Uptown Theatre

The address for the Uptown Theatre is 239 Huntington Ave.

I have an old Record-American ad here from November, 1963, at the time of the Kennedy assassination listing the Uptown as showing "Dream Wife" with Cary Grant and "Rampage" with Robert Mitchum. Coming attractions: "The Leopard" with Burt Lancaster and "For Love or Money" with Gig Young.

Many many years ago, in 1947, I got my first job as an usher at the Uptown theatre on Huntington Ave.I worked there for about three years before going into the Army in 1951.

The Uptown showed '2nd run' Boston pictures which means we were the first theatre to show a picture after the 1st run Boston movie houses. The prices were about forty to fifty cents admission with the top price at fifty five cents on Sunday.

The theatre was owned by George S. Giles associates which had some other movies houses in the chain. Some of the towns I remember where they were located are Norwood, Gardner and Laconia New Hampshire.

I had been back stage at the Uptown many times and yes it was used for vaudville. I also have a picture of me inside the theatre probably taken in 1948 or 1949.

I wish that there were some pictures of the theatre itself out there. If anyone has any information regarding this great old theatre where I spent part of my youth, please email me at
JLand91946@aol.com

Thanks in advance.

Jim L

Just let me add one note. In the late 40's and 50's the Uptown was condidered a family theatre. It's shows ran from Thursday till Wednesday and usually drew a SRO audience whenever there were major pictures on the bill. I know because on those nights, usually Friday Saturday or Sunday I would be the 'barker' out in front of the theatre announcing "STANDING ROOM ONLY"

One other feature that made this theatre unique was the fact that all the seats in the house were the same price. No diffence for balcony, loge, or orchestra. Not many theatres in that era had that policy.

Jim L

During the summer of 1968, I worked part time as an usher at the nearby Sack Cheri. While walking to work, I saw the Uptown being torn down. Hanging from a frame on an exposed wall of the second floor, was an old painted movie poster. I asked a worker if there were any posters I might take as a souvenir. He showed me a flooded cellar, with cardboard floating around. I managed to retrieve a poster for the Judy Garland film, "A Star is Born". It was a cardboard, part paste-up, part painted. It was probably the only undamaged poster there, although I didn't have much time to search, as I didn't want to be late for work.

The 'Uptown' was built originally as 'Chickering Hall', probably an exhibition/performance space for the Chickering Piano Factory (now artists' residences a few blocks away, on Columbus Ave.) It was remodeled in 1912 (Peabody & Stearns) as a theater, renamed the 'Saint James Theater'. According to a former teacher of mine, it played stock company fare, the one he remembered was 'Dracula' in the late 20s. A woman I worked with lived on Albermarle St in the 30s,40s and told me she went there every week for double bills. I went often in the late 50s to mid 60s. It was still a pretty well kept place; I always thought it had something to do with the Christion Science Church then, as there was a small garden beside the theater, before the current expansive layout. There used to be an antique dealer on Mass Ave (Joe Goldberg-the shop was named the 'Newton Picture Shop'-it was where the Orange line station is)
He was selling sconces and light fixtures that he claimed came from the 'Uptown'.

As previously stated I worked at the Uptown theatre from 1947 to 1950. I can remember some of the stores and shops in that area.

Diagonally across Symphony Hall was a cigar shop called Schultes. And a few feet away a bar called "The Arcade". Directly across Mass. Ave. was Liggetts and another bar called "The Blue Moon.

On St Botolph St. was the old Boston Arena where they had pro wrestling on Thursday nights. Another bar-deli on the corner of St. Botolph was The Fensmere, great hot pastrami on a roll.

Up a little way on Mass. Ave was "Steve 'Crusher' Caseys" a bar owned by the popular wrestler at that time.

There are other rembrances I have of that long ago era but I wont bore anyone reading this post by mentioning them.

Since I now live in NY and have for fifty years it gives me great pleasure to see posts and articles about that time frame where I spent part of my youth.

The Boston Arena is still there. It has been renamed Matthews Arena and is an athletic facility for Northeastern University. It claims to be the world's oldest ice-hockey arena.

