Carolina Theatre (1942)

In the chronology

Storyline about this site, with a page of its own:

• The new Carolina Theatre, 1941–1942 6 events

1. December 1929 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. The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1929, p. 1 ("Careful Driving" Campaign)
2. July 1934 Robert A. Eubanks's old general store is torn down In July 1934 the store on the south side of East Franklin, where R. A. Eubanks had kept his grocery until a year or so before, was being torn down, its timbers to be used in remodeling the old Roberson home as a boarding house for Mrs. Wallace Patterson. The new Carolina Theatre went up on the site in 1942. People: Robert A. Eubanks Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 255 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 20, 1934, p. 2
3. by November 28, 1941 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 Smith The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 28, 1941, p. 1
4. opened October 15, 1942 The Carolina Theatre is built on East Franklin Street to a Williamsburg design by Archie Davis The new two-story brick theatre at 108 East Franklin Street, with a steep roof, dormers and brick pediments and arches, was the one building in the 100 block of East Franklin to follow the Williamsburg plan. It opened with dedication ceremonies on Thursday evening, October 15, 1942. People: Archie Royal Davis NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 68 · Also: Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), October 17, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, September 4, 1942, p. 1
5. December 16-18, 1948 The documentary film This Is Chapel Hill plays at the Carolina Theatre This Is Chapel Hill, a short documentary of the town and university made the previous spring by Don Parrisher Productions of New York with backing from local businesses, was shown at the Carolina Theatre. It used candid shots of townspeople in the streets and stores and pictures of landmarks, narrated by the radio announcer Norman Brokenshire. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 16, 1948, p. 1
6. August 17, 1961 The Carolina Theatre in Chapel Hill admits Black university students Two Black women summer school students were admitted to the downtown Carolina Theatre on showing their student cards, under a policy that district manager W. G. Enloe of Raleigh worked out with the Chapel Hill Human Relations Committee. The News called it the first desegregation of a movie theater in the state. Both downtown theaters had been picketed for months the winter before. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 24, 1961, p. 4
7. by March 1, 1962 Committee for Open Movies presses the Carolina Theatre to end its white-only rule The Committee for Open Movies had set March 1 to resume picketing the Carolina Theatre in Chapel Hill unless it fully desegregated, and was expected to move the deadline to March 9 in hope of concrete action. The News reported that the theater already admitted Black UNC students and their guests, Black guests of white patrons and Black children with an adult as exceptions to its white-only policy. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 1, 1962, p. 1
8. May 5, 1965 MGM's Joy in the Morning, from Betty Smith's novel, has its world premiere in Chapel Hill The film made from Chapel Hill novelist Betty Smith's Joy in the Morning had its world premiere at the Carolina Theatre, shown at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m., with the film's lead actor greeting the crowd. Smith told the Daily Tar Heel she had asked MGM to hold the premiere in Chapel Hill, where she had lived for 23 years; the lead actor was greeted the day before by a crowd of about 500 at Raleigh-Durham Airport. People: Betty Smith The Daily Tar Heel, May 6, 1965, p. 1
9. By September 1974 The Carolina Theatre divides its auditorium and adds a second screen The East Franklin movie house split its viewing area in two to show two films at once. The Daily Tar Heel's film listings still showed a single Carolina Theatre in late April 1974 and listed a Carolina 2 by September 5, 1974. Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 345 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, September 5, 1974, p. 6; The Daily Tar Heel, July 17, 1986, p. 21; The Daily Tar Heel, August 28, 1989, p. 10
10. September 20, 1990 The Carolina Blue and White Theatre shows its last films on Franklin Street The Carolina Blue and White, one of Franklin Street's oldest movie houses, closed after its last showings. Cineplex-Odeon had sold the theatre in June to a Fayetteville developer who planned to turn the building into several stores and a nightclub; the Daily Tar Heel said it had opened in the early 1940s. The Daily Tar Heel, September 20, 1990, p. 1
11. May 1992 The Gap opens in the old Carolina Theatre on East Franklin Street The Carolina Theatre, the large first-run movie house on East Franklin Street that the Daily Tar Heel also called the Carolina Blue and White, gave way to a Gap clothing store, one of several long-standing East Franklin businesses replaced in these years. Cineplex-Odeon sold the theater in June 1990 to a Fayetteville developer who planned shops and a nightclub, and it showed its last films on September 20, 1990. The Gap was being built inside in January 1992 and opened with a ribbon cutting in mid-May 1992; a smaller theater was planned for the rear of the building. A new Carolina Theatre opened in the corner building at Franklin and Columbia by 1994. Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 375 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, August 28, 1989, p. 10; The Daily Tar Heel, September 20, 1990, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, September 21, 1990, p. 8; The Daily Tar Heel, January 10, 1992, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, May 21, 1992, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, January 20, 1993, p. 5; The Daily Tar Heel, February 19, 1993, p. 1
12. March 19, 1993 The Carolina Theatre reopens on Franklin Street under owner Bruce Stone The Carolina Theatre, closed for about two years, reopened with a new look and new management at the corner of Columbia Street beside the Ackland Art Museum, opening with Rich in Love and planning late shows on weekends. Stone said the opening had been held up until he repaired the property's fence on Franklin and Columbia streets to satisfy town inspectors. The Daily Tar Heel, March 19, 1993, p. 1

Open these in the chronology →