Levon Theatre
107 Washington Avenue,
Weldon,
NC
27890
107 Washington Avenue,
Weldon,
NC
27890
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Statesville Theater Corp.
Previous Names: New Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Levon Theatre was opened as the New Theatre around late-1939. By 1941 it had been renamed Levon Theatre. It was owned by Statesville Theaters in the 1940’s. A December 26, 1947 fire destroyed the theatre and resulted in the death of a firefighter when one of the theatre walls collapsed.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The Levon Theatre burned just a few weeks after being bought by Statesville Theatres. The November 18, 1947, issue of the Statesville Record and Landmark reported that A. F. Sams, Jr. and C. H. Trotter had just returned from Weldon where they had attended to the details of taking over the recently-purchased house. The company already operated the Center Theatre in Weldon.
The January 3, 1948, issue of Boxoffice (which misspelled the theater’s name as Leven) reported on the fire, saying it had started on the stage about 2:00 PM, and that the building and contents were both a total loss.
Must have been constructed or converted after 1915, when the map shows an assortment of commercial buildings in this area.
The first appearance of the Levon Theatre in the FDY is the 1941 edition. However, it might have been open the previous year under the name New Theatre. The Roanoke Rapids Herald was advertising the New Theatre in May, 1940, and the it shared space in the ad with a house called the Levon Theatre at Enfield, N.C..
Weldon appears to have had at least one movie house from 1916 on. The 1926 through 1932 FDY’s list only a 350-seat house called the Opera House, which was also mentioned in the April 13, 1916 issue of Motography, when it was being remodeled and having new equipment installed. In the 1932 FDY it was listed as closed.
In 1933, the Opera House vanishes from the FDY and is replaced by a 400-seat house called the Legion Theatre. The Legion remains in 1934 and 1935, but in 1936 the Opera House is back, now with 400 seats, and its rival is a 200-seat house called the Rialto (the Rialto is also advertised in the February 6, 1936 edition of the Herald, though the Opera House isn’t.) These FDY listings continue through 1938. I don’t have a 1939 FDY, but the 1940 edition lists the Opera House and a 200-seat Weldon Theatre. The 1941 edition lists the 300-seat Levon and the 400-seat Opera House, while the 200-seat Weldon is listed as closed.
I haven’t checked the next few years, but the 1947 FDY lists four houses at Weldon: The 400-seat Center, the 400-seat Opera house, the 300-seat Levon and the now 290-seat Weldon. I find it hard to believe that all four of these houses were operating at once in tiny Weldon. The 1949 FDY lists only three, those being the now-700-seat Center, the Levon, now listed with 275 seats (though it had burned in early 1948, so perhaps the owners had taken over the old Weldon’s location and moved the name there?) and a new drive-in called the Starlite. I haven’t checked later FDYs, but the Center was mentioned in Boxoffice a couple of times in 1963.
Anyway, it looks like the Levon opened around late 1939 or early 1940 as the New Theatre, became the Levon by 1941, and burned down in early 1948, though the name might have survived a bit longer, perhaps at another location.
I had already added the Opera House, which is now an appallingly ugly church. Weldon’s downtown is pretty small, so I agree that 4 theaters seems like too much.
Uploaded an ad for the Levon from August 12, 1943 from the Roanoke Rapids Herald.