Comments from StanMalone

StanMalone commented about South Dekalb Cinemas 12 on Jan 14, 2006 at 1:57 pm

The South DeKalb will always be one of my favorite theatres, both in its appearance and my personal memories there.

It was opened, I believe, sometime in 1970. The South DeKalb mall was a 2 anchor setup with a Rich’s at one end and a J.C. Penny store at the other. The theatre entrance was located in the center of the mall and the auditoriums stuck out the back into the parking lot. The look of the place was unlike anything I had ever worked in, especially for the very conservative Georgia Theatre Company. Personally, I have always considered it the nicest looking and best laid out theatre I ever managed.

You could enter the theatre from two opposite doors, one from the rear of the mall, and the other from outside. Both doors led to sloping walkways which bottomed out in front of the box-office. When built, South DeKalb was a set of identical twins separated by the box office, concession stand, and a very spacious (by theatre standards) utility room. Attractive and good sized lobby entrances were located on either side of the box office.

The design of the box set the tone for the rest of the place, specifically no straight lines. Everything in the place including box office, lobby, rest rooms, offices, lounges, serving windows for the concession stand, screens, etc… were to some degree curved or outright round. Not only was the box office counter curved out into the entrance area, the glass front which started just above the counter and separated the cashier from the customers was curved as well. The curve eliminated any reflection from the glass and by the end of a rush there would be a series of smudges on the glass where people had rammed their foreheads into the unnoticed glass while trying to lean forward across the counter to talk to the cashier.

Entrance to theatre #1 was to the left and #2 to the right of the box office. The entrance lobby was divided by the concession stand. Large round openings made up for the straight line of the stand. In one of the few design flaws, the stand was pretty narrow which made it difficult for the employees to stand back to back or pass each other while serving both sides at once. From the concession stand you would go down some steps to the main lobby. This lobby was completely round and occupied by a row of round mushroom looking stools lining the wall. Rest rooms were located on either side of the lobby. From the lobby you entered a round “smoking lounge” before entering the bath room itself. Each of the four bathrooms had a storage room inside. Two were used for employee locker rooms and two for storerooms.

From the lobby you would go down more steps (remember, this was pre ADA) to a small standing area where the entrance to the utility room would be on one side and doors to the half round managers office and the projection booth stairwell on the other. From this area there were two doorways leading directly to the aisles inside the auditorium. True to GTC form, there were no doors to the auditorium. I do not know if this was the design or if GTC insisted on this, but it was a big mistake. Most GTC designs had a bending mazelike hallway entrance to their auditoriums, but not here. Not only did the light from the lobby shine on the back few rows, but there was nothing to keep the sound from the concession stand or the people waiting in the lobby from disturbing the rear part of the auditorium.As a result, the manager could not put any customers for the next show in the lobby, but had to line them up in the entrance hallway. If they wanted to come in to the restrooms or concession stand, you sent them to which ever side had the fewest people sitting in the back part of the auditorium.

A note on the lighting is in order here as well. The entrance hallway was lined with large black fixtures attached to the white walls. These fixtures consisted of a tube about six feet tall with a dual fixture in the center, one side pointing up the other down toward the floor. These produced a very nice looking V shaped light on the walls and a round spot on the floor and ceiling. They were, however a pain in the neck to change, especially the ones pointing up. Once you entered the lobby, the line where the ceilings met the walls were lined with exposed light sockets about one foot apart. Into these sockets were placed large clear decorative bulbs, round in shape of course. This produced an incredible sight as well as light level which caused the problem with the auditorium spillover. I never counted the number of these sockets, but they must have been in the hundreds. It was almost a daily chore to check for and replace burned out bulbs. After the energy crunch of the early 70’s we changed from the large 150 watt bulb to a clear but standard size 75 watt bulb, and left every other one unscrewed.

Although (thankfully) not round, the auditoriums were outstanding in design and appearance as well. Almost square, each held 540 rocking chair seats, dark red in color. The walls were draped completely black. The screen was curved at the prescribed 146 degrees and covered by a curtain that had a bright orange, yellow, and white pattern. Although there were no screen flood lights, the bright curtain looked lit up when surrounded by the black walls. The screens were almost wall to wall leaving just enough room for exit doors on either side. Since the curtain opened across the path to these doors and were stored beyond the path this caused a problem at the end of the show. Since the doors opened out into the parking lot, many people used these exits. When the automation closed the curtain at the end of the show, it would cut across the exit path blocking access to the doors. After the curtain was pulled out of its track by people grabbing it when it crossed in front of them we disabled the closing cue in the automation and had the projectionist close it by manual switch after everyone was out. Just another example of owners and designers not asking the opinions of the unworthy peons who do the actual work.

Each booth was automated and equipped with 35MM Century projectors and 6000 foot reels. The outstanding feature was the presence of an Optiverter which combined with the curved screen produced an outstanding picture. I have described this Academy Award winning process in detail on the Phipps Plaza Theatre site, although there I incorrectly called it Optivision. The correct name is Ultravision.

I first attended the South DeKalb in the spring of 1971. The feature was an incredible looking cinemascope presentation of “Patton.” Since I had not started working in theatres at this time I knew nothing of the technical setup, but even so noticed the quality of the picture. I saw several more movies here and started work as manager in 1974. This was still in the days of long, exclusive runs for movies in the downtown and northside first run houses such as the Fox, Roxy, Lenox, and Phipps. South DeKalb was located in the southeastern part of DeKalb County, and when we picked up a big hit on what was then called the intermediate break, it was like showing it first run. The biggest business from those days was done by “The Sting” and “Airport ‘75” both from the Georgia Cinerama, “Herbie Rides Again” and “Death Wish” from the Tara, “Blazing Saddles” from the North DeKalb, and “The Longest Yard” from Phipps. All of these produced multiple sellouts for what seemed like weeks on end. Wide break first run releases like “Trial of Billy Jack” and “Island At The Top Of The World” also attracted capacity crowds.

These were also the pre video days when theatres would bring back an old reliable as a filler when they needed something to show for a week or so until the next big booking. We had filler bookings of “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Doctor Zhivago” during this period. These magnificent wide screen productions looked wonderful on our big curved screens, and came complete with intermission strips and music. I do not recall them doing much business, but they did take me back to my days as an usher at the Atlanta Theatre during its glory days and gave me the chance to at least pretend that I was running a first class roadshow house.

