Somerville Theatre

Ron Newman on February 3, 2007 at 2:41 pm

The Somerville Theatre recently received a license to serve beer and wine to theatregoers (especially those attending live shows). They are now remodeling their lobby to allow for this.

Ron Newman on January 7, 2007 at 6:59 pm

The manager of the Assembly Square Cinemas told me they will close on January 15.

Once this happens, the Somerville Theatre will be the only movie theatre in Somerville — for the first time in its 92+ year history.

MacLeod2 on December 27, 2006 at 9:09 pm

In reference to the Railside Pub, North of the theatre, back in the 50’s it was the Pine Tree Diner. Looked similar to the Rose Bud at the other end of Davis Sq. We would go there after the evening movie and have coffee and a hamburger, usually on Friday night.
In the early 50’s I was an usher at the theatre. I remember one Saturday Matinee during the feature, (It was either a Roy Rogers or Gene Autry film) the screen went white. Usually this happened if the film broke, but that was not the case this time. The screen stayed white for at least 5 minutes. The kids were stomping their feet as usual if something went wrong. I looked back to the projection booth at the rear of the balcony and saw the projectionist sitting in his chair sound asleep. At that time the booth was located behind the rear wall of the balcony. I knocked on the porthole glass and finally woke him up. He had missed the change over from one projector to the other one. In those days two projectors were used. Each reel of film lasted aprox 15 to 20 minutes max. A 80 minute movie would have about 5 reels of film. It was very easy to be lulled to sleep by the sound of the projectors clicking away. I’m sure other projectionists will agree. By the way, the operator (projectionist) was a part time operator NOT George Peterson the regular operator at the theatre.
Hope everyone has a Healthy New Year.

Ron Newman on November 30, 2006 at 6:23 am

That was probably demolished when the Red Line was built (1979-84). Where was Joe & Nemo’s?

davidstinson on November 30, 2006 at 5:07 am

I vaguely remember it. How long has it been gone? One place I definitely remember that’s no longer there is the old Railside Pub, which was just to the north of the theatre on Holland St. Sometimes used to go in with friends for a few quick ones after seeing a film.

Mike0519 on November 29, 2006 at 3:01 pm

Sorry about the multiple listing guys…Like I said…I’m new to this site

Mike

Mike0519 on November 29, 2006 at 3:00 pm

Does anyone remember the guy’s name who worked the ticket counter and did all sorts of odd jobs around the theater during the early 60’s? He always had a cgar in his mouth.

Mike

Mike0519 on November 29, 2006 at 2:53 pm

Hi…I’m a newbie to this site but wanted to say as a kid growing up in Teele Sq. during the 60’s, (I missed the teele Sq. theater by a few yrs) I always made the trek down to Davis to catch the movies on Saturdays. I remember the price was 25 cents for 2 movies and a couple of cartoons in the middle. And YES…. I do remember the trains rumbling by during the shows. What a rumbling noise it made. You could feel the theater shake. Ahhh…The good old days

Mike

Ron Newman on November 28, 2006 at 7:23 am

In today’s Boston Globe, I see many AMC theatres with ‘reduced’ weekday showtimes (that is, nothing starting after 8 pm) — not just Assembly Square, but also Braintree, Burlington, Chestnut Hill, and Tyngsboro. I doubt AMC is planning to close all of these, so there must be some other explanation.

Further discussion of this should probably go on the Assembly Square Cinemas page.

br91975 on November 27, 2006 at 8:19 am

I noticed while in town this past weekend the Somerville Theatre is now showing all first-run films, at a second-run admission prices; does this portend the AMC Loews Assembly Square (which now has reduced showtimes Sunday through Thursday) closing soon?

IanJudge on October 19, 2006 at 12:24 am

With Ken MacLeod’s permission, here I share the stories he emailed me about working at Somerville back in the day:

“I have many memories of the Somerville Theatre. I started as an usher when in highschool (SHS) working for Bob and Arthur Viano. I was always interested in projection and spent my free time learning the trade with then projectionist Pete Peterson. Received my state license and worked all of the Viano theatres. I remember the Teele Sq Theatre, I had to climb a ladder on the back wall to get up to the booth. Ran 3-D movies at the Somerville & helped Arthur and Bob Viano remove the old cloth screen at the back of the stage and install the new screen for 3-D and Cinemascope film in the early mid 50’s.

Bob and Arthur’s dad, “Mr. Viano” was a very business like person. We (employees) were afraid of him. When we saw him coming, those of us that could hide, would do just that. Arthur and Bob were great to work for. I was a sophomore in HS when Arthur hired me as an usher. Usually 2 ushers on weekends and one thru the week, except on Tuesdays when we would change the marquee for the new show starting Wednesday. There were two changes per week. Sunday thru Tuesday, then the second show Wednesday thru Saturday. Two shows daily, one at 1:45 PM and the second at 7:45 PM. Sunday was continuous with three shows starting at 1 PM. All shows were double feature with a
newsreel at the start.

