Colonial Theatre

Here is a website for the Colonial Theater.

There was a booth for follow spotlights at the rear of the 2nd balcony and I assume that it doubled as a projection booth for the film showings in the 1910s and in 1927.

The Colonial ran film for some period during World War II. One would have to look at microfilm ads in the Boston newspapers to come up wit specific films and dates.

The Colonial Theatre is near the top right of this 1928 map. one building west of the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets.

The two buildings on either side, the Little and the Walker, are now also owned by Emerson College, as is the Majestic Theatre on the other side of narrow Van Rensselaer Place. The adjoining Plymouth Theatre was demolished in 1978; a few years ago, yet another Emerson College building rose on part of its site, containing two small live stages.

This page has some history of the Colonial Theatre, but no mention of movies.

More history and architecture

The Colonial opened during the Christmas season of 1900, apparently on December 20, although I have also seen Dec. 24 and Dec. 25. Behind the right auditorium wall are several floors of dressing rooms.

Actually, Emerson College does not yet own this building. However, they have a purchase option which they expect to exercise in June. They plan to turn the top nine floors into a dormitory. The Colonial Theatre will remain a commercial live stage.

Here is Emerson's official press release, issued on February 24.

In 2000, to mark the Colonial's 100th birthday, the theatre published a history book, complete with numerous high-quality color photos. This book was similar to the book about the New Amsterdam Theatre in NY. There were 2000 copies printed and the price was about $85. There is a copy in the THSA Archives/Library in Elmhurst IL, and I assume that a few libraries closer to home have it also.

I have found a whole pile of programs for the old Colonial Theater, and assume it's for this one. The programs date to 1904, and it's almost a complete set. For example, "Mother Goose" was playing during the week of March 21, 1904, and someone penciled in that it ran for 7 weeks.
I think it's this theater, but the only address it gives is "For space in this program address:
Colonial Theatre Program, Room 901, COlonial Building, Boston. No street given.

Interestingly, it gave attractions for representative NY Theaters too for the same week (3/21/1904), for example:
New Empire Theater - The Other Girl
Garrick Theater - The Ruling Power
Criterion Theatre - Merely Mary Ann
Savoy Theater - Raffles
New Lyceum Theater - The Admirable Crichton
Hudson Theater - Man Proposes
new York Theater - The Tenderfoot

It's got to be this one. I've never heard of any other theatre in Boston called 'Colonial', and this building does have a 9th floor.

I agree. The Colonial's office building was called the "Colonial Building". The New York City theatres listed in the program were probably all controlled by the Klaw & Erlanger syndicate.

Thanks! I guess this is it. These old programs are so interesting, the old ads are great. It also gives a layout of the theater for seating in each one.

Which might be worth comparing to the current seating chart.

Amazingly, it's virtually identical right down to the boxes. The layout is actually a "Exit plan", so it doesn't give actual row letters, but the layout is the same. The chart shows all the exit doors, stairways, etc in any possible direction. When I get a chance, I will scan it and post it here.

Does anybody know if the theatre's been renovated? I have been to dozens of shows there (including pre-Broadway performances of Mame, Dear World, and On a Clear Day). The last time I was there (1995) it needed it desparately. And, yes, it's in the Colonial Building on Boylston Street, directly across from the Boston Common. Mahalo.

Does anybody know if the theatre's been renovated? I have been to dozens of shows there (including pre-Broadway performances of Mame, Dear World, and On a Clear Day). The last time I was there (1995) it needed it desparately. And, yes, it's in the Colonial Building on Boylston Street, directly across from the Boston Common. Mahalo.

Yes, it was renovated / restored circa late-1990s; I think that Evergreen Studios did the work (not sure of that). It looks great today.

Some interior photos of the Colonial, dating from 2000, can be found here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/424362389/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/424362379/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/424362372/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/424362362/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/424362353/

A rare chance to see movies at the Colonial will take place on Saturday, April 21 2007 when the Boston finals of the Campus Movie Fest film festival will be held there.

