State Theatre
929 College Street,
Bowling Green,
KY
42101
929 College Street,
Bowling Green,
KY
42101
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 29 comments
Uploaded a photo as the Diamond from the WKU Library Special Collections.
Uploaded an image of a 1921 ad in the Park City Daily News for the State.
The church moved in in 1985. Poor thing is looking pretty seedy today. I’ve added a 1925 view of the original floor plan.
Reopened as State on November 3rd, 1949.
State theatre opening Wed, Nov 2, 1949 – 7 · The Park City Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky) · Newspapers.com
Hello Bill and Mike,Sorry i haven’t responded sooner,I have been a little busy,just not getting a lot done.Was reading your last message and it brought back some more memories of my time at the STATE.When “The Graduate"came out we got to run it because of the seating capacity,it was one of the few times we got to run a grade A movie.We ran it for three weeks and it was a sellout everynight.I had to thread the projectors pretty much in the dark because of having to keep the projection booth door shut due to people sitting in the balcony.It presented a challenge but i enjoyed doing it.
I’m sure you’re right Larry. When I think back, I have to reference the time I spent in the Military (Apr 64-Sept 68). Much of that time was spent in a fog anyway and I had little contact with folks in BG. As I mentioned before, my Dad left Martin Theatres for a while to work for Cresent Amusement Co. (the previous owners of the BG theatres.) That would have been sometime around ‘62 or '63 (I was away in college.) I don’t know exactly when he came back with Martin’s but I do remember he worked for a few months managing theatres in Columbia, TN before coming back to BG as city mgr. but I’m not sure what year that was. I do know it was before I got back stateside because when I returned in '68, I managed the Riverside Drive In for him while I finished up at WKU. I believe Happy was still managing the State at that time. I left BG again in '70 but came back after Happy died to help Dad out and managed the State for a couple of years. That would’ve been around '73 or '74. Two movies that I remember presenting during that time were “Jaws” and “The Exorcist”… both sold out the house and lines extended around the corner and down 10th street! That’s best record my memory allows. Later, in my career as a teacher, I encouraged students to keep a daily journal because I had always wished I had.
Mike,Bill was right,we used the old carbon arc lamps.Although i must correct him on something,Happy was already Mgr. of the STATE before the Martin Twins were opened.I know how it is to have a clouded memory because i’m not sure about the months,although i do remember working the door in the winter,having to break the frozen letters from marquee.The first movie i ran on my own was Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”,what a way to start!I’ll write about some more of my memories later,got to sign off for now,Take Larry Cassady
I remember Happy Hardcastle well. He was assisant mgr at the Capitol when my uncle John lived and worked the projection booth there for many years. Timelines have faded a little in my memory but when Cresent Amusement Co. sold to Martin Theatres my dad went with Cresent for a couple of years to manage the Cresent Lanes bowling. He came back to Martin’s as city manager when the Martin Theatre opened in what was then the “new” mall. I believe it may have been during that period that the Capitol closed and Happy came to the State. Happy probably knew more about the projection booth than anyone. We were never sure that breathing all that acetone glue didn’t contribute to his latter health problems… great guy.. I actually remember when his hair was “blondish” but for the last 40 yrs of his life it was snow white. I believe at the time Larry worked there, they were still using the old carbon-arc lamps. I want to think the projectors were RCA but my memory is foggy on that. They were later replaced with Xeon lamps and platter systems but I believe the heads were retained at least for a while.
Larry, Do you remember what projectors you had?
I remember the STATE Theater quite well,I was fortunate enough to be able to work there from 1966 thru 1967.I started at the door then to running projectors.Happy Hardcastle was the Mgr.I have a lot of great memories of my time at the STATE.Larry Cassady
The State Theatre opened in 1949 on the site of the old Diamond Theatre. It was operated at the time by Crescent Amusement Co. (of Nashville, TN)and was sold along with the Capitol and Princess Theatres to Martin Theatres (Fuqua Industries,) in 1961 pursuant to a federal antitrust lawsuit. It was aquired by Carmike Cinemas in 1982 and closed shortly thereafter. My uncle, J.P. Masters managed the Capitol Theatre and my dad, William F. Scates managed the State from opening day until he retired as city manager for Martin Theatres in Bowling Green in 1978. I grew up in the three magnificent Bowling Green theatres and knew every corner of each. I started working in the State Theatre’s concession stand at age 12 makeing 25 cents/hr and held every job in the theatre, (including manager when my dad became city manager,) until I went off to college and later military. The comment about the ‘10’ marquee and ‘lazy manager’ is unwarranted. At that time theatres were struggling with overhead and marquee letters that were broken were hard to replace. I well remember planning how we could scrimp together enough letters, broken pieces of letters (and/or numbers used for letters,) to get the next marquee up. The marquee letters, like downtown theatres, were dying on the vine and along with them the downtowns of small towns. Sad.. No days like the ‘heydays’!
Seeing that picture makes me sad. I loved the State Theater
Marilyn Dee Casto’s book “Actors, Audiences, and Historic Theatres of Kentucky” says that the Diamond Theatre opened in 1921.
Someone could have done a much better marquee than what that picture shows with “10” on it.Pity to have a marquee that nice and a lazy manager running it.
Jan 1 1969 THE STATE was playing “KILLERS THREE” rated M.
There’s a page on facebook “Bowling Green Since 1950, Kentucky”. One of the wall photos is of the State with the commenters saying the first movies they saw there or date memories.
There’s a Boxoffice item of July 10, 1948, saying that the Crescent Amusement Company’s Diamond Theatre in Bowling Green was to be enlarged and remodeled. The manager said that the building would be extended by about 65 feet. Boxoffice of February 5, 1949, said that the Diamond Theatre had been closed for extensive remodeling.
The December 3, 1949, issue of Boxoffice announced that the State Theatre had opened. The item claimed a seating capacity of 1,400 for the expended house (probably an exaggeration.) The item noted that Crescent Amusement Co. also operated the Capitol and Princess theaters in Bowling Green.
Paper has been off the windows for a bit now. No new signs up.
I can confirm that the State Theater was operating as a movie theater into the early 80’s. The last movie that I remember seeing there was Friday the 13th. That was not released until late 1980 if I’m not mistaken.
The theater was converted into a Church in the mid-80’s.
I remember thinking that if I had been able to choose which theater to remodel (State or Capitol) I would have chosen the State. I remember the State being a much more beautiful theater than the Capitol. That may just be my memory playing tricks on me though.
Windows still papered over. You can still see the filled in penetrations for the PK housings for the neon for the E of the State on the big vertical sign out front.
For Sale sign is down now. Windows are papered over.
The church is also putting on concerts in the theater building:
http://tinyurl.com/2b79kk
The Daimond belonged to the Crescent Amusement Co that
had its offices at 416 E. Main from about 1911-1960.
I’ll defer to your knowledge. I got my info from a sheet where the open/close dates seemed to be in five year chunks. I personally don’t know when it officially closed. I’m trying to get people I know to add their info (which is more first hand, like yours) about this place.
Mike, well, I know it was operating as a movie theatre at least in 1980, maybe a little bit later, so the 1975 date is suspect.