Colquitt Theatre

50sSNIPES on December 2, 2023 at 3:18 pm

The 1,250-seat Colquitt Theatre opened its doors on May 27, 1942 with Betty Grable in “Song Of The Islands” along with an unnamed Popeye cartoon, a March Of Time reel, and a newsreel (all unlisted on grand opening ad). The Colquitt Theatre itself measures 60x140ft, and was the dominant mainstream A-film house in Moultrie.

On March 3, 1956, during a showing of John Payne in “Slightly Scarlet” (along with an unnamed cartoon and Warner-Pathe News), the Colquitt Theatre was heavily destroyed by a fire with an unknown cause broke out in the false ceiling area and sparks dropped onto the stage screen. Out of the some 600 people who attended the screening, no injuries were reported, and the estimate loss of the theater costed around $200,000 in damages. The people at the independent Moulete Theatres Incorporated chain had no choice but to shift the Colquitt Theatre’s schedule to the nearby Moultrie Theatre.

The Moultrie Theatre, who had been running B-films since the 1942 opening of the Colquitt, began picking up the Colquitt Theatre’s mainstream A-film lineup one week after the fire. The staff quickly installed CinemaScope in the Moultrie following the fire at the Colquitt, and on March 11, 1956, the Moultrie Theatre ran its first A-film in almost 14 years, which is Fred MacMurray in “There’s Always Tomorrow” along with an unnamed cartoon. It would remain like that for the following two years.

After a fully two-year construction, the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors on March 20, 1958 with Robert Stack in “The Gift Of Love” along with a cartoon and short subjects. The general manager of the theater is Charlie C. Clark, with Mr. Charlie Powell being the president.

As of 1958, the doors are solid oak doors and the foyers are dominated by a Venetian mural depicting a view of old Venice complete with antique buildings and bridges. The Colquitt Theatre is the only movie house in South Georgia that has as much as 41 inches of space in between rows of seats, and was the second theater to do so in the state (with the other one being the Art Theatre in Atlanta). The projection room featured two Century 35mm projectors that is equipped with a 16x41ft Bausch & Lomb-made CinemaScope screen (the largest in South Central Georgia) as well as Kellmorgan General Scientific prime lenses and RCA Magnetic Sound-Acoustical walls. The curtains are draped in gold and white fireproof damask featuring a switch in the booth that raises and lowers automatically which is the waterfall type. Compared to both the 1942 and 1958 Colquitt Theatres, the capacity was reduced a bit from its original 1,250 to 1,000 seats in the 1958 rebuild. There are also two 40-ton air conditioners providing comfortable temperatures all-year-round. There is also an outgoing telephone located next to the water fountain where it was formerly located since the fire.

Exactly a day right after the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors to the public, the Moulette Theatre nearby experienced a schedule change and returned back to its B-film policy after stunting as an A-film house in dedication to the then-destroyed Colquitt Theatre for two years and two weeks in total. The last A-film the Moultrie Theatre ran is Don Murray in “A Hatful Of Rain” plus a cartoon and comedy reel.

The Georgia Theatres Company chain last operated the Colquitt (who also operated both the Moulette Twin Cinema and the Sunset Drive-In) until the Colquitt Theatre closed for the final time on October 15, 1978 with Michael Brandon in “FM”.