Imperial Theatre
745 Broad Street,
Augusta,
GA
30901
745 Broad Street,
Augusta,
GA
30901
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 326 - 335 of 335 comments
YOU KNOW THE IMPERIAL HAD THE OLD CARBON ARCS. TOOK A TRAINED MAN TO MAKE CHANGE OVERS. NO CONCESSIONSTAND GIRL NEEDED OR TEEENAGE USHER TO RUN UP AND FLIP A BUTTON ON FOR THE MOVIE.I WORKED ABOUT 25 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE IMPERIAL AT COLUMBIA SQUARE;DEPENDING ON TRAFFIC.WELL. THE IMPERIAL TOOK A BRIDGE TOO FAR FROM US WHEN WE FINISHED THE 1ST RUN.ONE NIGHT THE ASSISTANT MANAGER COMES IN FROM THE IMPERIAL WITH A SMILE ON THIS FACE.I ASKED MARK KUCHCHISKI WHAT WE WAS DOING UP 25 MINUTES UP THE ROAD WITH A 3 HOUR MOVIE RUNNING AT THE IMPERIAL? WITH A GRIN THE SAID CHUCK DRAY, THE PROJECTIONIST DROPPED A 20 MINUTE REEL. SLOW NIGHT I GUESS. C.DRAY ALWAYS SWORE TO ME YOU COULD DROP REEL 7 from GONE WITH THE WIND AND MOST FOLKS WOULD NEVER KNOW. I OFTEN WONDERED IF HE DID THAT AT ONE OF AUGUSTA’S DRIVE INS.
Working at National Hills Theatre with John Mackey gave me a chance to get my hands in booking late shows. We put together quite an impressive list. Often the bookers in Charlotte were amazed that an 18 or 19 year-old was helping in selecting movies for late shows. This lead to a manager at our sister theatre the Imperial asking me for some picks.
Being the biggest Clint Eastwood fan in Georgia, I suggested the WWII movie “Where Eagles Dare”. I wanted to see it on the big screen having only seen it on network-edited TV. So it was booked and I got down to the Imperial and there were only two paying customers!
I guess Bill Barkley who was running this almost 3 hour movie was probably teed. But the show went on and I sat in the back row and enjoyed a great movie. The next night I think 30 or 40 folks showed up to see “Eagles”. Usually films such as “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” “Vanishing Point” or any rock related movie played great on midnight shows.
I knew in the back of my mind that “Eagles” probably wouldn’t sell a lot of tickets as midnight show crowds tend to not care about WWII movies. Unless it was an anti-war movie like “Johnny Get Your Gun”.
I was told by a good friend to feel free to include more on the Imperial so here’s my story.
I started in the theatre business at the young age of 17 working as a doorman at National Hills Theatre, the Imperial’s sister theatre located in the beautiful area across from the Augusta National Golf Course. Every once in awhile some of us guys would be sent to help out down at the Imperial. It was still a first-run movie house playing big name movies, but it also ran a lot of Bruce Lee type films. And of course it also played the black films of the day such as “Coffy” “Claudine” “Cleopatra Jones” and “Slaughter”.
Our theatre, National Hills, played mainly PG-G movies – a real family theatre. I got sent down to the Imperial during a “Shaft” film, and that was a whole different experience! We would sell out all 800 seats on a Sunday night, when right up the street there might be 100 or so for the last showing at National Hills – very different markets!
One summer I was assistant manager for a few weeks at the Imperial, and the biggest film to ever play there money-wise had to be “Jaws”. It played all summer long with sell-outs on every show. So many people we had to go out and buy ice; our old ice machine at the Imperial couldn’t keep up!
The Imperial had a janitor named Robert. He couldn’t write so he marked an X on his payroll check. He was a nice man. The concession stand had Margret Whitehead who started in the 1940s and worked there serving popcorn until the Imperial closed. Our city manager was Jerry Tinney. He could come up with brilliant promotions!
The booth was run for the most part by Bill Barkley, and his relief man was Chuck Dray. The first time I met Chuck Dray he scared me to death! He would cuss at anyone just like Archie Bunker, so on a black film you know what his state of mind was! We did become good friends, and he was my projectionist at General Cinema when I moved to the mall theatres.
The group of guys and gals I worked with down at the Imperial and at National Hills are still close today. I always enjoyed working the Imperial. My good friend Charles, a Doorman at National Hills never cared much for the Imperial. Many people told me he had said it was a dirty theatre, and he would use napkins to sit on the balcony steps!
There was also a great robbery with Tommy and Jim one night while going to the bank, but that’s another story!
Working at the Imperial was an experience for an assistant manager from a sister theatre in the circuit in the suburbs. I remember one night – and drinking does happen – James Brown came to see “Escape From Alcatraz” and he sat in the balcony with a girlfriend. I offered him a Bud, and we both drank a cool one during the last show of the night. This was after I had checked out and had the money in the bank.
Renewing link.
Saw a lot of movies at the Imperial when I was stationed at Fort Gordon in 1965-66. Among them was the national re-release of “Shane” and a double bill of then-recent Columbia hits and awards contenders, “The Collector” and “Ship of Fools.” Most of all I can remember the theater’s localized making a big ndeal of the fact that the new Jimmy Stewart Civil War drama, “Shenandoah,” was filmed in “our own Shenandoah Valley” or words to that effect. I was aware that “Shenandoah” had played to good, slightly better-than-average business in other cities, including my hometown, Pittsburgh. (Stewart was born 50 miles from here in Indiana, PA, 100 years ago this week.) Anyway, at Augusta’s Imperial Theater, “Shenandoah” played to colossal business – lines around the block and advertising that called it the all-time record-breaker, which truly may have been the case. Most movies moved in and out in a week or two, even the bigger ones. But “Shenandoah” played at least four weeks and quite possibly more than a month. It was the first time I was aware of a picture being a regional sensational more than it was a national one. — Ed Blank
Chuck: Your link posted on July 31 doesn’t seem to work and I’d love to see this theatre as I’m researching ones with the Roy Benjamin architectural connection. The photos I have viewed seem to show a repeated theme/style. And after reading the above post I hope that the efforts to return the organ to the Imperial are successful!
The Imperial Theatre Wurlitzer, Opus 1184, was recently removed from the home in Marietta where it had been installed and expanded to 11 ranks. It is now in the possession of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society. Efforts are underway to return the organ to the Imperial Theatre.
In the 1920s, a Wurlitzer 2-manual 7-rank Style E was installed. This instrument was removed in the late 1970s and is now installed in a private residence in Marietta, GA.
R. McGee
Atlanta
When the Imperial Theatre was a movie theatre it seated 1159 people.