Carolina Theatre

The 408-seat capacity Carolina Theatre was designed by J. C. Hemphill of Greenwood, and is the first theatre in Greenwood to run talkies by using the theatre’s Western Electric sound system constructed by the Carolina Construction Company of Greenville. It had its grand opening on April 21, 1930 with Bessie Love and Charles King in “Chasing Rainbows” in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor, along with a Laurel and Hardy short in “Night Owls”, and a Fox Movietone Newsreel. This is one out of two theatres in Greenwood to open with a Laurel and Hardy short as its short subject on a grand opening day.

The main auditorium contains an arched ceiling with the ceilings and walls constructed, and the floor has two inclines with a seating capacity of 408 people in total. The color schemes were ivory and blue, and blue for the stripped panels. The foyer and vestibules were carpeted in red and a red velour color for the drapes. In the left side of the lobby contains bathrooms and foyers equipped with furniture, and was decorated with cornice work and the wall panels there contains the color schemes of ivory, blue, and gold. Underneath the screen contains ventilation, from a large fan on the exterior of the building and the air in the auditorium, will thus be changed every 90 seconds. Fresh air will come into the furnace, heated, and blown into the auditorium in the wintertime.

For only almost 5 years, the Carolina Theatre was the only movie house in Greenwood, until 1935 when 2 other theatres, the State Theatre and the first Ritz Theatre, began their lifelong journey.

On September 16, 1941, all 3 theatres in Greenwood, the State Theatre, Carolina Theatre, and Ritz Theatre, took over ownership by local resident Kermit High, who formerly operated the Broadhurst Theatre in High Point, North Carolina, from Grady Beeker, a well-known former manager to all 3 theaters in Greenwood, and a handful of theaters in Columbia. He began his journey in Greenwood shortly after living in Columbia for a while who closed the first Carolina Theatre in Columbia on the last day of 1938 (with the equipment being transferred before construction on its site of the Wade Hampton Hotel) before heading to Greenwood who stayed there for almost 3 years.

By 1941 all three theatres in Greenwood were operated by H.F. Kincey a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures Inc. The State, Carolina, and Ritz were mixed formations throughout during and after World War II, but I mostly consider the State Theatre being Greenwood’s powerful movie house at the period. Shortly right after the Ritz Theatre had ended its life in 1951, the Carolina Theatre continued to held on until dismantling issues as the theatre held on into a permeant closure in 1955. The Carolina Theatre though did had a rebirth in 1960, but didn’t do so much in the business.

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