I spent many wonderful hours in this theater. Those curtains opened even wider than shown in the photo. I saw “The Robe” here on a 1963 re-release and that was the widest CinemaScope image I had ever seen.
JimPoole mentioned seeing “Star Wars” there. I was home from a four-year tour of duty overseas in the late summer of 1977. I saw “Star Wars” there, too. Wasn’t very impressed, mainly because the sound wasn’t good. A month later, I was in Washington DC. Took one more chance on “Star Wars” and saw it in 70mm and Dolby sound. BLEW ME AWAY. It should have done that at the Astro, but for some reason, they didn’t have Dolby sound.
I remember the Skyland Drive-In, but I’m confused about a drive-in that was on Poinsett Highway (a ways up from the WLOS affiliate studio on that highway). My memory wants me to think that the Skyland was there, but the reference above says Buncombe Road. Can anyone help clear my memory?
When I lived in Greenville, the Plaza used to get all the movies made by MGM and a few big-ticket titles from other studios. “West Side Story” played there, as did “King of Kings”, “How the West Was Won”, “My Fair Lady”, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “Doctor Zhivago”. The Carolina got the movies from 20th-Fox and Columbia — “The Robe” and “South Pacific” played in re-release at the Carolina. “The Sound of Music” played for nearly four months in 1965 at the Carolina, as well. I also saw “Lawrence of Arabia” there, along with “The Music Man” and “Gypsy”, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” and “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”. I spent many, many hours watching movies at the Carolina.
The Mall Cinema opened in the Summer of 1965. I was one of the first ushers hired to work there. Theater Manager was Mr. Flow. One of my classmates at Wade Hampton, Lenny Flow, was a relative. We had a good group of workers at the Mall. Biggest hits when I was working there were “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” and “what’s New, Pussycat”.
The Center lasted well into the 1960s. When the Blue Laws relaxed their grip on movies being shown on Sundays, I went to the Center with some cousins circa 1962 or 63 and saw “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. The Center was a decent second-run house for Greenville.
The Paris Theater was right near “The Center” theater on the same side of Main Street. As I recall, the “porn” was actually soft porn/blue movies rather than anything hardcore, but I’m remembering the late 1960s. It may have gotten worse.
The guy from Augusta GA asked why somebody didn’t try to save a couple of those downtown theaters. Fact is, downtown Greenville nearly wasted away at one point with virtually every big-ticket store closing at some point. The theaters had no patrons. Everyone was going to the theaters at the various malls that surround the city. I agree a Main Street theater would definitely be a worthy venture at this point in time. Since the building where the Fox Theater was still stands, it’s a viable location.
Just an update here: When I was in Greenville (1957-1970), the downtown theaters were the Carolina, the Fox, the Paris and the Center. I know the Carolina bore that name from its beginnings. The Fox Theater was once called the Rivoli, I believe. It may have had other names.
Paris and Center were second-run houses a block or so west of the Fox and across Main Street. One of them showed double-bills throughout the 60s (and I saw many films there) while the other one showed “adult” fare (not porn, by any measure)…just silly stuff, a bit suggestive at worst.
Greenville had The Plaza, as well, at Lewis Plaza. The Plaza showed MGM films and films by other studios. The Carolina was mostly 20th Century-Fox, Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures films. The Fox showed Disney and Universal films. In the mid-1960s, The Mall Cinema opened behind the Wade Hampton Mall on Wade Hampton Boulevard (near Bob Jones). It was a single-screen house and showed films from Warner Brothers, United Artists and American-International (Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Bomb, anyone?). And on the outskirts of town, on 291 By-pass, a bi-plex opened next door to the Star Lanes, Greenville’s bowling alley. They called the theaters Astro I and Astro II. This theater got a lot of big-ticket films, such as “Funny Girl” and “Gone With the Wind” (in its 1960s re-release).
