I managed to snag a retrospective page from The Daily Advance (newspaper)published Apr 27, 2008 concerning the March 1, 1967 fire that destroyed the Carolina building and the contained Carolina Theater. The building burned for several days and was a total loss. The building contained a variety store, a fashion store, a pharmacy, the Carolina Theater, and a variety of other businesses, and a multitude of profession offices on the upper floors. Somewhat ironic that “Funeral in Berlin” starring Michael Caine was displayed on the marquee when this destruction occurred.
Thanks Mike, I will buy a copy off amazon. Since I posted the comment it has haunted me that I might have seen one movie there at the Palace. It has never cleared my mind of having seen a Jeff Chandler movie in a small out of town theater. I had it in memory that it was “Broken Arrow” but I am remembering Chandler as a Calvary officer rather than the Indian. At least a 50 year old memory. But the main point is remembering the theater or film itself rather than the plot. I do not wish to be cruelly critical but the theater I remember had a somewhat smaller screen than I had seen before. The unusual thing about this experience is that this was the darkest color movie that I have ever seen—it was almost as if the arc was about to go out from the opening credits until the last frame. Any way, this experience involved seeing the darkest print and the most severely scratched movie that I have ever seen. I later learned from an old timer Hunter Jackson that if the projectionists was a bit on the lazy side and neglected to keep the gates and other parts of the projector clean of debris a brand new print could be totally ruined with just one trip through the machine. He also told me that a dirty print could set up a clean projector to scratch the next film to be run through. If it was “Broken Arrow” the print was probably at least 15 years old then and had coursed its way through many projectors of all conditions..
There appears to be a bit of confusion here. The Fox theater within the Holiday Village Mall had an entrance on the 13th Ave side (rear of the mall)as well as inside of the mall. This theater was disassembled/demolished. I don’t know the date but it was after 1976. The Fox logo is still in the masonry above the mall real entrance. Across the Avenue is the Village Twin which was still operating at least until around 1995 (approx). It went from a first run house to second run with economy tickets. All seats $2 if I remember right. It seemed to be a relatively new theater but it was closed to direct business to the Cine 4 which was also closed later to direct patrons to the Carmike 10 at Marketplace. Both the Village Twin and the Cine 4 buildings became re-purposed to other commercial usages.
Thanks for the complements MikeRogers and tlsloews. I forgot to include in the updates that the projectors were adapted to platters for automation from the concession stand before it went twin.
raysson, if you remember Jaws you might remember the red four foot tall “JAWS” letters standing atop the marquee. Spivey, the manager at the time, commissioned me to make them and they were reused at some of the other theaters in the chain. I wonder if they eventually ended up in a dorm room somewhere.
Had friends in Windsor but never went to the movies there. The name of the theater that I used to pass escapes me, it could have been the Palace. The last that I remember of the building was it became a fruit & vegetable market.
It is something to ponder (before television and really modern cars) theaters actually thrived in these little towns that were so near each other. Some of those small towns in eastern NC are only 15 to 30 miles apart.
Screened adult films as of the early ‘70s. Was an unusual setup that had corrugated walls for fencing and flood lights were post mounted and shining outward to prevent viewing the screen by anyone outside of the drive-in grounds.
Unfortunately the Public Drug Building, site of the vanished Pantages Theater, was seriously gutted by fire in the latter part of 2010 or early part of 2011. Structural assessment has been done and it appears that a rebuilding of the interior is planned—odd that the Set Free Ministry site doesn’t seem to mention it unless I missed something. The noted Public Drug was relocated shortly after the fire.
See my general ramblings about Elizabeth City theaters in the Alkrama Theater comments section. I am glad to see that the Love State/new Carolina had a good run in its revival. It is sad to see news of its second closing. Elizabeth City is a shopping destination for a wide radius of rural community and one can almost place bets that the price of gas had a major role in its closing as well. A lot of changes have happened in the area such as moving and 4 laneing U.S. 17 thereby bypassing the city and moving shopping even further from downtown.
This one was way way before my time and I have never heard of it before.
I am familiar with at least the names of some of Elizabeth City’s movie theaters.
The Carolina Theater was located on Main St. in the Carolina Building. It was lost to fire around 1967(?) in a dramatic fire that lasted 3 days or so since it was a large structure covering most of the block.
The Love State Theater was closed but reopened to replace the Carolina.
The Center Theater seemed to show the second round movies and I remember seeing a couple horror films there. It was rather frayed in the latter 1960s.
The Web Drive In Theater located on Weeksville Road. I rode my bicycle in one night and watched an unmemorable movie. The nearby horse racing track and drive-in succumbed to development as far as I know.
In more recent times (70s & 80s) a twin theater was constructed at Southgate Mall as a free standing building. At this time I don’t remember the name.
