Draft:Island Theatre

The Island Theatre is a historic building located at 4074 Main Street, Chincoteague, Virginia. It currently serves as an operational movie theater and performing arts center. There are two store fronts designed into the complex, one is the Theatre Annex, a small performance and community outreach space, the other is a Gallery space.

Early history
In June of 1945, a group of citizens formed the Chincoteague Theatre Corp, (Henry Leonard president), and began selling stocks for a new theatre, to be built on a prominent location on main street. This effort was bolstered by the participation of Wyle Maddox and Harvey Mears, owners of the former Atlantic Hotel lot, where the proposed theatre would be built. It was Intended to be a 500 seat theatre, with a soda fountain and ice cream parlor in the front.

The Theatre was built in the late art deco style, out of cinder block on a slab foundation, with steel beams supporting the roof, the facade facing main street was peach and gray structural glass panels (vitrolite) at sidewalk level, and brick and decorative stone on the upper story. 2 Retail spaces would also be built into the design, the larger of which would be occupied by Ralph Selby's Clothing store, and the other was occupied by Davis Jewelry. The Island Theatre is also credited with being the first air-conditioned theater on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Norfolk area architect Bernard B. Spigel was hired to design the new theatre and Henry Leonard and Associates oversaw construction. A construction contract was awarded to Maddox and Riggins to begin construction. The theatre was completed in 1947, at a cost of $92,750.00, and ran both feature films as well as live performances on its large wooden stage.

The Island Theatre opened on Wednesday June 11, 1947. The first film shown on the screen was Frolics on Ice aka Everything's on Ice released in 1939. On Friday the 13th the theater presented a mixed bill of live entertainment featuring the Sons of the Prairie, Horse Thief Harry of the Tennessee Ramblers, and featured Gene Autry and Tex Ritter. The live portion of the show was followed by a Shemp Howard comedy horror film, Crazy Knights.

The first lessee of the theatre was Shore Amusements, founded in 1946 by William Marsh Gollner, a longtime owner/operator of theaters on the eastern shore. In the mid 1930s he sold off his theater holdings to the Schine Circuit, but continued to work for Schine as a manager, until founding his own company.

In 1948 W. Marsh Gollner and Shore Amusements went on to purchase the other two theaters in Chincoteague, The Old Powell's Theatre (built in 1926) and the New Powell's Theatre (built in 1945), both located in close proximity to the Island Theatre

Misty of Chincoteague
In 1960, 20th Century Fox filmed the movie Misty on location at Chincoteague. The movie premiered at the Island Theatre on Wednesday June 14, 1961. A parade went down Main Street with Marguerite Henry and the book's illustrator Wesley Dennis, riding in a cart pulled by the real Pied Piper, Misty's father, and Misty's mother Phantom was also in attendance. Misty, a Chincoteague Pony named Misty of Chincoteague Posed outside along with Marguerite Henry and mayor Robert Reed for a ceremony where Misty's hoofprints were set in concrete in front of the theatre, Marguerite Henry signed Misty's name there. Misty didn't actually play herself in the film because at that point she was fairly old, so another pony took her place in the film and was dubbed "Misty II" and she also attended the premiere. Mayor Robert Reed announced that Misty II would be given to President Kennedy's daughter Caroline, but this never came to pass, and Misty II was sold at an out of state auction sometime later.

1970s
In 1972 the theater was purchased by Jan Brown, who remained as an owner through the Island Roxy years (1984-2012) until 2012. Jan Brown was responsible for building out a concession booth into the standing row of the auditorium in order to increase the size of the lobby, which was very small when originally designed. Today visitors can still see the stains on the terrazzo floor from where the original concession counter once stood.

The 1970's were also a time of change for older theaters, funding was always an issue and usually it was the building that suffered the cash flow shortfalls. A photo from 1979 shows that the once elegant vitrolite facade had been covered with wood planks, and the underside of the marquee was showing signs of serious degradation to the ornate, diamond shaped lighting fixture.

The last commercial tenant of this period was Jack Talley, who took over operations in 1982, and vowed to open the theatre for daily showings, even if only 1 customer showed up. He rebranded the operation Island Cinemas, as part of his larger organization Talley Cinemas, and even considered dividing the theater into multiple screens. Talley's stewardship lasted for approximately 2 years until the end of pony penning week in 1984 when, as local reports have it, management took the money, the 35mm print of Misty, and vanished into the night.

1980s-2011
In the 1980s the Theatre was renamed Island Roxy when current owner Jan Brown, partnered with a group of six local couples to create a new ownership group, The Magnificent Seven. This ushered in the longest period of operations for the theatre, spanning 21 years. Eventually the group was joined by Actress Linda Lavin and her husband Kip Niven. Another notable member of the group was architectural designer Richard Vesely, who is responsible for designing over 80 homes on Chincoteague Island, including the Lavender House, the island home of Linda Lavin.

2012-present
In 2012 the theatre was purchased by the Chincoteague Island Arts Organization, a 501(3)C non-profit organization.