Wilby Theatre

1103 Selma Avenue,
Selma, AL 36703

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50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on October 4, 2021 at 5:39 am

The actual building itself was first built in the 1880s according to an article all about the June 8, 1972 Wilby Theatre fire.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 6, 2019 at 7:25 am

Reopened as Wilby on August 29th, 1938

Wilby theatre openingWilby theatre opening Sun, Aug 28, 1938 – 20 · The Selma Times-Journal (Selma, Alabama) · Newspapers.com

almadenmike
almadenmike on March 20, 2018 at 12:07 pm

Here’s a link to a photo of the upstairs lobby, posted to the Selma Alabama History Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10211410837606888&set=gm.2192723774288544

RodneyK
RodneyK on May 21, 2015 at 6:15 am

This is correct. It burned down sometime in 1971. We used to go see movies here occasionally. It seemed huge to me. I was just a 5 when it burned down. I remember seeing Herby The Love Bug and Song Of The South here.

davespeed
davespeed on May 30, 2012 at 5:56 am

Jimbo7 is correct. The Wilby burned during a matinee showing of Mary, Queen of Scots starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson.

Jimbo7
Jimbo7 on April 8, 2012 at 8:39 pm

The Wilby did NOT close in the sixties. I was born in 1961 and I went to many movies in the sixties. It burned to the ground in the early seventies. The library was built where it used to be along with city hall and convention center.

James Kastner
James Kastner on September 10, 2011 at 8:36 pm

The movie that was playing at the Wilby Theatre in “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” was “The Family Way” with Hayley Mills.

ferenc
ferenc on April 27, 2010 at 1:00 pm

The marquee of the Wilby Theatre is seen for a brief moment in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”, which was filmed in 1968 in Selma, Alabama.