Back to the Carolina: I never knew the manager’s name, but I knew Billy Strange was an usher there for many years. A friend named Jim Whaley also ushered at the Carolina in the early 1960s for a few months. I ushered at the Mall Cinema in 1965 shortly after it opened its doors. Worked with some terrific people — Mr. Flow was the manager; Maria Sizemore worked the candy counter. Ronnie Reese and Lenny Flow were also ushers in those first months.
The Carolina’s projectionist throughout the 1960s was a great gentleman and a true aficionado of film. I regret not remembering his name.
The Fox Theater may be gone, but the theater in which it operated has NOT been demolished. The entire block is intact as it was in 1957 when I first moved to Greenville.
The architectural elements above where the marquee was were covered up at some point in the crazy 1970s…you can see there are some fiberglass elements installed over the original brick in Don’s photos (and that symbol, Patsy, that Don used means “copyrighted”). I bought a wonderful book at The General Mast two years ago that features many photos of Greenville and its downtown through the decades. Several photos are in it of the Fox (and Carolina) and you can clearly see the brick facade with architectural details that remain, today, on the building where the Fox was.
The Fox, or another theater, could most assuredly be restored if someone wanted to buy the building and fund it. I’m imagining that the space, if gutted, might reveal the theater’s former floor plan to some extent, although complete new interiors would have to be done.
It was absolutely in the downtown area. It was one block east of the Fox Theater….and as someone else mentioned, it was across the street from the Daniel Building (built in the 1960s).
The Carolina is my favorite theater of any I’ve ever been inside. I spent hours and hours watching movies during the 1960s on Saturday afternoons in that theater. It was magical.
I made a comment July 24, 2006 about a theater called “The Plaza” and I said it was at Stone Plaza Shopping Center. That should have been “Lewis Plaza” vice “Stone Plaza.” Don’t know how I misremembered it, but I was in Greenville during December and drove past it.
One other comment, especially for folks in Greenville interested in learning more.
The Greenville News would be a valuable resource to check out for photos. I distinctly recall a major feature article, with photos, done on the Carolina at the time it was closing down. A reporter toured the backstage area and reported on all the remnants of vaudeville still in evidence there. There were pictures.
Very probably, something with photos was run when the Fox closed its doors, too.
(I was an usher at the Mall Cinema in the fall of 1965, and my best friend ushered at the Carolina).
From 1957, the year I moved to Greenville SC as a 7-year-old, until the mid-1960s when I was in my teens, downtown Greenville featured the Carolina (the largest screen in the city at the time…super-wide CinemaScope screen), the Fox, the Center and the Paris theaters. The Center and Paris were on the same block. One showed rereleases, often in double-bill, and the other showed both rereleases and adult-themed titles. Both these theaters may have had different names in earlier years. But I distinctly remember them as the Center and Paris during my years there.
There was another theater in the City limits…the Plaza, at the Stone Plaza shopping center. The Plaza generally got all the MGM and United Artists pictures (although it did show “My Fair Lady”), the Fox got the Disney and Universal films, and the Carolina go the 20th-Fox, Columbia and Warner Brothers films (I saw “Cleopatra,”, “The Robe”, “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music”, “The Cardinal,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Bunny Lake is Missing,” “The Music Man,” “Gypsy” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” all at the Carolina).
In 1965, the Mall Cinema was built behind the Wade Hampton Mall. This theater showed Warner Brothers, United Artists and American-International films. Later came the Astro I and Astro II built next door to the Star Lanes Bowling Alley down 291 By-Pass (a few miles down from McAlister Square, which also featured its own theater complex in the last 1960s. At the Astro theaters, I saw “Funny Girl” and “Camelot” and “Finian’s Rainbow.” The Carolina was being closed down about that time.
Someone indicated the Fox was demolished. The entire block remains intact, including the space the Fox occupied, but it’s possibly been totally rehabbed for some other purpose since the theater closed. Theoretically, it could be restored.
