Gadsden Cinema

History of the Gadsden Cinema

The Gadsden Cinema opened on Thursday, April 30, 1970, under the management of Gadsden Theatres, Inc. The facility featured 863 rocking chair seats and was located adjacent to the Agricola Shopping Center. Its inaugural screening was Walt Disney’s King of the Grizzlies, loosely based on Ernest Thompson Seton’s 1900 novel Biography Of A Grizzly. The theatre boasted a transistorized sound system, Xenon projection lights, and fully draped walls. The previous evening, a premiere event drew a crowd of approximately 400 attendees.

Harold Rufus Bramlitt was the manager of Gadsden Theatres, Inc. At the time, he managed three other motion picture establishments: Pitman Theatre and Rainbow Drive-In, both owned by Charles Samuel “Sam” Pitman Jr., and the Rebel Drive-In. Bramlitt died later that year of a heart attack at a Fairfield-Gadsden High School game taking place in Birmingham.

Gadsden Cinema I and Cinema II

In the spring of 1976, the cinema was converted into a twin theatre and reopened on Friday, May 28, 1976, as “Gadsden Cinema I and Cinema II.” Advertisements highlighted it as “Gadsden’s Newest and Most Modern Twin Cinemas.” On its reopening night, Cinema I featured Walt Disney’s Ride a Wild Pony, along with Dumbo. Meanwhile, Cinema II showcased Tommy. It is said that the original radial seating was not modified during the renovation, resulting in seats in the new auditoriums being angled toward the center of the original screen, now positioned in the corners of the twinned spaces.

Gadsden Cinema 4

The theatre closed in 1989 but reopened as a second-run 4-plex on Friday, March 19, 1993, called the Gadsden Cinema 4. Its main attraction was $1.00 tickets, with weekend evening shows priced at $1.50, and advertisements carried the slogan, “Why Pay More.” The reopening was preceded by an open house on Thursday, March 18, 1993, featuring free Pepsi and popcorn. The official reopening lineup included Forever Young, Home Alone 2, Alive, and Nowhere to Run. Promotional materials claimed the theatre was “Totally Renovated, Completely Remodeled.“

Showing of “Cutting Edge” Movies

Owned by Barry Bynum, the Gadsden Cinema 4 featured several controversial films during this period. In November 1995, the theatre ran multiple showings of Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, which gained significant controversy and hype due to its NC-17 rating for “nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, some graphic language, and sexual violence.”

Showgirls was the first, and to date, only NC-17 film widely released in mainstream theaters. Carmike Cinemas, which has a virtual monopoly on movie theaters in Alabama, declined to show the film. Birmingham-based Cobb Theatres also passed on the film. Clark Theatres in Enterprise, Alabama, ran the film for one week before pulling it due to Coffee County and local church leaders urging members to boycott the theater. The film also ended a one-week run at Davis Theatres in Dothan after church groups there threatened a boycott.

When Showgirls was screened at the Gadsden Cinema 4, it made headlines across all the major North Alabama newspapers, including Gadsden, Huntsville, and Birmingham. The show sold out on Friday night; 400 people were turned away on Saturday night because the auditorium was full. On Sunday, the film ran in all four auditoriums, and every show was sold out. Due to the demand, the film continued showing in two auditoriums for an additional week.

Upon screening John Waters’ cult classic Pink Flamingos, the theatre partnered with the local gay bar, Nitro, to have a drag queen contest in the theatre between 7 pm and 9 pm showings. The theatre also featured a pre-show conversation with a catholic priest when showing the Priest, about a Roman Catholic priest who becomes involved in a homosexual relationship. Despite David Cronenberg’s Crash not being released in the United States, Bynum got an advanced VHS copy, and despite finding it extremely disturbing, Bynum still screened the film. It made the front page of The Gadsden Times for running “cutting edge” movies.

Closure

By the late 1990s, Gadsden Cinema was no longer profitable as the area gained a bad reputation. It closed and reopened as a first-run theatre on November 5, 1999. It closed again in 2002 and has remained shuttered since then.

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