Comments from tntim

Showing 151 - 175 of 212 comments

tntim
tntim commented about Tennessee Theatre on Apr 25, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Will,
The lattice showed up in the second round of photos that Jim Thompson shot in 1929
Don Pedro and his band only lasted until spring of 1929. Paramount discovered that the public accepted the shorts with sound instead of live acts. So there was no need to pay for a live band. My guess is they put up the lattice fence to hide the empty orchestra pit.

tntim
tntim commented about Twin Aire Drive-In on Feb 25, 2011 at 5:51 pm

I am not sure, but was the name of the indoor theatres the Clinton Twin or Clinton Cinemas?

tntim
tntim commented about Westown I & II on Jan 25, 2011 at 10:51 pm

bbrown, To add to the list of indoor theatres in 1972 is the Fox Theatre. Also instead of listing just the Capri, it should be the Capri Cinema, Capri-70, and the Capri Terrace. So there was a total of 10 indoor screens.

Mike, You are correct, it was one of the Ultra-Vision theatres that ABC was building in the 70’s. And it’s correct name was Westown Ultra-Vision. It was a single screen seating 800.

tntim
tntim commented about Kingston Four Cinema on Jan 25, 2011 at 9:55 pm

Don’t look for the footprint now. A large “Rooms to Go” store now sits on this location.

tntim
tntim commented about Loew's Pitkin Theatre on Sep 28, 2010 at 6:16 pm

You are correct; the clouds were projections from a cloud machine known as a Brenograph Jr. Dry ice?? Just goes to show you that some reporters will write about something they know nothing about.

tntim
tntim commented about Knoxville Drive-In on Aug 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm

According to Boxoffice magazine, the Knoxville Drive-in opened April 2, 1949. It was designed by Park In Theatres Inc. in Camden, NJ and had a capacity of 512 cars.

The projectionist there had to be at his daytime job in the early morning, so my dad would finish at the Capri Cinema and then go to the Knoxville and cover the midnight show for him so he could go home and get some sleep.

I grew up only three blocks from the drive-in and vaguely remember them adding the “wings” to the screen tower for cinemascope. This would have been in the very early 60’s. I also remember when my dad would take me over there in the daytime to shoot off model rockets.

There was a shopping center on the other side of the RR tracks that had a bowling alley in it. When they put in the sodium vapor lights in the parking lot in the late 70’s, they would cast a shadow of a telephone pole on the screen. This was not a problem for the bright scenes, but on the dark scenes it was a big problem. I think light pollution was a big problem for the drive-ins that where built on the outskirts of town in the 50’s but found themselves in the middle of suburbia in the 70’s.

tntim
tntim commented about Lenox Theatre on Aug 1, 2010 at 4:50 pm

It may be a typo (maybe on my part) because everything that I have found has the spelling Lenox.

tntim
tntim commented about Tennessee Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 10:19 pm

Here are some vintage pictures of the Tennessee.
Exterior Feb.1929:
View link
Lobby Aug. 1929:
View link
Auditorium 1929:
View link

tntim
tntim commented about Strand Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 7:46 pm

Mike,the Lenox is at: /theaters/15656/

tntim
tntim commented about Strand Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 6:07 pm

Here is a 1923 picture of the Strand:
View link

tntim
tntim commented about Queen Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 5:56 pm

Distance shot of the front can be found here:
View link
Zoom the picture out and you can see the Riviera across the street.

tntim
tntim commented about Riviera Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 1:57 pm

A picture of the exterior taken in July 1921 can be found here:
View link

tntim
tntim commented about Booth Theatre on Jul 31, 2010 at 1:45 pm

Exterior picture taken in October of 1928:
View link

tntim
tntim commented about Lyric Theatre (Gay Street) on Jul 31, 2010 at 1:29 pm

