Riviera Theatre
510 S. Gay Street,
Knoxville,
TN
37902
510 S. Gay Street,
Knoxville,
TN
37902
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Fotomac, the Riviera closed on January 7, 1976.
Can anyone remember what the feature was for the week of 15 July, when Star Wars came to town, if it was still open by then?
I have added the newspaper article announcing the closing of the Riviera in the photo section.
Film footage of the 1963 fire can be seen here: Link
A picture of the exterior taken in July 1921 can be found here:
View link
Oct 19 1964 Now showing ,LAST NIGHT, “BEHOLD A PALE HORSE” coming Oct,20 1964 is James Darren in"THE LIVELY SET".
Nice old photo of the marquee from Chuck1231.
Sept 24 1967 now showing Sharon Tate in “EYE OF THE DEVIL” with an added treat which doesn’t make alot of sense with a film like this but the New Riviera added “CHILLY-WILLY AND WOODY WOODPECKER” cartoon.
There are 32 different Riviera theaters listed on Cinema Treasures. Why was RIVIERA such a popular name for motion picture theaters bult in the 1920s?
Sorry, I meant the Wurlitzer console 1357 at Central UMC.
I have pictures of the Moller 1357 at Central UMC and it had the traditional horseshoe console.
Randall,
You should have received an email from me.
September 5, 2007
Tim,
Thanks for the info on the Central UMC Moller – I knew it was in the
40s rank count but didn’t remember the exact number. As to my mention above of the “theatre/orchestral” sound – it came about from
local organ lore that Grace Marney, who was organist when the Wurlitzer was installed, told Moller that she wanted an organ that sounded just like the Wurlitzer – don’t think that completely happened but the Moller there is, never-the-less, unique.
Also Tim, regarding the need for restoration of the Moller – I’m the
Regional Representative for the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, KS and I cover all of Tennessee, Kentucky and southwest Virginia for them and I’m based and live here in Knoxville and I’m organist at
Mt. Harmony Baptist in east Knox County. I would be glad to bring
some info about Reuter by the church for you to look over – send
me a note at and I’ll give you a bit
more info on Reuter and our work.
Thanks much!!
Randall Maynard
Knoxville,TN
As the current organist at Central Methodist I will let everybody know it is a 42 rank Moller installed in 1958. While the organ is a typical 1950’s Moller, it does have some very nice ranks, although the organ is in need of restoration. The pedal actually has a 6 ½ Mixture that is pretty unique. I wish someone had the foresight to keep some of the Wurlitzer ranks as Central’s music is occasionally appropriate for a theatre organ sound and the Moller is completely straight with no working tremulants. Orchestral ranks are debatable. I haven’t (in three years of playing there) found much orchestral sound. We do have an installed harp that several of us are looking at restoring.
It’s a long way from the “New Riviera” I remember from the 70’s, but it looks like Regal has done a very nice job integrating the new theater into downtown Knoxville. I am anxious to go by and see it the next time I visit Knoxville.
Randall, thanks for the correction. I was drawing on the Junchen “Illustrated History” but must have confused the list. Easy to blame the darn bifocals. Having played a couple of services at Central Methodist I’ve found the Moller to be a truely uninspired instrument despite having something around 60 ranks. I wouldn’t call it orchestral in the least. The oral history I heard was that the Wurlitzer went there after WWII, but it doesn’t surprise me that it was earlier. I agree with you 100% on the Tennessee Wurlitzer being a fine example of an updated original installation.
August 10, 2007
Will,
Regarding the Riviera Wurlitzers – According to Junchen’s book
on Wurlitzer the first Riviera Wurlitzer was a Style 160
2/6 opus 355 dated 10/14/1920. You’re correct on the second
Riviera Wurlitzer – it was a Style EX 2/7 opus 1357 dated
06/09/1926. Info from Junchen also matches the Peter Beams
list from Theatreorgans.com and his info may be based on
the Judd Walton Wurlitzer Manual from the 1970s.
Opus 1357 was given to Central United Methodist Church over on
3rd Avenue in the mid 1930s, possibly 1936, and it was used at
the church until the current Moller organ was installed.
Grace Marney, who was organist at Central when 1357 was installed,
told Moller (organ lore here) that she wanted an organ that sounded
just like the Wurlitzer which may explain the more orchestral/
theatre like sound of that organ.
