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E. Carrington Smith

E. Carrington Smith managed the Carolina Theatre in Chapel Hill for the Publix-Saenger company from its opening in the fall of 1927. In its first year he gave more than 5,000 free admissions to University dormitories, fraternities, teams and conventions, and he urged parents and schools to push for cleaner pictures for children.

Source: DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 14, 1928, p. 4 (Carolina Theatre Anniversary)

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Chapel Hill against billboards and street banners, 1924–19621924–1962 · From 1924 to 1962 Chapel Hill's clubwomen, Boy Scouts and aldermen worked to clear billboards and advertising signs from the village and the highways into town. In 1924 the Community Club protested commercial sign-boards, and in 1925 the Boy Scouts took down nearly all the signs on the Durham highway to the county line. Under the 1928 zoning ordinance the board of adjustment ordered every billboard removed by 1930, but the town attorney found the ban invalid. In 1932 the aldermen resolved to help remove billboards at curves. After billboard companies ignored the 1955 zoning ordinance's deadline, the town in 1962 reached an agreement with General Outdoor Advertising to take down its billboards in the suburban zoning district. The new Carolina Theatre, 1941–19421941–1942 · 6 events · A federal order halting construction of theatres stopped work on Chapel Hill's new Carolina Theatre on June 6, 1942, with the building about 85 percent complete. In 1941 Wilby-Kincey, which ran the Carolina and Pick theatres, had bought a Franklin Street lot for a fireproof theatre with 1,200 seats. At the urging of its local manager, E. Carrington Smith, the chain agreed to follow a Colonial front approved by the town's new planning commission, and ground was broken in December 1941. Smith applied for permission to finish, and the theatre at 108 East Franklin Street opened on October 15, 1942. The older house became The Village, showing the Navy Pre-Flight School's free movies for cadets.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Publix-Saenger takes over the Pickwick Theatre on a long-term lease The Publix-Saenger company, which ran the Carolina Theatre, leased the older Pickwick Theatre building and equipment from S. J. Brockwell, putting both of Chapel Hill's movie houses under its local manager, E. Carrington Smith. The company promised better pictures at the Pickwick and planned a student orchestra for the Carolina. People: Samuel Jackson Brockwell, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 7, 1928, p. 1
  2. Chapel Hill board of adjustment lets a Durham theatre take over a billboard permit On January 4, 1929, Chapel Hill's board of adjustment, which could relax the 1928 zoning ordinance's ban on signs for business not done on the premises, ruled that the Auditorium theatre of Durham could use the posting space on the former Berman store at Franklin and Columbia streets as the Carolina Theatre had before. Louis Graves, a member, dissented, and his motion to remove every nonconforming sign after April 1 died for want of a second. People: Louis Graves, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 11, 1929, p. 1
  3. Chapel Hill's town attorney finds the zoning ordinance's billboard ban invalid By early August 1929 the town attorney, B. D. Sawyer, had given the opinion that the zoning ordinance's ban on billboards was an invalid denial of property rights. Carolina Theatre manager E. Carrington Smith had asked the aldermen to withdraw the ban after the board of appeals set a deadline for the theatre's signs to come down. People: E. Carrington Smith, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 2, 1929, p. 1
  4. The Carolina Theatre closes for a week to install sound equipment for talking pictures On August 26, 1929, the Carolina Theatre closed for a week while a Vitaphone-Movietone sound system was installed, the house redecorated and its walls fitted with sound-deadening board. Manager E. Carrington Smith set the first talking pictures for September 16, the start of a 'Chapel Hill Modern' trade week planned by the town's merchants. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 23, 1929, p. 1
  5. The Carolina Theatre begins showing talking pictures with the Vitaphone Marking its second anniversary, the Carolina Theatre installed Vitaphone sound equipment, lined its walls with sound-absorbing materials, and opened its sound programs on September 16 with 'Charming Sinners.' Chapel Hill merchants built a 'Modern Week' sale around the opening, Mayor Zeb P. Council proclaimed it, and adult admission rose from 30 to 40 cents. People: E. Carrington Smith, Zeb P. CouncilSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 13, 1929, p. 7
  6. The Carolina Theatre gives free tickets to careful drivers picked by the police In a careful-driving campaign, E. C. Smith, manager of the Carolina Theatre, gave free tickets each week to ten Chapel Hill citizens whom the police chose as careful drivers; the Weekly printed the names of each week's winners.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1929, p. 1 ("Careful Driving" Campaign)
  7. Chapel Hill's recorder's court moves into the old Pickwick Theatre E. Carrington Smith, manager of the Carolina Theatre, lent the old Pickwick Theatre to Recorder Hinshaw for the town court, which had outgrown its quarters in the town hall, with sessions to be held there from the following Monday on. People: E. Carrington Smith, Clarence P. HinshawSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 14, 1930, p. 2
  8. Carolina Theatre shows a foreign-language talking picture The Carolina Theatre showed the French version of 'The Big Pond', which the Weekly called Chapel Hill's first talkie in a foreign tongue. Manager E. Carrington Smith planned two French and one German film a month, and Spanish and German talkies followed in January. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 5, 1930, p. 5