A picture of the Lyric with audience can be found here:
View link
Lobby:
View link
Exterior:
View link

tntim
tntim on Jul 30, 2010 at 1:18 pm

This theatre was originally the Tower Theatre /theaters/15656/ It was built ~ 1947 by Walter Morris who also owned the Pike Theatre and the Lee Theatre. In 1963 C.H. Simpson who operated the Riviera Theatre downtown, leased the Pike and Tower theatres and changed the name of the Pike to the Capri Cinema, and the Tower to the Lenox. The Tower/Lenox Theatre was torn down in the late 60’s to make way for the I-640/ Broadway interchange.

tntim
tntim commented about Sunset Drive-In on Mar 28, 2010 at 8:12 pm

The Twin-Aire is here: /theaters/20397/

tntim
tntim commented about Booth Theatre on Mar 28, 2010 at 7:49 pm

The Booth opened in September 1928, just two weeks before the opening of the Tennessee Theatre.

tntim
tntim commented about Dixie Lee Drive-In on Aug 7, 2009 at 12:57 pm

The Dixie Lee Drive-In was in Knox County, Lenoir City is in Loudon County. The 37934 zip code is considered Knoxville. If the site had been just a few yards to the west, it would have been in Loudon County and the zip would have been 37772 which is a Lenoir City zip code.

tntim
tntim commented about Halls Cinema 7 on Jun 19, 2009 at 7:20 pm

this theatre has been reopened for some time. the website is:
http://hallscinema7.net/

tntim
tntim commented about Capri Cinema III & IV on Apr 19, 2009 at 1:25 am

Photo of the Capri Cinema can be found here: View link The doors to the far right of the picture is the enterance to the Capri-70 which was the Cinerama house that was build in 1967. The window to the right of the photo was the boxoffice for both theatres.

tntim
tntim commented about Regal Riviera Stadium 8 on Sep 1, 2008 at 2:26 pm

The Regal Riviera had a great first year. It was the second highest grossing theatre in Knoxville. Here is the article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. View link

tntim
tntim commented about Tennessee Theatre on Sep 11, 2007 at 10:55 am

The vertical sign for the new Regal Riviera can also be seen on the right hand side of the above photo.

tntim
tntim commented about River Breeze Drive-In on Aug 8, 2007 at 11:39 am

Actually I remember the old Horne Drive-In’s screen was the back of a retail building on Chapman Highway. The block rear wall extended well over the roof line of the building. I used to play golf in 1974-76 at an old par-3 course located across the street. This is when I noticed the strange looking building and realized that there was a drive in located there at one time. All of it was torn down in the early 80’s to build a K-Mart, which has since closed.

tntim
tntim commented about Terrace Tap House Theatre on Aug 8, 2007 at 11:12 am

The Capri Terrace was opened in 1973 and originally seated 409. Charlie Simpson build this theatre as his “pride and joy” of the Simpson Theatres chain. The interior was laid out very similar to the Capri-70 and the projection was in Ultra Vision. Mr. Simpson also had a small sitting area on the left side of the lobby with a fireplace and antique furniture. It was designed with retail shops around the exterior of the theatre to insulate the auditorium from any outside noise, especially from the nearby railroad tracks. This was also Simpson’s first step into the commercial real estate market, and the beginning of the Homberg Place development which has become a quaint shopping area in Bearden.

The Capri Terrace is where “Earthquake” and “Midway” both played with Sensurround. This was an effect where large sub-woofers are placed in the front and back of the auditorium and low frequency sound rattle the movie patron’s teeth.

The Capri Terrace closed in 1980 and was converted into the Terrace Dinner Theatre. This is when the floor was turned into multi levels to accommodate tables and chairs. This lasted until1983. Mr. Simpson’s son, Jim Simpson, then converted the theatre into the Terrace Tap House. The theatre was twined in 1990 and even though the movies were good, the presentation was far less then adequate.

tntim
tntim commented about Sunset Drive-In on Aug 8, 2007 at 9:38 am

There was also the Lake Theatre located at 1100 Sevier Ave. It opened in 1947 and closed in 1950 and had 400 seats. It is now a small vacant lot that backs up on a railroad track. Maybe that is the reason it did not last very long.