Cabot Street Cinema

we love your theater. The North Shore would be impoverished without you.

Are there still tickets for the magic show Dec. 31, and how much are they?

This is a wonderful little theater. I spent the summer in Beverly and it was my free time haven where I saw foreign films that I would not normally be able to see. This theater also shows current films. The theater has balcony seating, though you can't sit there just know it exhists is really enough. This classic little piece of history has cheerful employees that will open the door for you and even play silent film tunes on thier piano before the show. Unfortunetly I never got a chance to see the magic show, but I hear its well worth it. If in the Beverly area i would suggest a movie here and follow it with a latte or Italian soda at the Atomic Cafe down the street.

The owners of The Cabot also own or likely owned another theatre in Beverly whose name escapes me. For decades it was a minor blight in local papers since it was a porn house. The management of the Cabot tried to rehab it (must have been a job since it was twinned) and did the magic shows from there during weekdays. Anyone know the name of the place?

That sounds like the Larcom Theatre, 13 Wallis Street, Beverly. They do have magic shows there, but I know nothing more. If it ever showed movies, it should get its own entry here.

Thanks Ron
I wasn't sure if the theatre was even there anymore. They did show movies there since I remember seeing ads all the time in local papers for its adult theatrr name 'The Fine Arts.'

Next maybe you can help dredge up the name of the 3rd theatre that used to be in Salem MA (besides the current compact triplex beneath the garage.) I can recall the Salem Paramount which was demolished to build the garage, and also where I saw my first movie, EM Loews Salem which was a nice if nondescript house demolished to make way for condos. But there was a third one that I recall going to but can't remember a name for. Likely gone for decades.

The three theaters in Salem were the Paramont, The Empire (on Essex Street next to where Jerry's Army Navy is now)- an old vaudeville theater. That was torn down in the 50's I believed, and replaced with the Salem Theater. All three are gone now, sadly - replaced with some ugly condos.

Thanks vandusen, but I swear there was another theatre at the opposite end of Essex St near the spot where there's a corner park now. I'm not old enough to have gone to the Empire but I had been to the Paramount as a kid and I remember seeing many double features at the Salem.

Opened as the Ware Theatre on 8th December 1920, the original seating capacity was for 1,200. From the 1930's until 1976 it was part of the E.M. Loew Circuit and was re-named Cabot Theatre sometime after 1950.

I grew up in Salem, MA in the 40s and 50s. At that time there were actually four (4) theaters on Essex Street: The Paramount was on the north side of the street near St. Peter St. The Empire, the Plaza, and E.M. Lowe's Salem were fairly clustered together on the south side of lower Essex Street down toward Jerry's Army & Navy.

The Paramount opened as a Publix Theater in 1928. It was designed as a classic movie palace with 2,187 seats. Its interior was Rococo style with a balcony. The side walls featured faux boxes, which actually housed lights to illuminate enormous murals in the manner of Watteau in tall arches behind the boxes. The two front boxes had curtains instead of murals. They hid away the giant Wirlitzer organ pipes. The screen was 85 feet long, which later became an equally long cinemascope screen. When the theater opened in 1928, it boasted air conditioning, a first. The balcony was originally designated as the smoking section. Seeing a movie in that grand old theater was an event. Phil Bloomberg was the owner/operator in that era. It was demolished in the 60s to make way for a parking garage, which had to be the folly of the decade. It would have made an extraordinary performing arts center.

The Empire Theater was already shuttered when I was a kid. It had 1,200 seats and had been used as a playhouse as for vaudeville in its time. I peered through the front doors when it was being demolished, and its interior was beautifully ornate.

The Plaza was actually the "New Plaza" built in 1917 with 750 seats to replace its predecessor, which had burned down. The Plaza had a Spanish motif interior. The orchestra floor had very little slope if any and was surprisingly small. The balcony was far larger than the downstairs, as it overlapped not only part of the main floor, but extended back as well over the lobby. This theater had deteriorated over the decades and was quite dingy and musty. It closed in the late 50s and never reopened. Its perpetual coming attraction was a David Frye Real Estate poster in its movie feature display by the ticket window.

