Carolina Theatre Preservation Association: 828-766-5525 (alt. 766-6181)

PO Box 1056  |  Spruce Pine, NC  |  28777

91 Locust Street (Lower Street)

 

Our PAST

 

 In late 1940, O.D. Calhoun acquired ownership of The Carolina Theatre.  He was a natural-born promoter, ad man and manager. Along with the help of his friend, Myron Houston, O.D., better know by his friends as “Cal”, provided a variety of entertainment to delight both the young and old.  His idea was a talent show – one that was soon to become the nationally recognized Carolina Barn Dance.  The show became successful locally.  A packed house each Friday night featured down home comedy and country music performed by local and regional talent. The format was classic country.  The Carolina Barn Dance may not have invented the format seen on the Grand Ole Opry,  Hee Haw and countless others, but O.D. Calhoun most certainly enhanced it.
  Around 1949, as Cal recalls, a man came to see one of the Carolina Barn Dance shows and stayed to talk to him afterward. He was an executive with the Liberty Broadcasting Company in Dallas, Texas and wanted to discuss broadcasting the Carolina Barn Dance live on 512 radio stations across the United States.  To Cal, this sounded like a fine idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  And so it began, every Friday night the Carolina Barn Dance was heard in every state in the nation, except Washington.  Cal remembers vividly how just before the show, a man from the telephone company would have to climb the utility pole adjacent to the theatre and connect the wires.  Then, just like clockwork when the show was over, the technician would once again climb the pole to disconnect the wires.  This ritual was repeated week after week for quite some time.  At the beginning of every show radio listeners all over the nation would hear Cal open his show with the familiar words…“Hello friends and neighbors, this is O.D. Calhoun bringing you the Carolina Barn Dance from downtown Spruce Pine, NC”.

 As the show’s popularity grew, many young country music artists were just getting started and were eager to perform on the Carolina Theatre stage. Archives of the Mitchell News Journal, the local newspaper, are filled with references to the performances of country music legends: Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Hank Snow, Sonny James, Kitty Wells, Chet Atkins, String Bean, Lester Flatt, June Carter Cash and the Carter Family, Red Wilson and Little Bobby Lominac, as well as local legends Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman, famous for “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”.

  But alas, all good things must come to an end and the Carolina Barn Dance show ended in early 1955 due to the introduction of Television.  But to Cal, “It was Elvis and Rock ‘n Roll that killed it”!