Oh my goodness! I never thought I’d see that marquee again! I didn’t realize it lasted that long. It was a cool place. Very “mod” for it’s day. The other alternative was the “Arnold” drive-in which was horrible. I think we had one more here in town in the early 50’s on the new Manchester Highway out by the old “Blue Top Motel”. They used to use the underneath side of the screen to store hay.
I don’t know about a “revitalized community.” At the time it was way out in the boondocks. But it was big and it was neat. But I could have sworn it was gone before I was in high school. Interesting that shot from 82.
It opened christmas day 1940 and the whole town is very very well aware of the “need” for a parking lot “expansion” for the church. It could have been saved. They just didn’t want to. I remember the main publicized reason was that the balcony was terribly unsafe. It was the hardest part to destroy with all the iron girders. It was torn down in 1985. The new cinema put it out of business. Was a sad loss for selfish needs. The entire town was outraged! The head of the committee was also the local historian. How quaint! It was a major landmark in the town and one that should have not been lost.
It was the death of the BEAUTIFUL art deco Marshall theater. The “new cinema” was built on the old Space Age Drive-In lot. For many, many years the old projection booth was still standing.
The Mecca was only open during the war years. It was an overflow type of situation. During Camp Forrest, the town grew from about 4000 to 75000 literally overnight and soldiers would flood into downtown with no place to go or anything to do. The only other theaters were the Strand and the Marshall. So the Mecca was kind of a makeshift theater. It is now an antique store. Most people don’t even know it existed now.
Bessie Smith played here in 1927. There’s a great story of her chasing Eggie Pitts down the street in a mammy costume.
Oh I forgot all about this place!
It used to have a horrible sound system in there. The echo was so bad you couldn’t understand the dialogue.
Boy it must have been small because I sure don’t remember that at all. LOL
Oh my goodness! I never thought I’d see that marquee again! I didn’t realize it lasted that long. It was a cool place. Very “mod” for it’s day. The other alternative was the “Arnold” drive-in which was horrible. I think we had one more here in town in the early 50’s on the new Manchester Highway out by the old “Blue Top Motel”. They used to use the underneath side of the screen to store hay.
I don’t know about a “revitalized community.” At the time it was way out in the boondocks. But it was big and it was neat. But I could have sworn it was gone before I was in high school. Interesting that shot from 82.
It opened christmas day 1940 and the whole town is very very well aware of the “need” for a parking lot “expansion” for the church. It could have been saved. They just didn’t want to. I remember the main publicized reason was that the balcony was terribly unsafe. It was the hardest part to destroy with all the iron girders. It was torn down in 1985. The new cinema put it out of business. Was a sad loss for selfish needs. The entire town was outraged! The head of the committee was also the local historian. How quaint! It was a major landmark in the town and one that should have not been lost.
It was the death of the BEAUTIFUL art deco Marshall theater. The “new cinema” was built on the old Space Age Drive-In lot. For many, many years the old projection booth was still standing.
The Mecca was only open during the war years. It was an overflow type of situation. During Camp Forrest, the town grew from about 4000 to 75000 literally overnight and soldiers would flood into downtown with no place to go or anything to do. The only other theaters were the Strand and the Marshall. So the Mecca was kind of a makeshift theater. It is now an antique store. Most people don’t even know it existed now.