Fox Theatre
660 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30365
660 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30365
48 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 126 comments
My first historical reclamation project was the Fox..I gave them money when I was a child to Save The Fox…after watching Yul Brynner in The King and I.
I concur about more movies.
And I could use the work.
Projector Boy
Broadway shows and concerts are nice, but can we get more classic movies?
I have been to 3 classic movies here…THE GENERAL, BEN HUR, and GWTW. All were neraly sold out, packed performances. Why are they so rare?
Partner up with Turner Classic Movies (which is up the street), and get some kind of classic movie program going.
What a treat it was to share the 50 th year re-premiere of,“GWTW”, at Fox in 1989,with a friend who is a Southern Belle. As it’s original sweeping film title passed across the picture sheet a sold out attendance went applause crazy ! Capping the evening we visited their Egyptian Ballroom at 12 midnight for one fabulous buffet of an all southern menu.! Thanks again,Nancy!
Someone sneaked in and multiplexed the Atlanta Fox? Sacre bleu!
It is nonsense. Go to the official Atlanta Fox website above and you will see that a live performance of The Nutcracker is playing for most of December followed by other live performances. The Fox does have a classic movie series, but it is primarily a live performance/touring Broadway show house.
I show this
View link
as showing movies again?
can someone in Atlanta check it out?
From Atlanta a postcard view of the Fox Theatre along with the Shrine Mosque.
Well Imagine, Stan, how Joe feels. It’s mental cruelty. What a great picture is MAD MAD, saw it the CINERAMA here. LOVE B
To add to the bad times that Joe is going through lately comes news that his friend Cecil Whitmire died last week. Cecil can rightly be called the Joe Patten of the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham. The Alabama is a little over half the size of the Fox, both in seating and stage area. When it closed as a movie theatre is too was faced with demolition. Joe advised Cecil and his group on their efforts to save the Alabama and offered them the lessons he had learned at the Fox.
A few years ago the three of us who worked in the Fox projection booth attended a showing of “Its A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World” at the Alabama. I had attended the Alabama many times while growing up in Birmingham and Cecil was nice enough to give us a top to bottom tour of the theatre. He was very complimentary of Joe and told us the story of how Joe helped them with the paperwork for setting up the non profit that purchased the Alabama. During the intermission Cecil doubled as the organ player.
I am glad all of this mess involving Joe waited until after Cecil was gone as I am sure he would have found it upsetting.
PLEASE POST YOUR SUPPORT FOR JOE OF THE FACEBOOK SITE View link
NENBERSHIP ON THIS SITE HAS DOUBLED IN 24 HOURS TO OVER 2000! BOB
Bravo!
Obviously the new board needs to “get there comeuppence” Joe was granted a place to live until he dies and that should be honored no matter what. They will get his apt. in the end. How fast people forget that without Joe there would be no Fox. Shame on the board of the Fox.
I wrote Joe a letter explaining my take on the weeks events but decided to not send it. I was afraid that with all that has happened he might misunderstand and miss the sarcastic style. Here it is for the CT readers:
So long Joe.
Since you did not show Atlanta Landmarks the simple courtesy of dying, preferably offsite, or moving out, you have forced them to terminate the agreement that allows you to live in the Fox for the rest of your life. How ungra…teful of you. Do you not realize how many Fox and Atlanta Landmarks big shots have lusted after your apartment all of these years? Sure, you took the old Georgia Theatre Company executive office space, gutted it, cleaned it up, and furnished it at your own expense. Same with your bedroom upstairs. But that was 30 years ago. Times have changed old man. Surely you do not expect this new breed of execs and trustees, some of whom were not alive when you helped save this facility they have so much fun playing with, to put up with your presence any longer.
Face it Joe. Your time has passed. The Fox is saved. Not only that, it has been thoroughly reconditioned, restored, and updated with the latest technology. Except for you that is. Don’t you realize that you are just an embarrassing anachronism of a bygone era when the Fox was a run down shell in danger of being torn down like the New York Roxy to make way for some bland office building. It was good of you to help save the Fox so that all of these people would have jobs and seats of prominence on a board that would enhance the resume and social standing of even the lowest form of humanity. Your work is now done. Go away. Leave.