  9. Chapel Hill raises its Red Cross drought-relief quota and a fund for the county's needy About 900 people gave toward the Chapel Hill Red Cross chapter's $600 quota for the national drought-relief appeal and $250 more for the needy of Orange County, chairman Joseph Hyde Pratt reported. A benefit picture at the Carolina Theatre on February 8 helped; Pratt had said any money above the quota would be spent on relief in Orange County. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, E. Carrington SmithThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 13, 1931, p. 2
  10. Chapel Hill organizes a central committee for relief of the unemployed, with Joseph Hyde Pratt as chairman Delegates of the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, the King's Daughters, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the county welfare department and the Red Cross met at the Bank of Chapel Hill and formed a central committee to coordinate the town's charities, replacing the mayor's emergency unemployment committee of the year before. Chairman Joseph Hyde Pratt said its main aim was to find work for the jobless, and George H. Lawrence was made secretary. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, E. Carrington Smith, Zeb P. CouncilThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 2, 1931, p. 1
  11. A flour matinee at the Carolina Theatre collects 2,000 pounds of flour for the needy To open the relief campaign, the Carolina Theatre admitted children to a Saturday morning show for a sack of flour, and more than 2,000 pounds were collected for the central relief committee to distribute. Manager E. Carrington Smith lent a room in the Pickwick building for storage, and canned goods and potato matinees followed on later Saturdays. People: E. Carrington SmithThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 23, 1931, p. 1
  12. Red Cross, American Legion and county welfare department open a joint relief headquarters in Chapel Hill The Red Cross, the American Legion and the county welfare department opened a joint relief office on Franklin Street near the post office, in rent-free space given by M. E. Hogan. It took donations, stored food and clothing for the winter and arranged nurses for needy families. People: Milton E. Hogan, E. Carrington SmithThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 13, 1931, p. 1
Show all 30 dated events
  1. Every Chapel Hill merchant signs on under the NRA E. C. Smith, chairman of the citizens' committee, reported that every merchant in town had signed the President's blanket agreement or a trade code of the National Recovery Administration, and that the few citizens who at first declined the consumers' pledge had since signed. Postmaster R. A. Eubanks was the government's representative for the campaign. People: Robert A. Eubanks, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 15, 1933, p. 1
  2. A Chapel Hill NRA compliance board takes complaints Chapel Hill organized an NRA Compliance Board, E. C. Smith chairman, with Clyde Eubanks, Marvin Utley, G. M. Hill, James Foister and P. S. Randolph, to investigate complaints quietly; on October 17 the State Recovery Board assigned Mrs. Lyman Cotten of Chapel Hill to the district of Orange, Durham, Person and Chatham. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 20, 1933, p. 1
  3. Carolina Theatre is made over with cushioned seats and new lighting The Carolina Theatre was remodeled inside, its wooden seats replaced a few rows at a time with cushioned spring seats, and new drapes, silk panels for the acoustics, carpets, ceiling and wall lights and a new curtain installed without interrupting the shows. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 1, 1935, p. 1
  4. Chapel Hill's Rotary Club asks the trustees to admit local young women as freshmen and sophomores On May 20, 1936 the Chapel Hill Rotary Club resolved to ask the trustees of the Greater University to let qualified young women living within commuting distance attend the Chapel Hill unit in their first two years, which the trustees' rules then forbade. The Kiwanis Club and the Parent-Teacher Association endorsed the resolutions, and petitions from parents of high school girls and from other citizens were circulated for the trustees' meeting of May 30. People: Luther James Phipps, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1936, p. 1
  5. Chapel Hill's aldermen legalize Sunday movies The board of aldermen adopted rules allowing Sunday picture shows from 1 to 7 P.M. and after 8:30 P.M., leaving the evening church hour clear, and requiring the Chapel Hill Movie Guild to report its receipts and spending to the board each year. Sunday shows had run for years under an informal understanding, with part of the money going to relief and civic causes. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Robert H. Wettach, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 19, 1937, p. 1
  6. The Carolina Theatre begins showing a weekly reel of Chapel Hill scenes Manager E. C. Smith had pictures of campus and village life filmed by an Eastman photographer for a 12-minute reel shown two days a week. The first, with the Carolina-Virginia game, football practice and the new gymnasium, ran in the week of December 6; Smith planned to keep the films as a pictorial history of the University and the village. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 10, 1937, p. 5
  7. Durham Hosiery Mills gives its Carrboro playground equipment to the University Lake picnic ground William F. Carr, for the Durham Hosiery Mills, gave the playground equipment the company had in Carrboro to the picnic ground below the University Lake dam. The aldermen's committee for the ground, E. C. Smith and P. L. Burch, asked Chapel Hill and Carrboro for money to hire a custodian; the University had walled the pool and the Movie Guild and others had paid for dressing rooms. People: Peter L. Burch, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 2, 1939, p. 1