I left the South DeKalb in 1975 to run the Lenox Square Theatre because it was closer to my home. (One of my bigger career mistakes, but that is another story.) South DeKalb continued on in this pattern, but like so many other fine venues, its success led to its downfall. In the fall of 1977, each side was closed in turn for twinning. (The last movie I saw under the old setup was a beautiful cinemascope presentation of “A Bridge Too Far.”) Out came the curved screens, the pretty curtains, the optiverters, the nice square shape, and in came the platters, small screens, no curtains, and the oh so 70’s shoebox shape. They did, at least, use the orange curtains to drape one of the new dividing walls, alternating panels of it with black. Each house ended up with 328 seats, so the total seat count jumped from 1080 to 1312, which should give you some idea of how they crammed them in. The new seats, while the same color, were not rockers and were placed in the front rows. The two off center aisles in the old set up now became the center aisles in the new houses. Only two improvements came out of this. One was carpet for the entrance hallway, installed over the impossible to keep clean rubber matting. This had the advantage of absorbing the headache inducing din that came with the echo off of the rubber floor, especially during busy times. The other was entrance doors for the auditoriums although this was only added at the last minute at the insistence of the manager. Seems he was the only one concerned about the movie sound or screams or laughter from the crowds crossing from house to house.

The final appearance made the place look like, on paper at least, a copy of the Akers Mill. Four identical shoebox auditoriums one of which later had Dolby added. As was the case in most of these instances, the resulting business made the decision to twin look good. The attendance and concession receipts skyrocketed though the crowds for four different theatres trying to enter and exit through a lobby and entrances designed for two came close to crushing the staff at times. I worked here a number of times during these later years and can at least say that I never saw all four house full at once. At the time, I had suggested (not to imply that anyone in authority ever listened to me) that only one side be twinned but since showmanship and presentation was at the bottom of the list in those days, if indeed it ever made the list at all, that idea was a non starter.

Just like all GTC properties, the beginning of the end of this place came with the sale of GTC to United Artists Theatres. UA was not interested in anything as small as this and by the early 90’s the place was closed. UA may not have been interested but that did not mean that they wanted anyone else coming in and competing. When they left the stripped the place bare, including light fixtures and carpets. On a recent visit I could tell that the mall is using the sloping entrance hallways to store their utility equipment. I could not see into the lobby, but I am sure it as well as the auditoriums and projection booths are empty shells as well.

I have good memories of this place, and the 70’s were good times to work in the theatre business before it turned into the megaplex dominated fast food business it is today. To this day I still keep in touch with some of my former employees and co workers from the South DeKalb, and we often talk about those times, and especially Tom Pike Jr., the long time manager after I left who passed away an amazing 14 years ago now at the age of only 40. It is a shame he is not around to write this as his recollections and stories would dwarf anything I have to offer.

StanMalone commented about AMC Dine-In Buckhead 6 on Nov 29, 2005 at 5:22 am

Presentation wise, a terrible place to see a movie. As Jack said, small shoebox shaped auditoriums and even smaller screens. In its day, 6 theatres was considered a megaplex and it did play first run movies for the most part, so business was acceptable even though it had to compete with the Lenox Square 6 and the Phipps Plaza 3. (That would be the Cineplex Odeon operated original Phipps location.)

Two things I remember best about this place. First was the aisle lighting. This was in the days before Tivoli lighting and the aisles were lit up by tiny spotlights in the ceilings which were focused so as to shine only on its own section of the aisle. Not only did this cause the carpet strip of the aisle to be lit up in an otherwise dark theatre, but when anyone was walking up the aisle during a show it seemed as if there was a spotlight on them all the way to the lobby. Second was the projector setup. Individual booths for each theatre and just as small in their own right as the auditoriums. The ceilings were low and the ports for the projector beam were located at the very top of the wall without enough overhead space for the rest of the projector. The solution was to have the projector aimed at the front booth wall and into a periscope which bounced the picture off of mirrors and up to the port where it could be shot out onto the screen.

AMC tried several times to get out of this location but they must have some kind of long term unbreakable lease. On at least two occasions the site has been run by independent operators, once as a $ house. These seemed to be borderline if well intentioned efforts, and in each case, AMC was soon back on site. After AMC contracted to run the new 12 (later 14) screen theatre in the rebuilt Phipps Plaza they converted Tower Place to the Cinema and Drafthouse style Backlot that it is today.

A couple of years ago I was at the Tower Place office tower and a very friendly staffer let me in to see all of the changes. The auditoriums have been renovated and a wet bar / serving station setup installed in the rear of each one. Part of the seating has been removed and replaced by tables. I did not get to see into the booths, but he told me that the periscopes were gone. Other than the type of upgrades you would expect from an almost 30 year old operation the entrance and lobby are almost unchanged from opening day. The theatre is located on the ground floor of the 30 odd story Tower Place office building. Boxoffice and entrance open onto the outdoor plaza in front of the building.

StanMalone commented about Baronet Theatre on Oct 27, 2005 at 1:01 pm

120 seats. Located just opposite of the exit door from the balcony of the Coronet. Same projectionist ran both booths. The Baronet used a Cinemeccanica V18. Center aisle with only 4 or 5 seats on each side and a screen that rivaled the one at the old Universal Screening Room (capicity about 40) in its small size. Mostly a moveover / spillover house for the Coronet.

The theatre was staffed by one person who had the job of cleaning the auditorium each morning, and then spending the day tearing tickets and operating the makeshift concession stand. On weekends there would be an extra employee to staff the concession. No handicapped access at all. In fact, I doubt that the stairwell that Jack spoke of would even pass the fire code of today. Later, a boxoffice for the Baronet was added at the bottom of the steps that opened onto the sidewalk of Peachtree Street. It was used on weekends. At other times tickets continued to be sold from the Coronet box office which was located on the other side of the entrance doors of the Coronet.

StanMalone commented about Akers Mill Cinema on Oct 17, 2005 at 1:23 pm

Jack’s first paragraph puts it pretty well. The only change I would make is in the demolition date. Northlake and Southlake were torn down about 1992 while the Perimeter operated until 1999 and was torn down in 2000.

