The Brookhaven Theatre at 4012 Peachtree Road opened in May 1938. The first film to be shown was Heidi, starring Shirley Temple. In the early years, tickets were twenty-five cents until 6:00 p.m.
Christmas in Connecticut starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan was playing at the Brookhaven Theatre in February of 1946. The original release was August of 1945.
Movies such as Christmas in Connecticut and Miracle on 34th Streets, which are considered Christmas classics today, were not necessarily released around Christmas. Miracle on 34th Street was released in June 1947 and advertised as a romance, featuring actors John Payne and Maureen O’Hara on the movie poster.
A 1950 advertisement in The Atlanta Constitution describes the Brookhaven Theatre as “Suburban Home of All Downtown hits.” Mr. and Mrs. John Carter had been operating the theater for twelve years at that point. Modern refrigerated air-conditioning was one of the features of the theater used to get more customers.
In 1946, there were several movies with big name movie stars showing at the Brookhaven Theatre. including Anchors Aweigh starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Kathryn Grayson, Weekend at the Waldorf starring Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, and Harvey Girls starring Judy Garland.
If you lived in Brookhaven, Chamblee, Doraville, or Dunwoody; the Brookhaven Theatre was convenient. Another option was taking the streetcar from Brookhaven into Atlanta to attend a downtown movie theatre. Folks who lived in Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or Roswell also had the option of the Roswell Theatre.
The Brookhaven Theatre closed in 1962, then reopened as a different type of movie house (that’s all I will say about that) in 1968 until it closed for good in 1972. According to cinematreasures.org, the Cherokee Theatre in Brookhaven opened in 1963 and featured 55 Days of Peking as their first film.
Horace Delong, who was born on a farm along Spalding Drive in 1906 recalled going to Roswell to see a “picture show.” They were showing silent movies on the top floor of the Roswell Store in 1922. On Saturday nights, the store would show a cowboy western movie. The cost was ten cents for children and twenty-five cents for adults.
According to Roswell: A Pictorial History, the Roswell Theatre on Canton Street opened in January of 1941. It was built by Mr. and Mrs. Randall H. Brannon. The cost of the building and equipment was $18,000. The theatre was a popular place for young people to gather every evening. Young people and adults usually filled the theatre, which held four hundred people.