Douglass Theatre
355 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard,
Macon,
GA
31201
355 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard,
Macon,
GA
31201
1 person
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Douglass Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Bijou Amusement Company
Architects: J. Reginald MacEachron
Functions: Live Performances
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The Douglass Theatre is listed as opening on May 6, 1912. It is named after its owner Charles Douglass who was an African-American businesman. It was opened for African-Americans so they could see vaudeville and movies during the days of racial segregation.
The Douglass Theatre closed in 1972. In 1996 there was a $2.3 million renovation of the theatre and on January 11, 1997 the Douglass Theatre re-opened. Today, this theatre welcomes all races and cultures with live events, movies and live performances.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Here is a handbill from 1927:
http://tinyurl.com/rflbx
And another handbill from the same era:
http://tinyurl.com/qudhk
Otis Redding used to perform at this theatre.
What a great restoration of this historical theatre, I have seen the interior and the front is more elegant than when it was as a movie theatre, I would guess it probably looked more like this when it was orginally build. Little Richard, James Brown and Otis Redding all performed at the Douglass, so glad it was spared the wrecking ball.
Great work, I was not familiar with the Roxy, I wish had more information on location etc.
This page of the web site of Chris R. Sheridan & Company, General Contractors, features a slide show of the Douglass Theatre. Text says that the original architect of the theater was J. Reginald MacEachron. The renovation was handled by the local firm Balian & Associates.
Charles Douglass established the original Douglass Theatre on the ground floor of his Douglass Hotel in 1912. The hotel was next door to the site of the present Douglass Theatre, and the building can be seen in the 1950s exterior photo linked in lostmemory’s May 9, 2008, comment on this theater. A pre-1921 view of the original theater can be seen on page 47 of Macon, by Glenda Barnes Bozeman (Google Books preview.)
The Douglass theatre placed its first ad on May 6th, 1912. It’s been posted in the photo section.
Infographic:
Douglass Theatre Infographic 1 10 Jan 1997, Fri The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia) Newspapers.com
and
I remember one time I was at a conference in Macon, i walked up and tried to peek inside this theater. It was before the renovation. I could inside and literally everything was stripped out. It is great to see how this theater has been renovated.