Akers was the third of four GCC theatres built in the 1970’s following the Perimeter Mall 3, the Northlake 2 triple, and preceding the Southlake 2 triple. The next generation came in 1986 with Merchants Walk, 1987 with Parkside, and 1988 with Hairston, all 8’s.

While Northlake and Southlake were identical and very similar to Perimeter Mall, Akers Mill had several distinctive features. The concession stand was a complete island in the middle of the lobby. The lobby was smaller to begin with than these other locations, and it was almost impossible to hold a crowd of any size inside. The restrooms were upstairs although there was one unisex handicapped bathroom located in the back of the #4 auditorium. The four auditoriums were each 400 seats which made life easy for the projectionist as there was seldom any need to swap prints other than projector breakdowns and putting the new or busiest movie in the Dolby house. In addition to the rest rooms, the booth, concession storeroom (with popcorn popper) and offices were upstairs as well. In an odd move, the door to the offices was located directly off of the public area, a flaw which became evident after a couple of push in robberies.

The projection booth was just as bland as the rest of the theatre. Four Century 35’s with an Autowind 3 platter for each. The size and layout of the booth was almost identical to the one at Perimeter Mall after it had been quaded and converted to platters. Sadly, the Cinemation pegboard system was not used, probably because there was not as much need for it since there would be no changeovers. AM was the first GCC booth in Atlanta with platters instead of 6000 foot reels. In light of my Phipps / Close Encounters experience, I am hesitant to say this, but I think it was “Deer Hunter” which brought Dolby to this location, installed in the #1 house. This was the old push button style of Dolby rack which required the projectionist to be present to engage the Dolby sound following the previews and GCC policy. The Dolby never did amount to much here as all of the auditoriums were long narrow shoeboxes demonstrating the very worst aspects of 1970’s design without having the excuse of being the result of twinning.

Akers did pretty well during its early years due to the lack of competition in the area. It played most of the standard first run movies since by that time the days of exclusive run engagements were history. A year or two later, Plitt opened the Promenade Triple just up Hwy. 41, but there was still plenty of product to go around. In the early 80’s the new Galleria mall was opened next door to Akers Mill Shopping Center, and it included an AMC 8plex. A;though none of the AMC auditoriums were as large as the Akers, people preferred the shinny new theatre with its larger screens and much better sound, assuming they noticed such things. Above all they preferred the better movies which now went to the Galleria. No matter how hard you try, 4 screens just could not compete with 8 when it came to the 8 or even 12 week bookings required to get the better shows in those days. Akers still got the occasional hit such as “Aliens” and “Ghostbusters 2” and of course the great “Ishtar” (interlocked on two screens no less) but for the most part it was now left with the leftovers, and in many cases the moveovers, from the Galleria. There were several years in the mid to late 80’s when the Galleria was the #1 grossing theatre in Atlanta.

GCC did make an effort to compete by removing the island concession stand and installing the new GCC style stand against the right hand lobby wall. At the same time they remodeled the lobby and entrance and, one house at a time, removed the old two position GCC seats from the 70’s and completely refurbished and reseated the auditoriums. Still, bookings are the ultimate draw, and by the 90’s the Akers days were clearly numbered. The Plitt had already closed after trying the $ house route. When the old Eastern Air Lines Reservation Center just to the south of the Akers Shopping Center was torn down and replaced with yet another shopping center, GCC moved in there with the Parkway Point 15. The Akers was closed and stripped bare. The booth equipment was sold as a block to Kings Cinemas, the former Septum company which was running the Cobb Center 6 at the time.

As Jack said, the site is still there more than 10 years later looking just the way it did when GCC shut the doors. The marquee is still on the road, and the theatre entrance can now be seen since the row of stores that stood in front of it has been torn down and a Circuit City Store now sits on part of that area. I can not imagine this place ever being useful as a theatre again and it is only a matter of time before the land is needed for the next generation of shopping centers in this very busy and well to do area. When that day comes it will join all of the other theatres from the 60’s and 70’s in the landfills around Atlanta. Like Northlake, Southlake, and countless other sites from that era they were the ultimate in bland, featureless, movie viewing, and will be missed by no one other than those of us who enjoyed working there.

StanMalone commented about Stonemont Theatre on Oct 12, 2005 at 5:59 pm

Well, if it isn’t my old friend and co-worker Tommy Young, who I have not seen in at least 25 years. I first met Tommy on the football field of Grady High School in the fall of 1974 when as manager of the South DeKalb Twin, I took part in one of those Georgia Theatre / ABC Theatres employee football games. I seem to recall the manager of Phipps Plaza being carried off the field with a broken leg during one of those grudge matches. For those of you who are interested not only in theatre buildings but the operation and culture of the employees, Tommy and I (and probably Raymond Stewart from this thread although I never worked with him) were fair examples of the type of people who worked at theatres in the late 60’s to mid 80’s. In those days when pay and hours were even worse than they are today, theatres were staffed by people who either enjoyed the movie business, liked working at night, liked the slow periods during the week or the entire fall when you could study or take care of maintenance, or just liked working without the aggravation of someone always looking over your shoulder.

For the most part theatre companies would give managers a set of keys and the combination to the safe and tell them to go manage. If the money made it into the bank and not too many complaints were received at the home office they pretty much left you alone. It was like working for yourself except that all of the profits went to someone else. I found this to be true of local companies like Georgia Theatre Company and national ones like Loews. Managing challenges consisted mainly of finding a good staff that would show up for work and behave, and keeping the theatre in good shape. There was always a fine line to be walked between making the theatre a pleasant place to work (an absolute necessity in view of the low pay) and letting the help turn the lobby into a frat house. (I remember stopping by Stonemont on the way home from my theatre on Saturday nights to join some off duty employees watching Saturday Night Live on the TV in the office.) The actual running of the place in regards to customers was much easier than now because people behaved themselves better back then, and with only two to four or five screens you never had the crush of people you do these days. The concession business was much simpler as well. Fewer items, fewer employees needed, and more down time between shows. I am sure the manager of the Burger King where I worked while in high school had an easier job than that of whoever is in charge of the concession operation in one of today’s megaplexes.

