Theatre Exhibit

DOCENT NOTES

OPENING, SETUP, and USE

I will improve this over time, but for now it’s manual. Remote controls are usually on a chair up front on the right side.

• Turn on the theater room lights: The light switch is at normal height just behind the edge of the organ, beside the telephone.
• The movie: This is still a bit too difficult; I’ll be working on it. For now:
  • Turn on the projector: this also uses a small white remote. The Power button is bright blue and in the top left corner. Point it at the projector and push the button.
  • Turn on the sound system: It is in the right pillar of the proscenium, on the inside facing the curtain. The power button is a round button on the far left side of the main device, and it’s the only button over there. Volume is controlled by the big round knob on the right.
  • The Greer 1948 movie: The movie should be playing at this point. If you see the movie on the screen but it appears frozen, the media player needs restarted. To do that, find the device: it’s a very small black box sitting on top of the sound system, with a tiny memory card sticking out of the front. This box is loose and you can pull it out a little bit; there are two cords coming out of the back of the device. One of those is a very thin power cord; pull its little round plug out, and then plug it back in. After starting up again, it should automatically restart the movie.

MARQUEE and TICKET WINDOW

"The reproduction marquee in our exhibit is fairly accurate, though scaled down to fit in our space — and the neon colors are just a guess, based on what’s possible with neon and what colors were popular in theatre marquees at that time. If you look closely at the photograph, there are windows above the marquee, and the right window has “kitchen curtains” — it was a rented apartment.

The ticket window is real, original to the theatre. There was a second identical window used for Black patrons at a “colored entrance” on the side of the building. We have been told that it still exists, in a private collection in Greer. Inside the ticket window is an intercom “telephone” that was actually in the Grand Theatre, not the Greer. It was used to talk with other theatre employees in different areas of the building. Notice that one of the areas is called “paint shop.” There was a large printing and painting area behind the screen of the Grand Theatre, where they made their own advertising and promotional signs and materials.

ENTERTAINMENT (short wall)

CENTER PANEL:

An “Electric Theatre” showing (filmstrip movie projection) took place on October 26, 1901, in Davenport’s Hall (the second floor of the Davenport building). This was actually a year before the first movie theatre opened in the USA! It was presented by Edison’s Electrical Theatre and Specialty Company. Admission was 10¢ and 25¢. For comparison, when the Greer Theatre opened almost 50 years later, children under 13 could go for 13¢!

Was it really the first? It probably was. There was an electric theatre showing at the Greenville Street Fair April 9–13, 1901, which drew “crowds” from Greer — going on special excursion trains for the event. There’s a good chance that someone from Greer went to this event and was inspired to bring it home; perhaps Charlie Drace, or Mr. Davenport.

We have an article in the library archive that quotes someone saying the first movie shown in Greer was much later, and shown on an outdoor wall of the Victor YMCA. While I don’t doubt that event happened, it wasn’t actually the first.

The Alamo (Alimo) Theatre: we know almost nothing about it, including where it was located. But look at the text panel for the organ: there’s a 1910 newspaper classified ad hiring a piano player for the “Alimo” (we’ve found it spelled both ways). On June 1, 1911, Mr. Jason League became the new proprietor of the Alamo, and promised to give Greer the newest, best, and most up-to-date pictures. We have found two or three other references of this type, and nothing more.

The Grand Theatre: The major theatre in Greer for decades was located, on today’s landscape, in the narrow courtyard alley right beside Abbott’s Frozen Custard on Poinsett. Yep — it was hardly wider than a car! While we’ve been told by some people that it was only six seats across — three each on either side of a center aisle — I don’t believe that to be true. At its largest point, the theatre held over 500 people; a later version, in which theatre was shortened to make room for a lobby with concessions and restrooms, still held 350. It was very long and narrow.

The other Grand Theatre: notice the photo of a WW1-era building labeled “Grand Theatre.” Where was this photo taken?! We know of the Grand on Hill Street (Poinsett), but this photo wasn’t there: the 1922 Sanborn fire map shows that the Hill Street building hadn’t been built yet. One possibility:

The 1911 mystery theatre: not referenced in this exhibit, the 1911 Sanborn map shows a motion-picture theatre on the “CBL corner” of Trade and Randall. This could be the Alamo, the Dixie (below)… or possibly an early location of the Grand Theatre. However, that seems unlikely, because the photo doesn’t match what was on that location: a 2-story brick building with a hotel on the second floor. It’s more likely the Alamo.