On Sundays at about 6 PM, there would be a 15 minute intermission so the ushers could clean all the popcorn boxes from the stage in front of the screen. At that time, the popcorn boxes were cardboard and they sailed very well.

The usher’s room was located on the balcony entrance between the two stairways going up to the balcony seats. We had uniforms, (dark red sport coats, well worn….). The marquee letters were also kept in the ushers room.

On the weekends I would spend most of my time in the men’s restroom! The toilets (1) and urinals (2) would always overflow and cause a flood. At that time there were over 1100 seats in the theatre. You can imagine the line to the men’s room when the house was full. (Yes, we had full houses at times depending on the film shown). Almost everyone smoked and at intermission time the lobby and restrooms were filled with smoke.

Music for intermission was played thru the sound system with 78 RPM records up in the projection booth. Intermission was scheduled for three minutes, but with a good size house, it could go 10 or 15 minutes. It just depended on how many people were at the candy counter spending
money.

One of the duties of the usher was to turn down the house lights and open the curtain at the beginning of the show. The curtain was manual operation at that time. It took practice to open the curtain smoothly. The stage and main house lights were on dimmers. Before the show would
start, I would dim the house lights so the stage footlights would illuminate the main curtain. Then I
would signal the projection booth operator (George “Pete” Peterson) to start the show. We had a buzzer system from back stage up to the booth. When the newsreel came on, I would slowly dim the stage footlights then open the curtain. What a great feeling that was! Ha ha! But It did look good to the audience.

The usher would stand at the back of the auditorium with his flash light in hand. It was my duty to
know were the empty seats were and escort the theatre guests down the aisle to their seats.
I did all of that for 0.62 cents per hour. Not bad money at that time. Popcorn was 10 cents/box
and 5 cents/per bag. Admission was 25 cents in the afternoon and 50 cents at night.

There is something about the theatre atmosphere that once you have worked in one, it’s very hard or really, impossible to forget. I think a lot of it has to do with the fresh popcorn. I remember at the Somerville, when I would be working up in the booth, when a new batch of popcorn was popping, I could smell it comming through the booth port holes from the auditorium. When the balcony was open and I smelled the popcorn popping, I would always see some patrons get up, go down stairs, and come back with popcorn in their hands. It’s still the same for me today. When we go to the
theatre, before we get to the ticket office I smell the fresh popcorn.

The box office attendant and candy girl were there for a long time. The lady in the box office was Mrs. MacGoff and the candy girl was her daughter Ruth. Both Ruth and her mother worked the box office and also the candy counter. Ruth was in High School at the time and also worked there during her college days. I was in Boston on business back in 1975 and visited the theatre. Mrs. MacGoff was still there working the candy counter and her husband, who was retired, was working the box office. I also visited the projection booth and it looked the same as it did when I left in early 60’s

Another duty of the ushers, which I had forgotten to mention, was as follows: Bob or Arthur Viano
would drive me to another theatre (usually the Ball Square Theatre) and give me admission money.
He would park around the corner and wait for me. I would purchase a ticket, enter the
theatre, count the number of movie patrons in the theatre, wait about 10 minutes, then leave.
I would then report back to Arthur or Bob with the numbers. I guess other theatre managers probably did the same thing checking on their competition.

The lobby area wasn’t too bad during intermission with a large house. Patrons were allowed to leave the theatre during the intermission. They were given a re-entry pass for re-admission. A different color pass was used for each day. It worked out very well."

---

Special thanks again to Ken for giving all of us, especially myself & our current staff, a glimpse into the past.

Boywonder on October 8, 2006 at 6:20 am

Caught a first run showing of the Departed here last night. This theater did it right. The small theaters have a real sense of style. The “owl” lightcovers and curtains (not sure what to call them) are just wonderful. They have popcorn with real butter…wow. I ususally try to get there a few times a month. The main theater is pretty amazing as well. I’ve seen quite a few flicks here before they switched to the modern seating. I remember taking in a show of “A Circle of Friends” during one summer when the air conditioning was broken and they had huge fans in the place…took me back to my days as a kid at the National, Puritan, and Center.

I’ve seen a few concerts here as well. The sound is as amazing as the sound at the Orpheum. I bought balcony tickets to a John Lennon show called “Working Class Hero” and was very impressed (by both the show and the theater). Being a Beatles fan, I hope there are more tribute shows booked at this great theater. Oh, I saw “Get Back” here as well.

But, I digress…

This theater blows the Common and Fenway out of the water in terms of style. The Capitol is also amazing. This, the Capitol, the Coolidge, and Brattle are great theaters. I think the Kendall is pretty nice as well, but the location is bad for someone like me who travels via the T.