All of this changed in the late 80’s with the rise in consolidation as the local and smaller regional companies started selling out to the big national chains. ABC went to Plitt then Cineplex, etc… GTC sold out to UA, and Storey to Regal which later ended up with UA as well. With every transaction there seemed to be a new batch of bosses who had as their first priority the elimination of every single existing employee and replacing them with their “own” people imported from wherever they had come from. Managers, employees, projectionists, and even janitors were swept out for no other reason than they had been hired by the previous order and thus were not part of the new team. Later we had the pleasure of seeing the new team swept out by an even newer team, and so on down the line. Since most theatre companies seemed to look on their employees as recurring expenses, like the power bill, or even outright thieves yet to be caught, instead of potential assets, micro managing from HQ became the new way. The internet and email made it much too easy for the corporate bosses to dictate every single activity of the day, and towards the end of the General Cinema days there was talk of the folks up in Chestnut Hill working on a set up where they could view the security cameras of any theatre in real time back in Boston. This may well be the case now although I am happy to say that I would not know.

Those workers are just as much a “Cinema Treasure” as the theatres we talk about on this site. As sad as it is that those times are over, at least we did not get carted off to the landfill like so many of the places of which have these good memories. I know there are some who think this subject has no place in a forum such as this, but I disagree. While it is fine to admire the physical plant of the venues themselves, the people who worked such long hours to keep them running are an equally important part of their history. I am sure that the gist of what I have written here would apply to the vast majority of sites that appear on the Cinema Treasures website.

As for the question of who my city manager was, that gentleman would be Mr. Tom Pike Sr. Although not always the easiest man to work for at the Lenox Square Theatre, overall he was a good boss and an even better friend both then and after our days of working together were over. Sadly, Mr. Pike died of cancer about 4 years ago. Even sadder, his son, Tom Jr., a long time manager of the Village, South DeKalb, and Greens Corner, and my best friend from those years died in 1990 at the age of 40.

Tommy, you can contact me at If you are still in Atlanta we could get together and trade lies about the good old days.

StanMalone commented about Rhodes Theatre on Oct 3, 2005 at 2:04 pm

In the company of two other former projectionists who worked at the Rhodes, I visited this site yesterday. The marquee which extended out over the sidewalk is gone, but the old entrance is intact. The small marquee that stuck out over the Peachtree Street sidewalk is also gone, but the bracket that held it is still there. The entrance of the theatre was small, and just one of many shallow storefronts that lined the little street which ran from Spring Street to Peachtree Street.

Looking into the old entrance doors we could see that the lobby had been stripped back to its concrete and brick walls. The place where the concession stand was located on the back wall opposite the front door was clearly visible as was the stairwell next to it which led to the restrooms, pay phone, booth and offices. The lobby had been studded in preperation for some kind of remodeling.

The auditorium was located behind the line of storefronts at a right angle to the lobby. Several of these storefronts had been removed and a driveway put in their place. Also, in a great break for us, a set of glass doors had been cut into the wall of the auditorium to make an entrance from the driveway. This allowed us to see inside the old auditorium. It too had been stripped of all furnishings, but the old wall paint along with former speaker and light fixture locations could be made out. The slope in the floor had been leveled. Obviously, some sort of nightclub or resturant had been planned for here, but it has been years since any work was done.

The Rhodes never had much in the way of parking. The very small lot on the corner of Rhodes Way and Spring street, at the end of the storefront row is now taken up with a massive support column for the expressway entrance ramp added during the 90’s. The somewhat larger lot across Spring Street is now developed.

For many years the Rhodes was the flagship of the Story chain. Many first run and 70MM roadshow features had their premiere there. Among the more notable ones were “West Side Story”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, and “Sand Pebbles”. The first movie I saw there was a 1971 filler booking of “West Side Story.” In the 70’s some of the more notable bookings were “Dirty Harry” (as part of a wide break first run), “Portnoy’s Complaint”, and “Slaughterhouse Five”. The last big exclusive booking I saw there was the 1975 release of “Tommy” with its 5th track quintophonic speakers taking up the last two rows of seats in each back corner. The last movie of any type I saw there was in the fall of 1978, a 70MM showing of “Sound of Music”.

Storey abandoned the site soon after that and Landmark Theatres moved in and operated it as a retro / revival house in competition with George Lefonts Silver Screen. They would usually play a different double feature every day, sometimes day and date with the Silver Screen. When it became clear that the expressway extension would not cause the entire Rhodes Center to be torn down, Landmark announced that they had committed to the site long term and would soon be remodeling. This did not take place as the rise of the VCR killed the revival business for all but the most discriminating partons. They were not enough to keep this location alive and the site soon closed for good. The last movie to play there was “The Last Picture Show”. Speegee, the 100 plus year old cashier who worked at the Rhodes for most of her life was there to turn out the lights.

StanMalone commented about Belvedere Theatre on Sep 16, 2005 at 5:28 am

The place seems to be open at the moment.

I only worked at the Belvedere during the fall of 1972, long after its glory days as a prime second run neighborhood house. By this time it was reduced to playing third run releases usually playing pictures on the “drive in” break for one week runs. This place was built in the 60’s by the old H.B. Miselmann Company which later changed its name to Eastern Federal Corp. It was one of the old style EFC houses such as Toco Hills, North Springs, and Cherokee. All of these houses had a fair sized lobby, 800 plus seats and very tall auditoriums each grossly overlamped.

It had a brief return to glory in the summer of 1976 when it played “Bad News Bears” on its first run wide break. Although the neighborhood was in decline by then there were still many families in the area and seeing them lined up the length of the shopping center sidewalk really brought back images of the 60’s. I believe the twinning took place in 1977 or early 1978, just shortly before EFC sold out and left town. It operated as a dollar house as late as 1983 before going porn.

StanMalone commented about Twelve Oaks Theatre on Aug 1, 2005 at 9:33 pm

I would never presume to say for sure, but 12 Oaks was probably the last single screen first run theatre built in Atlanta. It was located in the new Buford Clairmont Mall which was sort of a half mall and half strip shopping center. The style was strictly bare bones 1970’s with the only distinguishing feature being the trademark Loews Hollywood montage mural over the concession stand. What it lacked in style it more than made up for in size. The 1200 seat figure listed in the above post is correct. The auditorium had 4 aisles, two along each wall, and two between the center and side sections. I do not remember the exact seating arrangement, but it was roughly 8-16-8, although this narrowed somewhat as you got near the front. The walls were draped and lined with ceiling floodlights. There was a curtain for the screen and it was also lit with ceiling floods. The center section of seating backed up to the rear wall, but a 10 foot or so walkway was provided behind the side sections.

