The Roxy Theatre opened its doors sometime in the early 1950s and played host to movies and shows for nearly a decade. At that time, the theater was just one of many thriving businesses in the part of town known as the Tybee community. Students in the Fall 2015 Civic & Community class were able to track down some former Roxy patrons about what it was like to see a show there. These stories were originally published here.
Leroy Thomas Sr., 71, grew up just three blocks away from the Roxy Theatre. It was part of the Tybee neighborhood — the oldest black community in the area — and was full of black-owned businesses and homes, he said.
Thomas went to the theater when he was 10 years old and saw his first major motion picture, The Ten Commandments (1956). Thomas recalls watching Otis Redding perform at the weekly “Teenage Party” talent shows at the Roxy until it was moved to the Douglass Theatre. After the move Redding would go on to win the competition 15 times in a row until they banned him from performing. Thomas said that the experience of going to the Roxy was pure entertainment and that he was motivated to do his chores under the threat of not being able to go to the movies.
