Carolina Theatre
108 E. Franklin Street,
Chapel Hill,
NC
27514
108 E. Franklin Street,
Chapel Hill,
NC
27514
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I was a projectionist at the Carolina Theatre for 3+ years in the 1960’s, including the World Premiere of “Joy in the Morning” complete with klieg lights and movie stars! Carrington Smith was the manager then, a stogie pipe smoking man with rigid rules for decorum in those days. Their projection booth was pretty state of the art for those times, huge auditorium (~1200 seats). I got the job at age 15 when one of their career projectionists fell ill and never returned to work. Projection booth was complete with it’s own toilet and a leather recliner.
I also worked at the Varsity as my first job, age 13, as marquee boy - changing the marquee every night at around 9:30pm. Back then movies were often only one day runs, first runs might be 3-5 day runs but Chapel Hill never got first runs until the movie had been running in larger cities for weeks. The marquee room was next to the projection booth off the men’s bathroom and I would hang out there with the projectionist before changes - he taught me how to make changeovers (we used only 18" reels) splice film, etc. He got arrested for breaking into Jeff’s Confectionary and the manager, Andy Gutierrez asked me if I knew how to operate the equipment - I said yes and got the job at age 14 (things were much different in those days) - operating carbon arc lamps and serious amperages. It was good money as the projectionist got paid about the same as the manager did and I often made more money in a week than my mom did, working as a full time editor for the CH News. I had basic knowledge as I had worked as the AV guy at Philips Junior High.
Joined the Coast Guard in 1967 and was stationed in DC, where I worked for the projectionist union as a relief projectionist in just about every theatre in DC and Northern VA.
Sad to see the Carolina go - it was owned by Paramount back then and was a much nicer theatre than the Varsity, which was independently owned by a company in Charlotte.
CORRECTION: The Carolina Theatre was still a single screen theatre in 1971. The information is incorrect here, It was twinned in 1976 under ABC Southeastern Theatres and renamed the Carolina Blue and White Theatres aka The Carolina Twin where it remained until its closing in 1990 which was under Cineplex Odeon/Plitt Southern Theatres.
It became a one screen independent theatre in 1993 as the CAROLINA THEATRE until it closed for good in 2005.
THE NEW CAROLINA THEATRE opened on October 15,1942 as Chapel Hill’s newest and most modern design theatre with a seating capacity of 1,145.
NOW SHOWING at Chapel Hill’s NEW CAROLINA THEATRE: It’s Ginger Rogers along with Ray Milland in “THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR”
The coming attractions……. The Big TECHNICOLOR musical event of 1942 “SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES” Starring Betty Grable
“MY SISTER EILEEN” with Rosalind Russell & Brian Ahern
“THE GLASS KEY” with Veronica Lake & Brian Donlevy
“WAKE OF THE RED WITCH” with John Wayne
For more about this theatre’s history please go to this site for further information. The address site is: http://www.docsouth.unc.edu
During the 1950’s and continuing into the early-to-mid 1960’s,the CAROLINA THEATRE on East Franklin Street in Downtown Chapel Hill became the subject of numerous protests and boycott demonstrations regarding this theatre’s segregation policies of not admitting people of color. This theatre was heavily picketed and boycotted when it refused to let African-Americans enter during the showing of “Black Orpheus” on August 18,1960. The sit-ins continue outside the main entrance of the theatre and was picketed until the film ended its weekly run on August 25,1960. Regarding the status of its policies numerous protests continued. Another film that really brought it to national and local attention regarding its segregation policies of not admitting black patrons continued when protests and numerous sit-ins outside the main entrance of the theatre as well as demonstrations when the CAROLINA THEATRE showed the film “Porgy and Bess” starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge that played for a week running from January 2,1961 until January 9,1961. Numerous protests and sit-in demonstrations continue outside the main entrance of the theatre became front page news in the January 9,1961 edition of the Chapel Hill News with the main front heading titled:
“THEATER PICKETING TO CONTINUE;TWO STUDENTS ARRESTED”
This theatre was still picketed during the course of the film’s run in the town along with the other segregated cinema,THE VARSITY which was basically across the street and other Chapel Hill establishments that were fully segregated. It wasn’t until March of 1962 that a federal court order the CAROLINA and the VARSITY to integrated along with other businesses within the town. The CAROLINA on January 10,1961 replaced “Porgy and Bess” with another feature starring Sophia Loren in “A Breath of Scandal”,but still the theatre was still picketed and sit-ins outside the main entrance of the theatre continued. By,1963 the theatre was integrated due to a federal court’s desegregation order of all major businesses within the town of Chapel Hill.
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA played here at the CAROLINA as a general release on April 2,1964.
Correct: “STAR WARS” did played here as a re-release on July 21,1978 when it was the CAROLINA 1 & 2.
Also played here:
“STAR TREK:THE MOTION PICTURE”
“STAR TREK II:THE WRATH OF KHAN”
“STAR TREK III:THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK”
“E.T.”
“THE KARATE KID” AND “THE KARATE KID II”
“JAWS”
“SUPERMAN THE MOVIE”
“JAWS II”
“THE GODFATHER” AND “THE GODFATHER:PART II”
“BACK TO THE FUTURES I, II, III”
“BEVERLY HILLS COP” and “BEVERLY HILLS COP II”
“RETURN OF THE JEDI”
“GHOSTBUSTERS” AND “GHOSTBUSTERS II”
Opened on October 15,1942 as the CAROLINA THEATRE under Wilby-Kincey/Paramount/North Carolina Theatres that had a seating capacity of 1,145.
It remained a single screen theatre until 1971 when the original auditorium was split into two sections seating 571 each in both auditoriums as a twin theatre keeping the original lobby entrance. It was renamed the CAROLINA BLUE AND WHITE THEATRES,aka THE CAROLINA 1 & 2 under ABC Southeastern Theatres.