Oddly enough, for such a large venue, the projection booth was very basic. In contrast to the 35 / 70, xenon equipped Tara, the 12 Oaks had only mono sound and two 35MM Century carbon arc projectors with 2000 foot reels. The lobby, while small when compared to the size of the theatre was still big enough to hold out a good size advance crowd. The concession stand backed up to the rear wall of the theatre. Although there were exit doors from the lobby into the parking lot, the only intended entrance was via the mall entrance where the open air boxoffice was located. Entry to the boxoffice was through a checkout office which also had a door to the lobby. The mall entrance was always open air and at closing a motorized wire gate was lowered from the ceiling. 12 Oaks was an easy theatre to manage since you could stand at the boxoffice and see the entire operation from one spot.

The theatre opened in February of 1971, and its first feature was Doctors Wives. The Sunday before the opening Loews held an open house inviting anyone interested to visit the site. As things turned out, this was not a very successful first run site. Although inside I-285, it was well to the north of all other first run theatres and located in an area which was for the most part working class as opposed to the Buckhead area where all other suburban first run theatres were located. Given the right movie of course, any theatre will do the business as 12 Oaks proved several times. The first film I saw there was the 1971 reissue of Lawrence of Arabia. For most of its first year bookings consisted mostly of second run double features such as Z and Joe, and moveovers from the Tara such as Summer of ‘42. Things picked up in early 1972 when the 12 Oaks opened an exclusive run of Clockwork Orange which ran for 3 months. That was followed by Fritz the Cat, and in the fall by the biggest 12 Oaks hit of all, Deliverance.

The bookings for the next two years were mostly hit or miss, usually miss, until Christmas of 1974 when Godfather Part II opened its exclusive Atlanta run. Business was less than record breaking due in part to the 3 hour 20 minute run time which limited us to one show per night, and with no intermission, killed the concession business as well. As it turned out, I was the last manager of the original 12 Oaks as the decision was made in New York to twin the site. While working for Georgia Theatre Company, I had seen the Village and Suburban Plaza shut down for a couple of weeks for twinning, but Loews had something else in mind. We shut down following close of business on a Sunday. The next two days were spent removing the screen and erecting a much smaller screen in the left side of the auditorium. In the booth, the projectors were moved to allow one to shoot at the new screen, and a three tier Christie Autowind 2 platter was installed. The line of seats where the wall would be rebuilt was removed. Two days later, on Wednesday, the day after Godfather II won the Best Picture Award, we reopened with this pathetic new setup. I am sure I do not need to describe the reaction customers had to entering their old auditorium to see that puny screen hiding down in the corner. Since the wall had not even been started it seemed as if you were looking at a TV set in the corner of you living room. The sound was also pretty hollow.

Construction work continued during the day, and then the staff, meaning me for the most part, had a couple of hours get the lobby and especially the bathrooms cleaned up for the one evening show. Nothing much could be done about all of the dust that soon started covering the seats. Happily, the Awards did little to help the business the movie was doing, and after two weeks of misery the decision was made to close up for two weeks and hopefully finish the job on time. As it turned out, I had four days after construction was over to get the place cleaned up, an eternity as movie theatre construction projects go. When the dust settled, we had two theatres, the left one seating 580 and the right one seating 540. No reseating work had taken place which meant that none of the seats really pointed toward the screens in their new positions. The booth had two platters and in the only improvement to come out of this whole sorry mess, the left side theatre (#1) was now equipped with 4 track magnetic sound. In May of 1975 we reopened with a reissue of The Lion In Winter and Janis. This was a good warm up because we soon opened Bite The Bullet and on July 2, Nashville, which used the magnetic sound system to good effect. Bullet did well, but Nashville was a big hit even if id did have a large amount of walkouts.

The theatre was pretty much unchanged for the rest of its Loews run. It still did good business when the right picture played. Silent Movie, Outlaw Josey Wales, and The Enforcers were big hits. However, the place never a good reputation for presentation. Three fourths of the exterior walls of the place were outside exposure which made it very hard to heat in the winter. Also, the mall sits across the road from DeKalb Peachtree Airport, the second busiest in Georgia, and the sound of planes taking off overhead always made it into the theatre. I did not have any contact with the place after Storey took over. I stopped by the site in July of 2005 and from the outside the place looks much the same except for the paint scheme which is consistent the malls Hispanic Festival theme. A very friendly staffer let me in to look the place over. The mall entrance has been closed up and that place converted to offices. The concession stand is gone, but except for color the lobby is otherwise unchanged. In the auditorium, all of the walls have been removed and the floor leveled. The site is now a night club and several large bars line the walls. A stage sits where the screen once stood. The projection booth has been opened up and serves as a soundboard and spotlight area. The office areas also now look out onto the floor and have the appearance of luxury boxes.

Considering the landfill fate of many other fine theatres, the 12 Oaks has done pretty well and still serves an audience which is more than you can say for most former theatres.

StanMalone commented about Perimeter Mall Theatre on Jul 30, 2005 at 3:02 pm

The opening of the Perimeter Mall Theatre was a true watershed in the history of movie theatres in Atlanta. First, it marked the entry of the General Cinema chain into the Atlanta market. Until that time the theatre business in Atlanta was dominated by two local companies, Storey, and Georgia Theatre Company which themselves were once one company, Lucas and Jenkins. Other national chains such as Loews and Walter Reade had a small presence in Atlanta and regional chains like Martin (now Carmike) and ABC Southeastern a somewhat larger one.

The location of the Perimeter Mall also marked a big change. For years first run theatres had been slowly moving toward the northern suburbs of Atlanta as the exodus from downtown gathered steam. For the most part this consisted of the first run theatres in the Buckhead area such as Lenox, Phipps Plaza, Tara, Capri, Fine Art (now Garden Hills) and the Georgia Cinerama (listed on this site as the Georgia Twin). The northernmost first run location was the Loews 12 Oaks in Chamblee, and it had a spotty record at best in attracting first run business unless it had a can’t miss feature. But Perimeter Mall was the first theatre built outside I-285 with the first run trade in mind. It was also the first multiplex (in those days three screens was considered a multiplex) built with first run intentions. At the time Atlanta had two other triples, the Old National, later expanded to 7, and the Westgate, originally a Martin twin later bought and tripled by Georgia Theatre Company. Both of these theatres, now closed, were on the southside of Atlanta and concentrated on intermediate runs of films as they left the first run theatres to the north.

