The Atlanta Fox Theatre
From The Eyes of a "Friend
of the Fox"
A website by Hal Doby, Former President of
Friends of the Fox Theatre, 1984-1990,
Fox Theatre event & restoration volunteer 1976 - 1993, and event staff member, 1979-1980
This web site was first established in 1995, with continual revisions.
The last update was made on January 11,2017
Dedication
I would like to start by dedicating this web site to two people; Joe G. Patten and, Rick Flinn. There
is one more entity I wish to add to my dedication, that is the Fox
Theatre itself. During their tenures at the Fox, Joe and Rick
made vast contributions to the preservation, restoration,
and expansion of the Atlanta Fox Theatre. Without their contributions,
the Fox would be a very different place, if not be here at all.
Mr. Patten, more than any other person, was responsible for the Fox
being saved from the wrecking ball as he has quite literally dedicated
more than half of his life to the Fox Theatre and it's Mighty
Moller Organ.
Mr. Flinn arrived at the Fox to help prepare it for a gala
celebration of the United States Bicentennial in 1976 and wound up becoming its
first Restoration Director. It was through his hands, the Fox was put
on a path to return to its prior glory. Rick laid the groundwork that his successors have continued.
And finally, the Fox Theatre itself. I have come to know it better than
some of my biological relatives. The Fox took me in at first as a
child of 18. It introduced me to many things that fashioned me into the person that I am. Spending over 17
years of one's life in such a place, it cannot leave its mark on some
one. For me, it made me a better person than had it not been in my
life.
Thanks and Gratitude
I would like to give my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to those who
have helped me learn about the Fox that have given me a much
better appreciation for it and the importance of preserving its acurate
history.
My first thanks goes to Mr. Rick Flinn,
the original Restoration Director of the Fox Theater. Today he sits on
the Board of Directors of Atlanta Landmark as an honrary member and
spends his time living in both Atlanta, Georgia and Paris, France
where he works restoring old buildings there. Any time
I've had a question about
the Fox, it has always been Rick that I contact to verify and share my
information with.
Thanks to my late friend Joe G. Patten.
Joe was an amazing man and almost each time we got together, I learned
something incredible about him. Joe's love of his life was
the Atlanta Fox Theatre and I do not think there was ever any other person that
knew it as intimately as Joe did. I still mourn his passing.
Thanks to John C. McCall Jr.,
past president
of the Atlanta
Chapter of the American
Theater Organ Society, long time historian of the great
movie theaters
and their organs in the Southeast, as well as organist
extraordinaire! I first learned of Mr. McCall
when I purchased the first book published by Atlanta Landmarks
about the Fox in 1975 that he wrote. I finally met John in person in
2004 and through his wealth of information it helped me
improve this web site as well as my expand my knowledge of
Atlanta's other grand movie palaces that are no longer with us.
I wish to give a great big thanks and a huge hug to Janice McDonald.
Janice contacted me in the spring of 2012 asking about my time at the
Fox. She was working hard on writing a new book about the Atlanta Fox
and wanted to see if I had anything I could add to her research. I gave
her access to my entire Fox photographic catalog and spent time
recalling my years there and knowledsge of the Fox. I think she took me
seriously and I think I was able to make somewhat of a contribution to her book. The book,
Images of America, The Fox Theatreis
publshed by Arcadia Publishing and is available at Amazon.com or
your local bookseller. I highly
reccommend any person interested in the Fox to buy a copy of this great
book! Janice was kind enough to share her knowledge of the Fox and her catalog of
collected images she had complied for her book so I could use some of
them in my third major revision of the site. That generous act I feel
has greatly help to round out the stories I tell on this site. I cannot
thank Janice enough!
An Explanation and Apology
I want to apologize for the current state of this website.
As I began a major renovation of this site in 2010, a scandal
erupted
over Joe Patten and the apartment he was gifted by Atlanta Landmarks
nearly thirty years prior. Joe would not want me to talk badly
about the Fox, however, I think some of this demands to be said. Sadly
in even the smallest organization, company politics can be found. When
Joe suffered what was a minor health scare, certain people in the Fox
staff and Atlanta Landmarks attempted to use the event to their
advantage to get Joe evicted from his apartment inside the Fox
complex. This forced Joe to file a lawsuit and the whole mess wound up
in court. Eventually, a compromise was made and Joe was allowed to live
the remainder of his life in his beloved apartment.
To me, Joe Patten remains the embodiment of the Save the Fox movement
that successfully saved the Fox. I cannot tell how much of Joe's life
became devoted and attached to the Fox. To many Joe and the Fox became
one in itself. It was literally heartbreaking to me to see Joe having
to endure everything he had to go through in order to remain in the
apartment he was gifted by Atlanta Landmarks with the intent of him
residing in for the rest of his life.
Because of all that happened during this scandal, my work on the site
came to a screaching halt as I lost the drive to rework this site and
it has lanquished for over six years because of this. Even after there
was an amicable agreement and Joe lived the remainder of his life in
his apartment, the emotional wounds I suffered never fully healed. Even
now, almost a year after Joe's passing, they still hurt.
What is now taking place is I am picking up the pieces from my
abandoned 2010 update and attempting to complete this web site in
tribute to my beloved friend Joe Patten. I honestly do not believe
there will be any
other web site presence that can or will tell the story of Joe and the
Atlanta
Fox as this site can do. Since the last major revision of this site, I
have taken thousands of photos of the Fox, found all sorts of new
information that needs to be posted, and many revisions need to be
made. This is not something that will occur overnight. This is going to
be a major on-going process.
I am bouyed to get this work completed by a number of emails I
continually recieve in regards to the Fox. I would like to think I
can get my messy web site tidied up in time for the one year
anniversary of Joe's passing in April 2017.
Be sure to visit the site often to experience what we have to present here.
Accuracy Disclaimer:
The
Fox Theater/Yaarab Temple Mosque is a most unique building
with a very turbulent and unusual past. Because of its history,
hype,
rumor, and myth have all been blended
together to obscure the actual true history of the building. I have
been doing my utmost
to continually revise these pages to reflect
the actual facts about the Fox as I have come to understand
them. I feel comfortable in saying what I present here
is the most accurate account I can present about
the Atlanta Fox Theatre. Despite my research, I'm sure that there are
still inaccuracies contained in these pages. Should you find
anything that you feel is inacurate, I invite you to please
email me with your findings so I can update the site.
This is the eighth major revision of this site since it's creation in
1995. Twenty-two years later, that work still continues.
As one "Friend of the
Fox" to another, I invite you to continually return to this tribute
site and keep checking back to see what updates are put in place.
This
site is a tribute page created by
Hal
Doby
of Atlanta,
Georgia. This site
is not officially affiliated nor officially sanctioned with the Fox Theatre, Atlanta
Landmarks, or any other person or organization.
Everything on this site, both text and images, are protected by
copyright laws. Mr. Doby requests that if anyone is interested in
copying any of the material presented on this site, that you
please
email him for permission.
This page
was last modified on January 11, 2017.
