The Carver was opened in late 1949, according to various items in Boxoffice Magazine that year. The November 19 issue mistakenly stated the location as Ocala, Florida, but a correction was printed in the following issue. The Carver was built by a local celery grower named Charles T. Niblack, and was operated for him by Harry Gordon, formerly of Florida State Theatres.
Like many other southern theaters built for black patrons during the era of segregation, this house was named for African American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver.
I have noticed that the seating capacities Boxoffice gives are sometimes way off. They are probably the least reliable figures the magazine published. Sometimes a photo of an auditorium published with an article about a theater will show that there are obviously many fewer seats than the article itself claims there are. The magazine is very useful for such things as opening and closing dates, though, and a lot of other information.
If its Cinema Treasures page is correct, James Poro’s East Islip Theatre had already been open for a decade when he is supposed to have begun building the mystery theater in Islip itself. I can’t find any evidence that Poro’s theater on Main Street ever opened.
I’ve found that Boxoffice has quite a few misspellings and typos, and sometimes has dumb mistakes, such as items datelined to the wrong location (several instances of Lodi, California, for a Lodi Theatre in Lodi, Ohio, for example), but overall it is pretty reliable. Much of the content appears to have been compiled by the magazine’s copy editors from notes or press releases by theater owners themselves.
The editors probably worked in haste, and many of the notes were probably hand written, accounting for the frequent minor errors. Harry Hart was one of their regional corespondents, though, and did a regular column for a few years, often going out to interview people in the industry, as well as doing the same sort of compiling that the staffers in Hollywood probably did, but for territory with which he was personally familiar, so he was less likely than them to make mistakes. I think he was based in Charlotte.
The new Sun Theatre was opened on June 28, 1946, according to Boxoffice Magazine of July 13 that year. The item said that the new Sun replaced the old theater in Williamston, owned by the same operator, B.W. Montgomery.
The July 20 issue of Boxoffice said “Equipment from their old Sun Theatre was removed to the new house.” It sounds like the old theater might have continued operating up until the time the new one was completed, so would have had a different address.
The July 20 item names the owners as S.A. and R.J. Montgomery. I wonder what became of B.W. during that few weeks? The July 13, 1964, issue of Boxoffice mentions a Dick Montgomery being the operator of the Sun. They had an abundance of Montgomerys in Williamston, I guess.
One of the staffers told Harry that “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Stars in My Crown” had both packed the house, so they must have at least had the projectors running by then.
Taylor: I don’t have an actual copy of the magazine. A scan is currently available online from Issuu. Try a Google search using the terms:
issuu boxoffice “edna, tex”
That will fetch scans of several issues of Boxoffice with items mentioning the Edna Theatre. The scans are not available for download, but you might try contacting Boxoffice Magazine through their own web site to see if they could make CD or printed copies of scans available. I don’t know what the magazine’s long-term intentions are regarding their archives. Some magazines, such as The New Yorker, have put their entire archives onto CD ROMs that can be purchased.
Here’s an item datelined Greene, Iowa, from the May 11, 1957, issue of Boxoffice Magazine: “Mr. and Mrs. Russell Meyers have purchased the theatre building here from Floyd Ramker, local building contractor, and will move the Gamble store to the theatre location as soon as extensive remodeling is completed.”
The 1948 item about the sale to M.W. Long is the only mention of the Black Hawk (as Boxoffice spelled it) I’ve found in the magazine.
The classified ad section of the March 4, 1974, issue of Boxoffice advertises a nameless, 300-seat theater in Lansing, Iowa, for sale, at $17,000.
The last mention of Lansing I’ve found in Boxoffice is this ad from the October 21, 1974, issue: “WANTED TO BUY: Theatre in Iowa. Indoor or indoor-outdoor combo. Prefer community size 7,000 to 10,000. Gene Mueller, Lansing, Iowa”
It was probably a name change, and Film Daily just didn’t get around to purging their list of the old name. Lansing had a population of about 1500, and probably wouldn’t have supported two theaters.
The October 2, 1948, issue of Boxoffice says that M.W. Long had bought the Black hawk Theatre in Lansing, Iowa.
A brief item in the January 15, 1949, issue of Boxoffice says that the Lans Theatre in Lansing was having a new marquee installed. No operator’s name was given, but after that, through the 1950s and as late as 1968, M.W. Long often wrote capsule movie reviews for Boxoffice, and was always listed as the operator of the Lans Theatre.
