Bijou Theatre

Here's Historic Boston's description of the Adams House Annex building, along with a recent photo (taken when the video arcade was still open).

The left-side storefront at 547 Washington St, which the photo shows as a High Voltage clothing store, used to be an entrance to the old B.F. Keith's theatre. That theatre was located behind this building, was renamed Normandie and Laffmovie in its later years, and was demolished in the 1950s. Its site became a parking lot for many years. At least part of it is now occupied by the newly expanded stage and loading docks of the Opera House.

From the Bostonian Society photo collection, some pictures of the Bijou:

Picture postcard showing (left to right) the Adams House hotel, B.F. Keith's New Theatre, and the Bijou Dream, sometime between 1907 and 1915 (description here).

Washington Street in winter, 1934 (described here). Four marquees are visible here: the Normandie, the Bijou, the RKO Keith's, and the Modern.

An advertisement from the April 20, 1910 edition of MIT's student newspaper The Tech:

Bijou Dream Theatre
Motion Pictures at Their Best.
Music, Vocal and Instrumental, Classical Songs and Selections from the Grand Operas.
The One-Act Play a Part of Each Weekly Program.
Although We Show Motion Pictures
We Do Not Run a "Moving Picture Show."
545 Washington Street
Open from 9.30 A. M. to 10.30 P. M.
Sunday, 7.00 to 10.30 P. M.

A huge thank you to Ron for coming up with some excellent reference tools, online. I wonder what other newsletters and newspapers have digital files like MIT that one can browse?

The Boston Athenaeum's Theatre History Page has several paragraphs about the Bijou, in its days as a live stage.

Today's Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College's plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the Bijou and an entrance to the now-demolished B.F. Keith's Theatre.

See today's comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.

According to Donald C. King's new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, the Bijou was the first theatre in the US to use electric lighting on its stage, personally installed and supervised by Thomas Edison. It had 644 electric lights, which got as much public attention on opening day as the actual show, Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe.

King says that the Bijou closed on December 31, 1943. The next day, stricter fire codes went into effect, which the Bijou could not have complied with. It sat empty until 1951, when both its auditorium and the neighboring B.F. Keith's theatre were demolished.

The architect in 1882 was E.P. Treadwell. The old Gaiety Theatre was gutted out, and its walls increased in height. The new Bijou was decorated inside in a Moorish motif. It had one balcony, and it was an "upstairs" house, reached by a staircase within a vestibule located in the center bay of the front building, which survives today. This building was constructed in either the 1830s or 1850s (I've heard both dates). The seating capacity was somewhat less than 1100 seats. In 1982, the Boston Edison Co. published a neat booklet, "Bright Lights in Boston: A Theatre Milestone" which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Bijou opening on Dec. 11, 1882, with Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe". Thomas Edison himself supervised the electrical system in the new theatre, powered by a generating plant located some 550 feet to the south. The Spring 1993 issue of Theatre Design & Technology Magazine had a lengthy article about this event which includes some photos of the stage sets. Musical theatre historian Richard Traubner calls the Bijou "a leading regional operetta theatre in the U.S." B.F. Keith took it over and ran it for awhile; its name was changed to Bijou Opera House in the 1890s, and it was closed for awhile for unknown reasons circa 1900; even its signage was removed. (See the photo on page 148 of the Donald King book-- the Bijou's entrance is being used for displays for the adjacent O'Callaghan's store.) Later, Keith reopened it and turned it into the Bijou Dream. He placed ads offering a prize of $50 for one-act plays to be presented in between films. The staircase was rebuilt into a clear plate-glass sandwich in between which water flowed, illuminated by color lights. Later, an escalator was installed next to the staircase. There was an organ to play for the movies. Don King went into this house many times as a child. It was one of the last houses in Boston to be wired for sound. At some point, the circular proscenium arch was removed and replaced by a tiny platform stage, no longer suitable for live productions. I knew someone who was a boy in the 1930s living in Dorchester who would go with his friends, pay 10 cents to get into the Bijou, then go thru a fire exit into the Keith Memorial to see first-run movies without paying. In the mens' room on the south wall of the upper level of the Opera House there is a "stairway to nowhere", a few steps which lead up to a blank in the wall -- this is the old exit from the Bijou orchestra. Before the Opera House reconstruction a couple years ago, if you went into the parking lot out back, you could clearly see the outline of the Bijou balcony on both the south sidewall of the Opera House and the north sidewall of the Paramount. For a brief period the theatre was called the Intown, but it is listed as the Bijou in the May 1941 MGM Theatre Photograph and Report. They show it as having 1021 seats. It was closed at the very end of 1943 because it could not comply with new fire safety laws. Sat vacant and then was demolished, along with the Normandie, starting in July 1951.

From Emerson College's news office:

Planning proceeds for College’s Paramount Center development on Washington Street

Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.

I'm pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building which appears to occupy some or all of the former Bijou and B.F. Keith Theatre footprints.

I'm also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to reuse the name "Bijou" for either the smaller stage or the screening room?

I have been told that the house was known as the "RKO Bijou" in the 1930s up until it was sold in the late-1930s and renamed briefly as the Intown Theatre, before the original name was restored.

