CityView Magazine

Cape Fear Regional Theatre Presents October 26 – November 11, 2012 By Mark Brown Based on the Jules Verne Novel for folks before the turn of the century and into the 1950s," said Bruce Daws, Fayetteville's City Historian. "It's prob- ably hard for people to imagine Fayette- ville in the pre-World War II era. Fort Bragg was a small Army post; well be- fore the troop buildup and the hub of activity downtown was the beat of city. We had some very grand cinemas." The Colony opened in 1941 as the fourth Wilby-Kincey theater in town. Located at 329 Hay St., its more than 1,000 seats made it the largest cinema in Fayetteville. It had a typical narrow frontage on the commercial street. The theater had two entrances. Black people were seated in the balcony, as was the case in all downtown theaters during that time of segregation. SEASON TICKETS Available Now 910-323-4233 1209 Hay Street Fayetteville, NC www.cfrt.org The facility could accommodate film and live entertainment with its full stage. Dressing rooms were located in the basement. It became Wilby-Kincy's venue for first-run movies, relegating the com- pany's Carolina Theater to second-run status. RICHARD A. GALT AT TO R N E Y- AT - L AW opening night show on May 28, 1941. Its final flick came in 1975. featured more than 300 opera seats and 10 electric wall lights. The New Dixie, as it was proclaimed, paved the way for the Miracle and Broadway theaters. Both eventually surpassed the Dixie in terms of state-of-the-art cinema. Chris and Masim Kuenzel and Eric Lindstrom saw the need for a down- town theater and bought the theater in 1998, renovating it and renaming it the Cameo Art House Theatre. They started with 125 velvet covered, cast iron seats and added an intimate upstairs screen in 2003, which has 38 stadium seats. The Cameo has screened hundreds of art, independent, foreign and classic films, and is also used for parties and fundrais- ing events. The move away from downtown theater district came via the city's out- ward growth pattern, drive-ins, mul- tiplex theaters and, later, the advance- ment of home video rentals. "Moon Over Miami" was the theater's BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS/CORPORATE LAW BOARD CERTIFIED SPECIALIST IN REAL PROPERTY LAW: 2533 RAEFORD RD. • (910) 223-1300 42 | October • 2012 RESIDENTIAL, BUSINESS, COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL TRANSACTIONS The Carolina Theater, located at 215 Hay St., opened in 1927 on grounds where the current City Hall sits. At the time it was Fayetteville's newest theater and was considered one of the most luxurious movie palaces in southeastern North Carolina. Its opening show was Lon Chaney's "The Unknown." Attending movies became a favorite outing in Fayetteville and nationwide. Grand theaters piled in audiences. At the start of the Great Depression, when the population of the United States was about 122 million, Americans were going to the movies 95 million times each week. The Dixie Theater was the city's old- est and first theater. Built in the early 1900s it opened with the silent movie, "The Great Train Robbery." Its building was originally a billiards house. Owner S.A. Lambert bought it in 1908 and moved it to the south side of Hay Street six years later. Lambert screened as many as 36 mov- ing pictures in the grand facility. It was one of two mirror screens in the state. It In the 1950s drive-in theaters became the rage for families. One of the first was the Fox Twin Drive-in on Fort Bragg Boulevard. It opened in 1952 and was billed as one of the largest in the state and a marquee attraction for Cumber- land County. It remained open until 1980. The Boulevard Drive-in was the second-largest drive-in in Fayetteville. How many people watched movies from their vehicles? Thousands. The Raleigh Road Drive-In, a popular venue for soldiers at Bragg, had a capac- ity of 519 vehicles. The Fort Drive-In had three screens where 1,200 vehicles could see a movie. The Midway Drive- In, which opened in 1961 and closed in 1980, had a single screen and room for 1,500 vehicles. Daws said the vanishing downtown theater district is both a reflection of technology and growth and an era that had unique appeal. "Life as Fayettevillians knew it from 1900 to the late 1950s was in the down- town," he said. "It's where schools, churches, restaurants, shopping and vitality emanated. There's something to be said for its existence and passing. I'm not sure today there is one central place where everyone goes. Instead, there are several places. But it's truly not the same." CV

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