My guess would be that Long put a new marquee on the Black Hawk and, since signage for four letters cost less than for nine letters, he changed the name.
The September 26, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Cecil Theatre was being remodeled by Vince Jorgensen, and would be renamed the Park 70 Theatre.
The Six West Theatres opened to on January 15, 1969, according to the announcement in the January 27 issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The new multiplex was featured in an article in Boxoffice’s issue of April 21, 1969. The total seating capacity of the house was given as 1,590, with the individual units seating 279, 272, 319, 218, 229, and 210 (which adds up to 1,527, so somebody probably made a typo somewhere.)
The world’s first six-screen theater, the Six West was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm Chris Ramos Associates.
The Sparta Drive-In had opened recently, according to the June 28, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. It was designed by Milwaukee architect Urban Peacock.
The January 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice said that Mrs. Hazel Payne, owner of the Glen City Theatre building, planned to rebuild the house and was meeting with the insurance company to settle her claim. She added that she had not heard from Fox West Coast about whether or not they wanted to continue operating the Glen City once it was rebuilt.
There are two paragraphs about the Main Theatre in a regional column appearing in the October 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice. Columnist Harry Hart had visited the theater and talked with various members of the staff. It was definitely open by then.
I think the Main’s building might still be there, at the northwest corner of Cannon and Jackson (801 N. Cannon will fetch it on Google Maps.) In Street View, the building on this corner looks like it was originally art moderne but has been altered. It currently houses a shoe store.
The March 25, 1950, issue of Boxoffice Magazine includes the Edna Theatre in its list of new houses opened the previous year. It gives the cost of the project as $250,000.
I’ve dug up a bit more information about the Colonial Theatre, subject of some discussion above, but there are still some gaps (such as no address and no original opening date) so if anyone has additional information about it, please post it at the Cinema Treasures Colonial Theatre page.
Also, although the Gem Theatre web site says that the YMCA Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1936, the May 8, 1937, issue of Boxoffice Magazine reported that, among the visitors to film row in Charlotte that week, was W.A. Powell of the YMCA Theatre in Kannapolis. Sounds like it was still open.
And then the January 8, 1938, issue of Boxoffice carried an item headed “Kannapolis Fire Costly” which said: “Fire destroyed the YMCA Theatre here recently, originating from causes as yet undetermined. The ‘Y’ and the theatre building were erected as one unit in 1922 by the Cannon Mills at a cost of $500,000.”
I’ve heard that time moves more slowly in the South, so perhaps it was still 1936 in North Carolina when the YMCA burned, but already rolling into 1938 in the rest of the world? But if that is so, what am I to make of the fact that the Cabarrus Genealogical Society tells me the Gem itself was built in 1938? Perhaps time isn’t slower in the South, but simply a bit eccentric?
Or was it the case, as later issues of Boxoffice reported, that it was the Dixie Theatre, not the Gem, which was built to replace the YMCA Theatre? Maybe somebody in Kannapolis could check the archives of the local newspaper to clear up this temporal confusion.
Additionally, from Boxoffice Magazine, February 5, 1938: At Kannapolis, N.C., the Cannon towel interests are erecting a new theatre to replace the YMCA structure, destroyed by fire recently, and in addition are opening a new house for colored trade. These ventures will give Kannapolis four houses, three maintained by the Cannon interests, the fourth, the Colonial, on the outskirts of town, is a pretentious house offering competition from Morris Legendre and associates…."
The Dixie was supposed to open by May, 1938, but a later issue of Boxoffice reveals that a shortage of materials delayed its completion.
Could the “house for colored trade” mentioned in the article have been the Palace?
The December 16, 1974, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Van Croix Theatre was being demolished to make way for a parking lot to serve Flagship Bank of Melbourne. It also said that the theater had been opened in 1925.
OK, over on the Gem Theatre page, on February 26, 2009, Steve Thomas said the Colonial was on North Main Street, and that it went out of business in 1955. He says it remained closed for many years, and he has a photo of it from about ten years after it closed, so that might rule out the Fine Arts of 1964 as a successor to the Colonial.
Also, a May 22, 2006, comment by goodoleboy on the Gem page says that the Main Theatre was on Cannon Boulevard in North Kannapolis, so we can rule out that as a name change.
