According to this site, in the early days men were not admitted to the theater without jacket and tie. I don’t think that would work today: http://tinyurl.com/jges9
Unfortunately, the link above won’t let you enlarge the images. There are pictures of the Carver and the Lyric in Waycross, but until they fix the site you might want to use a magnifying glass: http://www.wayx.net/historicimages.html
The Pitman opened on Friday, September 26, 1947 (Slave Girl was movie shown on opening night), and seated around 1100 (other source said 850). It is located on the 600 block of Broad Street, and had the largest screen in Gadsden at time of opening, and had air conditioning and push-back seats. The theatre was erected and owned by Dr. H. W. Frank, for use by Aiga Theatres, Inc. (Charles S. Pitman was the head of Aiga). James E. Rourke was the first manager of the Pitman. The opening advertisements stressed that no outside screen advertising would appear on the Pitman screen, and that the screen would be used for entertainment only. On January 9, 1981, the theatre began to operate on weekends only, and closed in 1981. It opened for a one-week period from September 27, 1983 to October 2, 1983 for showing of a film series (which ended with Singin' in the Rain). The theatre was purchased by the city of Gadsden in 1986.
If you’re lazing around on your hammock this holiday weekend, with your laptop of course, you may wish to peruse this master’s thesis on African-American theaters in Georgia. There are sections on the Morton as well as several other theaters: http://tinyurl.com/kftsq
Some of the oral histories on keokuk.com state that the Iowa theater burned to the ground. I didn’t post the link here as you have to sift through a great deal of nostalgia to find the references to the Iowa.
Here is a 1995 article about the history of the Rialto. Unfortunately, the accompanying photos no longer appear, at least on my computer: http://tinyurl.com/jykc2
Here is a 2004 article about the Rialto:
http://tinyurl.com/omepy
Here is an interesting article about the Saenger and the Silent Film Festival:
http://tinyurl.com/qnxar
Here is an article about the renovation of the Lyric:
http://tinyurl.com/mwfwh
Here is an interesting article about the renovation of the Melba:
http://tinyurl.com/mnc2r
This April 2006 article discusses ongoing renovation:
http://tinyurl.com/zf6js
According to this site, in the early days men were not admitted to the theater without jacket and tie. I don’t think that would work today:
http://tinyurl.com/jges9
Try this site for a small picture. The thumbnails are out of order:
http://www.wayx.net/historicimages.html
Unfortunately, the link above won’t let you enlarge the images. There are pictures of the Carver and the Lyric in Waycross, but until they fix the site you might want to use a magnifying glass:
http://www.wayx.net/historicimages.html
Given the sponsorship of the theater by a cable company, I can imagine that the daily feature starts sometime between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Of course, if it was a bad film, the airsick bags would be in the seat pocket in front of you.
Here is an day by day account of the GWTW premiere in 1939:
http://tinyurl.com/f7g4c
The article I posted discusses the Bel Air Drive-In, but also calls it the Fly-In Drive-In. I’m not sure which one is correct.
From hsvmovies.com:
Opening date: 1947/09/26
First movie shown: Slave Girl
The Pitman opened on Friday, September 26, 1947 (Slave Girl was movie shown on opening night), and seated around 1100 (other source said 850). It is located on the 600 block of Broad Street, and had the largest screen in Gadsden at time of opening, and had air conditioning and push-back seats. The theatre was erected and owned by Dr. H. W. Frank, for use by Aiga Theatres, Inc. (Charles S. Pitman was the head of Aiga). James E. Rourke was the first manager of the Pitman. The opening advertisements stressed that no outside screen advertising would appear on the Pitman screen, and that the screen would be used for entertainment only. On January 9, 1981, the theatre began to operate on weekends only, and closed in 1981. It opened for a one-week period from September 27, 1983 to October 2, 1983 for showing of a film series (which ended with Singin' in the Rain). The theatre was purchased by the city of Gadsden in 1986.
There is information about the opening of this theater on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/zq5kh
I presume this is the same Doris Duke that was the tobacco heiress?
Here is a website from the current occupants:
http://www.averittcenterforthearts.org/about.html
Here is an article regarding the history of this drive-in:
http://tinyurl.com/f7lpz
If you’re lazing around on your hammock this holiday weekend, with your laptop of course, you may wish to peruse this master’s thesis on African-American theaters in Georgia. There are sections on the Morton as well as several other theaters:
http://tinyurl.com/kftsq
The Nexus website is still up and running:
http://tinyurl.com/rst5t
Here is a photo of the Fair, after restoration:
http://tinyurl.com/qooxc
Some of the oral histories on keokuk.com state that the Iowa theater burned to the ground. I didn’t post the link here as you have to sift through a great deal of nostalgia to find the references to the Iowa.
Here are minutes from the Burlington City Council in October 2005, discussing restoration of the Capitol:
http://tinyurl.com/owllk
Friendly people plus ventilation. You can’t beat that combination.
Mea culpa.
Here is a 1995 article about the history of the Rialto. Unfortunately, the accompanying photos no longer appear, at least on my computer:
http://tinyurl.com/jykc2