ACADEMY AWARD BEST PICTURES - 1960s

HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN?

1960
THE APARTMENT

1961
WEST SIDE STORY

1962
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

1963
TOM JONES

1964
MY FAIR LADY

1965
THE SOUND OF MUSIC

1966
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

1967
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

1968
OLIVER!

1969
MIDNIGHT COWBOY

ACADEMY AWARD BEST PICTURES - 1970s

HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN?

1970
PATTON

1971
THE FRENCH CONNECTION

1972
THE GODFATHER

1973
THE STING

1974
THE GODFATHER PART II

1975
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

1976
ROCKY

1977
ANNIE HALL

1978
THE DEER HUNTER

1979
KRAMER VS. KRAMER

FLICKS FROM THE FORTIES

STATE THEATRE
January 19, 1940

CAPITOL THEATRE
March 3, 1940

STATE THEATRE
May 7, 1940

CAPITOL THEATRE
June 30, 1940

VICTORY THEATRE
July 7, 1940

VICTORY THEATRE
September 7, 1941

ROCKWELL THEATRE
December 7, 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor

STATE THEATRE
February 1, 1942

STATE THEATRE
June 28, 1942

STATE THEATRE
March 7, 1943

CAPITOL THEATRE
March 10, 1943

STATE THEATRE
April 3, 1949

STATE THEATRE
June 2, 1949

STATE THEATRE
July 28, 1949

RIGHT HERE ON OUR STAGE

Throughout the years, it was quite common that when Salisbury / Rowan County movie-goers attended the local theatres, in addition to seeing cartoons, short comedies, newsreels, serials and the feature itself, they would see a live stage appearance or production.

Here is a sampling:

CAPITOL THEATRE
May 27, 1928

Presented by the
Salisbury Woman's Club

CAPITOL THEATRE
May 29, 1933

CAPITOL THEATRE
September 17, 1933

VICTORY THEATRE
December 2, 1934

STATE THEATRE
October 8, 1935

STATE THEATRE
December 24, 1935

STATE THEATRE
January 28, 1936

STATE THEATRE
October 26, 1938

STATE THEATRE
February 19, 1939

STATE THEATRE
November 23, 1939

The actor, billed only as DICK TRACY,
was RALPH BYRD.

STATE THEATRE
December 14, 1941

VICTORY THEATRE
July 7, 1942

STATE THEATRE
October 3, 1945

SPENCER THEATRE
March 7, 1948

CENTER THEATRE

August 5, 1956

IMITATION OF LIFE

LANA TURNER, Hollywood's "sweater girl" of the 1930s and 1940s, found her career in deep decline by the mid-1950s. That was to change overnight with the March, 1958 release of the "shocking" film PEYTON PLACE, based on the humongous best-seller by Grace Metalious. The scandalous novel and movie nearly brought the fifties to a grinding halt because of their adult subject matter. Watching the film today by today's "standards," one would wonder what the fuss was all about. But times were different then.

But PEYTON PLACE was only the beginning of Lana's run as the movies' "Queen of the Sudsers."

Other films in the genre were PORTRAIT IN BLACK, BY LOVE POSSESSED, LOVE HAS MANY FACES and MADAME X. But besides PEYTON PLACE, the biggest was the 1959 release of IMITATION OF LIFE, a remake of Fannie Hurst's novel, first filmed in 1934 and starred Claudette Colbert.

The story's "hot button" dealt with a struggling white actress with a six-year old daughter who set up housekeeping with a homeless black widow and her light-skinned eight-year-old daughter who rejected her mother by trying to pass for white.

IMITATION OF LIFE was a huge box office hit for Universal International. Besides Miss Turner, the film co-starred an up-and-coming young "property" named Sandra Dee.

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IMITATION OF LIFE played local theatres twelve times:

April 19 - May 2, 1959 - CENTER THEATRE

August 21 - 25, 1959 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE

May 5 - 7, 1960 - JOE'S DRIVE-IN THEATRE

September 30 - October 1, 1960 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE

April 15, 1961 - 601 DRIVE-IN THEATRE

March 16 - 17, 1962 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE

May 25 - 26, 1962 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE

August 19 - 20, 1962 - 601 DRIVE-IN THEATRE

November 28 - 30, 1962 - 601 DRIVE-IN THEATRE

October 18 - 19, 1963 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE

February 27 - 28, 1970 - 601 DRIVE-IN THEATRE

November 29 - December 1, 1970 - SALISBURY DRIVE-IN THEATRE