Though there was a definite demand for a theatre catering to Memphis’ black audiences, the construction of the W.C. Handy was not without controversy. As this interior diagram from Theatre Catalog shows, a “first-rate” theatre, to use the words of the Handy’s developer, could entail not just a screen, stage, and auditorium, but also stores, restaurants and soda bars.

The developers of the W.C. Handy made their case to the City Planning committee on that very basis, writing that they intended to build

…a first class theatre for colored patrons, with probably five shops to complete a substantial commerical development in the heart of a heavily populated negro district, where a good theatre will be a real boon to the community.

(credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)