This 1895 map shows part of downtown Boston. West is at the top of the map.

Near the top left of the map, take a look at the block bounded by Washington, West, Mason, and Avery Streets. In the middle of that block is "KEITH'S NEW THEATRE".

Just to its left, on Washington Street, (between it and the Adams House), you can barely make out the words "BIJOU OPERA HOUSE". This is the Bijou Theatre. Both the Bijou and the Keith's had entrances on Washington Street, but the Bijou's auditorium was in front, while the Keith's was in back.

To the right of the Keith's on this map is the Boston Theatre. This was torn down in the 1920s and replaced by the Keith Memorial Theatre -- still standing today and now called the Opera House.

It's wonderful to have these old maps to study! Note that the Bijou Theatre was an "upstairs house" - its auditorium and stage were one flight up and this fact makes it difficult to show the theater's location on a small map like this one.

This 1928 map shows at least 11 downtown Boston theatres. West is at the top of this map.

The BIJOU DREAM is on the west side of Washington Street, about halfway between Avery and West streets. A small piece of it is labelled "ENTRANCE TO KEITH'S THEATRE", which was behind the Bijou on Mason Street.

Just north of both the Bijou Dream and the Keith's is the larger B.F. KEITH MEMORIAL THEATRE, now called Opera House.

thankyou Mr. Salter your article on the Bijou theater was what we were looking for to complete a history to go with the original program from the grand opening on dec.11,1882. Our grandfather attended this after working his way from England to America as a ship carpenter. we wanted something that mentioned thomas edison . thank you once again

Someone recently sent me a copy of a large ad placed by RKO Theatres in "Variety" newspaper of Dec. 20, 1932, listing "RKO Theatres Across America". There are 4 in Boston: RKO Keith Memorial, RKO Boston, RKO Lyric (the original Keith's Theatre of 1894) and the RKO Bijou. This indicates that sometime after the Keith-Albee organization closed the Bijou in the late-1920s, their successors, RKO, took it over again and reopened it for awhile.

Last week's Boston Phoenix features a long article about the Bijou, the adjoining Paramount, and Emerson College's redevelopment of both buildings:

Tinseltown East

Read it to learn all about the Bijou's illustrious history.

During the past few months demolition work has taken place in the rear portions of the Bijou building (what the City calls the "Arcade Building" because it housed a pinball/electronic game "arcade" for decades).

Was in the "ladder district" today to see "Wicked the Musical" at the Opera House (see my report on the Opera House on its page). The Bijou next door looks like progress is being made - most of the back portion where the Bijou auditorium stood is demolished - the front part of the building has interior demolition well underway and the front facade has already been restored. The site of B. F. Keith's New theatre is partly taken up by the Opera House stage house, and the rest is construction area - eventually the addition to the Paramount/Bijou will be there.

Next door at the Paramount, they they have definitely started renovations - can see evidence of it behind the plywood covering the front. In the back there was a hole about ten feet square knocked out of the backstage wall. If the sun wasn't shining toward me, I might have been able to see something inside, but no such luck. Saw a vague shape but couldn't tell if it was the decorative column of the auditorium. Hope it is - the newspaper articles are contradictory about esactly how much of the auditorium interior will be saved.

Interestingly the Playbill reported that Suffolk University had submitted a bid for the Modern Theatre (just on the north side of the opera House) with an eye to renovation with a possible performing arts or theatre space on the first floor and dormitory space on the others. Bid deadline was August 30, 2007, hopefully the Boston RDA will announce a winner soon.

Playbill also mentioned the Wilbur Theatre down next to the Wang/Metropolitan has been placed on the market by Tremont Entertainment Enterprises. City officials will allow the new owners to use the building for entertainment, restaurant, office or residential use. Since it is landmarked, they cannot demolish it or make significant alterations.

According to recent construction photos posted on the page for the Paramount Theatre in Boston, there is now nothing at all left of the Bijou building but its facade.

Yep - I'm going to ask CinemaTreasures to change the status of this to "Closed/Demolished".

I visited the site today, both the rear (Mason St.) and the front, where there is a handy little window on the sidewalk for interested passersby. Everything is gone except for the facade. For the past many years it has been possible to see the outline of the sloping balcony of the Bijou on the south sidewall of the Opera House. Because of the demolition, you can now also see the sloping outline of the orchestra floor. As the new building progresses upward, these 2 outlines will no longer be visible.

I want to thank Ron Newman and others for the updates on the Bijou. I am currently updating Boston theater histories accompanying the Boston Athenaeum's theater program database and will, of course, give credit where it is due.

In his lengthy article "Saga of the Movie Industry in Boston", which I estimate was written about 1950, Boston film pioneer Joe Cifre says that when B.F. Keith renovated his Bijou and renamed it the Bijou Dream, there was a tiny projecton booth which had a unique turntable on which were mounted 2 projectors back to back. He says "When one machine was in operation facing the screen, the other, which was facing in the opposite direction, would be readied for use; at the end of the reel the turntable would be given a half-turn and the second projector would come into play."