THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603270044
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REAL PLACES
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
HOLLYWOOD it isn't.
But at the bargain basement price of $3 a ticket, with 40-cent popcorn and 20 cents for Junior Mints, the Pioneer Theatre in Manteo is a piece of Hollywood past.
It's a reminder of a time when small movie houses were part of the heart of every small town in America, serving as entertainer, baby sitter, companion.
It's been that way here for 80 years, all because the son of a boat builder saw the magic of light and image.
``He saw a flicker somewhere, and fell in love with the movies,'' says H.A. Creef Jr. of his grandfather, George Washington Creef Jr.
``I have no idea what he saw, but he got quite enamored with the idea of a movie house,'' says Creef, 66, who has been running the Pioneer since 1977. ``He bought a projector, and set it up in the auditorium of the old Roanoke Island Academy (where the Town Hall now stands). That was about 1916.''
Since that beginning, the Pioneer has moved twice, finally settling at its present location, a block from the downtown waterfront. In one sense, the old movie house smacks of epic drama, surviving catastrophic blazes and rising seas.
``The first Pioneer Theatre burned in 1939,'' Creef says. ``That fire burned about two-thirds of the waterfront. We've had two fires in the current theater. But now the wiring in the place is state-of-the-art. It's probably safer there now than your home.''
The mood of fickle rising tides has played a pivotal role in the Pioneer's history.
``Back before the bridge was built from the mainland, we had people who would come over here by boat,'' Creef said. ``It depended on the weather and how high the water was. More than once we've had to stop the movie, come down and yell, `Tide's coming in, better move your cars.' ''
Rising tides are only the part of the legend of the theater. Wynne Dough, curator of the Outer Banks History Center, says technical difficulties contribute as much to the theater's character as buttered popcorn.
``Growing up, you could always count on the projector going out. It was just a part of it,'' Dough says. ``Nobody ever got mad; it was just part of the ambience of the place.''
``People have always been nice when we'd have projector problems,'' said Creef. ``Once we had a projector that just burned a reel up. I came down and told everybody that they could wait about 30 minutes, we'd get the movie back on, or we'd give them their money back. They always stayed.''
Dough, who remembers ``Pinocchio'' as his first movie experience, says the Pioneer holds a special place for those who spent Saturdays of childhood there while their parents ran errands in town.
``It's a great place,'' Dough says. ``Where else could you buy Junior Mints for the entire Red Army, and get change back from your five?''
Dough is not alone in giving the old theater rave reviews. Former Manteo mayor John Wilson IV recalls Benjamin Creef, the self-described ``baby sitter'' of countless Dare County kids.
``He used to call himself the `baby sitter' or `the popcorn man,' '' Wilson says. ``I can still remember him going down the aisle snapping his fingers to keep us quiet.''
Business is still booming at the theater believed to be the oldest family-run movie house in the Carolinas. Last weekend 160 patrons turned out. Sometimes only a handful show up, but Creef says he'll roll the film if at least six are in the seats.
Children flock to the Pioneer to see movies like ``Toy Story'' and ``Muppet Treasure Island.'' Every night, but especially on weekends, an informal parade of pickup trucks and family vans, sedans and station wagons parks parallel along both sides of Budleigh Street. With parents in hot pursuit, children scamper to the small ticket window.
Creef is hard pressed to name the all-time box office favorite at he Pioneer. But a case could be made for Spencer Tracy.
``We had Taylor's Floating Playhouse down on the waterfront,'' said Creef. ``But on the last night, no one showed up at the playhouse. They all wanted to see Spencer Tracy in `Northwest Passage.' ''
Family films are still a large part of the Pioneer. Creef shows only G- or PG-rated movies.
Talk of a new county government complex downtown has brought fears that the Pioneer might come down. That thought scares Becky Midgett of Stumpy Point.
``I just can't imagine Manteo without the Pioneer,'' she said. ``It's part of the history of Manteo. The town wouldn't be the same.''
Creef, however, says that Pioneer fans shouldn't worry.
``As long as they make movies,'' he said, ``there will be a Pioneer.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
H.A. Creef Jr., 66, has run the Pioneer Theatre in Manteo since
1977. His grandfather started the theater at another location.
by CNB