E.M. Lowe's Salem Theater was built in the early 50s and had 1,000 seats. By then the artisans had retired or died off, so movie theaters were no long grand in appearance with molded ceilings, lunnets, and filigree decoration. The Salem was instead a modern, plain vanilla movie house with nondescript wallpapered walls, a plain tile ceiling, and no balcony. I will concede that the seats moved forward on rails so that one could recline a bit. Despite its shortcomings, if it were still there (it burned down in the 90's I believe), it would lord it over the multiplex shoeboxes that pass for "theaters" today with their screens slightly larger than television screens.

My mother told me that when she was a kid, there were two small silent picture theaters on Central Street, the Comique and the Nickelodian. Those had disappeared by the time I came along. There was also the larger Federal Theater which was a vaudeville house and showed some movies before closing. By the time I came along, it had long closed and been converted first into a bowling alley, and subsequently a First National supermarket. If memory serves, it was located on New Derby Street.

Now they're all gone.

All Salem has today is the Museum Place triplex, one of those multiplex shoeboxes. It was built by Sack in 1982, later became independent, and is now run by Patriot Cinemas. It doesn't have an entry here at CinemaTreasures. I posted a 1982 Boston Globe article about its opening here.

At least there are still movies in downtown Salem. So many other town centers no longer have theatres of any kind.

I encourage you to submit new entries for all of the Salem theatres you remember.

Hi Ron,

Yes, I followed your suggestion and entered those four theaters I mentioned in the thread. Maybe others will be able to add more information about them as time goes on.

Here is a photo of the Cabot Street Cinema.

The Cabot Street was built by two brothers, Harris and Glover Ware who were in the entertainment business and who operated the Larcom Theatre. When it opened, it was called "The Golden Theatre Beautiful". It ws a vaude and film house. Later acquired by the Ramsdell Bros. for their small North Shore circuit. Then, in the 1930s, E.M. Loew acquired both the Ware and the Larcom. Sometime in the 1960s, the name was changed to Cabot Street Cinema. It was acquired by the Le Grand David magic troupe who premiered their first show on stage on February 20, 1977. They continued to offer film fare on screen, with stage shows on Sunday matinees.

A few more photos of Cabot Theater.

- This one is not very impressive, it shows the sprawling strip-mall-like front of the building which hosts the theater.

- Here is a close-up view of the entrance, with spring blooming all around it.

- Another view shows a Grand David mural.

- And this is a close-up of the mural.

HI folks.

Dave1 above, could you contact me? You may be able to help me with a research question on early Salem, MA Theatres. I have tons of material but there's one little thing I need to find out and you may be able to help.

I would surely love to talk to you asap...

PS from ASONGBIRD...

....or --of course ---anyone else who has info on the early Salem theatres (after 1896).

thanks

The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for this theatre has an exterior photo dated May 1941 when it was the Ware Theatre. There was a rectangular marquee with "Ware" in huge letters on the front. There was also a vertical blade sign above. The attraction is "Virginia". The Report states that the theatre was at 286 Cabot St., that it has been playing MGM product for over 10 years; that it's over 15 years old, and is in Good condition. There are 750 seats on the main floor and 450 in the balcony, total: 1200 seats. The patronage is "Class" (meaning "high-class"). A competing theatre in Beverly is the Larcom Th. The 1940 population of Beverly was 25,500.

The Boston Sunday Herald of Feb. 18, 2007 has an article titled "Le Grand David's spectacular longevity no illusion" by Lauren B. Falcone which states that the matinee performance of Feb. 18th at the Cabot Street Theatre will mark the 30th anniversary of the Le Grand David magic shows on stage. There are Sunday matinees at the Cabot St. while a different show plays on Thursdays at the Larcom Theatre nearby.

Here is a recent close-up view of the Cabot Street Cinema.

This is another photo of the Cabot Street Cinema.

A few more photos are here.

Here is a 1980 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/q4nkj4

The name given on this theaters website is Cabot Street Cinema Theatre.