9,487
edits
Changes
m
no edit summary
The '''Belmont Theatre''' was a music venue and eventual movie theater located at 115 East [[Belmont Street]], in the [[Long Hollow]] neighborhood. Opening in {{date needed}} during [[segregation]], the theater was owned by whites (including at one point [[Clinton Vucovich]]) but initially catered to an all-black audience.
[[Wikipedia:Jelly Roll Morton|Jelly Roll Morton]] played regularly at the Belmont from 1906 to 1908.<ref>http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/page10bc.html</ref> Other early performers included [[Wikipedia:Billie Pierce|Billie Pierce]], [[Wikipedia:Bessie Smith|Bessie Smith]] and , [[Wikipedia:Ida Cox|Ida Cox]] and Pensacola native [[Billie Pierce]].<ref>Paul Oliver. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=hw9n90DDu2MC Conversation with the Blues]''. Cambridge University Press, 1997.</ref>
It was a part of the Southern Consolidated Circuit from 1916 until 1920, and then became an important stop in the Managers' and Performers' Circuit in [[1922]].<ref name="directory"/> The theater "opened [its] doors to white patrons" on [[August 1]] of that year, but in a reversal of normal segregation conventions, they were required to sit in the balcony while black patrons occupied the first floor.<ref name="directory">''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pH2npoewU5cC The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960]''</ref>