Among the other changes ushered into the market by the arrival of GCC was the lower priced bargain matinee and the policy of running an all day, “grind” schedule year round. Hard as it may be to believe now, many of the suburban first run theatres of that time, such as Phipps, Tara, 12 Oaks, and Georgia, would cut back to night showings only as business dropped off as the runs lengthened. One new feature that did not catch on was the inclusion of smoking areas. I can remember some downtown theatres such as the Rialto having roped off areas in the balcony where smoking was permitted, but at Perimeter Mall the entire left side seating sections allowed smoking and ashtrays were built into the back of each seat. I do not know when this policy ended, but it did not last long.

As mentioned in the above post, the auditoriums of the theatre were nothing to brag about. Cinema 1 held 850 seats, Cinema 2 had 550, and Cinema 3 had 420. 1 and 2 had three section seating with two aisles and 3 had two section with a center aisle. None had curtains, a common feature at the time. Instead they had the black bordered “window box” screens. I do not believe movable masking was added until later which meant that while cinemascope movies looked fine, flat presentations were left with a raw edge on the sides. All screens were lit up with a row of overhead screen lights in the trademark General Cinema blue. The walls were not draped but were covered with a thin metal curved to look like pleated drapes with holes to allow sound to be absorbed by its foam backing.

The lobby was large and well lit due to the 100% glass wall design. Unfortunately, no one bothered to check the sun angle, especially in the winter, and as a result the lobby, which faced south was almost unbearable, both heat and light wise, in the late afternoon. It was not long before louvered blinds and later curtains were installed. The theatre did not have a box office as such. Once you entered the lobby you were directed either right or left depending on which movie you were seeing and walked up to a desk with a ticket machine. Although this gave an informal modern look to the place it was a security nightmare. When the lobby started to fill up people would be standing just behind the cashiers with nothing but a velvet rope separating them from the cashiers and the open cash drawers. When business was slow, just one desk was used. The lobby was not divided by theatres. On the left was a hallway leading to Cinema 1. In the middle was a concession stand which jutted out into the lobby. On the right was a hallway leading to Cinemas 2 and 3.

The projection booth was very long and narrow. It was equipped with two Century 35MM projectors per theatre with Christie lamphouses. 6000 foot reels were provided and there were two make-up / rewind tables, one between 1 and 2 and the other between 2 and 3. As a nice touch, small windows were included on each side of the auditorium dividing walls. This allowed the operator to see into two theatres at once. One remarkable piece of equipment was the Cinemation Mark 3 Pegboard automation system. Perimeter was the second theatre in town to have this marvel (following the Doraville Mini Cinema) and in my humble opinion it was the finest piece of automated program management equipment I ever worked with. I do not recall this system ever missing a cue here or at GCC’s second Atlanta location, the Northlake which was similarly equipped.

The Perimeter Mall Theatre opened on Friday, December 21, 1973. The opening features were The Laughing Policeman, and The Seven Ups, both wide break first run movies, and The Way We Were, and intermediate break fresh from its first run engagement at the Tara. I was standing in line for the first show, and remember waiting outside and watching the manager and staff frantically unboxing trash cans and ash trays that had been delivered shortly before. After we were admitted to the lobby to stand in line to purchase tickets, we had a nice view of the Pepsi crews desperately cutting holes in the concession stand counter tops and trying to get at least some machines up and going before showtime. I was not working in projection booths at that time, but I know that the booth situation probably mirrored that of the lobby. My showing of 7 Ups included an “Also Showing” preview for 7 Ups and several stops and starts before the movie started and at least one early changeover. Obviously, the booth was not ready in time for the projectionist to have the luxury of a dry run.

Despite this rocky start, Perimeter was a hit from the beginning. In 1974 it was probably Atlanta’s top grossing theatre, all screens combined that is. Also, many films which used to open exclusive run would now open at the Perimeter Mall as well. At Christmas of 1979 a milestone was reached when Dolby was added to Cinema 1 for the first Star Trek movie. In the Spring of 1980, a sad event occurred when Cinema 1 was split into two 380 seat shoebox theatres. The Dolby system was moved to Cinema 2 which was now known as Cinema 3. In the booth, the end wall was moved to enclose some of the office space so the left projector could be moved to shoot onto the screen of the new #1. The right projector was shifted to the right to shoot into #2 and a platter was placed in between. The booth now had two houses running platter and two running reel to reel. This caused no end of aggravation in the years to come when it was necessary to move prints between houses until sometime in the 90’s when the entire booth was converted to platters. Both 1 and 2 were equipped with the up and down masking which made the flat pictures larger than scope. The only good thing to come out of this episode was the addition of side to side masking in #3 and an entirely new and larger screen in #4 also equipped with up and down masking. While all of this was going on the lobby and concession were remodeled. The ticket desks were removed and a true, secure boxoffice was built where the front doors once stood. Some of the glass area on either side was removed for the installation of new entrance doors.

This was pretty much the way Perimeter looked to the casual observer for the rest of its time. Some improvements continued to be made. Dolby was added to #4 and still later to #1 when Northlake was closed and its projectors and Dolby system were moved to Perimeter. Dolby Digital was added to #3 in 1994 but no DTS or SDDS systems were ever installed. Downstairs, the “new look” GCC concession stand was added in 1986 and an outside awning was erected around the front half of the building.

Despite these upgrades, the time for this facility was clearly past by 1990. Even though the place was well maintained, it still had that old 70’s look, and 4 screens were just not enough anymore. By the late 90’s it was little more that a moveover house for the new GCC Parkside (later known as the EFC Parkside then Madstone, and now Lefont Sandy Springs.), and the new United Artists, (now Regal) Perimeter Point. It was used to good effect as a place to hold pre opening promotional screenings because of the good size of the #3 house and the fact that you seldom had to cancel a showing of a movie that was doing good business to run your screening. Being located in the middle of a massive office park area, the site also did pretty well as a location for business meetings. It also did well showing limited appeal or “art” movies.

