This issue traces the full history of Nashville’s New Opera House and the later Majestic Theater, located on the south side of Courthouse Square. Built in 1912 as a three-story opera house above the Nashville Herald offices, the building hosted stage vaudeville acts and silent films accompanied by piano, organ, or small orchestras. The theater struggled with attendance and underwent multiple closures, name changes, and owners—operating at different times as Sweat’s Opera House, the DEAL, and finally the Majestic beginning in 1929 under E.F. Falte. The newsletter details the transition from silent films to early sound systems, the addition of balcony seating, a 1933 fire, and the major 1936 remodeling that created the well-remembered Majestic façade. It follows the theater through the World War II era under L.A. Stein’s management network, including managers Maude Holloland, Burma Jones, Eddie and Nell McLeod, and others. Later upgrades included air conditioning, a widescreen installation for CinemaScope, and promotions featuring well-known Western film personalities. The issue concludes with the Majestic’s decline in the 1950s–60s due to television and competition, and its demolition in 1989, leaving only remnants of Nashville’s once-vibrant entertainment landmark.

Subject(Names): Adams, Byron; Akins, Sam; Brantley, Tommy; Cohen, C. R.; Connell, A. J.; Echols, James; Falte, E. F.; Futch, Aline; Futch, Arlo; Gaskins, J. Henry; Giddens, Wilson; Griffin, Mattie Jean; Griffin, M. S.; Hand, H. D.; Holloland, Maude; Jones, Burma; Kent, Jack; Lee, Feldon; Lineberger, R. Frank; Mathis, Evelyn; McLeod, Eddie; McLeod, Johnny; Mainor, Howard; Newbern, Paul; Parker, Skeeter; Register, Billie; Shaw, Jane; Shaw, Jack; Stein, L. A.; Thomas, R. N.; Turner, Rilt

Businesses: Majestic Theater (Nashville, Ga.), Nashville Opera House (Nashville, Ga.), Dreamland Theater (Ocilla, Ga.)