I saw a poster about it this morning and was thinking of posting the same thing. Their web site is http://www.campusmoviefest.com/events/boston/index.html .

These are probably videos rather than films, but it still sounds like a worthy event.

The setting of the new Broadway musical "Curtains" is none other than this wonderful theater. I saw "Curtains" last month---a mildly entertaining show about a (fictional) Broadway-bound musical trying out at the Colonial in the late 1950s. David Hyde Pierce plays a Boston detective (and musical theater buff) investigating the murder of the show's leading lady.

This website has four vintage photos of a Colonial Theater in Boston. I hope its this theater. Click on the photo that you want to view, then click it again to expand it.

Yes, the first 3 photos are of the Colonial exterior circa 1960s. The fourth photo is not the Colonial - possibly it's the south facade of the Met/Wang ?? Not sure of that.

The fourth photo is not any theatre in Boston. It is the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia. (look carefully at the right edge of the "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" advertisement in the enlarged photo)

Thanks guys. That website has a few theaters mislabeled. Yesterday I found a photo of a theater on that same site with the location given as Los Angeles and it turns out that the theater was actually located in Ohio. LOL

Please report these errors to the site's archivists, so they can be fixed.

The Boston Herald today reports that the Boston Redevelopment Authority has approved plans of Emerson College to convert the Colonial Theatre Building from office space to student dorm space. The theatre itself is not involved in the renovations and remains under the control of Live Nation.

In February 1938 the Henry King movie In Old Chicago, with Alice Faye, was playing at the Colonial Theatre. Here is a review from the Harvard Crimson.

According to her journals, Lucy Maud Montgomery (of Anne of Green Gables fame) saw D.W. Griffith's 'The Fall of Babylon' starring Constance Talmadge at the Colonial on Thursday, July 10, 1919. She went with her sister-in-law Flora Eagles which whom she was staying in Braintree. She even kept the ticket stub in her scrapbook.

Here is her summary of the event: “Flora and I went into Boston this afternoon to see the much advertised ‘The Fall of Babylon.’ Like the curate’s hackneyed egg it was very good in spots. The siege of Babylon was wonderful. But the heroine, the so-called ‘mountain maid’ was nothing but a very sophisticated chorus girl and there was never for a moment a illusion of anything else.”

This is a recent close-up view.

The Colonial now has an offical website. There is a full history and some internal pictures. www.bostonscolonialtheatre.com

The url doesn't work for the above.

Try this link.

Boston's Colonial Theatre is a beautiful theatre, both inside and out, and a great place to see live shows, to boot. Among the live shows I've seen at Boston's Colonial are Movin' Out, a revival of Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, and a stage production of West Side Story.

Wow, thanks for that link. This is a stunning theater.
When did it stop showing movies and go back to live performance? How long did it show film?

It showed films from time to time, not on a regular basis, from the 1910s into the 1930s, maybe into the early 1940s. (see various comments above). It has always been primarily a live theater.

One of my favorite aspects of the Colonial is the double helix staircase that provides access to the mezzanine or the balcony, depending on which set of steps you take to start. It's a brilliant piece of architecture and just makes a trip to the Colonial that much neater.

In the old Boston Post of Dec. 21, 1950, theater critic Elliot Norton paid tribute to the Colonial on its 50th birthday. He states that show people like it because of its large stage, ample storage space, big scene dock, many dressing rooms and large, very nice star dressing rooms on the stage level at stage-left. His brief history of the theater up to 1950 does not mention movie shows, unfortunately.

Key Brand Entertainment, which I think is a British company, has purchased the operating contract for the Colonial from Live Nation. Key Brand also took over the Charles Playhouse from LN.

Here's a street view of the Colonial Theater....


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=106+Boylston+Street,+Boston,+MA+02116+United+States&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.353216,-71.06545&spn=0.007738,0.01914&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=42.352445,-71.065384&panoid=l959DuZ7Z_07e4N2SeYf5g&cbp=12,218.91,,0,-13.46