The Dixie Theatre: we don’t know where this early theatre was located; but it was in Greer, and owned by Charlie Drace. He advertised both the Grand and Dixie in the same ads, for a while.

The Ideal Theatre: This was a large stage theatre, and the building still remains: it was most recently Grace Hall, at 108 Trade Street. The Rialto Theatre: This building still exists as well, at 300 Trade Street. The left half of the building (now Pour Sports) was the theatre. It remained in operation for a very long time — I haven’t tracked down when it closed, but probably in the late 60s or early 70s. If you look at this building, you can see that it is still labeled “Rialto” over the center door.

Others: There have been several other theatres in more recent years. One of those served the Black community during segregation; it was in Sunnyside.

BEFORE THE THEATRE (left panel)

It’s hard for us to imagine life in 1873, when the first families moved into Greer. Even those relatively well-to-do were working extremely long, hard hours; most were farming or raising animals, even if they were also merchants. There was little time for entertainment.

Salesday was fairly standard across the southeast United States during this period, typically on the first Monday of each month. It was a time when farmers from all around came to gather in the town square, sell their goods, and buy what they needed. Traveling salesmen (and hucksters!) would appear. Because everyone was gathered, it was an opportunity for political speeches or other community activity. Our photo of a Greer salesday is extraordinary for many reasons; perhaps most important, it is the only known photograph of the town square, original city hall, cottonseed oil factory, and surrounding buildings.

Christmas eve dance invitation: this is an original, handwritten invitation to a dance on Christmas Eve, 1894. Documents from Greer in the 19th century are extremely rare; this is an incredible, priceless artifact. Some notes about it:

• 94 Greers SC Decr 2/2/nd — this looks odd to us now, but was a common way of writing an origin and date in correspondence at the time. It also shows that by 1894 “Greer’s Depot” and “Greer’s Station” were being shortened to just “Greers.”
• Davenports Hall — Most two-story businesses on Trade Street had open “halls” on their second floor, used by the community for meetings and events. This dance was held on the second floor of the building still known today as the Davenport. At that time, the first floor was a large general store owned and operated by D. D. Davenport.
• Chaperones — Mrs. W. W. Burgiss is Etta Bailey, daughter of the “first family” of Greer (W.C. and Victoria Bailey). She is 28 years old at this time; her husband William has spent the last few months building Greer’s first textile mill, which will open next year (1895). They will name the new mill after their 2-year-old son, Victor. The other chaperones (Mrs. Nesbitt, Ashmore, and Wakefield) are all from influential families, but I haven’t researched them yet. Similarly, the “Committee” consists of people in influential families; one of those is E. W. Bailey, Etta’s brother.

Games — I mention games that are well-known today, like charades; but I also mention some less-familiar games, like the knife-throwing game mumbletypeg (from “mumble the peg”) and card-dealing game bid whist (popular in Black communities). One of those less-familiar games mentioned is William William Tremble Toe. I put this in the list because Victoria Bailey specifically mentions playing it with her mother and her very young daughter, Etta. It’s a counting rhyme turned into a game (like “one potato, two potato”). Traditionally, grandparents taught the game to their grandchildren. Listen to a marvelous description by someone reminiscing about playing the game on A Way With Words (waywordradio.org/william-trembletoes).

ENTERTAINING EVENTS

We have records of all different kinds of community events through the years. This panel references:

The Good Roads Tour: in 1909, automobiles were becoming more common but good roads were not. Many “good roads” tours ran from 1900-1915; these were a sort of race, in which the challenge was just to complete the course! The 1909 race from New York to Atlanta came through Greer. It started with 61 cars, including one driven by a female: Joan Newton Cuneo. This particular tour garnered great interest because it featured celebrity drivers, including Ty Cobb (though this photo does not show him or his car). A couple other notes of interest from this photograph:

