’s new theater in Daniel Village which had recently taken place.

Various issues of Boxoffice over the next several months mention the project, and an article about the recent opening of the Daniel Village Theatre was published in the May 10, 1965, issue. The latter article did say that the movie the house opened with was Mary Poppins, which must have then been going into wider release following its initial road show run.

I can easily imagine Boxoffice publishing one or two items about a project late, but not every one of a whole series of items about a single project.

The 1964 item listed the architect of the theatre as Lowrey Stulb, and the 1965 item about the opening attributed the design to the firm of Eve and Stulb. Eve and Stulb had drawn the plans for the entire Daniel Village Shopping Center.

I believe that H. Lowrey Stulb is still living. In 2007, he wrote this letter to the Augusta Chronicle about the Augusta Library, another of his works.