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All-Pro [694]
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Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 11:33 AM
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I think I seen several references on T-net to the ASTRO being open pre-1980. I graduated in 1981 and don't remember the ASTRO being open, or if it was, it had just opened. I don't remember going to see a movie there (which I'm sure I would have had it been open).
I was not kind to my brain cells in my college years and I could be just misremembering  .
Are people assuming the the old theater dowtown was named "The ASTRO". That theater (now "Tiger Sports Shop") was just known as the "Clemson Theater" and was the only off-campus theater in Clemson. (Holtzendorf, the old YMCA building, had a theater and provided free movies to students on Sunday nights while I was there).
I'm pretty sure the ASTRO was in competition with the Clemson Theater and led to it closing in 1984.
So, if I'm wrong please straighten me out. Does anybody KNOW when the ASTRO opened??
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Mascot [17]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 11:36 AM
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I know that Last Tango in Paris played there in the fall of 1973...and it was named The Astro at that time.
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Commissioner [961]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 3:19 PM
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Graduated in 71. Remember "the good,the bad and the ugly" movie at the Clemson theater but don't remember the Astro name. Of course there are a lot of things I don't remember about Weekends at CU. probably the demon rum.
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CU Medallion [73569]
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All-TigerNet [11934]
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In comment section, ALibby was original manager of Astro III
May 23, 2017, 7:43 PM
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Everything Alan Libby says is exactly right. I worked there with him for three years.
alibby on February 25, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Here are some clarifications that might help: The Astro III opened in January 1971, screening ‘Tora Tora Tora.’ Initially, admission was not by ticket, but rather by a coin inserted into a turnstile. Student admission was $1.25. The facility was state of the art at the time, with Simplex projectors, bearing 6,000 foot reels each, and equipped with xenon lamps. Seating was about 347, rocking chair style, with gold carpet on the auditorium walls, red carpet on the lobby walls and black acoustical tiles in the ceiling. A black velvet traveler covered the screen when the show as not in progress. Oddly, in this ‘space age’ theater, the lobby featured a golden Zodiac sun dial of sorts, above a minature replication of Michaelango’s David. Astro III was not opened by Martin, but by Star Theaters in Greenville, which operated the Plaza, on Augusta Rd. in Greenville, and the Clemson on College Ave. In early 1968 both received an upfit. Star also opened the Astros, and later sold all four to Martin, (later Carmike) in 1972. The house manager of the day would double as business manager, operator (projectionist,) and work the concession stand, alongside another (usually a college student) who would handle the box office and concessions. Two employees could staff it all during the week, with three or four as the full complement on weekends. Sellouts were not at all uncommon, averaging six to 18 annually. Midnight Man, filmed in early spring 1973, premiered at three different theaters on the same evening in June 1974. Early evening it premiered at the Osteen in Anderson (near where portions of the film were shot) and the Astro III in Clemson. Co-producer Roland Kibbee and female lead Susan Clark were on hand for the Clemson premiere. There was but one screening that evening. Following the opening credits in Clemson, Kibbee and Clark traveled to Greenville, for the premiere held at the Astro I later that evening. Burt Lancaster was at neither premiere. If anyone requires more details on specifics, they can easily be supplied.
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Oculus Spirit [96831]
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Heisman Winner [139930]
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Love your link.
May 23, 2017, 11:38 AM
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Thanks
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Oculus Spirit [96831]
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I have heard that before about
May 23, 2017, 11:41 AM
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my link
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CU Medallion [61789]
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110%er [6931]
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^^^^This^^^^^...........
May 23, 2017, 12:35 PM
[ in reply to This says 1971 ] |
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I graduated in '72 and it seemed like it was already there for a while so 1971 sounds about right. I saw my first movie in the Clemson downtown theater at the friday night midnight shows in 1968.
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Hall of Famer [20540]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 11:39 AM
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Pretty sure the "Astro" was the "Astro Twin", but that was off Pleasantburg about a mile towards I-85 from Greenville Tech in Greenville, not Clemson...and yeah, that's right about when it closed. A friend of mine actually had some surplus speakers he got from one of those theatres and wired them up into the back of his El Camino. He could start earthquakes in residential neighorhoods, I do remember that.
Was there one in Clemson? Don't remember that.