A new drive-in which I also don’t remember the name was constructed on US 17 South. A very nice facility but built too close to the town so the real estate became too valuable for the usage. I think it existed from mid 70’s to mid 80’s. In the latter days it showed adult films and seemed to do a good trade but I think that it was really doomed by being too close to Elizabeth city itself.
Wish I could provide more details but my association with the Elizabeth City area is from years long gone by.
The Gaiety Theater was an African-American theater until sometime into the sixties—after closing It was turned into a church.
Addendum: In its heyday Edenton had another movie theater called the Eden. It was on W. Eden St. so that the properties of the Eden and the Taylor probably touched. Unlike the Taylor, the Eden was a utilitarian moviehouse with a narrow concrete block auditorium without ornamentation. The floor had a rather steep angle and the metal frame holding the screen sat on the floor at the front of the auditorium. The Eden probably shut its doors when the naval air station closed. It was stripped of its equipment and became a storage facility for another business.
The Hiway 17 Drive In operated until around 1960. It was dismantled and the real estate became Earnhardt Fields.
The Taylor Theater was constructed before safety film came to the movies. Notice the metal “doghouse” in the pictures- that is the old projection booth. Movie film was highly flammable and the projectors used a carbon arc to project the image so as a fire protection measure the booth was sheathed & lined with steel as well as outside of the building proper.
I am sorry to see that the heavy black steel marquee has been removed. It reached more than half the width of the wide sidewalk. I was suspended from heavy iron chains & anchored to the building. The movie titles & actors names were spelled out with metal stencil letters that let the backlighting show through. Originally it was trimmed in neon but the kids were prone to leap to touch the marquee and would in the process break the fragile tubes. The neon was removed in a remodeling.
The Taylor had theater and cinema capabilities. The movie screen sat on a stage which had a ceiling height and rigging allowing raising scenery for theatrical productions. Early movie stars and entertainers have appeared in live productions there- probably until the early 1950s. For a small town the auditorium was quite large and relatively ornate with plaster work.
There was a restoration around ‘56 or '57 that saw the installation of stereophonic sound & Cinemascope capability. Other re-modelings over the years involved, central air conditioning, more comfortable seating, installing xeon bulb lights to the projectors, carpeting, updated concessions, etc.
The Taylor eventually became part of a small chain of theaters headquartered in Wilson, NC to reduce overhead and to book first run movies more easily. I am uncertain of the date but it appears that the auditorium was partitioned at the end of the '70s and converted to a twin cinema to be competitive.
I managed to snag a retrospective page from The Daily Advance (newspaper)published Apr 27, 2008 concerning the March 1, 1967 fire that destroyed the Carolina building and the contained Carolina Theater. The building burned for several days and was a total loss. The building contained a variety store, a fashion store, a pharmacy, the Carolina Theater, and a variety of other businesses, and a multitude of profession offices on the upper floors.
Somewhat ironic that “Funeral in Berlin” starring Michael Caine was displayed on the marquee when this destruction occurred.
Thanks Mike, I will buy a copy off amazon. Since I posted the comment it has haunted me that I might have seen one movie there at the Palace. It has never cleared my mind of having seen a Jeff Chandler movie in a small out of town theater. I had it in memory that it was “Broken Arrow” but I am remembering Chandler as a Calvary officer rather than the Indian. At least a 50 year old memory. But the main point is remembering the theater or film itself rather than the plot. I do not wish to be cruelly critical but the theater I remember had a somewhat smaller screen than I had seen before. The unusual thing about this experience is that this was the darkest color movie that I have ever seen—it was almost as if the arc was about to go out from the opening credits until the last frame. Any way, this experience involved seeing the darkest print and the most severely scratched movie that I have ever seen. I later learned from an old timer Hunter Jackson that if the projectionists was a bit on the lazy side and neglected to keep the gates and other parts of the projector clean of debris a brand new print could be totally ruined with just one trip through the machine. He also told me that a dirty print could set up a clean projector to scratch the next film to be run through. If it was “Broken Arrow” the print was probably at least 15 years old then and had coursed its way through many projectors of all conditions..
There appears to be a bit of confusion here. The Fox theater within the Holiday Village Mall had an entrance on the 13th Ave side (rear of the mall)as well as inside of the mall. This theater was disassembled/demolished. I don’t know the date but it was after 1976. The Fox logo is still in the masonry above the mall real entrance. Across the Avenue is the Village Twin which was still operating at least until around 1995 (approx). It went from a first run house to second run with economy tickets. All seats $2 if I remember right. It seemed to be a relatively new theater but it was closed to direct business to the Cine 4 which was also closed later to direct patrons to the Carmike 10 at Marketplace. Both the Village Twin and the Cine 4 buildings became re-purposed to other commercial usages.
