A story from my now deceased neighbor Mrs. Jean Stafford, about the Liberty Theatre:
“The Liberty Theater had a stage, and they put on yearly recitals in the spring and fall there for the local ballet group which I was a part of. Outside of the theater was a sign area for coming attractions for the upcoming shows, and there were photos for the upcoming recital trying to sell tickets. I wanted my mother to take a picture of me by the advertisement, but she never did.
What I liked about the theater were the cowboy shows: twenty cents if you were over 12 years old and fifteen cents if you were under. On Saturday mornings I would try to get by for being younger so that I had five cents left for Cracker Jacks which was a big deal. The woman knew my 12-year-old face, so that didn’t work long. Besides movies, they had acts and I remember when the “Ink Spots” came. One of the guys had a big diamond ring that looked like a spotlight even from the back row. I am sure it was real."
it appears on the Anson-Jones Museum Website that the Palace hosted a movie night for the community on April 20, 2024, with two photographs. Vance Boyd, a local cattle rancher and candidate for the US Congress and his son have been in the news regarding their acquisition of the theater and the hard work they have been putting in to restore it. https://www.facebook.com/ansonjonesmuseum
Howard Larsen was the son of Larry Larsen who was a scenic backdrop painter from Denmark originally. Here is the article about Larry: https://drypigment.net/2022/03/02/sosman-landis-shaping-the-landscape-of-american-theatre-employee-no-79-larry-larsen/
It appears the name of the theater is now officially the Stewart Theater. The website refers to the theater by this name and the advertising does as well. here is the theater’s website: https://stewarttheater.com/
The Rogers Theatre is well on its way to becoming a top-notch gem of a theatre and live venue event center in Shelby. I recently met one of the owners and photographed the work that is being done. It will be beautiful when completed, and they are anxious to get that done, but because of the historic covenants, it is going a bit slower. They are not discouraged, they know it will take a bit more time.
I just visited Lewellen recently and called to verify the Theater information this week. Woodman Hall was the name of the first movie theater that was built as a playhouse and a movie theater and it opened in 1908. Woodman Hall served as the local school for two years as well, waiting for the new school to be built.
Two doors down, the State Theater was built, and on the front of the State Theater are the dates 1932-1964. Carl Beard built this theater and when he passed away in 1946, his sister Mary took over the theater and then dedicated in her brother’s honor to be a rec center for the town. For a while, it had a two-lane bowling alley inside. The school in town still celebrates a “Mary Beard” day on her birthday as a remembrance of someone who did a lot for this small town which now has a population of 175.
The Woodman Hall Theater shut down when the State opened, as far as the local folks can remember, but the Hall then served as the community center until 1935, and after that as a warehouse for amorphous silicated mined outside of Lewellen. After WWII, from 1947 and into the 1960’s it was a grocery store, and then became two storefronts. When Paul Temple, the owner died, it was sold by his daughter Mary to Paul’s good friend Dennis Miller and in 2009 it became a cafe and an art gallery, which is what it is today, and is known as the “Most Unlikey Place”.
Thank you to the owners and staff of the “Most Unlikely Place” and to Ruth Radke, who works at the Lewellen Chamber of Commerce and is a local librarian, for this information.
I photographed this theatre in 1990 and it was called “Main Attraction”. I am wondering if anyone remembers when it was called that? It isn’t recorded as such above in the history. Thanks!
My mother, who is now 83 and grew up in Largo, the town next door, said that the man that ran the Ritz had a little terrier type dog that was always with him and was very loved by everyone who came to the movies. When the dog passed away, someone put a statue of a dog that looked like his just outside the door of the theater. I remember seeing this when I was young, but never knew the story until recently.
The address for the Lyric Theater should be 107 S. Main, Lexington, NC. The stairs that would have led to the balcony are easily seen and the entry where the box office would have been are identifiable.
It appears that at least part of the front of the Royal Theatre is still standing. I was in Wilmington this week (5/28/2021) and at 141 N. Front Street is Dior’s Lounge; the street-level area appears to be the right front side of the Royal when you are facing it on the street. The small tiles are the same and the area wall the movie poster would be is still there.