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All-TigerNet [11934]
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This is correct. ^^^^^***
May 23, 2017, 7:45 PM
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Hall of Famer [22711]
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Heisman Winner [139930]
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Wasn't Central supposed to be a major rail hub...
May 23, 2017, 11:44 AM
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but the planned hub was moved to a town called Atlanta? Seems like I heard that one time.
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Hall of Famer [22965]
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I think Atlanta is a recently incorporated
May 23, 2017, 11:48 AM
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rural community near metro Slabtown......??
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Hall of Famer [22711]
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Central got it's name because it's halfway between Charlotte
May 23, 2017, 11:51 AM
[ in reply to Wasn't Central supposed to be a major rail hub... ] |
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and Atlanta on the railroad, about 120 miles
each way. It was to supposed to expand and grow
like Greenville, but of course Greenville got
the growth instead.
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All-Pro [694]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 12:20 PM
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Like I said; I was not kind to my brain cells then.
So it is obvious that it opened in 1971, is it possible that it was not operating as a theater from 1976 to 1980 (the web says it was renovated to a 3 screen theater around 1980).
I definitely went to the Clemson theater a lot, and yet don't remember going to the ASTRO III.
Thanks for the memory repair.
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Orange Blooded [4896]
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I grew up in Clemson and graduated from Clemson in 1983 and pretty sure it was open the whole time
May 23, 2017, 2:51 PM
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You may not remember it because about 1979 the Astro stopped showing first run movies and went to the $1 movie concept. I stopped going to movies there after that.
When I was a kid we had the old Clemson Theater (now Tiger Sports Shop) and the Astro. I still remember walking back to my house with a friend after seeing The Omen at the Astro. I was scared to death of every little sound!
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All-TigerNet [11934]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 7:49 PM
[ in reply to Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater ] |
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The Clemson Theater operated concurrently to the new Astro III for a short while in the early 70s before closing and later becoming the Tiger Sports Shop owned by soccer coach IM Ibrihim.
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All-TigerNet [14488]
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"I would love to straighten you out"
May 23, 2017, 12:26 PM
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Signed, Francis Marion®
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110%er [9664]
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This is funny (to me anyway)...
May 23, 2017, 1:35 PM
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Taken at The Astro
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All-Conference [410]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 1:37 PM
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I saw the first Alien movie there in 1979 when I was visiting the campus.
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CU Guru [1826]
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I've wanted to buy it and re-open it.
May 23, 2017, 1:51 PM
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Can I put my planned BBQ restaurant close enough by to share parking???
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Orange Blooded [2533]
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Astro III
May 23, 2017, 3:04 PM
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and don't ask me why "III" and what happened to "II" and "I"... that said, I saw Star Wars there about 77, I believe.
The downtown one, that was the one the Pistol went in when he was a kid, bouncing a ball quietly in the aisle during the entire movie.
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CU Guru [1826]
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The "3" indicates how many screens.
May 23, 2017, 4:04 PM
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Just as Spartan16 in Spartanburg, SC has 16 screens, and Regal Hollywood 20 in Greenville, SC has 20 screens, etc etc etc
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All-TigerNet [11934]
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No! The Astro I and Astro II were in Greenville.
May 23, 2017, 7:37 PM
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In Greenville, they called the side-by-side theaters The Astro Twin. Astro III opened in Clemson and the name had nothing to do with the number of screens, which by the way was exactly one screen when the theater opened in Clemson.
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Commissioner [903]
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Re: Please straighten me out regarding the ASTRO theater
May 23, 2017, 3:41 PM
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I was in Clemson from 78 to 82.
Movie choices off campus were Clemson Theatre (Tiger Sports Shop) and the Astro further down College Ave. down the hill on the left.
On campus had dollar movies at the YMCA.
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All-TigerNet [11934]
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Astro III opened in Clemson in the early 70s
May 23, 2017, 7:40 PM
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It was operating concurrent to the old Clemson Theater for a couple of years.
When it opened, it had one large theater with a single screen and only subdivided when it went to discount ticketing much later.
The Astro I and Astro II were in Greenville.
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Walk-On [148]
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I'm thinking about buying that property....
May 25, 2017, 3:19 PM
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I want to divide it out with a rap/hip-hop bar on one side, and a strip club on the other.
I'm looking for investors. T-mail if interested.
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