Royal Theater
777 E. Main Street,
Blue Ridge,
GA
30513
777 E. Main Street,
Blue Ridge,
GA
30513
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The Royal Theater was built in 1936. Still listed in 1955.
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
A history of the Swan Drive-In written by Blanche Tilley (PDF here) says that Jack Jones, Sr., Bernice Kiker Tilley, and W. H. Tilley, Jr., bought the Rialto and Royal Theatres from Willard and Betty Mowbray in 1949. Mr. Mowbray had come to Blue Ridge in the late 1920s or early 1930s and had operated a movie theater on West Main Street before opening the Royal.
The history says that the Royal had been closed after the Mowbrays opened the larger Rialto Theatre in 1947, and it was still closed when it was sold to Jones and the Tilleys. There’s no indication that it ever reopened as a theater, so it probably operated for less than two decades all told. Jones and the Tilleys opened the Swan Drive-In in 1955. The Royal Theatre’s building is still standing, converted for retail use. The current occupant of 777 E. Main is a pet supply shop.
The Royal Theatre was built in 1936. It was one of 22 theater projects either underway or recently opened that were noted in the October 13 issue of Film Daily. George Benton was the original owner of the theater building.