Uptown Theatre
239 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
02115
239 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
02115
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Showing 51 - 71 of 71 comments
unfortunately all the postrs just give the date and month the plays took place—-all posters were made by allen show print in beverly mass—-these posters were actually hung against the wall face against the wall in my chilhood house and that house dates to the 1800’s—they used them as a wall paper and i’m 40
What dates are on those posters?
This theatre definitely had live stage plays at times, but I thought that was only under its previous names, Chickering Hall and [Loew’s] St. James.
i have about 10 poster billboards for the uptown theatre that have several play such as george raft in bolero fay wray in once to every woman,,janet gaynor in paddy,fredrick march in good dame, irene dunne in this man is mine,,john boles gloria stewart in beloved,janet gaynor lionel barrymore in carolina,,clark gable—yes clark gable and claudette colbert in happened one night,,woll rogers in david harum,, rudy vallee and jimmy durante in george white scandals-does anyone know their possible worth,,i’m trying to get more info to sell them for my father who need the money since my mother had a stroke??? any info would help thanks—-this would answer any question too if any vaudeville acts and plays happened their too
Both the Uptown and the Paramount were General Cinema Theatres when they closed.
According to Donald C. King’s new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, Chickering Hall opened on February 8, 1901, as a concert or lecture hall with 800 seats.
In 1904, Charles Frohman leased the hall, enlarged its stage, and presented the morality play Everyman along with Shakespeare repertory.
In 1912, real estate developer M.H. Gulesian gutted and expanded Chickering Hall. It reopened on August 30, 1912 as the Saint James Theatre, with 1800 seats. Marcus Loew leased it in February 1913, showing low-priced vaudeville and movies. In 1925, the Keith-Albee circuit took over and began presenting a stock company on the Saint James stage.
In 1929, the Saint James became part of the Paramount-Publix chain and was renamed the Uptown. In 1968, it was sold to the Christian Science Church and demolished.
Re: the pic.of the building that replaced the Uptown. I believe that’s St Stephens Street, looking toward Mass. Ave. That would have been the back of the theatre. I had a room on St. Stephen’s street in the late 40’s and could walk to work in a matter of minutes.
Ron, thanks for posting the pictures of that area. I haven’t been back there for about 50 years but those old buildings are still fresh in my memory.
And finally, here is the building that replaced the Uptown:
Christian Science Church – Sunday School Building
Behind it, you can see little bits of Horticultural Hall and Symphony Hall (the latter building has the red POPS sign on it).
Another early photo of Chickering Hall):displayType=1:m856sd=det:m856sf=4a11359), from the Library of Congress collection, taken sometime between 1901 and 1906.
This photo of Horticultural Hall):displayType=1:m856sd=det:m856sf=4a11360), taken around the same time, shows a bit of Chickering Hall to the right.
A picture postcard of Huntington and Massachusetts Avenues, showing Symphony Hall, Horticultural Hall, the Christian Science Church dome, and a tall red vertical sign for the Uptown Theatre. The postcard is described here. Unfortunately the date given is non-specific: “ca. 1930-1947”.
Picture postcard of Horticultural Hall, with the St. James Theatre beside it (description), some time between 1916 and 1919.
Note that the sign reads “LOEW’S ST. JAMES THEATRE”. This was several years before they built the Loew’s State a few blocks away.
Some early pictures of this building:
Symphony, Horticultural, and Chickering Halls, side by side (description)
Chickering Hall – photo (description)
Chickering Hall – picture postcard #1 (description)
Chickering Hall – picture postcard #2 (description)
The following is quoted from “A Historical Survey of the Theatres of Boston” by Donald C. King, published in the Third Quarter 1974 issue of Marquee, the journal of the Theatre Historical Society:
“In 1901 the famed piano makers opened Chickering Hall in Back Bay. By 1912 it had become the St. James Theatre with vaudeville and film. In the 1920s it became one of Boston’s then popular stock company stages like the Copley (1921-1962), the Repertory Theatre (now Boston University Theatre) and the Castle Square theatre (1894-1920’s). The St. James became a movie theatre in the 1930’s, the Uptown, and was wrecked in 1968.”
The Bostonian Society Library photo collection has several photographs and picture postcards showing Chickering Hall, the St. James, or the Uptown — sometimes alongside its next-door neighbor Horticultural Hall. I’ll try to post some links to these in the next few days.
In the late 50’s and early 60’s, the “anunciators” were still at either side of the stage. These were the sign boards which listed the vaudeville acts in order of their appearance.