For years there was talk of either expanding the location or building an entirely new facility with a mall entrance. As anyone who was familiar with the GCC of the time knows, GCC was notoriously slow when it came to site choosing and building of theatres. While they were busy thinking, UA opened the Perimeter Point 10 across the street. In the end, nothing was done. As I stated in my post on the theatre at Lenox Square, I believe the mall ownership here was also less than thrilled about having a theatre using their precious parking spaces for people who were only interested in purchasing a movie ticket. This attitude became even harder when MARTA opened a train station next to the mall and riders tried to park in the mall parking lot so they could take the train downtown. An unofficial story that I was told was that the mall would allow GCC to expand or tear down and rebuild the theatre, but that they had to remain in the existing footprint. Also, the traffic situation in the area worked against the site. Ashford Dunwoody Road, which runs in front of the mall was and still is the daily site of a spectacular afternoon rush hour traffic jam. Many times we would stand in the lobby and measure the amount of time it would take for a car to pass the half mile or so stretch in front of the theatre, and 10 to 15 minutes was not unusual. Once, when I was called in during rush hour because of a booth emergency I actually parked at the MARTA station one stop to the south, rode the train to the Perimeter Mall stop, walked through the mall and across the parking lot, and arrived much sooner than I would have if I had waited in traffic.

In the final event, nothing was ever done about the location, and in 1999 the decision was made to close. On the final night, the manager invited those of us who were still in touch to come by and share some old times together. We took some pictures and were allowed to take some mementos that would not be making the trip to the GCC Parkside where anything useful was being sent. I made off with a rewind spindle and a couple of diode pegs from the automation system. My ticket stub from 1973 with its $1.00 bargain matinee price was a big hit. When it closed, the theatre had been in operation for 26 years, an eternity compared to larger and more expensive sites that are still closing today. For the record, the final frame of the movie which closed the last curtain (figuratively speaking of course since the Perimeter Mall never had a real curtain) belonged to Cider House Rules. A few months later I received a call from another former projectionist informing me that the demolition of the theatre was underway. On the way to work the next morning I stopped by and took some pictures. The auditoriums were a pile of rubble but the lobby was still mostly intact.

Anyone who has grown up in Atlanta or even lived here long is used to this sort of thing by now. I can’t say for sure, but I think I probably worked more time at Perimeter Mall Theatre than at any other single location in my entire movie theatre history, and that takes in a lot of theatres and years. The loss of the venue itself was nothing to mourn over. It was outdated and built in the less than impressive 70’s utilitarian style that bridged the gap between the downtown movies palaces of the past and the Close Encounters “spaceship” style of today. The theatre was located at the highly visible corner of Ashford Dunwoody Road and Perimeter Center West, but don’t go there today expecting to see any sign of it. After demolition was complete, the Mall completely reworked the corner and removed the theatres entrance driveway and surrounding trees and landscaping. Now, you could never tell that anything other than the existing parking lot was ever there. This is one the most visible corner lots in Atlanta and I am sure that before long a hotel or office tower will be sitting on the old theatre site.

StanMalone commented about Sandy Springs Theatre on Jul 5, 2005 at 6:55 am

A couple of corrections to my comment above. Aside from the typos, I mistated a couple of dates. Storey took over the management contract in late 1971, not 1970. Also, Weis bought the location in mid 1974, not 1975.

To clarify the information in the post which started this page: The Sandy Springs Theatre and the Sandy Springs Mini Cinema are the same location, namely this one. As for the Cinema 285, it was built in 1971 by Georgia Theatre which operated the site for its entire life. In 1974, the name was changed to Hammond Square Cinema to reflect the new name of its shopping center. As for the confusion about its opening, that may be due to the fact that the shopping center in which Cinema 285 was located had several starts and halts during its construction. During the two to three years it took to build the center, there was a large sign facing Roswell Road listing the proposed tennants, one of which was Sandy Springs Theatre. This was just a generic listing, probably painted before an operator for the proposed theatre space was even signed up. Later a newer sign was put up listing “Georgia Theatre” which undoubtedly referred to Georgia Theatre Company. For the complete story on the Cinema 285 / Hammond Square, I have posted a page on this website, although it has not been listed as yet. Maybe tomorrow.

As for the Comedy Spot, it is located in The Balconies Shopping Center and I believe the address is 220 Hildebrand Drive. That center was built in 1972 although the Comedy Club did not open there until many years later. There was never any movie theatre connection to that site.

StanMalone commented about Starlite Drive-In on Jun 17, 2005 at 3:20 pm

Another venue from my past. I attended the Martin (now Carmike)operated Starlite many times during the early 70’s while a student at Georgia College. I do not know the address, but it was located on HWY 441 North on the west side of the road between town and the old Hatcher Square. The last time I was in Milledgeville I had truble finding the exact location. It seems that the site may have been subdivided. A Wal-Mart (the source of destruction of many drive ins) occupies a good part of the site, but they might have bought out other ajoining properties as well, so the store might not sit exactly on the old drive in site. Also, the drive in was located on a hill that seems to have been leveled.

The entrance was off 441, and when sitting on the field you faced NE. The projection booth was located on ground level next to the snack bar. Although I never got a close look, the projectors seemed to be Norelcos with carbon arc lamps. On weekend nights, your admission also got you a “Banko” (as opposed to Bingo) card. Numbers were called out during intermission.

Programs were double features and usually changed twice a week, running Sunday through Tuesday and then Wednesday through Saturday. During that time you had to drive to Macon to see a first run movie. When movies went to second run the usually went to the Martin operated Campus (indoor) in downtown Milledgeville. If the booking schedule was full you might see the lesser of the second runs play at the drive in. The co feature was always something from the previous year or years. Sometimes both features would be years old. My movie log (long since abandoned) shows that some of the movies I saw there were Darling Lilly / Out of Towners, Jesse James, starring a very young Henry Fonda,/2 Mules for Sister Sara / Tell Them Willie Bay Is Here, Winning / Hellfighters, Psyco, (the only single feature I remember seeing there). They obviously had a Universal Pictures connection as did many Martin Theatres during that time including first run theatres in Atlanta. Some other features from that time were Last of the Red Hot Lovers / Play It Again Sam, Paper Moon, Great Northfield Minnesota Raid / Sometimes A Great Notion, The Hospital / Money Talks.

The projection was always borderline. The picture was never especially bright, and differed considerably between projectors, and this was long before the days of radio sound. Also, the projectionist had the supremely aggravating habit of cutting off the show as soon as the credits started to roll.

