Theaters hold onto history

Q: What’s the history of The Strand in Marietta and the Historic Strand Dinner Cinema in Jesup?

A: In the 1920s and ’30s, movie theaters began to open in towns across Georgia, and many of them remain in operation. The Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre is an art deco-styled movie house located in downtown Marietta. It opened as The Strand in 1935 with a showing of “Top Hat,” a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical.

The theater underwent several changes in ownership, but operated continuously until 1976.

After closing as a cinema, the building was occupied for various uses over the next 25 years. By 2003, the space was vacant and in disrepair, and Friends of The Strand, a non-profit organization, began its effort to restore the theater, said Manda Costoulas, marketing director for the renovated movie house.

After a successful campaign, which was spearheaded by Earl and Rachel Smith, the theater underwent a $5.7 million renovation and reopened in January 2009. It was renamed to honor the Smiths’ contributions.

The Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre has one screen and a capacity of 530 people, and in addition to movies, it hosts community events, concerts and plays, including a touring production of “Menopause The Musical.”

Ten years before Marietta’s Strand theater opened, another Strand cinema got its start in the small south Georgia town of Jesup. In 1918, a traveling picture show that had no sound and operated out of a tent went bankrupt while on a stop in Jesup. Ward Riggins bought the operation, took it out of the tent and opened the theater in 1924. The theater held 700 people, making it one of the largest cinemas in the South. In 1948, a drive-in theater was added.

Ralph Hickox purchased the property in 2012 and renovated the theater. Today, it boasts three screens and a replica of the original 1924 marquee. Guests are served from a dinner menu by employees in white tuxedo shirts and black bow ties, and carhops working the drive-in wear poodle skirts. The drive-in is one of three remaining in Georgia, and it is the only one running year-round.

Hickox said he strives for the Strand to be a community theater. He posts on Facebook (@ The Historic Strand) to ask for opinions, and it hosts community events.