Cavalier Theatre
148 N. Main Street,
Suffolk,
VA
23434
148 N. Main Street,
Suffolk,
VA
23434
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The Nansemond Fotosho (no “w”) opened on December 31, 1914, a 900-seat silent movie house with a Pannell’s screen on a 10-year lease. In was managed by H.C. Everhart. The first Fotosho had opened in Norfolk at 242 Main on February 25, 1911. The second was known as the Superior Fotosho and opened in November of 1913 in Richmond. The Nansemond Fotosho (named after the county housing Suffolk) was the third and it would be taken on by Suffolk Amusement Corporation which shortened the name to the Fotosho Theatre.
On the north side of the Fotosho house was J.F. Rawles confectionery which served as the de facto concession stand there. Suffolk Amusement decided to build a new theater, the Chadwick, nearby designed by architect Alexander DePre Breeden. That would replace the Fotosho and was named the Chadwick Theatre opening in January of 1925. The Fotosho announced a closure on June 2, 1925 with Hoot Gibson in “Hit & Run.” That’s the way the Fotosho Theatre would soon feel as the four walls of the Fotosho were all that remained as Suffolk built an entirely new theater within the old Fotosho space and was on the books as the “New Fotosho”.
That project was delayed, renamed, and also designed by Alexander DePre Breeden. It became the Cavalier Theatre opening with “The Tempest” on December 20th, 1928. In 1938, the Cavalier received a streamline moderne redesign by architect Claude Knox Howell. The Cavalier closed on February 4, 1956 with “Heart of the Golden West” and “New Orleans Uncensored” and was demolished shortly thereafter for a new-build J.C. Penney store.
Opened December 20th, 1928. Grand opening ad posted.
Just posted a Jan 1928 ad in the photo section
The January 2, 1929, issue of The Film Daily noted briefly that the Suffolk Amusement Company’s new Cavalier Theatre at Suffolk, Virginia, had opened recently.
The Cavalier Theatre has been demolished, but the buildings across the street are still standing. The one that in the vintage photo looks like it is probably directly opposite the theater has two storefronts with the addresses 147 and 149 N. Main, so the Theatre was probably at 148 N. Main. The theater’s site is now under the footprint of the courthouse.
Courtesy ads in school yearbook from as early as 1942 and as late as 1952 indicate that the Cavalier was during that period operated by the Pitts' Theaters chain.
This one was located on North Main Street.