Some of my most fondest memories growing up in Logan County are of the great times spent at the Drive-Ins and Theaters. If you have any special Logan County Drive-In or Theater memories or photos you’d like to share with us here, please do so. We are especially looking for some old photos and information about the Drive-In Theaters that were in the area.
Logan County Drive-Ins and Theaters Gallery
Sorry, I was talking about the GEM THEATER in Deskins Addition .Got side tract,It was a very pretty place.I guess, Iwas 8-9-10yrs old.Grandpaw would tell is what he was doing. Tom Brownings store was across the street.
Dodie;
I don’t know of any Gem theatre. The theatre with the toll booth was the old Midelburg theatre. For a quarter, one could get popcorn, and enjoy a double feature, back then (not quite old as dirt, but gettin’ there). The Monitor theatre was located between Deskins addition, and Monitor. Les Avis was the proprietor. The Logan theatre brings back memories. Tex Ritter, the cowboy movie star, did a show there. There were other notables who did shows there.
Shelby, The GEM Theater was built about 1946 at Deskins Addition (Black Bottom). To the best of my knowledge it was the only theater in Logan County that was owned and operated by black people. I used to go every time the “show” changed for half fare (10 cents). Shelby, if you look closely, the theater with the “toll both” is the Logan Theater. Half fare at the theaters in town was 15 cents. I sold the Logan Banner on the streets of Logan to earn “show fare” and went to all of them when the “show” changed. I always went for half fare, even after I started dating, but if I had a date, the poor little boys had to pay full fare for themselves and for me. I grew up roaming the hills and streets about town. I wasn’t real crazy about the westerns at the Middleburg Theater. The Middleburg had a double feature (western) every Friday and Sat. My dad won $400.00 in a drawing they had one time.
I remember 3 theaters in town -Logan, Capitol, and Middleburg. As a young lad during the late 40′s and early 50′s every Saturday I went to the Middleburg theater to watch a double feature western, the lastest chapter of a serial and a cartoon. Many parents dropped their kids off there and went about their shopping. Those are enjoyable memories and to this day when I watch an old western with Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard, Tex Ritter, etc. I wax nastalgia and see myself back in the theater cheering on the heroes. Those were the days. And times. Too bad we cannot return to how it was.
I remember the Midelburg theatre and the 1-inch cobalt blue glass tiles on the wall behind the concession stand. My parents used to take me there as a child. When I was about 9 or 10 I started going to the Holden Theatre across the street from the Main Holden Island Creek Store. I went every Saturday, to a double feature, news reel and cartoons, with my sister and two cousins who lived in frogtown at the time. I saw my first Elvis movie at the Logan Theatre but never saw any movies at the Capitol as a child that I remember. One thing I remember is the uncensored previews in some of these movie houses. Some of them had a traumatic effect on my memory and I remember them as clearly today as the day I saw them. Some things have changed for the better, don’t you think?
Yep;
I remember all of that; The locals ruled downtown Logan from Monday -Friday. The weekends belonged to we outsiders. We took over the city. The sidewalks were so crowded, people would walk in the streets.
The old Smokehouse was a favorite, where one could shoot pool, eat. One always watched for friends, co-workers to chat with, while walking the streets. Logan truly was an exciting place back then. I miss those days.
Does anyone remember the Gem Theater at Black Bottom? It was built about 1946, across the street from the old Tom Browning Grocery Store.
I remember I went there every time it changed. A big 10 cents. My grandpa helped build it. Charley Hensley, my aunt, uncle, kids and GRANDMA. [Ada Whitehead] move here from Norfolk VA. Grandpa worked in shipyards in WWII Moved here for a few years. Moved to Crocker Mt. VA. My main place was Middleburg with–TOM MIX– how he could fight. My brother and I loved him. We would talk about him all the way home.