  8. Chapel Hill raises money for Greek war relief, led by its Greek-born residents Nineteen Greek-born residents of Chapel Hill met and gave more than $350 to start a fund for widows, orphans and bombed-out families in Greece, and a citizens' committee followed with a "take a Greek to dinner" collection in restaurants and dormitories. By December 20 the committee had cabled $550 to the Greek Red Cross in Athens. People: W. E. Thompson, Harry F. Comer, John M. Foushee, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 1
  9. Chapel Hill piles up a truckload of aluminum for national defense At an aluminum-for-defense matinee arranged by the Carolina Theatre, the Weekly and the American Legion, townspeople and children heaped old pots, pans and percolators on the sidewalk in front of the theatre in a mound as tall as a man, which filled the truck that hauled it away. Givers got free tickets, and Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt's 40-pound aluminum bar won the prize for the largest gift. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, E. Carrington Smith, John M. FousheeThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 18, 1941, p. 4
  10. A theatre chain buys a Franklin Street lot for a new 1,200-seat movie house Wilby-Kincey, which ran the Carolina and Pick theatres through North Carolina Theatres, Incorporated, bought from the A. B. Roberson estate the lot beside the Texaco station on Franklin Street, then Bruce Strowd's used-car lot, for a fireproof theatre with a Colonial front and 1,200 seats, as many as the two old houses together. Manager E. C. Smith hoped to start building in September if materials could be had. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 18, 1941, p. 1
  11. The planning commission persuades a theatre chain to give the new Carolina Theatre a Colonial front Chapel Hill's new planning commission, chaired by H. G. Baity, approved sketches by Durham architect Archie Davis for a Colonial front on the new Carolina Theatre to be built beside the Texaco station on Franklin Street, and the chain building it agreed to follow them at the urging of its local manager, E. Carrington Smith. Construction was to begin in December and end the next summer; the company had bought its steel that summer to stay ahead of federal priorities. People: Herman G. Baity, Archie Royal Davis, E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 28, 1941, p. 1
  12. Ground is broken for a new movie theatre on Franklin Street Ground was broken on December 9 for a new theatre on Franklin Street between Harry's Grill and the University Service Station, with the Stuart Construction Company of High Point as contractor. E. C. Smith, manager of the Carolina and Pick theatres, said excavation would be finished by the next week and building would follow at once. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 12, 1941, p. 1
  13. War priorities halt construction of Chapel Hill's new theatre Work on the new theatre being built in Chapel Hill stopped under a federal order halting construction of theatres and other places of entertainment, though the building was about 85 percent complete. Manager E. Carrington Smith said the fixtures were on hand, the roof was being finished as the rule allowed, and he had applied for permission to finish it for a September opening. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 12, 1942, p. 1
  14. Hillsboro merchants pledge to hold prices after federal price control lapses With the OPA's price controls ended by the President's veto, the Hillsboro Merchants Association resolved not to raise prices unless their own costs rose, and Chapel Hill and Carrboro merchants made a like pledge through their association. People: E. Carrington Smith, Robert O. ForrestSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 4, 1946, p. 1
  15. Orange County's March of Dimes raises nearly $5,000, well past its goal The county's 1947 polio fund drive, led by E. Carrington Smith of Chapel Hill and Bonner D. Sawyer of Hillsboro with the help of the schools, collected $4,991.81 against a goal of $3,500. The county polio chapter reported that in the past year it had spent $500 on direct aid and promised hospitals it would guarantee costs so polio patients could be admitted without delay. People: R. H. Claytor, Bonner D. Sawyer, E. Carrington SmithThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 6, 1947, p. 1
  16. Orange County's March of Dimes drive passes its quota by $2,000 With a few reports still out, the Orange County March of Dimes campaign raised about $10,500 against a quota of $8,500, the first drive after the 1948 polio epidemic. A comic benefit basketball game between Hillsboro businessmen dressed as girls and the Exchange Club girls' team added $225 in the northern part of the county. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 17, 1949, p. 1
  17. Kenneth Jones leads the March of Dimes canvass in Chapel Hill's Black community For the January 1952 March of Dimes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, held after the county polio chapter's hardest year, Kenneth Jones chaired the canvass in the Black community. He led the same division again in the campaign announced in December 1953. People: E. Carrington SmithSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 17, 1952, p. 1
  18. Orange County's March of Dimes raises a record $12,698 Chapel Hill and Orange County gave $12,698 to the March of Dimes in the January 1953 campaign, the largest amount yet raised in the county's annual drive, according to the final report of county chairman E. Carrington Smith. Smith had announced a county goal with $5,000 expected from Chapel Hill.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 19, 1953, p. 1 (County Hits New High In Polio Drive)

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