I know you feel that you have been treated unfairly by the current management of the Fox and Atlanta Landmarks, but wake up. This is 21st century America you are living in. Do you really expect anyone to do what is right, ethical, or just plain decent when they are not legally required to? Do you think that they would have even offered you that farce of an extension if it had not been a PR necessity? In your place I would have accepted it if for no other reason than to aggravate them and deny them your apartment space they so desperately desire for whatever purpose they can think of. (Apartment for deserving Fox officials, wine tasting wing of the Grand Salon, rental space for Lincoln Bedroom style sleepovers, … I had better stop there. Don’t want to give them any ideas.)
No Joe. All of us who were part of those great years of the late 70’s to early 80’s are now being dispatched by our successors to the landfill of history. We served our purposes, but now it is time for a new generation to come in and carry on. We should not be so presumptions as to expect them to adhere to any obligations of the past, be them legal, moral, or ethical. There is no room in today’s America for this type of sentimental hogwash. How can we expect the people now in charge to be successful if they have to waste precious time, effort, and resources fulfilling obligations to old codgers like yourself. Be a man. Ride off into the sunset with your integrity and pride intact. You will be in good company. Remember, the “grateful” British voters kicked Winston Churchill out of office two months after the war in Europe ended.
The friends of the Fox called on you when they were scared. Now that the crisis is over and a new generation that sees no need for you has come to power you are just an aggravation. It is time for you to go.
Enjoyed working with you my friend. Were it not for you and others like you I would have missed out on the enjoyment of running movies at the Fox.
Stan
NICELY WRITTEN STAN. LOOK AT “KEEP JOE PATTEN AT THE FOX” FB SITE, ALSO OFFICIAL FOX THEATRE SITE, WHICH IF THEY (KRISTEN DELANEY) DISAGREES WITH WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE ERASED AND BLOCKED— JUST LIKE IN MOSCOW, NOW WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, ATLANTA. — HER TOTALITARIAN SITE IS THE ONE WITH VERTICAL SIGN AS PHOTO. BOB
A lot has been written and broadcast recently about the actions of Atlanta Landmarks concerning their desire for Joe Patten to give up his Fox apartment, and their response to his declining to do so. That story is available to anyone via the internet so I will not rehash it here. I will, however, give my take on the whole sorry episode.
In the dark days of 1975-1978 thousands of Atlantans united behind a drive to save the Fox Theatre by donating to the “Save The Fox” campaign. Hundreds actually invested their time and talents in keeping the wrecking ball away. A select few used their considerable legal, technical, and PR skills, and a good bit of personal influence to see that this effort was successful. While Joe Patten did not save the Fox by himself, it is safe to say that without him 660 Peachtree Street would be the address of the (then) Southern Bell HQ.
Personally, I do not think that the Fox was in danger after news of the attempt to obtain a demolition permit became public. Southern Bell did not want to take the PR hit. Georgia Theatre Company was willing to absorb the ill will and tear the place down thus allowing Southern Bell to say that all they did was buy a clean lot. That still would have engendered a flood of hard feelings. Also, local Atlanta companies like Coca Cola and Delta Air Lines might have put up the needed funds, but all that would have gotten them was a closed up downtown movie theatre. The people of Atlanta needed to demonstrate that they wanted the Fox to survive and the Save The Fox campaign gave them a stake in its success.
Even after the non profit Atlanta Landmarks was formed and it became more evident every day that the money to save the theatre would be raised, there was still a long road to travel to transform this run down shell of a downtown movie house into the theatre palace it is today. Joe Patten, with his technical knowledge of the organ, projection booth, and mechanics of the Fox was invaluable in this effort. He also gave up his dream of owning his own theatre. He had recently bought the closed East Point Theatre, installed an organ, and with help from fellow ATOS members was in the process of turning it into a mini Fox. (The story is available here: /theaters/11377/ ) In appreciation of his role, the board of Atlanta Landmarks granted Joe free use for life of the space formerly occupied by the executive suite of the Georgia Theatre Company offices which were located in what is now the Grand Salon. At his own expense, Joe gutted the offices, cleaned up the area and installed the necessary equipment and furnishings.
