Boone Theatre
Boone Street,
Whitesville,
WV
25209
Boone Street,
Whitesville,
WV
25209
1 person
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In the photo section Chuck, one of the pics I posted in the summer, should be the 1st one I think, the building that once housed the Liberty theatre is the building to the extreme right of the photo.
Hello Chuck! The Liberty theatre was on the same block as the boone theatre (it was always the boone). There was just literally a couple of buildings that seperated the 2 theatres. Whitesville was a booming town back in the day. My uncle was a projectionist at the liberty theatre in the 50’s and early 60’s. From what he told me, the liberty closed in the early 70’s and became home to a bowling alley for several years. I remember the bowling alley for sure. After the bowling alley, it became a antique furniture store for 10-15 years, most recently, it became an auction house on fridays and saturdays. The building is still standing and in great shape. Thanks for the info on the JUR.
Another memory I have watching movies there was the terrible sound, definatey no THX or even surround sound (it may have crumbeled the walls if used, no kidding!) There was only a center screen speaker and often movie patrons would have to tell the projectionist to turn the sound up! And the screen was a Vista-Vision screen, no Cinamascope here in Whitesville. When a Cinamascope film played here, such as “Ghostbusters”, what didn’t fill the screen, filled the surrounding walls. Not intentionally cutting down our little theatre, it was all we had in this area during my time growing up!
Boone Theatre was definately a 2nd run theatre. Usually a summer blockbuster would play at the Boone in November or December of that year! If a movie flopped, it may have taken 2 or 3 weeks for the Boone to play it for the weekend. I remember the John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John flop from ‘83 “Two of A Kind” playing at the Boone Theatre a week or 2 after first being released. “Tootsie” which came out in December of '82, played there in the Spring of '83. I drove by just the other day and it was being cleaned out yet again. The church hasn’t used the theatre in years. I just wonder if the screen is still standing inside?!
Very fond memories of the Boone theatre. I remember in the 70’s growing up the line to get in would go for a block or more. Some of the first movies I remember seeing there were “Nine to Five” & “Superman II”. By the early 90’s no one hardly went to this theatre anymore. Admission was still only $4 at the time of closing in 1996. The last movie shown was “Halloween-The Curse of Michael Myers” The poster was still out for a year or more until the church moved in.
Nice picture Ken, Lots of Boone theatres in that region I bet.