The Main might have been built in 1947. The June 28 issue of Boxoffice that year reported that a group of Kannapolis GIs were building a 600 seat theatre on Cannon Boulevard at Jackson. Unless there were two theaters on Cannon Boulevard, the new house must have been the Main.
From the Google Maps satellite and street views, it looks like everything on North Main Street near the center of town has been wiped out, so probably the Colonial, and certainly the Fine Arts (if it was a different theater) are both landfill.
Possibly it was expanded. As the manager used the word “gutted” it seems likely that at least some of the existing walls were used. Perhaps the original Colonial had a stage house, and the auditorium might have been expanded into that space.
In any case, the Colonial was in operation by March 29, 1941, when Boxoffice reported that Sam Trincher (various issues of Boxoffice use this alternate spelling of the name) of Legendre Theatres had announced that Kenneth Kornahrens, manager of the Colonial, was leaving and would join the service.
The last mention of the Colonial I’ve come across is in the September 2, 1950, issue of Boxoffice, in an item about a promotion for “Father of the Bride.”
The October 1, 1950, issue of Boxoffice mentions a Main Theatre in Kannapolis. A name change, perhaps? And then The February 9, 1964, issue carried an item about a robbery at the Fine Arts Theatre at 99 W. Main Street, Kannapolis. Another possible name change?
The December 21, 1940, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an item telling of personnel shifts at various Kannapolis theaters resulting from the recent opening of the Swanee Theatre.
The December 17, 1938, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new Dixie Theatre in Kannapolis was nearing completion and would be opened in January.
Either the local writer was wrong about the Colonial never being rebuilt, or there was a later Colonial Theatre in Kannapolis. The June 24, 1946, issue of Boxoffice said that H.H. Everett was taking over operation of the Colonial Theatre on July 1. The house had been built and operated by Morris Legendre and Sam Trencher.
The March 2, 1940, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about the Colonial fire, and said that manager Sam Trencher had announced that the gutted theater would be rebuilt, and that he expected it to reopen within six to eight weeks.
The Carver was opened in late 1949, according to various items in Boxoffice Magazine that year. The November 19 issue mistakenly stated the location as Ocala, Florida, but a correction was printed in the following issue. The Carver was built by a local celery grower named Charles T. Niblack, and was operated for him by Harry Gordon, formerly of Florida State Theatres.
Like many other southern theaters built for black patrons during the era of segregation, this house was named for African American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver.
I have noticed that the seating capacities Boxoffice gives are sometimes way off. They are probably the least reliable figures the magazine published. Sometimes a photo of an auditorium published with an article about a theater will show that there are obviously many fewer seats than the article itself claims there are. The magazine is very useful for such things as opening and closing dates, though, and a lot of other information.
If its Cinema Treasures page is correct, James Poro’s East Islip Theatre had already been open for a decade when he is supposed to have begun building the mystery theater in Islip itself. I can’t find any evidence that Poro’s theater on Main Street ever opened.
I’ve found that Boxoffice has quite a few misspellings and typos, and sometimes has dumb mistakes, such as items datelined to the wrong location (several instances of Lodi, California, for a Lodi Theatre in Lodi, Ohio, for example), but overall it is pretty reliable. Much of the content appears to have been compiled by the magazine’s copy editors from notes or press releases by theater owners themselves.
The editors probably worked in haste, and many of the notes were probably hand written, accounting for the frequent minor errors. Harry Hart was one of their regional corespondents, though, and did a regular column for a few years, often going out to interview people in the industry, as well as doing the same sort of compiling that the staffers in Hollywood probably did, but for territory with which he was personally familiar, so he was less likely than them to make mistakes. I think he was based in Charlotte.
The new Sun Theatre was opened on June 28, 1946, according to Boxoffice Magazine of July 13 that year. The item said that the new Sun replaced the old theater in Williamston, owned by the same operator, B.W. Montgomery.
The July 20 issue of Boxoffice said “Equipment from their old Sun Theatre was removed to the new house.” It sounds like the old theater might have continued operating up until the time the new one was completed, so would have had a different address.
The July 20 item names the owners as S.A. and R.J. Montgomery. I wonder what became of B.W. during that few weeks? The July 13, 1964, issue of Boxoffice mentions a Dick Montgomery being the operator of the Sun. They had an abundance of Montgomerys in Williamston, I guess.
