According to various comments above, this theatre started showing adult films in 1960, and a comment dated 11/04/2004 by Gerald gives the titles of two films showing there in 1962. Just out of curiosity, I looked up “Naked Island” and “The Facts of Love” on IMDB, and neither appears to be anything resembling an “adult” film; the former is some kind of Japanese art film and the latter is a comedy dating back to 1945! This would seem to contradict the characterization of the place as an adult house…unless of course those titles just belonged to obscure x-rated junk that doesn’t get featured on IMDB.
[Some time later…] Ah, this explains it (an excerpt from a listing on a movie poster website, emovieposter.com):
“Film Description: Naked Island, the circa 1960s William Mishkin nudist colony sexploitation movie ("Bold! Daring!”; “All new”; “Today’s Garden of Eden…Vacation paradise for hundreds of Adams and Eves!”; “The land of 1001 nudes”; “Revealing! Unashamed! Uninhibited!”; “Scenes in blushing color”)."
An interesting poster (must have been considered quite salacious in its day):
Additional research has failed to discover any adult version of the other movie, so perhaps that one was the 1945 film which was just shown as a filler, or else some totally obscure schlock flick…and it would have to be obscure indeed, not to appear on the internet somewhere.
I remember seeing several movies (rather poor-quality R-rated ones mainly of the B and C grade, but cheap and appealing to a 16/17-year-old)) in the Publix circa 1976-1977. By this time it was really in pretty bad shape, visibly deteriorating due to lack of maintenance. Neverthless, while it was certainly seedy, I never sensed any “danger” there, perhaps because I always assumed that the “raincoat crowd” and others of that ilk were to be found elsewhere in the X-rated joints. Which, I was soon to find out after I turned 18 and went to see a flick at the Pilgrim, was the absolute truth. Suffice it to say that my visit to the Pilgrim lasted only long enough to get one look (an exceedingly brief one) at the Sodom-and-Gomorrah that was the ill-famed men’s room, after which I almost literally ran out of the place.
The Publix, by comparison, was almost sedate. To its credit, it never quite sank to the level of showing X-rated fare.
I believe that in 1976, when it was already starting its final decline, the Gary had the rather ignominious distinction of showing a truly abominable film titled “Snuff.” This film is perhaps the worst I have ever seen, but because it supposedly portrayed a real murder onscreen (though in fact the “murder” could easily be seen as staged), it attracted great notoriety and even had a couple of Boston Police detectives assigned to view it—-all of which resulted in box office lines down the street, of course.
Just on a historical note, this interesting 1928 map (link pasted below) reveals that a nearby parking lot on Lagrange Street (that lot has been there forever, I can remember it even circa 1976) was once the location of a police station; it certainly would have come in handy during the Combat Zone era! Which leads me to wonder: Can you imagine the kind of nightly festivities that would have taken place in the huge vacant Gaiety demolition site, back in the Zone’s heyday? The mind fairly boggles. Woo-hoo!!!
Many of you will probably know of this already (I hope I’m not repeating a reference to it from somewhere in this wonderful though voluminous thread), but there is an excellent book titled “When Brooklyn Was The World 1920-1957” by Elliot Willensky, published in 1986. It has amusing and informative text and a wealth of fantastic photos (including some of theatres). I actually was looking up the Albee here at Cinema Treasures as it was mentioned fleetingly in the book…didn’t realize I’d come upon such a treasure trove of info about Brooklyn in its heyday! I highly recommend the book to all who are interested in the history of Brooklyn and/or U.S. urban history generally.
I believe that the “Capri Theatre” at 701 Washington St. was a very small, rather dingy place that shared space with a porno bookstore…I suspect it was more of a cruising site than a movie house. I think there was a very similar movie/bookstore joint in the late 1970’s next to the Publix, though I don’t recall its name. Possibly these places had names for incorporation purposes, but not for exhibition on any kind of sign or marquee…it is likely that they got their “viewing audiences” from the clientele of the porn stores, so names really didn’t matter.
I guess you are right, technically…I admit I ’ve never been in either the Fenway 13 or or the Loew’s Common. And since I no longer live in the Boston area, I probably never will…no great loss. But for me, the real “movie theatres” were the classic ones of old, with a huge single screen, balconies etc. I remember going to see “Grand Prix” at the Cinerama aka RKO Boston, circa 1967…now, THAT was a theatre! Ditto the late lamented Publix, even in its decrepit last years. Ah, memories. Well, at least a few of the grand old houses survive in the suburbs, but as for Boston proper…it may still have places where you can watch a movie, but no movie theatres, if you get my distinction.
Cypress’s question is a valid one when asked in an ironic sense; after all, of the many theatres listed for Boston on this website, how many are still open? A paltry few, and some of those that are still operating are not really “movie theatres” anymore. Of the remainder, since by my (admittedly biased) standards, those horrible mini-box multiplexes scarcely qualify, that brings the total to about zero, at least for the City of Boston proper. So one might (sadly) ask, indeed, if there are any movie theaters in Boston.
