Joy Theatre

Joe Vogel on August 29, 2026 at 10:58 pm

The only theater listed at Rockmart in the 1926 and 1929 FDYs was a 240-seat house called the Palace. The earliest mention of the Palace I’ve found is from the September 9, 1915 issue of the Cedartown Standard. A 1923 Sanborn Map of Rock Mart (former spelling) shows “Moving Pictures” at 110 Marble Street. No later Sanborns are available.

The Joy was definitely existing by 1930, as the July 12 issue of Exhibitors Daily Review included it on a list of houses that had installed Western Electric sound systems. The 330-seat Joy first appears in the 1931 FDY, and the Palace is still listed as well, but with only 200 seats. Both are open and neither is listed as a silent house. Rockmart hadn’t even been listed in the 1930 FDY, so two houses open with sound was quite a turnaround.