I spent many wonderful hours in this theater. Those curtains opened even wider than shown in the photo. I saw “The Robe” here on a 1963 re-release and that was the widest CinemaScope image I had ever seen.
JimPoole mentioned seeing “Star Wars” there. I was home from a four-year tour of duty overseas in the late summer of 1977. I saw “Star Wars” there, too. Wasn’t very impressed, mainly because the sound wasn’t good. A month later, I was in Washington DC. Took one more chance on “Star Wars” and saw it in 70mm and Dolby sound. BLEW ME AWAY. It should have done that at the Astro, but for some reason, they didn’t have Dolby sound.
I remember the Skyland Drive-In, but I’m confused about a drive-in that was on Poinsett Highway (a ways up from the WLOS affiliate studio on that highway). My memory wants me to think that the Skyland was there, but the reference above says Buncombe Road. Can anyone help clear my memory?
When I lived in Greenville, the Plaza used to get all the movies made by MGM and a few big-ticket titles from other studios. “West Side Story” played there, as did “King of Kings”, “How the West Was Won”, “My Fair Lady”, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “Doctor Zhivago”. The Carolina got the movies from 20th-Fox and Columbia — “The Robe” and “South Pacific” played in re-release at the Carolina. “The Sound of Music” played for nearly four months in 1965 at the Carolina, as well. I also saw “Lawrence of Arabia” there, along with “The Music Man” and “Gypsy”, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” and “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”. I spent many, many hours watching movies at the Carolina.
I forgot to add that Lenny was one of the ushers. Also working there were Ronnie Reese and Maria Sizemore.
The Mall Cinema opened in the Summer of 1965. I was one of the first ushers hired to work there. Theater Manager was Mr. Flow. One of my classmates at Wade Hampton, Lenny Flow, was a relative. We had a good group of workers at the Mall. Biggest hits when I was working there were “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” and “what’s New, Pussycat”.
The Center lasted well into the 1960s. When the Blue Laws relaxed their grip on movies being shown on Sundays, I went to the Center with some cousins circa 1962 or 63 and saw “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. The Center was a decent second-run house for Greenville.
The Paris Theater was right near “The Center” theater on the same side of Main Street. As I recall, the “porn” was actually soft porn/blue movies rather than anything hardcore, but I’m remembering the late 1960s. It may have gotten worse.
The guy from Augusta GA asked why somebody didn’t try to save a couple of those downtown theaters. Fact is, downtown Greenville nearly wasted away at one point with virtually every big-ticket store closing at some point. The theaters had no patrons. Everyone was going to the theaters at the various malls that surround the city. I agree a Main Street theater would definitely be a worthy venture at this point in time. Since the building where the Fox Theater was still stands, it’s a viable location.
Just an update here: When I was in Greenville (1957-1970), the downtown theaters were the Carolina, the Fox, the Paris and the Center. I know the Carolina bore that name from its beginnings. The Fox Theater was once called the Rivoli, I believe. It may have had other names.
Paris and Center were second-run houses a block or so west of the Fox and across Main Street. One of them showed double-bills throughout the 60s (and I saw many films there) while the other one showed “adult” fare (not porn, by any measure)…just silly stuff, a bit suggestive at worst.
Greenville had The Plaza, as well, at Lewis Plaza. The Plaza showed MGM films and films by other studios. The Carolina was mostly 20th Century-Fox, Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures films. The Fox showed Disney and Universal films. In the mid-1960s, The Mall Cinema opened behind the Wade Hampton Mall on Wade Hampton Boulevard (near Bob Jones). It was a single-screen house and showed films from Warner Brothers, United Artists and American-International (Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Bomb, anyone?). And on the outskirts of town, on 291 By-pass, a bi-plex opened next door to the Star Lanes, Greenville’s bowling alley. They called the theaters Astro I and Astro II. This theater got a lot of big-ticket films, such as “Funny Girl” and “Gone With the Wind” (in its 1960s re-release).
