A history of movie theaters in Gloucester, compiled by Bill Sasser, was presented to the Gloucester Genealogical Society of Virginia at its meeting on Sept. 25.
Sasser was unable to attend the meeting, held at the Gloucester Library in Main Street Center; Hamilton Williams presented the slide show and narrated the story, according to society member Lee Brown.
Sasser’s research unveiled these findings.
—Popular movies, then silent, were first shown publicly to Gloucester audiences around 1928 in the auditoriums of Botetourt and Achilles schools.
—Within a few years, the venue was moved to the Edge Hill Theater, a theater for “talkies” managed by Brown Farinholt at what had been the county fairgrounds and is now the site of the Village Lanes bowling alley. Starting in 1934, the Edge Hill Theater operated as two theaters, the second theater exclusively for black patrons named The Star. The Star was converted from the fairgrounds dance hall.
—Movie theat...