SoBo's Main Theatre
532 N. Main Street,
South Boston,
VA
24592
532 N. Main Street,
South Boston,
VA
24592
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Neighborhood Theatres
Architects: A.O. Budina
Previous Names: Lee Theatre, Halifax Theatre, New Halifax Twin Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Lee Theatre was opened on April 30, 1936 with Janet Gaynor in “Small Town Girl”. It had 1,000-seats, with 750-seats on the main floor and 250-seats in the balcony. It was short lived as it was destroyed by an explosion & fire on November 24, 1936.
It was rebuilt, opening as the Halifax Theatre on November 13, 1937 with Joe E. Brown in “Fit for a King”. It was listed as (Closed) in the 1941 & 1943 editions of Film Daily Yearbook. It had reopened by 1950. It was twinned by 1986, becoming the New Halifax Twin Theatre operating into at least the late-1960’s. Last known as the SoBo’s Main Theatre, it was closed on June 16, 2008.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Open till ~1969? Can anyone verify the exact date?
Open for sure in 1967.
Owned by Neighborhood Theatre, Inc. of Richmond, Va. Morton G. Thalhimer, Chairman of the Board, they had over 30 theaters in Virginia.
More info and photos are always welcome.
Chuck I thought the same thing till I found out SOBO’S MAIN THEATER is located at 532 North Main Street, accross the street from 519 North Main Street.
I got to see “Song of the South” for the very first time in this theatre. My parents took my cousins, my sister, and me to see SotS when Disney re-released it in the early 1970s. What a wonderful experience!
The most recent update at the MySpace page of Sobo’s Main Theatres advertises Hellboy II: The Golden Army as the current attraction. As that movie was released in 2008, that’s probably when the theater closed. The last blog post by the theater’s manager is dated June 16, 2008.
The photo uploaded by wsasser shows that the Halifax Theatre, then called the New Halifax Twin, is the same house that was later called Sobo’s Main Theater. It had apparently been un-twinned. The Sobo’s sign is still on the marquee in current Google street view. The correct address of the theater is 532 N. Main Street.
I don’t know when Sobo’s Main Theater opened, or how long it operated, but in 2009 the building briefly housed a dance hall which soon lost its license due to rowdy behavior by the patrons. 2008 remains the most likely closing year for Sobo’s Main Theater. Use as a dance hall means at least some of the seats must have been removed, and perhaps the floor at least partly leveled.
I don’t know when it closed as the Halifax, but Dragonlace1’s comment notes a showing of the early ‘70s re-release of Disney’s Song of the South, which the studio re-released in both 1972 and 1973. The Halifax might have been open long after that. The NRHP nomination form for the South Boston Historic District mentions the New Halifax Twin, but doesn’t say if it was open at that time, though the name does indicate that the house was twinned by 1986, the year the form was prepared.
This originally opened as the Lee Theatre on April 30, 1936 with Janet Gaynor in “Small Town Girl” (unknown if extras added) featuring a capacity of 1,000 seats (with 750 seats in the main auditorium and 250 in the balcony), but unfortunately it was destroyed by an explosion and a fire on November 24, 1936, alongside a few other local businesses including a Ridgeway’s grocery store, costing an estimate $70,000 in damages for the theater.
The Halifax Theatre was built on the site of the former Lee Theatre, and opened its doors on November 13, 1937 with Joe E. Brown in “Fit For A King” along with the musical featurette “Paris In The Spring”, a newsreel, a novelty, and an unnamed Disney cartoon, featuring installations of RCA Victor High Fidelity sound.