Back to the Carolina: I never knew the manager’s name, but I knew Billy Strange was an usher there for many years. A friend named Jim Whaley also ushered at the Carolina in the early 1960s for a few months. I ushered at the Mall Cinema in 1965 shortly after it opened its doors. Worked with some terrific people — Mr. Flow was the manager; Maria Sizemore worked the candy counter. Ronnie Reese and Lenny Flow were also ushers in those first months.
The Carolina’s projectionist throughout the 1960s was a great gentleman and a true aficionado of film. I regret not remembering his name.
By “theater” in my first sentence above, I meant to type “building.”
The Fox Theater may be gone, but the theater in which it operated has NOT been demolished. The entire block is intact as it was in 1957 when I first moved to Greenville.
The architectural elements above where the marquee was were covered up at some point in the crazy 1970s…you can see there are some fiberglass elements installed over the original brick in Don’s photos (and that symbol, Patsy, that Don used means “copyrighted”). I bought a wonderful book at The General Mast two years ago that features many photos of Greenville and its downtown through the decades. Several photos are in it of the Fox (and Carolina) and you can clearly see the brick facade with architectural details that remain, today, on the building where the Fox was.
The Fox, or another theater, could most assuredly be restored if someone wanted to buy the building and fund it. I’m imagining that the space, if gutted, might reveal the theater’s former floor plan to some extent, although complete new interiors would have to be done.
It was absolutely in the downtown area. It was one block east of the Fox Theater….and as someone else mentioned, it was across the street from the Daniel Building (built in the 1960s).
The Carolina is my favorite theater of any I’ve ever been inside. I spent hours and hours watching movies during the 1960s on Saturday afternoons in that theater. It was magical.
I made a comment July 24, 2006 about a theater called “The Plaza” and I said it was at Stone Plaza Shopping Center. That should have been “Lewis Plaza” vice “Stone Plaza.” Don’t know how I misremembered it, but I was in Greenville during December and drove past it.
One other comment, especially for folks in Greenville interested in learning more.
The Greenville News would be a valuable resource to check out for photos. I distinctly recall a major feature article, with photos, done on the Carolina at the time it was closing down. A reporter toured the backstage area and reported on all the remnants of vaudeville still in evidence there. There were pictures.
Very probably, something with photos was run when the Fox closed its doors, too.
(I was an usher at the Mall Cinema in the fall of 1965, and my best friend ushered at the Carolina).
From 1957, the year I moved to Greenville SC as a 7-year-old, until the mid-1960s when I was in my teens, downtown Greenville featured the Carolina (the largest screen in the city at the time…super-wide CinemaScope screen), the Fox, the Center and the Paris theaters. The Center and Paris were on the same block. One showed rereleases, often in double-bill, and the other showed both rereleases and adult-themed titles. Both these theaters may have had different names in earlier years. But I distinctly remember them as the Center and Paris during my years there.
There was another theater in the City limits…the Plaza, at the Stone Plaza shopping center. The Plaza generally got all the MGM and United Artists pictures (although it did show “My Fair Lady”), the Fox got the Disney and Universal films, and the Carolina go the 20th-Fox, Columbia and Warner Brothers films (I saw “Cleopatra,”, “The Robe”, “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music”, “The Cardinal,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Bunny Lake is Missing,” “The Music Man,” “Gypsy” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” all at the Carolina).
In 1965, the Mall Cinema was built behind the Wade Hampton Mall. This theater showed Warner Brothers, United Artists and American-International films. Later came the Astro I and Astro II built next door to the Star Lanes Bowling Alley down 291 By-Pass (a few miles down from McAlister Square, which also featured its own theater complex in the last 1960s. At the Astro theaters, I saw “Funny Girl” and “Camelot” and “Finian’s Rainbow.” The Carolina was being closed down about that time.
Someone indicated the Fox was demolished. The entire block remains intact, including the space the Fox occupied, but it’s possibly been totally rehabbed for some other purpose since the theater closed. Theoretically, it could be restored.