One of the staffers told Harry that “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Stars in My Crown” had both packed the house, so they must have at least had the projectors running by then.
Taylor: I don’t have an actual copy of the magazine. A scan is currently available online from Issuu. Try a Google search using the terms:
issuu boxoffice “edna, tex”
That will fetch scans of several issues of Boxoffice with items mentioning the Edna Theatre. The scans are not available for download, but you might try contacting Boxoffice Magazine through their own web site to see if they could make CD or printed copies of scans available. I don’t know what the magazine’s long-term intentions are regarding their archives. Some magazines, such as The New Yorker, have put their entire archives onto CD ROMs that can be purchased.
Here’s an item datelined Greene, Iowa, from the May 11, 1957, issue of Boxoffice Magazine: “Mr. and Mrs. Russell Meyers have purchased the theatre building here from Floyd Ramker, local building contractor, and will move the Gamble store to the theatre location as soon as extensive remodeling is completed.”
The 1948 item about the sale to M.W. Long is the only mention of the Black Hawk (as Boxoffice spelled it) I’ve found in the magazine.
The classified ad section of the March 4, 1974, issue of Boxoffice advertises a nameless, 300-seat theater in Lansing, Iowa, for sale, at $17,000.
The last mention of Lansing I’ve found in Boxoffice is this ad from the October 21, 1974, issue: “WANTED TO BUY: Theatre in Iowa. Indoor or indoor-outdoor combo. Prefer community size 7,000 to 10,000. Gene Mueller, Lansing, Iowa”
It was probably a name change, and Film Daily just didn’t get around to purging their list of the old name. Lansing had a population of about 1500, and probably wouldn’t have supported two theaters.
The October 2, 1948, issue of Boxoffice says that M.W. Long had bought the Black hawk Theatre in Lansing, Iowa.
A brief item in the January 15, 1949, issue of Boxoffice says that the Lans Theatre in Lansing was having a new marquee installed. No operator’s name was given, but after that, through the 1950s and as late as 1968, M.W. Long often wrote capsule movie reviews for Boxoffice, and was always listed as the operator of the Lans Theatre.
My guess would be that Long put a new marquee on the Black Hawk and, since signage for four letters cost less than for nine letters, he changed the name.
The September 26, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Cecil Theatre was being remodeled by Vince Jorgensen, and would be renamed the Park 70 Theatre.
The Six West Theatres opened to on January 15, 1969, according to the announcement in the January 27 issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The new multiplex was featured in an article in Boxoffice’s issue of April 21, 1969. The total seating capacity of the house was given as 1,590, with the individual units seating 279, 272, 319, 218, 229, and 210 (which adds up to 1,527, so somebody probably made a typo somewhere.)
The world’s first six-screen theater, the Six West was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm Chris Ramos Associates.
The Sparta Drive-In had opened recently, according to the June 28, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. It was designed by Milwaukee architect Urban Peacock.
The January 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice said that Mrs. Hazel Payne, owner of the Glen City Theatre building, planned to rebuild the house and was meeting with the insurance company to settle her claim. She added that she had not heard from Fox West Coast about whether or not they wanted to continue operating the Glen City once it was rebuilt.
Pacific’s Rosecrans Drive-In opened July 1, 1954, according to Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of July 10 that year.
There are two paragraphs about the Main Theatre in a regional column appearing in the October 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice. Columnist Harry Hart had visited the theater and talked with various members of the staff. It was definitely open by then.
I think the Main’s building might still be there, at the northwest corner of Cannon and Jackson (801 N. Cannon will fetch it on Google Maps.) In Street View, the building on this corner looks like it was originally art moderne but has been altered. It currently houses a shoe store.
The March 25, 1950, issue of Boxoffice Magazine includes the Edna Theatre in its list of new houses opened the previous year. It gives the cost of the project as $250,000.
I’ve dug up a bit more information about the Colonial Theatre, subject of some discussion above, but there are still some gaps (such as no address and no original opening date) so if anyone has additional information about it, please post it at the Cinema Treasures Colonial Theatre page.