According to various comments above, this theatre started showing adult films in 1960, and a comment dated 11/04/2004 by Gerald gives the titles of two films showing there in 1962. Just out of curiosity, I looked up “Naked Island” and “The Facts of Love” on IMDB, and neither appears to be anything resembling an “adult” film; the former is some kind of Japanese art film and the latter is a comedy dating back to 1945! This would seem to contradict the characterization of the place as an adult house…unless of course those titles just belonged to obscure x-rated junk that doesn’t get featured on IMDB.
[Some time later…] Ah, this explains it (an excerpt from a listing on a movie poster website, emovieposter.com):
“Film Description: Naked Island, the circa 1960s William Mishkin nudist colony sexploitation movie ("Bold! Daring!”; “All new”; “Today’s Garden of Eden…Vacation paradise for hundreds of Adams and Eves!”; “The land of 1001 nudes”; “Revealing! Unashamed! Uninhibited!”; “Scenes in blushing color”)."
An interesting poster (must have been considered quite salacious in its day):
View link
Additional research has failed to discover any adult version of the other movie, so perhaps that one was the 1945 film which was just shown as a filler, or else some totally obscure schlock flick…and it would have to be obscure indeed, not to appear on the internet somewhere.
I remember seeing several movies (rather poor-quality R-rated ones mainly of the B and C grade, but cheap and appealing to a 16/17-year-old)) in the Publix circa 1976-1977. By this time it was really in pretty bad shape, visibly deteriorating due to lack of maintenance. Neverthless, while it was certainly seedy, I never sensed any “danger” there, perhaps because I always assumed that the “raincoat crowd” and others of that ilk were to be found elsewhere in the X-rated joints. Which, I was soon to find out after I turned 18 and went to see a flick at the Pilgrim, was the absolute truth. Suffice it to say that my visit to the Pilgrim lasted only long enough to get one look (an exceedingly brief one) at the Sodom-and-Gomorrah that was the ill-famed men’s room, after which I almost literally ran out of the place.
The Publix, by comparison, was almost sedate. To its credit, it never quite sank to the level of showing X-rated fare.
I believe that in 1976, when it was already starting its final decline, the Gary had the rather ignominious distinction of showing a truly abominable film titled “Snuff.” This film is perhaps the worst I have ever seen, but because it supposedly portrayed a real murder onscreen (though in fact the “murder” could easily be seen as staged), it attracted great notoriety and even had a couple of Boston Police detectives assigned to view it—-all of which resulted in box office lines down the street, of course.
See IMBD for details on this piece of crap, if anyone is interested: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072184/
Just on a historical note, this interesting 1928 map (link pasted below) reveals that a nearby parking lot on Lagrange Street (that lot has been there forever, I can remember it even circa 1976) was once the location of a police station; it certainly would have come in handy during the Combat Zone era! Which leads me to wonder: Can you imagine the kind of nightly festivities that would have taken place in the huge vacant Gaiety demolition site, back in the Zone’s heyday? The mind fairly boggles. Woo-hoo!!!
View link
The main webite for other similar maps is:http://www.communityheritagemaps.com/boston1928/
Many of you will probably know of this already (I hope I’m not repeating a reference to it from somewhere in this wonderful though voluminous thread), but there is an excellent book titled “When Brooklyn Was The World 1920-1957” by Elliot Willensky, published in 1986. It has amusing and informative text and a wealth of fantastic photos (including some of theatres). I actually was looking up the Albee here at Cinema Treasures as it was mentioned fleetingly in the book…didn’t realize I’d come upon such a treasure trove of info about Brooklyn in its heyday! I highly recommend the book to all who are interested in the history of Brooklyn and/or U.S. urban history generally.
I believe that the “Capri Theatre” at 701 Washington St. was a very small, rather dingy place that shared space with a porno bookstore…I suspect it was more of a cruising site than a movie house. I think there was a very similar movie/bookstore joint in the late 1970’s next to the Publix, though I don’t recall its name. Possibly these places had names for incorporation purposes, but not for exhibition on any kind of sign or marquee…it is likely that they got their “viewing audiences” from the clientele of the porn stores, so names really didn’t matter.
I guess you are right, technically…I admit I ’ve never been in either the Fenway 13 or or the Loew’s Common. And since I no longer live in the Boston area, I probably never will…no great loss. But for me, the real “movie theatres” were the classic ones of old, with a huge single screen, balconies etc. I remember going to see “Grand Prix” at the Cinerama aka RKO Boston, circa 1967…now, THAT was a theatre! Ditto the late lamented Publix, even in its decrepit last years. Ah, memories. Well, at least a few of the grand old houses survive in the suburbs, but as for Boston proper…it may still have places where you can watch a movie, but no movie theatres, if you get my distinction.
Cypress’s question is a valid one when asked in an ironic sense; after all, of the many theatres listed for Boston on this website, how many are still open? A paltry few, and some of those that are still operating are not really “movie theatres” anymore. Of the remainder, since by my (admittedly biased) standards, those horrible mini-box multiplexes scarcely qualify, that brings the total to about zero, at least for the City of Boston proper. So one might (sadly) ask, indeed, if there are any movie theaters in Boston.