Varsity Theater
Walk past the glowing marquee of the Varsity Theater on Franklin Street and you are stepping into nearly a century of Chapel Hill culture. For generations, students and townspeople have shared laughs, first dates, rainy afternoon escapes, and midnight shows in this place. The Varsity connects Chapel Hill’s past with life today.
In September 1927, the Sorrell family opened their new Sorrell Building at 123 E. Franklin Street and launched the Carolina Theatre with seating for about 700 patrons. The manager was E. Carrington Smith, and local advertisements of the 1930s show movie admission ran about 30 cents. The building also housed Jeff Thomas’ Campus Confectionery and W. B. Sorrell’s optometry and jewelry shop, with apartments above. In 1929, the Carolina became the first Chapel Hill theater to show synchronized-sound films (“talkies”).1 2
In 1936, air conditioning was added to the theater, but the Robert Morton pipe organ was removed.3
By 1942, theater operators built a larger Carolina Theatre near Franklin and Columbia Streets to serve a growing university town. The original house was renamed the Village Theater after the new Carolina opened, then remodeled and renamed the Varsity in May 1951 under the leadership of president High J. Smart and manager John Meyers..4 5
The 1960s brought civic change and community tension. In 1961, local church groups and student organizations pressed for equal treatment at Chapel Hill theaters. Picketing began at the Varsity when Black patrons were denied entry. Later that year, the management agreed to admit Black UNC students with ID. Full desegregation of the Varsity and other local theaters was achieved by early 1962.6 7 8
On November 17, 1966, disaster struck. Fire blazed through the whole building. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the damage cost $300,000. The theater recovered and opened back up later that year, but no longer had the apartments upstairs. 9
For a time after the fire, the Varsity was managed by the Eastern Federal Theaters chain. Then in 1982, local partners Jim Steele, Hammond Bennett, and Steve Smith took over the lease. They introduced a wider range of films, including indie and foreign titles, and split the single auditorium into two screens.10
In 2009, current owner Paul Shareshian purchased the theater and continued its legacy as a Franklin Street institution. The Varsity now shows films and presents live performances. A beloved tradition since 1978 is the annual student-led “Rocky Horror” production each Halloween season.
Learn more about the Varsity here: https://varsityonfranklin.com/
Next to the Varsity Theatre is an alley once owned by the Sorrell family in the 1920s. Although some urged William Sorrell to expand the theater into this space, he chose to keep it as a shortcut to his home on East Rosemary Street. The alley remains today under the ownership of the Town of Chapel Hill.11
With its walkable location near UNC’s campus, the Varsity remains a popular gathering place for students and community members alike, whether for a blockbuster release, an independent film, or a live comedy show.
THEN VS NOW
End Notes
- Yi-Hsin Chang, “Tunnel of Lights Leads Moviegoers to ‘Magical’ place for independent films,” The Daily Tar Heel, August 26, 1992.
↩︎ - “Students Rally at Pep Meeting Before Big Game,” The Daily Tar Heel, October 28, 1933.
↩︎ - “Theater to Have Cooling System,” The Daily Tar Heel, May 19, 1936.
↩︎ - “Construction of New Carolina Theatre May be Resumed Within Next Ten Days,” The Daily Tar Heel, June 16, 1942.
↩︎ - “Village Theater Under New Head,” The Daily Tar Heel, May 4, 1951.
↩︎ - “Students at Theatres Pass Out Pledge Cards,” The Daily Tar Heel, April 6, 1960.
↩︎ - “Indefinite Halt Called to Movie Picketing Here,” The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 30, 1961.
↩︎ - “Integration was Big News,” The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 28, 1961.
↩︎ - Jock Lauterer, “Police Probe Varsity Theater Blaze,” The Daily Tar Heel, November 17, 1966.
↩︎ - Yi-Hsin Chang, “Tunnel of Lights Leads Moviegoers to ‘Magical’ place for independent films,” The Daily Tar Heel, August 26, 1992.
↩︎ - “Sorrell Alley,” Open Orange, https://openorangenc.org/content/sorrell-alley.
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Bibliography
Bryant, Bernard Lee. Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-year intervals, 1793-1998. Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999.