• The banner weighted down with baseball bats;
• The boys wearing dress hats — but no shoes;
• The Wood-Mendenhall building on the left, where it was located before it built a new store that is now Cartwright Food Hall;
• Charlie Drace’s photo studio and store, located where the Bennett Building is now (Barista Alley).
• To the left of Drace’s studio is the tiny Planter’s Bank, which was also where the Bennett Building is now.
• Fairs and carnivals: there were many, and they were really big deals. City and county fairs were very popular. Carnivals were traveling groups that would move town-to-town across the area.
• Horse racing: held during fairs and other big events, the races were not like big-time horse racing today. These were relatively common horses often pulling a buggy, and driven by members of the community. W. W. Burgiss, first president of Victor Mill and founder of both Greer Mill and Franklin Mill, did well at horse racing; we have a photo of him with a winning horse.
• Circuses: small traveling circuses frequently came through Greer. We have an original advertising poster from one of these; I’m hoping to mount it in this room at some point.
• Church meetings: all kinds of meetings, from giant tent revivals to Sunday School class parties. Victoria Bailey’s letters constantly reference various church events.
• Harvest gatherings: we have a few newspaper stories about events celebrating harvest time; these were held outdoors with a great deal of food. There were a lot of small competitions and games, like sack races.
• Fourth of July celebrations: for a couple decades, each mill held its own Fourth celebration for its village and there seems to have been competition for each mill to outdo the rest. They were similar to harvest celebrations, with food and games.
• Chautauqua: The original Chautauqua event was held in Chautauqua, New York; it was so successful that it became a national phenomenon. Local Chautauqua events combined “celebrity” speakers from the area (such as a professor of Agriculture from Clemson speaking on new advances in technology) with traveling entertainers like musicians and magicians. Greer’s events were held in a giant tent put up just across the train track from the P&N Depot, about where the Greer Citizen building is. By the way, Chautauqua organized and still exists — and our own Cora Newcomb is preparing to speak in an upcoming event!

Finally, there is Victoria Bailey’s quotation. I’ve labeled it misleadingly, because this quotation comes from a letter she wrote in 1863 or 1864 — when she was Victoria Cunningham, before she married W. C. Bailey. Her full quotation is:

“I met the Westmorelands at Double Springs they was finer than ever had a table to themselves. When I see you I will give you a description of them. They was so fine they hardly knew me.”

The note that they had a table to themselves (at a church social) indicates that she perceived them as a bit stand-offish. But the underlining of the last sentence is particular emphasis; she rarely did this, and only to communicate the strongest of emotion. It seems that she felt as if they disapproved or looked down on her. Interesting to think that a decade later, Victoria would be their “first lady” as wife of their first mayor; Dr. Westmoreland would be on the first city council. Intriguingly, they were related: Emma Westmoreland was a Cunningham, and Victoria’s cousin.

RECREATION

GOING OUT:

Chick Springs was a very popular picnic and swimming destination for Greer’s middle and upper class at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s. Camping was also popular around the turn of the 20th century, particularly among more well-to-do families. It was common for young men to go on week-long camping or hunting/fishing trips around Caesar’s Head or into North Carolina. Note the phrase: “hunting and fishing became recreational activities.” For most of the 19th century, these were essential for survival.

AMERICA’S GAME:

Baseball was incredibly popular in Greer for decades, starting even before the mill teams and continuing on through the American Legion teams recently. This photograph is amazing, and features the only known photos of many Greer leaders. Connection to another photo: note the baseball bats weighing down the car-race banner on “Entertaining Events.”

TEXTILE BASEBALL:

Shoeless Joe Jackson played for Victor in 1907. Our research identified the field he played on: what is now the small “Victor Park” right beside the railroad tracks. The large American Legion stadium was not yet built in 1907.

NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL:

Like a phantom in history — we can find almost no information. From about 1910-1920, Greenville had a superb negro team that drew huge mixed crowds. In April of 1915, the Greenville team beat the “Greer nine” 13-1. In June of 1919, the Piedmont colored team beat the Greer negro team; the large crowd “included a lot of whites.”

Their most notable game was June 25, 1917. Greer played Greenville in a game to benefit the Red Cross Fund for World War 1 soldiers; a large crowd turned out including “whites in their own section.”

It’s possible that the Greer team only played in those years from 1915-1919. However, Greer Mill had a team at least in 1935. On May 12th of that year, the “Southern Bleachery colored team” beat the “Greer Negro Nine.”

With so little information, the photograph of Holmes Thompson is intriguing. He was the first principal of Lincoln High School when it opened in ’54; this photo looks to be in the 20s or 30s. Perhaps he played on one of these teams? The timing is about right. More research is needed on this topic.

MILL RECREATION:

While all the mills provided recreation opportunities, it appears that Victor excelled them all; the list of activities in this description were all offered at Victor, while other mills offered a more limited selection.

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS:

This panel does a disservice to this topic; high school sports have been a huge cultural component of our community for a hundred years. However, the exhibit plan is to address it in more depth in a future exhibit section on education.

A NOTE ON SEGREGATION:

This panel references segregation multiple times; we cannot hide that Black residents were segregated in most entertainment facilities and were not even allowed in others, like the community swimming pools.

