While the neon marquee of the shuttered Belle Meade Theater lives on, the lobby of the once-ornate theater now lies empty. The cinema closed in 1991, and became a bookshop, then a grocery store, and now, sits mostly empty along Harding Pike.
This prompted Curious Nashville listener Richard Daniel to wonder about a remnant of the theater: the marble plaques in the lobby that were covered in celebrity autographs — with names ranging from Walt Disney to Dinah Shore to Tennessee Ernie Ford.
He asked Curious Nashville: Whatever became of the marble slabs that were in the lobby of the Belle Meade Theatre?
This led WPLN’s Cynthia Abrams to examine how those plaques came to be and where the live now.
Plus, we’ll take up Nashville’s history of celebrity culture — like, why were these celebrities at the Belle Meade Theater in the first place? — and the evolving media landscape.
Guests:
- Dr. Claire Sisco King, Professor of Communication Studies and Chair of Cinema, Media Arts, and Theatre at Vanderbilt University
- Dr. Sarah Childress, executive director at Metro’s Office of Entertainment
This episode was produced by Cynthia Abrams.
More episodes from "This Is Nashville"
Don't miss an episode of “This Is Nashville” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.