Wilby-Kincey ran this theatre as a single screen cinema from 1942 until 1971.
ABC Southeastern Theatres took over the operations from 1971 until 1978.
Plitt Southern Theatres operated it from 1978 to 1987.
Cineplex Odeon was the last theatre chain that operated the Carolina from 1987 until 1990,and it was Cineplex Odeon that closed the original CAROLINA THEATRE in 1990.
By March 19,1993,the CAROLINA THEATRE reopened to the public and all of Chapel Hill as a full scale arthouse cinema that specialized in showing first-run releases as well as independent and foreign films as well as documentaries. Where the original entrance was facing Franklin Street the new entrance was toward the side of Columbia Street(right next door to the Ackland Art Museum). It was renamed as the NEW CAROLINA THEATRE where it was a single screener with a seating capacity of 280. Special features included in this new cinema were access handicap seating as well as full scale gourmet concession stand that also served alcoholic beverages. The new auditorium had a prominent position where the original marquee was placed below the front of the screen. The owner who refurnished the NEW CAROLINA THEATRE was Bruce H. Stone who also operated the Chelsea Theatre at Timberlyne Shopping Center(located in the Northern section of the city). THE NEW CAROLINA THEATRE remained a showplace for great films until it’s closing on July 2,2005. The last picture show that played here to great fanfare and capacity crowds was the Oscar winning documentary “March of the Penguins” narrated by Morgan Freeman.
THE NEW CAROLINA THEATRE opened on March 19,1993 as a full scale arthouse cinema with a seating capacity of 280 including handicap access sections and full gourmet concession stand that served alcoholic beverages. Owned and operated by Bruce H. Stone.
The featured attraction for the grand re-opening: -Albert Finney and Kyle McLaughlin in RICH IN LOVE -Special Late Show Friday and Saturday was SWOON
The COMING ATTRACTIONS TO THE NEW CAROLINA THEATRE:
–“HOWARD’S END”
-Al Pacino in “SCENT OF A WOMAN”
–“LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE”
–“THE MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART”
–“MENACE II SOCIETY”
–“WIDE SARAGASSO SEA”
–“SPEED RACER:THE MOVIE”
The only STAR WARS film that ever played at the Carolina was THE RETURN OF THE JEDI that opened to capacity crowds on May 25, 1983.
As far as the STAR TREK movies went,only the Carolina had “STAR TREK:THE MOTION PICTURE”, “STAR TREK II:THE WRATH OF KHAN”,“STAR TREK III:THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK”. These were the only STAR TREK films that ever played here at the Carolina Theatre in Chapel Hill.
I remember seeing “E.T.” on the Blue Side,and on the White Side showed “Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan” on June 11, 1982 when the Carolina was a twin cinema with its original lobby entrance.
thanks Pat.
Please do look at the link above for the history of the theatre. In The Charlotte Observer, August 18, 1961, page 1, Section B: Headline: Theatre Will Admit UNC Negro Pupils; “Carolina Theater here adopted a policy of limited desegregation Thursday. The policy applied only to Negro students at the University of North Carolina…Theatre officials said they believe it to be the first in the South to adopt a policy of integration.” But the docsouth link above will reveal that this ‘limited desegregation’ wasn’t the real thing and therefore the theatre was still picketed.
The 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook has the original Carolina Theatre listed with a seating capacity of 850. Operated by Paramount Pictures Inc., through their subsidiary H.F. Kincey.
The old theatre is still listed in the 1943 edition of FDY, even though the new Carolina Theatre had opened. The new Carolina Theatre is not listed.
Apparently, this is not the Carolina Theatre that opened in 1927. Boxoffice Magazine of October 17, 1942, has this item, datelined Chapel Hill: “The new Carolina, seatng 1,145, was opened here October 15 by the Wilby-Kincey circuit, which also operates the Pick and Village locally. The latter was known as the Carolina before the new unit opened.”
A Walgreens Drug Store will be built on East Franklin Street where the once Gap Store was and formerly The Carolina Theatre.
Where it was formerly “The Gap” and was at one time a local bank at that intersection of East Franklin Street and Columbia Street.
Who remembers at one time there was a Texaco Gas Station at the corner next door to the theatre?
Apparently, they’re building a Walgreens in the theater now and extending the balcony into a true second story.
You can read more here.
From 1927 until 1971,The Carolina Theatre was at one time a single screen theatre with over 1,145 seats. In mid-1971,the once gorgeous auditorium was split in two,making it a twin cinema(which was called The Carolina Blue and White Theatre since one auditorium was labeled “blue”,and the other side “white”)until somewhere in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s when the Carolina closed its doors and reopened in 1993 as an arthouse cinema(showing first-run features,foreign films,and independent and documentary films) in competition with the neighboring Varsity Theatre Downtown and The Chelsea over in North Chapel Hill. It remained that way until its closing forever in July of 2005.
Ever since the Carolina Theatre and the Ram Triple Theatres had closed,the only moviehouse that is still in operational along East Franklin Street and the only moviehouse still in Downtown Chapel Hill is the classic Varsity Theatre(which shows first-run features and foreign films along with documentaries of special interest).
From September of 1927 until its closing in July of 2005,the Carolina Theatre showcased some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters and was Chapel Hill’s premiere venue theatre. However,the Carolina was part at one time owned and operated by ABC Southeastern Theatres,
Plitt Theatres,and Cineplex Odeon before later on by Ambassador Entertainment. The last picture show to play at the Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2005 was a documentary…March of the Penguins.
The function should be retail. Here is a photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2ffaxb
The Carolina Theatre opened in September 1927.
The Carolina Theatre seated 1145 people.