Knoxville, as far as we know, has been home to only three Wurlitzers
– two at the Riviera and one at the Tennessee which we’re so very
fortunate to still have and it’s always a joy to play and has a
stunning sound in the restored room. The only other theatre with
an organ that we know of was the old Lyric (Staub’s Opera House)
which was directly across the street from the Bijou and it housed
a Moller from 1916 and I believe it may have been a 3 manual
installation – I’ve got that info from the Moller factory somewhere
in my files but not in front of me as I write this post. I've
also got a photo of the Lyric auditorium from the stage and you
can see the organ grill coverings on each side of the arch.
A final interesting note on the Riviera Wurlitzers is that, according to local organ lore, 1357 supposedly had a straight
back console (example would be the Schantz console at 1st Bapt.)
however, I’ve never been able to confirm that piece of info. It's
my understanding that when 1357 was removed for the Moller that
the console went to someone local who gutted it and
used it for an electronic organ of some kind – again not sure
on this – most of this may be just “hearsay” or “organ lore”.
Wurlitzer did build and use straight back consoles to some degree
but most theatre Wurlitzers used the “horse shoe” design though
there were exceptions.
The Riviera was Knoxville’s finest purpose-built movie theatre between 1920 and 1928. It was only superceded when the palacial Tennessee Theatre opened a block away.
In its last years, the Riviera had a large mural of Charlie Chaplin painted on the exterior rear wall which was visible from the business loop road that ran behind the theatre.
After the Riviera was torn down, the site was used as a parking lot. Nearing completion on this site is the new Regal Riviera Stadium 8: a completely new, 2000 seat facility with very consious nods to movie palace design. The Regal Riviera is set to open in the late summer or early fall of 2007.
There were two Wurlitzer organs in the old Riviera. The first was a style E-X (2-manuals, seven ranks, in two chambers) opus 355 dated October 14, 1920. The 2nd was another style E-X, opus 1357, dated June 9 1926. Reflecting on the considerable cost of even a small Wurlitzer, it seems odd that the Riviera’s owners saw fit to replace their 6 year old organ with another of the same design. The “why’s and what-fors” of that story are likely lost to time.
Opus 1357 remained in the theatre until just after World War II when it was given to Central Methodist Church, Knoxville. The Methodists kept the organ until 1960 when it was replaced by a (forgetable IMHO) Moller church organ. It was Moller’s practice when replacing an organ, that the older instrument’s pipes would be taken back to Hagerstown MD and melted down for the pipe metal. The wooden parts would be sent to the dump. Moller wanted no competition from used organs on the market.
Knox Heritage has a page about the 500 block of Gay Street, including a few paragraphs about the Riviera Theatre. The Riviera was built in 1920, fitted into an existing building dating to the Victorian era, and featured both movies and live entertainment during its early years. It suffered extensive damage in a fire in 1963, but was restored (this probably accounts for the name change to New Riviera) and continued to run movies regularly until closing with Adios Amigos, as Bob Brown says above. The theatre ran its last movies in the summer of 1976 and was demolished in 1988.
Another page at Knox Heritage is about the new Regal Riviera project, which involves some fairly elaborate planning and financing in order to preserve all or parts of several other historic buildings on the block.
When I moved to Knoxville in 1972, this theatre was known as the New Riviera. I don’t know what was “new” about it. From the front, it was much plainer looking than the Tennessee Theatre just up the street both inside and outside. It did have an impressively large auditoriun, and I remember you had to go downstairs to go to the restrooms. As I recall, however, there was a painting on the back of the theatre building of Charlie Chaplin (I think) that you could see from what is now called James White Parkway, which has just been built. At that time, the New Riviera was run by the Simpson chain. The Tennessee was still showing movies also at the time, but they tended to show “bigger” movies than the Riviera, which specialized in horror and blaxploitation movies. Since I was a fan of both of these, I went to the Riviera a lot! The Simpson chain closed the New Riviera in 1975. The last movie there was ironically ADIOS AMIGOS with Fred Williamson and Richard Pryor. The next year, there was a brief attempt to reopen it, but it only lasted a few weeks before closing again. I understand the building was torn down in 1988.
However, the Riviera appears to be rising from the dead. According to the Regal Theatres website, the Regal Riviera Stadium 8 is “coming soon” to 510 South Gay St:
View link
Since I no longer live in Knoxville, I don’t know if this is a new building, or a renovation of a building that was built there after the original Riviera was demolished. Either way, I am glad that movies are returning to downtown Knoxville.
Bob Brown