by Ron Allen
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Generally, most people in Knoxville who are old enough to remember such things recall the Gem Theater as having been Knoxville's only theater for African American patrons. However, there were several other black theaters in Knoxville over the years. Those theaters, their locations, and their years of existence, are listed and briefly described here. In addition, three other Knoxville theaters provided separate sections for black patrons. The African American theaters are first listed below, followed by a list of those other theaters.
LINCOLN THEATER. Most available evidence seems to indicate that the Lincoln Theater was the first black theater in Knoxville. The Lincoln was a vaudeville house, opened at 124 South Central in 1908. That address was in the middle of the block of Central between Jackson and Vine, at the southeast corner of Willow Street. Some writings have suggested that the Gem Theater was in business as early as 1909, but the Gem is not listed in city directories until 1913, and I've been unable to find any newspaper advertisements for the Gem Theater before that year. On the other hand, The Lincoln Theater is listed only one year, in the 1908 city directory, which was issued in July, 1908, thus the theater obviously it was in operation that year. While it is possible that the Lincoln Theater also was showing silent movies before closing in 1911, that possibility has not been verified, and directory listings indicate that it was a live entertainment venue. The Lincoln Theater closed in 1911.
LYRIC THEATER. Not the theater at the corner of Gay and Cumberland, originally Staub's Opera House, where the name was later changed to the Lyric, this was another early African American theater called the Lyric. This Lyric Theater opened at 109 Vine Street in 1911. The theater apparently closed around 1913, at least that is the last year it is listed in the city directory. Like virtually all other African American theaters except the Gem, the Lyric is all but forgotten today. The theater was located across the street from the original site of the Gem, and obviously would have also have been in competition with that theater, at least in 1913, and possibly for a year or two earlier, assuming the Gem was actually in existence as early as 1911 and 1912.
GEM THEATER. The Gem Theater is first listed in city directories in 1913, as a movie theater. For the first several years of its existence, the Gem was located at 102 West Vine Street, the second building west of Central, on the south side of Vine. Some references mention that from its inception the Gem was a place of live entertainment, although no evidence to support that assumption has been found, and seemingly the theater was initially only a silent movie theater, at least that is how the theater is listed in early city directories. The Gem was initially apparently only in operation for a year or so, since the 1914 city directory shows that the building where the Gem had been located the previous year, 102 West Vine, was vacant that year. But by 1915, the Gem was again in operation at that same address. By that year, apparently both movies and live entertainment were the fare. By 1922, the theater had moved to 106 East Vine Street, on the opposite side of Central, just east of the southeast corner of Vine and Central. At the new location, the Gem was still primarily a movie house, but the theater continued to periodically offer live entertainment for many years, including a late weekly nighttime affair in later years called the 'Midnight Ramble'. In the early forties, a fire caused considerable damage to the Gem and adjoining buildings, but the theater was restored and re-opened at the same location in 1942. The Gem closed in 1964.
DIXIE THEATER. Another theater for black patrons was the Dixie Theater. This theater opened at 133 South Central in 1915. It was located on the west side of Central, between Jackson and Vine, a couple of doors north of Vine, on the opposite side of the block where the Lincoln Theater was earlier located. By 1916, the Dixie had closed.
IOLA THEATER. The Iola Theater opened in 1926 at 107 West Vine Street and closed within a year. The address was on the north side of Vine, between Central and State, next door to what had previously been the location of the Lyric Theater, and like that theater it was located across the street from what had originally been the location of the Gem Theater.
ROXY THEATER. A black theater that had the same name as another downtown movie theater and vaudeville house. The Roxy for white patrons was located on Union Avenue. This Roxy Theater for black patrons and was located at 112 West Vine. It is listed in the city directory only for the year 1933, but the available evidence indicates that while the theater was open in August, 1932, it may have already closed by the time that directory was published. The theater was in the middle of the block on the south side of Vine, between Central and State, west of the original site of the Gem Theater, which had been at 102 West Vine. By 1939, the city directory shows Number 110 was the location of the City Grocery Store and Number's 116-118 were the site of the Emery Five and Ten Cent Stores, but that directory no longer shows either Number 112 or Number 114 in that block of West Vine.
GRAND THEATER. The Grand Theater opened in 1945. It was located at 216 South Central, in the area then sometimes known as Little Harlem. The theater was located on the east side of Central, between Vine and Commerce. In close proximity to the Gem, it was obviously in competition with that theater for at that time, but the Gem obviously won the competition and the Grand Theater closed in 1950.
RITZ THEATER. The Ritz Theater was located at 1301 Western Avenue, at the corner of Deaderick. The Ritz was opened as a theater for African Americans in the same building that previously been the Sunset Theater. To accommodate the area's African American patrons, the balcony at the original Sunset Theater was designated for black patrons. After the Sunset closed, the same black population later provided the clientele that resulted in the opening of the Ritz Theater The Ritz was later renamed the Savoy Theater, then the name was again changed, to the Booker T. Theater. By then, both movies and occasional live entertainment were being offered at the theater, before it closed in the early 1950's. During those years, the surrounding communities were known as Western Heights and McAnally Flats - - the entire section today having again assumed the original nineteenth century name, Mechanicsville. The Ritz - Savoy - Booker T. theater was the only African American theater that ever existed in what today is the known as the Mechanicsville community, contrary to a statement that appeared in a local newspaper in recent years, suggesting that other black theaters had been in the community There was one other movie theater located in the general area, the Dawn Theater, a block south of Western, at the corner of Seventeenth street and Ailor, but the Dawn was a theater for white patrons.
KNOXVILLE THEATERS WITH SEPARATE SEATING FACILITIES FOR BLACK PATRONS
STAUB'S THEATER. When Staub's Opera House first opened in 1872, at the southeast corner of Gay and Cumberland, contemporary local newspaper reports reveal that Fritz Staub, the proprietor, made available a separate section for black patrons. Later, when the name of the name of the theater was changed to the Lyric (after briefly being called Loews), live shows featuring all-black casts and presented for African American audiences, were shown at the Lyric.
BIJOU THEATER. the Bijou Theater, located across the street from Staub's, long provided a separate seating section for African American patrons, located in the theater's second balcony. A separate ticket booth was located on the north side of the building at the Lamar House site, and black patrons entered the balcony via a separate outdoor stairway leading to that balcony.
SUNSET THEATER. The Sunset opened at 1301 Western Avenue, at the corner of Deaderick, on May 1, 1940. The theater had seating for six hundred customers, with 400 seats for white patrons on the ground level, and a balcony containing 200 seats for African American Patrons. When the Sunset closed, a theater for black audiences, the Ritz Theater (see above), opened at the site.
There were also other venues where separate sections for white patrons were provided for shows that were performed by black entertainers and designed primarily for black audiences. One such example was at Chilhowee Park, where a separate segregated balcony gallery was available for white patrons.
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