Gatlinburg Theatre
570 East Parkway,
Gatlinburg,
TN
37738
570 East Parkway,
Gatlinburg,
TN
37738
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas, Reel Theatres
Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The Gatlinburg Theatre had a lot of the trappings of a Jerry Lewis Cinema, very late-1960’s early-1970’s design. The last known owner of the cinema was the Tennessee based Reel Theatres chain.
Contributed by
Jack Coursey
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
A friend of mine grew up in Gatlinburg. She sent the following reminiscence:
The Gatlinburg Cinema was first the Jerry Lewis Cinema, and I remember well when it opened. Living above it in Rattlesnake Hollow, my sister and I thought it was pretty cool not only to have a movie theater in town (we always had to go to knoxville before then to see movies) but to be able to walk to it —wow.
Our dad walked us down the hill to the very first movie, “The Cowboys” with John Wayne. I remember feeling very adult because they
said the word “shit” in it.
I also remember when the mysterious “The Exorcist” showed there because we would monitor the crowds, like it was a big event.
The same movie would play for a couple of weeks, I guess.
I do remember going to some sort of monster show in 7th grade, I think. It was more of a live, theater thing, supposed to be very scary. It didn’t scare me and I was disappointed.
The floors were indeed sticky.
Everything was red I think.
Popcorn to the left. Two entrances.
I can’t believe that a theatre in, of all places, Gatlinburg TN is not open as this mountain community is a major tourist area!
No it is closed Patsy.
I bet the locals stay out of the tourist trap and the vistors don’t want to waste time in a theatre.Gatlinburg has gone down down hill,it could take a look at Hilton Head and see how to do it right.They have ruined the Smokeys.
My late dad started playing gigs around the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas around 1978, which also meant that my bro and I used to spend weekends with him down there. We only got to see one movie at the old Gatlinburg Theatre back in late 1981. And it was one movie that really stood out for several reasons. It was “Modern Problems” staring Chevy Chase. One because it was where I first learned about Cocaine at in the scene where the late Nell Carter’s character pours it on the floor around Chase’s bed and then Chase’s character goes “Oh boy, Oh boy, nobody knows, Oh boy” and then he slides around the bed sniffing it all up and then his face fills up the screen and he screams “YES, oh ho ho I LIKE IT.” Not only did my dad laugh his arse off, but so did everyone else in the theatre at the time. Dad had to later explain to me what the so called Angel Dust really was and why that particular scene was so funny since I was only 12 years old at the time. But the movie also stood out because of a song by the Tubes that appeared in the movie’s ending credits called “Gonna Get It Next Time.” I would spend the next thirty years looking for that particular song after dad asked me to find it for him so he could learn it. I would later learn that 20th Century Fox only released it to radio stations for airplay in promotion to the film. The song was never released commercially on any soundtrack, but it was since showed up on You Tube in several third party uploads.