GREER, 1948

1948 GREER MOVIES POSTER:

It’s amazing that this movie poster exists, and even more amazing that we have a copy of the original film the poster references! The poster does hint that similar films might have been made even earlier: “the best we ever made.” The poster would have been printed in the Grand’s “paint shop,” located behind the screen of the Grand Theatre.

WALL DECORATION:

We did some careful restoration work on this piece, primarily removing decades of cigarette smoke. This plaster form of a kissing couple was located in the Grand Theatre’s balcony. One interesting connection: look on the main “Entertainment” panel, at the small artifacts. One of those is a small card that says “love is grand, but keep your petting in your parlor.” The balcony, where this kissing couple was located, was a common place for couples to enjoy each other’s company. Those little cards were handed to people, during a movie, when they got a bit too frisky.

TWO GREATS

There have been a lot of movie theaters in Greer through the years — many more than are discussed in this exhibit. There have been at least two drive-in theaters; others along Wade Hampton; and one primarily for Black residents in the Sunnyside area. Even as others came and went, the Grand and the Greer were overwhelmingly dominant for decades.

ELVIS IN THE WINDOW:

The Elvis “poster” is promoting the movie “Jailhouse Rock,” which ran the first week of November, 1957. This might have been the last movie ever shown in the theatre, which was closed by the end of that year (it was reopened by other management later). It might be hard to tell, but the Elvis poster is actually mounted inside a window, which actually came out of the Grand. When the Grand closed, a teenage girl who loved Elvis went to claim this poster. She found it mounted inside the window, between two panes of plexiglas, and no obvious way to get the poster out; so, somehow, she took the whole window instead. Amazing. Her daughter donated the window to the Museum.

THEATRES OF RACISM:

While segregation was evil enough, racism grew even darker after the epic Birth of a Nation was released. While this movie never actually played in Greer (it required a very large theatre with a full symphony orchestra to play the score), its impact was immense. A few years later, the Ideal Theatre (most recently Grace Hall, at 108 Trade Street) hosted the event described here, in which a former governor defended slavery and the KKK. This was not a unique event; there were numerous Memorial Day and other celebrations of Civil War veterans in which similar speeches were given.

DRACE LEGACY

This panel doesn’t really do the Drace family justice, but that’s because we’re going to have a full exhibit specifically about Charlie Drace in the main exhibition hall. “Uncle Charlie” was an impactful figure in early Greer: on city council, running an early newspaper (before the Greer Citizen started), playing baseball (see the “Fats vs. Leans” photo), running movie theatres — but most importantly, capturing dozens of Greer’s earliest photographs and history.

Similarly, the panel doesn’t go into detail about the Grand Theatre burning down in 1928, but that was one of a long series of devastating fires that consumed most wood buildings in downtown Greer. These will be covered in a new exhibit on police and fire, which will probably be the next major exhibit to open after this one.

THE MOVIE SCREEN AND ORGAN

We have an organ in here because every theater in Greer during the silent-film era would have used either a piano or organ for a live soundtrack. The music scores on the organ are prints of original “soundtrack” scores (we do not own these originals; they came from a museum in Kansas). Notice their titles; the musician played whatever fit the film in the moment. Also notice the mirror on the organ. While this organ did not come out of a theater, some theater musicians did use a mirror to watch the movie right above their sheet music, so they could time their music appropriately. This organ can technically still play, but the internal mechanism needs some restoration and care prior to use. We hope to do this work and hold a “silent” movie screening with original music score played live.

We show the 1948 movie, Greater Greer, the Heart of the New Industrial South as the standard film running in our theater on a daily basis. The movie was created by order of Bill Drace, then manager of the Grand. He hired Holly Smith, a filmmaker in Charlotte, to produce the film. The original filmstrip was stored in the projection booth of the theater. Just before the building was demolished, fireman Bobby Colvin went through the clear the building and ensure no one was inside. In the projection room, he saw the film and recovered it. He sent it to the film department at USC in Columbia to be transferred to VHS tape, which was later transferred to DVD; our copy is taken from the DVD. We have been in contact with Bobby Colvin, trying to recover the original; he has not yet been able to find it, though he believes it is still in his possession. If we can obtain it, we will have it professionally digitized and restored; until then, the copy we play is the best that exists.

One last detail about that original filmstrip: it was almost certainly produced on nitrate film, which is highly flammable if it gets damp and very dangerous to store or work with.

GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

With the exception of the 1948 poster and the Elvis poster, all of the paper items are reproductions of artifacts in our collection. That’s because paper artifacts are damaged by light and air exposure in any amounts; it is now standard museum practice to remove paper originals from permanent display. The originals are in our archive.