Thanks for the complements MikeRogers and tlsloews. I forgot to include in the updates that the projectors were adapted to platters for automation from the concession stand before it went twin.
raysson, if you remember Jaws you might remember the red four foot tall “JAWS” letters standing atop the marquee. Spivey, the manager at the time, commissioned me to make them and they were reused at some of the other theaters in the chain. I wonder if they eventually ended up in a dorm room somewhere.
Had friends in Windsor but never went to the movies there. The name of the theater that I used to pass escapes me, it could have been the Palace. The last that I remember of the building was it became a fruit & vegetable market.
It is something to ponder (before television and really modern cars) theaters actually thrived in these little towns that were so near each other. Some of those small towns in eastern NC are only 15 to 30 miles apart.
Screened adult films as of the early ‘70s. Was an unusual setup that had corrugated walls for fencing and flood lights were post mounted and shining outward to prevent viewing the screen by anyone outside of the drive-in grounds.
Unfortunately the Public Drug Building, site of the vanished Pantages Theater, was seriously gutted by fire in the latter part of 2010 or early part of 2011. Structural assessment has been done and it appears that a rebuilding of the interior is planned—odd that the Set Free Ministry site doesn’t seem to mention it unless I missed something. The noted Public Drug was relocated shortly after the fire.
See my general ramblings about Elizabeth City theaters in the Alkrama Theater comments section. I am glad to see that the Love State/new Carolina had a good run in its revival. It is sad to see news of its second closing. Elizabeth City is a shopping destination for a wide radius of rural community and one can almost place bets that the price of gas had a major role in its closing as well. A lot of changes have happened in the area such as moving and 4 laneing U.S. 17 thereby bypassing the city and moving shopping even further from downtown.
This one was way way before my time and I have never heard of it before.
I am familiar with at least the names of some of Elizabeth City’s movie theaters.
The Carolina Theater was located on Main St. in the Carolina Building. It was lost to fire around 1967(?) in a dramatic fire that lasted 3 days or so since it was a large structure covering most of the block.
The Love State Theater was closed but reopened to replace the Carolina.
The Center Theater seemed to show the second round movies and I remember seeing a couple horror films there. It was rather frayed in the latter 1960s.
The Web Drive In Theater located on Weeksville Road. I rode my bicycle in one night and watched an unmemorable movie. The nearby horse racing track and drive-in succumbed to development as far as I know.
In more recent times (70s & 80s) a twin theater was constructed at Southgate Mall as a free standing building. At this time I don’t remember the name.
A new drive-in which I also don’t remember the name was constructed on US 17 South. A very nice facility but built too close to the town so the real estate became too valuable for the usage. I think it existed from mid 70’s to mid 80’s. In the latter days it showed adult films and seemed to do a good trade but I think that it was really doomed by being too close to Elizabeth city itself.
Wish I could provide more details but my association with the Elizabeth City area is from years long gone by.
The Gaiety Theater was an African-American theater until sometime into the sixties—after closing It was turned into a church.
Addendum: In its heyday Edenton had another movie theater called the Eden. It was on W. Eden St. so that the properties of the Eden and the Taylor probably touched. Unlike the Taylor, the Eden was a utilitarian moviehouse with a narrow concrete block auditorium without ornamentation. The floor had a rather steep angle and the metal frame holding the screen sat on the floor at the front of the auditorium. The Eden probably shut its doors when the naval air station closed. It was stripped of its equipment and became a storage facility for another business.
The Hiway 17 Drive In operated until around 1960. It was dismantled and the real estate became Earnhardt Fields.
The Taylor Theater was constructed before safety film came to the movies. Notice the metal “doghouse” in the pictures- that is the old projection booth. Movie film was highly flammable and the projectors used a carbon arc to project the image so as a fire protection measure the booth was sheathed & lined with steel as well as outside of the building proper.
I am sorry to see that the heavy black steel marquee has been removed. It reached more than half the width of the wide sidewalk. I was suspended from heavy iron chains & anchored to the building. The movie titles & actors names were spelled out with metal stencil letters that let the backlighting show through. Originally it was trimmed in neon but the kids were prone to leap to touch the marquee and would in the process break the fragile tubes. The neon was removed in a remodeling.
The Taylor had theater and cinema capabilities. The movie screen sat on a stage which had a ceiling height and rigging allowing raising scenery for theatrical productions. Early movie stars and entertainers have appeared in live productions there- probably until the early 1950s. For a small town the auditorium was quite large and relatively ornate with plaster work.
There was a restoration around ‘56 or '57 that saw the installation of stereophonic sound & Cinemascope capability. Other re-modelings over the years involved, central air conditioning, more comfortable seating, installing xeon bulb lights to the projectors, carpeting, updated concessions, etc.
The Taylor eventually became part of a small chain of theaters headquartered in Wilson, NC to reduce overhead and to book first run movies more easily. I am uncertain of the date but it appears that the auditorium was partitioned at the end of the '70s and converted to a twin cinema to be competitive.