Skip to Main Content

H. Lee Waters Films

A guide to the digital collection.

A note on the still photographs

The still photographs included here are not part of the H. Lee Waters Film Collection at Duke, and the Rubenstein Library does not hold the originals.  The digital scans were made in 2004, but beyond that information is limited.  There is a strong probability they were provided by Tom Waters, the son of H. Lee Waters.  Copyright resides with the Waters family.

The images of the theatres with the Movies of Local People banners enliven Waters' logbook entries, and give some idea of what his showings were like, in the communities he had filmed in just a week or two earlier.

Photos

Advertising in front of Lexington Theatre for the motion picture "The Midnight Sun", Lexington, NC, circa 1926

Waters may have been the projectionist for the Lexington Theatre at this time.

Advertising in front of Lexington Theatre for the motion picture "The Mystic," Lexington, NC, circa 1926.

Waters may have been the projectionist for the Lexington Theatre at this time.

Dixie Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, location unknown, possibly Scotland Neck, NC, undated

Granada Theatre, Lexington, NC, 1932

National Theater, with Movies of Local People banners, Martinsville, VA, 1937.

Movies of Local People banners outside unidentified theatre, circa 1937

Webb Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, Shelby, NC, 1937-05-20

Stevenson Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, Rock Hill, SC, 1937-11-15

Colonial Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, Kannapolis, NC, 1938

Carolina Theatre, Mooresville, NC. 1938-06-28

Theatre with Movies of Local People Banners, 1939

Back of photo says "Macon Charleston 1939."  Location is most likely misidentified, as Waters did not visit Charleston, SC as part of his Movies of Local People business.  There was a Macon Theatre in Franklin, NC, but Franklin does not appear in the Waters logbooks.

Richmond Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, Rockingham, NC, 1938-05-01

Richmond Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, Rockingham, NC, 1938-05-01

Orpheum Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, North Wilkesboro, NC, 1938-10-25

Possibly the Capitol Theatre, with Movies of Local People Banners, Asheboro, NC, 1939

Possibly the Capitol Theatre, with Movies of Local People Banners, Asheboro, NC, 1939

Dolly Madison Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, Roxboro, NC, 1939

National Theater, with Movies of Local People banners, Martinsville, VA, 1939

National Theater, with Movies of Local People banners, Martinsville, VA, 1939

State Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, Thomasville, NC, 1939-01-25

Virginia Theatre, with Movies of Local People banners, Danville, VA, 1939-03-06

Possibly the Majestic Theatre, Ft. Mill, SC, 1939-04-08

Wythe Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, Wytheville, VA, 1939-04-28

Sylvia Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, York, SC, circa 1960

State Theatre, with Movies of Local People banner, unknown location, undated

Unknown theatre with Movies of Local People banner, undated.

"Colored" sign visible in photograph at balcony entrance.

Waters' car, with banner and speaker advertising Movies of Local People, in front of Waters home in Lexington, NC, undated

H. Lee Waters with movie camera and Movies of Local People poster, 1990s

Movies of Local People advertisement, undated

H. Lee Waters filming in the street, 1930s

Theatre film projector, circa 1930s

Tom Waters assisting the filmmaker, late 1930s.

Video