Carolina Theatre venues raise the curtain on statewide history

Across the state, there are three operating theaters that don the name Carolina Theatre.

The sister theaters in Durham, Greensboro and Charlotte, along with former locations in Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem, can all trace their roots back to the Roaring Twenties — an era of flapper style, social change and an increase in movie consumption. 

The Durham Auditorium was built in Durham in 1926 and changed its name to the Carolina Theatre three years later, becoming one of several Carolina Theatres that would dot the state throughout the decade.

Many of the establishments, including those in Greensboro and Charlotte, were constructed by the Publix-Saenger Theatres Company, who built more than a dozen movie theaters that distributed Paramount films across the state.  

In the 1920s, most of America depended on movie theaters for entertainment. Radio's popularity was only beginning, and television wouldn't gain widespread appeal until the 1950s. By the end of the decade, three-quarters of America visited a movie theater every week. 

Most of North Carolina's population in the 1920s lived in rural areas or small towns, making the movie theater a vital center of public life. In fact, for many of these small towns, the movie theater was the biggest and most frequently visited public space besides places of worship, according to UNC's "Documenting the American South."

"The name, I presume, was just a branding play," Michael Wakeford, a professor of history and humanities at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, said in an email. "The number was an expression of the growth of moving pictures — the age of mass entertainment was upon us, and every city needed such a place."

Winston-Salem's Carolina Theatre was donated to UNCSA in 1980, reopening as the Roger L. Stevens Center in 1983. Chapel Hill's Varsity Theatre began inhabiting the building of one of two former Carolina Theaters in 1952, the only surviving iteration of the theater in the town.

In its early years, the Durham Auditorium was used for high school graduations, Miss Durham pageants and other local events, Jordan Hewitt Beard, senior director of marketing at the Carolina Theatre of Durham, said.

After it became the Carolina Theatre, the space started showing movies on top of its normal events. The theater hosted several notable Hollywood stars, including Katharine Hepburn, Ronald Reagan and Tallulah Bankhead.

Greensboro's Carolina Theatre opened in 1927, along with Charlotte's. 

“It was intended to be a vaudeville silent film theater,” Georgette Hamlett, director of marketing and public relations at the Carolina Theatre of Greensboro, said. “Now, what's really funny is that when it opened, or at least when it had its date set to be opened, I believe it was three weeks before the very first talking picture premiered. And so once that happened, they then had to very quickly scramble to try to get the new sound innovations put in.”

The theaters held not only movie showings, but varying star-studded performances, including particularly popular 1956 performances by Elvis Presley in Charlotte and Winston-Salem. A thousand of Presley’s fans had to be turned away in Charlotte after all four of his shows were sold out. Presley’s three shows in Winston-Salem were met with equal fervor and frenzy. 

Until the 1960s, the Carolina Theatres were segregated, as were other public spaces. As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum throughout the decade, theaters were pressured to change. 

In Durham, civil rights activist and lawyer, Floyd McKissick and NAACP youth leaders worked to desegregate the Carolina Theatre of Durham in 1962. According to the Durham Carolina Theatre's website, “Round Robin” protests were organized, where Black patrons would stand in line at the white-only ticket window, get turned away and go right back to the end of the line to do it again.

The Carolina Theatre in Durham was housed in a building owned by the City of Durham, although the business itself was privately owned and for-profit at the time.

“Protesters took aim at the theater because it was technically a government owned building that was using taxpayer money to continue segregation,” Hewitt Beard said.

During the late 60s and 70s, business for many of the Carolina Theatres slowed down due to a drift toward suburban neighborhoods for entertainment, and some of them had to close their doors. 

In Durham, efforts to restore the theater were spearheaded by volunteers. The Carolina Theatre of Greensboro was revived and reopened in 1977 by the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro.

Both venues still host movies, as well as musical and theatrical performances. 

In Charlotte, the Carolina Theatre is still under renovation, after being bought by Foundation for the Carolinas. The theater will reopen in 2024, marking the final restoration of one of the last remaining Carolina Theatres in the state.

@sydneybrainard

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