I later discovered a very nice drive in in a beautiful setting, the Georgia Theatre operated Riverside in Macon and started going there. I have attended and worked in many drive ins in Atlanta, but have never seen the small town, dirt field, informal atmosphere of the Starlite duplicated. It was never the best place to actually see a movie, but it did provide for a very plesant setting and a nice change of pace for this city boy who chose to come to a small town for his education.

Sometime around 1972, Martin opened a single theatre in the new Hatcher Square and started to open the better movies there. This caused a chain reaction where the Campus had to start showing some of the movies the Starlite would have played in the past, and the drive in was left with some very poor programs. The Starlite was still operating when I graduated, but was closed by the late 70’s although the screen was still standing into the 80’s if my memory of post college visits is correct.

StanMalone commented about Coronet Theater on Jun 6, 2005 at 4:49 pm

A couple of years ago, a movie called BADASSSSSSSSSSSSSS came to Atlanta. It was the story of the making of the Melvin Van Peebles movie Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song, one of the groundbreaking films that helped pave the way for the Black movie explosion of the early 70’s. The reviewer for the paper wrote a short history of the movie and the Coronet Theatre which is where it played in Atlanta. This is a letter I wroe to him filling in more detail on those days at the Coronet:

Now that I am in my 50’s I do not pay much attention to movies, but as a teenager working at the Cherokee Theatre in the early 70’s I saw every one that came out. Since the same company, Eastern Federal Corporation, owned both theatres I sometimes found myself working at the Coronet and its upstairs mini twin the Baronet, when things were busy there.

The Coronet, located on Peachtree Street between the Atlanta and Fox theatres, was really built with the first run roadshow crowd in mind. It had 600 seats, 35/70MM projectors and a beautiful wall to wall curved screen. By the time it was built those days were about over for downtown theatres. The only movie of this type that played there was a 70MM run of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” It looked great on that screen but nobody came to see it. There was a brief time when the Coronet tried to cash in on the brief craze of sex oriented movies that came out in the late 60’s that were produced by some major studios seeing just how far they could push their new found ability to put anything on the screen. The most notable of these was something called “Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?” I am not kidding about this. You can look it up in the Internet Movie Data Base. Happily it was long gone by my time, but the people who were there at the time still talked about it.

The first of the successful “Black” movies that played at the Coronet was something called “Watermelon Man” with Godfrey Cambridge. That was an unexpected hit and woke the Eastern Federal people up to the fact that there was a vast untapped market for downtown theatres. Being new, the Coronet did not have a tradition or name like the Roxy, Grand, Rialto, Fox, or Rhodes, and the EFC bookers did not hesitate to go after their new audience. “Sweet Sweetback” soon opened and as you stated in your article was a massive hit and had a long run. It was marketed under that name because in those days the AJC would not print certain words such as sex, seduction, seduce, and especially badassssss in movie advertising. (They also required that some additional clothes be penciled in if the women pictured in the artwork were a little too revealing.)

After “Sweet Sweetback” came “Cotton Comes to Harlem” which was a big hit and “Shaft” which was an even bigger hit. This business encouraged Eastern Federal to take over a small office area just outside the Coronet’s balcony exit and put in the 110 seat Baronet Theatre. Even with their newfound success the Coronet had some slow times as “Shaft” was followed by movies such as “Honky” and “The Bus Is Coming.” It took a while for the black movie pipeline to fill up with quality product. The black audience may have been a new find, but that did not mean that they were any different from the white audiences of the time. If you threw junk up on the screen they stayed home.

1972 was the big year for the Coronet / Baronet. The first hit was “Cool Breeze.” By this time other downtown theatres had caught on to the Coronet’s act and moved in. The Martin chain got the sequel to “Shaft” and announced its entrance into the market with “Shaft’s Big Score.” The Coronet’s luck held though because they were left with the sequel to “Cotton Comes To Harlem.” It seemed that the crowds preferred Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson cleaning up Harlem to John Shaft, who was basically just a black detective inserted into a typical white crime plot. “Come Back Charleston Blue” (a very entertaining movie if you have not seen it)turned out to be the biggest hit of them all. After “Blue” came another monster hit, “Super Fly.”

Although it continued to do well, the biggest days of the Coronet were over. The other downtown theatres had seen the light and started getting the better pictures. The last big hit for the Coronet was “Gordon’s War” in the summer of 1973. I think 1973 was the high water mark of the theme. By this time I was working at the Atlanta Theatre and we broke all of the old “Sound of Music” and “2001” records with “Super Fly TNT” and “Chinese Connection.” The Loews Grand was playing “Coffy” and “Blacula” and the Rialto had “Shaft In Africa.” Even the Fabulous Fox Theatre got in on the act with a Jim Brown movie called “Slaughter’s Big Ripoff.” The Coronet was left with an independent production called “Brother on the Run.”

It was at some point during this time that the Coronet hoped to recapture the magic with the next film by Melvin Van Peebles called “Don’t Play Us Cheap.” Melvin and, I think, Mario were there for the opening and seemed like pretty nice guys. The movie was not a success, at least at the Coronet. It left so fast that I did not get a chance to see it, but the word seemed to be that the market had now changed and people were coming to the movie more for entertainment and not as much for activism.

All of this took place over the course of only three years, but it really did change things. Even James Bond got into the act as the 1973 version “Live and Let Die” had a plot that involved 007 with a Harlem based heroin ring. There were some other good entries like “Across 110th Street” but things got pretty cheap and raunchy after that as the producers found that if you could make the movie cheap enough you could turn a profit on the first weekend gross before the bad word of mouth killed off the movie. (Just like the horror film craze of the early 80’s.) Things hit bottom with a couple of Rudy Ray Moore films, “Dolomite” and “Disco Godfather” and a movie about the most successful pimp in town called “The Mack.” This last one led to an event in Atlanta that outraged everyone from the Mayor to the School Chief. A poll of Atlanta Junior High School students revealed that over 50% of the boys wanted to be Macks when they grew up. This did not cause much news until the administrators found out that a Mack was slang for pimp. You can look it up because I read it in the AJC.

In view of your article on the opening of “Badassssss” I thought you might be interested in the fading memories of someone who saw first hand the changes “Sweet Sweetback” ushered in.