According to an unpublished 1968 draft manuscript by Douglas Shand-Tucci entitled The Puritan Muse (available in the Fine Arts room of the Boston Public Library), the St. James Theatre opened on August 30, 1912.
In 1925, it became part of the Keith Albee vaudeville and movie circuit. In 1929, it joined the M&P circuit. Some time after that, it changed its name to the Uptown.
The Boston Arena is still there. It has been renamed Matthews Arena and is an athletic facility for Northeastern University. It claims to be the world’s oldest ice-hockey arena.
As previously stated I worked at the Uptown theatre from 1947 to 1950. I can remember some of the stores and shops in that area.
Diagonally across Symphony Hall was a cigar shop called Schultes. And a few feet away a bar called “The Arcade”. Directly across Mass. Ave. was Liggetts and another bar called “The Blue Moon.
On St Botolph St. was the old Boston Arena where they had pro wrestling on Thursday nights. Another bar-deli on the corner of St. Botolph was The Fensmere, great hot pastrami on a roll.
Up a little way on Mass. Ave was “Steve ‘Crusher’ Caseys” a bar owned by the popular wrestler at that time.
There are other rembrances I have of that long ago era but I wont bore anyone reading this post by mentioning them.
Since I now live in NY and have for fifty years it gives me great pleasure to see posts and articles about that time frame where I spent part of my youth.
The ‘Uptown’ was built originally as ‘Chickering Hall’, probably an exhibition/performance space for the Chickering Piano Factory (now artists' residences a few blocks away, on Columbus Ave.) It was remodeled in 1912 (Peabody & Stearns) as a theater, renamed the ‘Saint James Theater’. According to a former teacher of mine, it played stock company fare, the one he remembered was ‘Dracula’ in the late 20s. A woman I worked with lived on Albermarle St in the 30s,40s and told me she went there every week for double bills. I went often in the late 50s to mid 60s. It was still a pretty well kept place; I always thought it had something to do with the Christion Science Church then, as there was a small garden beside the theater, before the current expansive layout. There used to be an antique dealer on Mass Ave (Joe Goldberg-the shop was named the ‘Newton Picture Shop’-it was where the Orange line station is)
He was selling sconces and light fixtures that he claimed came from the ‘Uptown’.
During the summer of 1968, I worked part time as an usher at the nearby Sack Cheri. While walking to work, I saw the Uptown being torn down. Hanging from a frame on an exposed wall of the second floor, was an old painted movie poster. I asked a worker if there were any posters I might take as a souvenir. He showed me a flooded cellar, with cardboard floating around. I managed to retrieve a poster for the Judy Garland film, “A Star is Born”. It was a cardboard, part paste-up, part painted. It was probably the only undamaged poster there, although I didn’t have much time to search, as I didn’t want to be late for work.
Just let me add one note. In the late 40’s and 50’s the Uptown was condidered a family theatre. It’s shows ran from Thursday till Wednesday and usually drew a SRO audience whenever there were major pictures on the bill. I know because on those nights, usually Friday Saturday or Sunday I would be the ‘barker’ out in front of the theatre announcing “STANDING ROOM ONLY”
One other feature that made this theatre unique was the fact that all the seats in the house were the same price. No diffence for balcony, loge, or orchestra. Not many theatres in that era had that policy.
Jim L
Many many years ago, in 1947, I got my first job as an usher at the Uptown theatre on Huntington Ave.I worked there for about three years before going into the Army in 1951.
The Uptown showed ‘2nd run’ Boston pictures which means we were the first theatre to show a picture after the 1st run Boston movie houses. The prices were about forty to fifty cents admission with the top price at fifty five cents on Sunday.
The theatre was owned by George S. Giles associates which had some other movies houses in the chain. Some of the towns I remember where they were located are Norwood, Gardner and Laconia New Hampshire.
I had been back stage at the Uptown many times and yes it was used for vaudville. I also have a picture of me inside the theatre probably taken in 1948 or 1949.
I wish that there were some pictures of the theatre itself out there. If anyone has any information regarding this great old theatre where I spent part of my youth, please email me at
Thanks in advance.
Jim L
I have an old Record-American ad here from November, 1963, at the time of the Kennedy assassination listing the Uptown as showing “Dream Wife” with Cary Grant and “Rampage” with Robert Mitchum. Coming attractions: “The Leopard” with Burt Lancaster and “For Love or Money” with Gig Young.