Elite Theater

SethG on August 16, 2022 at 9:09 am

A theater at 3rd and Franklin could have been on any corner except the NW. The entire block north of the old courthouse was replaced by a hulking monstrosity after the 1999 tornado. The building on the SE corner looks old, but does not look like a theater at all. It’s not what was there on the 1913 map. NE corner looks about the right age, and definitely is not what was there in 1913. It doesn’t really look like a theater, especially not a 1,000 seater. NW corner has been there since the 1890s.

Joe Vogel on February 17, 2018 at 5:58 pm

The Majestic was a new theater built in 1916 by Crescent Amusement as a replacement for the Elite. As we don’t have an address for the Elite we don’t know if the Majestic was on the same site or not. It’s possible that the Elite was at another location and was merely closed and converted to another use when the Majestic opened.

rivest266 on February 17, 2018 at 5:19 pm

Correction. It reopened on May 10th, 1912. It opened (or mentioned in the newspaper) in 1911.

Joe Vogel on April 1, 2013 at 7:45 am

The May 13, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Crescent Amusement Company had been operating the Elite Theatre at Clarksville for several years. The company was planning to replace the theater with a new building, which was being designed by architects Marr & Holman. The new theater, to be located at Third and Franklin Streets, and seating about 1000, was to be completed within four months.

I’ve been unable to discover whether the new theater was built or not. If it was, it might have opened under a different name. In any case, the Elite Theatre was still in operation at least as late as May, 1916.