CLIFTON FORGE CINEMA HAS COLORFUL HISTORY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992                   TAG: 9202090126
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON
DATELINE: CLIFTON FORGE                                LENGTH: Short
CLIFTON FORGE CINEMA HAS COLORFUL HISTORY
The Stonewall was built as an opera house in 1905. It was first known as the Masonic Theater.
The three-story neoclassical building was the site of plays, vaudeville shows and, after 1908, movies. Cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Lash LaRue performed in person.
Samuel Sachs bought the theater in 1918 but sold it in 1926 to Universal Films.
It was renamed The Stonewall in the 1960s. The last owners, R-C Theatres of Maryland, closed it in 1988.
A huge metal-and-glass popcorn maker still stands in the lobby. The small marquee over the ticket window still shows two movies: "Good Morning Vietnam," which came out in 1987, and "She's Having A Baby," 1988.
The 530 seats in the main auditorium and balcony - laid down over the original wood floor - are still in good shape.
So are the white arches inside the main theater. Out in the lobby, the intricate cove ceiling has only a couple of cracks.
R-C Theatres turned over ownership to Appalfolks of America this past Dec. 20. It has a replacement value of well over $1 million, Appalfolks president Ray Allen says.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB