Broadway Theatre

Joe Vogel on September 9, 2023 at 1:48 pm

I’ve found a 1918 Sanborn map of Statesville, and the only theater it shows is the Crescent. 117 Broad street was at that time occupied by a wholesale grocer. The 1911 reference to the Broadway I found (but have now lost track of) must have been to a different Broadway theatre, perhaps some short-lived storefront nickelodeon. The earliest reference to the Broadway I can find now is from the July 2, 1921 issue of Exhibitors Herald, which is one of several capsule movie reviews submitted to the magazine that year by the Broadway’s manager W. D. Van Derbergh. [sic] The description should be altered to say the house was in operation by 1921.

News of the Broadway’s 1923 remodeling appears in the March 10 issue of Motion Picture News, which ran this item:

“Broadway, Statesville, N.C., Being Remodeled

“K. E. Spencer, formerly of Monroe, N. C, has purchased the Broadway, Statesville, N. C, from W. D. Vanderberg. [sic] Mr. Spencer immediately closed the house for extensive alterations. The screen formerly in the front will be put in the rear, and the entire seating plan rearranged to give one hundred more seats.”

I don’t know which spelling of Van Derbergh Mr. Vanderberg (or vice-versa) actually used, but since he probably submitted the capsule reviews to EH in his own hand, and surely could have had any errors he saw in print corrected in later issues, I think Van Derbergh is, though unconventional, more likely correct.