I read your drive-in story and was totally impressed. What a heart-felt account of you, your dad, and the people involved with it all as well as the trials and tribulations of the biz as well as life in general.

Kudos to you! I LUV'd it!

Phill Hill
Southern California

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Hi John,

I ran across your piece on the Edgewood online. Great work. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been away from Columbus since '78, but I remember the Edgewood. In fact, I watched it burn down. I was attending Columbus College and living at some apartments just up Macon Road. One of my roommates who worked the night shift came in and woke us up. "The drive-in is on fire!" It was a spectacular sight, but very sad. Although I didn't have the same connection to it that you did, I do remember it as a landmark that had been around for my entire memory up to that point.

Thanks for a great read.

Dave,.

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John,

What a great story , I realy enjoyed reading it. I lived in Columbus Ga. in 1948-49-50 and 51 we were stationed at Fort Benning Ga. We retired in Ca, and have been here 47 years but I still love Columbus Ga.

L. Beard,.

Hi John,
The Bradley theater crossed my mind today. So I googled The Bradley Theater and came across your articles telling of your experiences trying to save The Bradley. The site was Columbus Georgia Online. I really enjoyed the articles, but sorry to hear of all the downfalls and your wife's illness.

I grew up in Phenix City and as a very young child was allowed to go Saturday mornings with my 6 RC bottle-caps. I had an aunt who loved movies and would take my brother and me often. I can remember seeing John Wayne movies at The Bradley and others at The Georgia (Georgian?).  I don't remember the statues beside the screen, but I remember it seemed like a classy place and I remember the shell water fountain upstairs.Right about the time you were trying to save The Bradley, I was leaving that area for good.  I toured the place and gave a small donation. It was really rough looking that day. The photo labeled "ladies room" in the article reminded me of how things looked then. I always wondered what happened with the efforts to save the theater. I still have family in PC and knew it was a teen center and used for some social events at times, but no one could tell me if it had ever been restored. The general perception was that it was just the shell and had been remodeled inside again.It was interesting to read of all your memories and each step in your
efforts and the results. There are probably many reasons why it didn't work, but I wish it had. When I left the area there were few good jobs available. Most everyone I went to high school with had gone to college, graduated and were not returning to the area. The fact that so many people in the area did not grow up there, probably had a lot to do with the lack of success and the 80s didn't seem to be a big era for things of nostalgia anyway.  I kept some of the photos from the article and I'll search the internet for more. I just like to be able to show people pictures when I tell them the stories.  All in all you came to the correct conclusion at the end of the article. You did save The Bradley. I, like you, would have thought it would be a slam-dunk, piece of cake, people would line up to give money and help out, but hey....you did.  At least it's still there, no matter what it's used for and what it is like inside...it still has potential which would have been demolished with the building if you had not done what you did.
Be Well.
David D.

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Hello John,
Let me introduce myself, I am Hans van der Vlist and live in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
I've read your story "Save The Bradley" and was very moved by it. You and your family have put a lot of effort in reopening the Bradley and end up with nothing but debts to show. I can imagine the dissapointment you must have felt that some people take advantage of others without remorce and all the other set-backs you had to endure. Specialy people that give you hope that's founded on lies. Álso it's no good that in the States you can be fired without any notice, they
should make better laws that prevent that.

I myself am a hobby-projectionist and know all about the "moviebug" and that it's impossible to get rid of it.
Do you still have and operate your "stable cinema"?

Hoping all is going well for you now!

Hans.

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I just spent an hour reading John Gilbert's entire story of the Bradley theater. It is a very moving piece. Congratulations, John for achieving what you set out to do - even if it wasn't in the manner you had  originally envisioned. A very touching story indeed.

Sean Weitzel
Santa Clara, CA