App Twin theater closes one year short of its 70th
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

After 69 years of downtown Boone cinema, the Appalachian Twin Theatre — known informally as “The Dollar Theater” — is closing, marking the end of an era for historic downtown Boone.

Dale Hurst, Carmike Cinema’s director of marketing, said the theater was closing “for the obvious reasons.”
“It’s just not economically feasible for us to operate,” Hurst said. He said the decision had not been reached easily.

“We made this announcement with a heavy heart,” Hurst said. “We hate to close this theater because we know how much it means to the town. I’ve been here since 1971, and it seems like the little Appalachian Twin is part of my history, as well.”

Carmike Cinemas Inc. announced a cancellation of advertising effective Nov. 29, when the advertising department sent out a notice that the theater was closing “at the end of business on Thursday, 11/29.”

C.J. Hayes, who worked at the theater for 55 years, said the theater provided a generational connection for many local families.

“The Appalachian had always been a family theater,” Hayes said. “People would bring in their kids, drop them off in front of the theater and knew they’d be all right. We never had any problems.”

Hayes started working at the theater in 1950, cleaning floors and popping popcorn. He worked his way up “taking tickets in a Zoot suit” and eventually became manager.

“It’s just a shame,” Hayes said. “I enjoyed it all the way through. It’s another era gone. I just hate to see it go.”

Craig Fischer, an English professor at Appalachian State University, has conducted research on the Appalachian Twin and how it had mirrored American film tastes and industry marketing from 1948 to 1975. Many single-screen theaters were staples of their historic downtown areas.

“I’m sad to hear it’s closing,” Fischer said. “I often took my kids there. It’s wonderful that it lasted as long as it did.”

Fischer said the closing of single or double-screen theaters has been a common phenomenon, as they tend to have higher overhead costs. Multiplexes with a number of smaller screens under one roof have proven more efficient to operate, and the film distribution system has also changed over the last couple of decades, giving individual theater managers less control over selecting the films they showed.

Fischer’s research showed the Appalachian Twin was in line with other small theaters of its era in bringing independent, exploitation and art films to Boone, even offering events like an Ingmar Bergman film festival, acknowledging an interest in art films among the local customer base.

Fischer said Carmike had also been converting many of its theaters to digital projection and may have decided the cost of converting the Appalachian Twin wasn’t economically feasible. The company had mentioned a possible renovation to the theater’s management staff over the last few years, though no major work was done besides the splitting up of the original single theater into three different screening rooms.

The property owner is listed as Essantee Theatres Inc. of Columbus, Ga., a business division of Carmike Cinemas. Hurst said there were no plans at present for the future use of the building.

The theater opened in 1938 and would be approaching its 70th anniversary next year.

Fiery Memories
In 1950, the theater was gutted by a fire started by overheated popcorn oil.

Jerry Burns, editor of The Blowing Rocket, was there the day the theater burned. Parents often dropped their children off for the matinee while they went shopping downtown. He clearly remembers what was playing that long-ago Saturday morning.

“‘The Trail of the Singing Pines’ starring Gene Autrey was playing, and the movie just stopped,” Burns said.
“J Beach was the manager, and he came on stage and said, ‘We’ve had a little trouble, and could you please quietly leave the theater?’ Just as he finished speaking, fire shot out of the corners of the screen, and the crowd literally stampeded out of the theater. How somebody wasn’t killed, I’ll never know.”

Children mostly made up the crowd, which Burns estimates at about 100.

Burns said many people scrambled across seats, but he didn’t recall anyone getting hurt. People gathered across the lawn at the old Daniel Boone Hotel and watched the theater burn for two hours.

“They were only able to save the front,” Burns said.

Burns said it was the most intense memory of his childhood. “Somehow we all got out,” he said. “It was quite an experience and something I’ll never forget.”

Carmike by the numbers
Carmike Cinemas Inc. bills itself as one of the largest motion-picture exhibitors in the United States and owns, operates or has an interest in 270 theaters with 2,369 screens located in 37 states. It estimates more than 80 percent of its theaters are located in communities with populations of fewer than 100,000 people.

The company’s last quarterly financial report reflected increased admission and concession revenues, with overall gains of about 1 percent for the year over 2006, with a total quarterly revenue for the company at $135 million. The company had recently undergone a shift to focus on digital entertainment, and its senior vice president retired in June.

Appalachian Twin had been gradually raising its prices, with admission changing from $1.50 to $2 in early 2005 while also expanding from two to three screenings at a time. Weekend shows later increased to $2.50.

The original admission fee was 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.

The final bill features the movies “Halloween,” “3:10 To Yuma,” and “Good Luck Chuck.”