Sandy Greene writes: This was the theatre in Conyers for many years…The Clay Building. It has been purchased by the county and is now the Probate Court.
From the Special Collections Libraries at the University of Georgia, more biographical information on the Clay family: Ernest Paris Clay (1892-1959), son of William Salathial Clay and Ethel Ann Walker, married Katherine Maddox (1905-1941) and they had one child, Martha Ann Clay (1930-1975). Prior to the First World War, Ernest Clay was a professional photograph and after the war he and his brother Cappy (Alvin) opened a theater in Windsor, Ill. Later Ernest purchased a tent show, renaming it Clay’s Comedy Show, and traveled around the United States showing silent films. Ernest’s brother James Eldridge (1903-1962) assisted him with the tent show and later began his own traveling show, Clay’s Cinema Show. Ernest Clay and his family settled in McDonough, Ga. and opened the McDonough Theater. In 1934, James Clay and his family settled in Conyers, Ga. and opened the Conyers Theater.
Conyers Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I remember vividly going to the Conyers Theater when I was a child back in the 1960s. We lived next door to the Clays and could walk to the theater. There was nothing better than watching a Jerry Lewis movie on a Saturday, better yet and Elvis movie! He would drive fast cars, get into fist fights, wail out some rock’in roll and kiss the girls. How great is that to a six-year-old kid?
The theater was segregated. The Clays had nothing to do with that. It was the law back then. The Clays were and are fine folks.
The building also housed a church from after the theater closed to the mid-eighties. When it was a theater the first window on the right side was a separate entrance for blacks that went straight up to the segregated balcony.
This building was originally a movie theater
This was the theatre in Conyers for many years…The Clay Building. It has been purchased by the county and is now the Probate Court.
Thanks, Sandy. I will update soon.