A story from my now deceased neighbor Mrs. Jean Stafford, about the Liberty Theatre:
“The Liberty Theater had a stage, and they put on yearly recitals in the spring and fall there for the local ballet group which I was a part of. Outside of the theater was a sign area for coming attractions for the upcoming shows, and there were photos for the upcoming recital trying to sell tickets. I wanted my mother to take a picture of me by the advertisement, but she never did.
What I liked about the theater were the cowboy shows: twenty cents if you were over 12 years old and fifteen cents if you were under. On Saturday mornings I would try to get by for being younger so that I had five cents left for Cracker Jacks which was a big deal. The woman knew my 12-year-old face, so that didn’t work long. Besides movies, they had acts and I remember when the “Ink Spots” came. One of the guys had a big diamond ring that looked like a spotlight even from the back row. I am sure it was real."
it appears on the Anson-Jones Museum Website that the Palace hosted a movie night for the community on April 20, 2024, with two photographs. Vance Boyd, a local cattle rancher and candidate for the US Congress and his son have been in the news regarding their acquisition of the theater and the hard work they have been putting in to restore it. https://www.facebook.com/ansonjonesmuseum
Correction about year it opened - it was 1949. the movie that first was shown didn’t come out until then, so it could not have been 1941.
Howard Larsen was the son of Larry Larsen who was a scenic backdrop painter from Denmark originally. Here is the article about Larry: https://drypigment.net/2022/03/02/sosman-landis-shaping-the-landscape-of-american-theatre-employee-no-79-larry-larsen/
It appears the name of the theater is now officially the Stewart Theater. The website refers to the theater by this name and the advertising does as well. here is the theater’s website: https://stewarttheater.com/
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The Rogers Theatre is well on its way to becoming a top-notch gem of a theatre and live venue event center in Shelby. I recently met one of the owners and photographed the work that is being done. It will be beautiful when completed, and they are anxious to get that done, but because of the historic covenants, it is going a bit slower. They are not discouraged, they know it will take a bit more time.
I just visited Lewellen recently and called to verify the Theater information this week. Woodman Hall was the name of the first movie theater that was built as a playhouse and a movie theater and it opened in 1908. Woodman Hall served as the local school for two years as well, waiting for the new school to be built.
Two doors down, the State Theater was built, and on the front of the State Theater are the dates 1932-1964. Carl Beard built this theater and when he passed away in 1946, his sister Mary took over the theater and then dedicated in her brother’s honor to be a rec center for the town. For a while, it had a two-lane bowling alley inside. The school in town still celebrates a “Mary Beard” day on her birthday as a remembrance of someone who did a lot for this small town which now has a population of 175.
The Woodman Hall Theater shut down when the State opened, as far as the local folks can remember, but the Hall then served as the community center until 1935, and after that as a warehouse for amorphous silicated mined outside of Lewellen. After WWII, from 1947 and into the 1960’s it was a grocery store, and then became two storefronts. When Paul Temple, the owner died, it was sold by his daughter Mary to Paul’s good friend Dennis Miller and in 2009 it became a cafe and an art gallery, which is what it is today, and is known as the “Most Unlikey Place”.
Thank you to the owners and staff of the “Most Unlikely Place” and to Ruth Radke, who works at the Lewellen Chamber of Commerce and is a local librarian, for this information.
I photographed this theatre in 1990 and it was called “Main Attraction”. I am wondering if anyone remembers when it was called that? It isn’t recorded as such above in the history. Thanks!
My mother, who is now 83 and grew up in Largo, the town next door, said that the man that ran the Ritz had a little terrier type dog that was always with him and was very loved by everyone who came to the movies. When the dog passed away, someone put a statue of a dog that looked like his just outside the door of the theater. I remember seeing this when I was young, but never knew the story until recently.
The address for the Lyric Theater should be 107 S. Main, Lexington, NC. The stairs that would have led to the balcony are easily seen and the entry where the box office would have been are identifiable.
The marquee now says “ROSS” instead of SCOTT, but the theater is still open and looks to be in good shape!
It appears that at least part of the front of the Royal Theatre is still standing. I was in Wilmington this week (5/28/2021) and at 141 N. Front Street is Dior’s Lounge; the street-level area appears to be the right front side of the Royal when you are facing it on the street. The small tiles are the same and the area wall the movie poster would be is still there.
I believe the architect is George Howard Burrows, not Barrows.
You can see where the Marquee was above the door and has since been removed.