Also, although the Gem Theatre web site says that the YMCA Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1936, the May 8, 1937, issue of Boxoffice Magazine reported that, among the visitors to film row in Charlotte that week, was W.A. Powell of the YMCA Theatre in Kannapolis. Sounds like it was still open.
And then the January 8, 1938, issue of Boxoffice carried an item headed “Kannapolis Fire Costly” which said: “Fire destroyed the YMCA Theatre here recently, originating from causes as yet undetermined. The ‘Y’ and the theatre building were erected as one unit in 1922 by the Cannon Mills at a cost of $500,000.”
I’ve heard that time moves more slowly in the South, so perhaps it was still 1936 in North Carolina when the YMCA burned, but already rolling into 1938 in the rest of the world? But if that is so, what am I to make of the fact that the Cabarrus Genealogical Society tells me the Gem itself was built in 1938? Perhaps time isn’t slower in the South, but simply a bit eccentric?
Or was it the case, as later issues of Boxoffice reported, that it was the Dixie Theatre, not the Gem, which was built to replace the YMCA Theatre? Maybe somebody in Kannapolis could check the archives of the local newspaper to clear up this temporal confusion.
Additionally, from Boxoffice Magazine, February 5, 1938: At Kannapolis, N.C., the Cannon towel interests are erecting a new theatre to replace the YMCA structure, destroyed by fire recently, and in addition are opening a new house for colored trade. These ventures will give Kannapolis four houses, three maintained by the Cannon interests, the fourth, the Colonial, on the outskirts of town, is a pretentious house offering competition from Morris Legendre and associates…."
The Dixie was supposed to open by May, 1938, but a later issue of Boxoffice reveals that a shortage of materials delayed its completion.
Could the “house for colored trade” mentioned in the article have been the Palace?
The December 16, 1974, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Van Croix Theatre was being demolished to make way for a parking lot to serve Flagship Bank of Melbourne. It also said that the theater had been opened in 1925.
OK, over on the Gem Theatre page, on February 26, 2009, Steve Thomas said the Colonial was on North Main Street, and that it went out of business in 1955. He says it remained closed for many years, and he has a photo of it from about ten years after it closed, so that might rule out the Fine Arts of 1964 as a successor to the Colonial.
Also, a May 22, 2006, comment by goodoleboy on the Gem page says that the Main Theatre was on Cannon Boulevard in North Kannapolis, so we can rule out that as a name change.
The Main might have been built in 1947. The June 28 issue of Boxoffice that year reported that a group of Kannapolis GIs were building a 600 seat theatre on Cannon Boulevard at Jackson. Unless there were two theaters on Cannon Boulevard, the new house must have been the Main.
From the Google Maps satellite and street views, it looks like everything on North Main Street near the center of town has been wiped out, so probably the Colonial, and certainly the Fine Arts (if it was a different theater) are both landfill.
Possibly it was expanded. As the manager used the word “gutted” it seems likely that at least some of the existing walls were used. Perhaps the original Colonial had a stage house, and the auditorium might have been expanded into that space.
In any case, the Colonial was in operation by March 29, 1941, when Boxoffice reported that Sam Trincher (various issues of Boxoffice use this alternate spelling of the name) of Legendre Theatres had announced that Kenneth Kornahrens, manager of the Colonial, was leaving and would join the service.
The last mention of the Colonial I’ve come across is in the September 2, 1950, issue of Boxoffice, in an item about a promotion for “Father of the Bride.”
The October 1, 1950, issue of Boxoffice mentions a Main Theatre in Kannapolis. A name change, perhaps? And then The February 9, 1964, issue carried an item about a robbery at the Fine Arts Theatre at 99 W. Main Street, Kannapolis. Another possible name change?
The December 21, 1940, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an item telling of personnel shifts at various Kannapolis theaters resulting from the recent opening of the Swanee Theatre.
The December 17, 1938, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new Dixie Theatre in Kannapolis was nearing completion and would be opened in January.
Either the local writer was wrong about the Colonial never being rebuilt, or there was a later Colonial Theatre in Kannapolis. The June 24, 1946, issue of Boxoffice said that H.H. Everett was taking over operation of the Colonial Theatre on July 1. The house had been built and operated by Morris Legendre and Sam Trencher.
The March 2, 1940, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about the Colonial fire, and said that manager Sam Trencher had announced that the gutted theater would be rebuilt, and that he expected it to reopen within six to eight weeks.