Now, 30 years later, a new generation sits at the controls of Atlanta Landmarks and the Fox Theatre. This new generation knows nothing but what they have read of the days when the survival of the Fox was in question. They know the Fox only as a pristine, money generating show palace. They obviously have no appreciation of the effort and dedication people like Joe put into the Fox so they could sit behind their desks and say with pride “I am with the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.” I am sure they would disagree with this, but their actions in the matter of ridding themselves of Joe’s presence speak louder than their press releases.
I have seen so many movies, especially in my younger years, that with every experience in life I can find a scene from a movie that relates to it. In this case, two come to mind. The first is from Doctor Zhivago, one of my all time favorites, and the first movie I ever saw at the Fox. The scene is Moscow, 1918. Yuri is on his way home from the war. As he runs into his house and hugs his wife he notices a lot of strange faces. A stern looking woman comes forward and informs him that she is the head of the district housing committee. She tells him that there was room for 18 families in his house. He is welcome to stay in a corner apartment if he abides by the rules of the commissariat. Welcome home comrade. Thanks for your service.
The second is from Aliens, number two in the Alien series. Ripley has once again narrowly escaped death by alien intubation. She discovers that company sleazeball Carter Burke is responsible via his effort to sneak an alien past quarantine and sell it to the bio-weapons division. Despite the aliens wiping out her original crew, killing all but one person of an entire colony, and the bulk of the Marines sent to restore order, she tells Burke “…I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them (the aliens) *ing each other over for a damn percentage.” I will leave it to the reader to decide which species is which in relation to this story.
Cool, Dennis. Glad to see the SHARKY’S MACHINE. I was in the booth that night. A close-up of my hand was on PM MAGAZINE. Ha.
Thanks Dennis— look what happened there tonight—they threw Joe Patten out of the THEATRE that he saved and loved. View link
Here is a photo of The World Premiere of Burt Reynolds “SHARKY’S MACHINE” at The Fox Theatre in Dec. 1981
View link
No Bob I am not a Loew I just used to work for them years ago in Nashville,Tennessee that is why I have an interest in their theatres and others,my e-mail is listed on my homepage.
Dear Mr. TSLOEWS, Thanks. Please write me at Are you an LOEW? I have not one but two LOEW plaques. Bob
Very nice scrapbook Bob Foreman,very interesting.
Bob, I can assure you after his 30-plus years of battling and improving the troublesome movie acoustics of the Fox, there is no one more knowledgeable than our friend on the peculiar necessities and temperament of the room, plus the optimum tuning of the related projection and sound equipment. Fast is not necessarily best.
Dear Mike. One of the stupidest things that had happened at the FOX is NO ONE IN CHARGE who has a brain. GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL!
On the summer setup for the pictures, Hardin has them hang from a pipe batten three tweeters. Why Scott I asked? OH that is the correct way. He has all these angle meters.
As fine as a projectionist he is, and a child actor to boot, HE CANNOT COMPREHEND THE FULL VIEW!
That is, all horns on the lift. FAST Changeover! DUH!
Bob, I have met your father, but it was a brief handshake back in the ‘80s. I’m grateful he did the 70mm lugging, not me.
I work with Scott these days. Running movies at the Fox has gotten complicated with the prep and split-second mix of old and new technologies, ever-changing formats, sing-alongs, computers, and directing stagehands. It’s fun, stressful, and hectic.
Thanks, Mike Durret. Please send me an email at so we may keep in touch. Are you a relief man for Scott Hardin still? Do you know my Dad—he helped Joe cart over the 70MM from Loews—maybe before you time. I have a LOT OF WORK to do on my “book”—thanks for your encoragement! LOVE BOB
Bob,
I am your union brother and a long-time projectionist at the Fox. I’ve been perusing your Fox Theatre Scrapbook and it is The Mother Lode! I have been looking for some of this stuff since going to work there in 1978. Keep it coming, PLEASE.
P.S. I think I’ve met the cuspidors!