According to an unpublished 1968 draft manuscript by Douglas Shand-Tucci entitled The Puritan Muse (available in the Fine Arts room of the Boston Public Library), the St. James Theatre opened on August 30, 1912.

In 1925, it became part of the Keith Albee vaudeville and movie circuit. In 1929, it joined the M&P circuit. Some time after that, it changed its name to the Uptown.

In the late 50's and early 60's, the "anunciators" were still at either side of the stage. These were the sign boards which listed the vaudeville acts in order of their appearance.

The following is quoted from "A Historical Survey of the Theatres of Boston" by Donald C. King, published in the Third Quarter 1974 issue of Marquee, the journal of the Theatre Historical Society:

"In 1901 the famed piano makers opened Chickering Hall in Back Bay. By 1912 it had become the St. James Theatre with vaudeville and film. In the 1920s it became one of Boston's then popular stock company stages like the Copley (1921-1962), the Repertory Theatre (now Boston University Theatre) and the Castle Square theatre (1894-1920's). The St. James became a movie theatre in the 1930's, the Uptown, and was wrecked in 1968."

The Bostonian Society Library photo collection has several photographs and picture postcards showing Chickering Hall, the St. James, or the Uptown -- sometimes alongside its next-door neighbor Horticultural Hall. I'll try to post some links to these in the next few days.

Some early pictures of this building:

Symphony, Horticultural, and Chickering Halls, side by side (description)

Chickering Hall - photo (description)

Chickering Hall - picture postcard #1 (description)

Chickering Hall - picture postcard #2 (description)

Picture postcard of Horticultural Hall, with the St. James Theatre beside it (description), some time between 1916 and 1919.

Note that the sign reads "LOEW'S ST. JAMES THEATRE". This was several years before they built the Loew's State a few blocks away.

A picture postcard of Huntington and Massachusetts Avenues, showing Symphony Hall, Horticultural Hall, the Christian Science Church dome, and a tall red vertical sign for the Uptown Theatre. The postcard is described here. Unfortunately the date given is non-specific: "ca. 1930-1947".

Another early photo of Chickering Hall, from the Library of Congress collection, taken sometime between 1901 and 1906.

This photo of Horticultural Hall, taken around the same time, shows a bit of Chickering Hall to the right.

And finally, here is the building that replaced the Uptown:

Christian Science Church - Sunday School Building

Behind it, you can see little bits of Horticultural Hall and Symphony Hall (the latter building has the red POPS sign on it).

Re: the pic.of the building that replaced the Uptown. I believe that's St Stephens Street, looking toward Mass. Ave. That would have been the back of the theatre. I had a room on St. Stephen's street in the late 40's and could walk to work in a matter of minutes.

Ron, thanks for posting the pictures of that area. I haven't been back there for about 50 years but those old buildings are still fresh in my memory.

According to Donald C. King's new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, Chickering Hall opened on February 8, 1901, as a concert or lecture hall with 800 seats.

In 1904, Charles Frohman leased the hall, enlarged its stage, and presented the morality play Everyman along with Shakespeare repertory.

In 1912, real estate developer M.H. Gulesian gutted and expanded Chickering Hall. It reopened on August 30, 1912 as the Saint James Theatre, with 1800 seats. Marcus Loew leased it in February 1913, showing low-priced vaudeville and movies. In 1925, the Keith-Albee circuit took over and began presenting a stock company on the Saint James stage.

In 1929, the Saint James became part of the Paramount-Publix chain and was renamed the Uptown. In 1968, it was sold to the Christian Science Church and demolished.

Both the Uptown and the Paramount were General Cinema Theatres when they closed.

i have about 10 poster billboards for the uptown theatre that have several play such as george raft in bolero fay wray in once to every woman,,janet gaynor in paddy,fredrick march in good dame, irene dunne in this man is mine,,john boles gloria stewart in beloved,janet gaynor lionel barrymore in carolina,,clark gable--yes clark gable and claudette colbert in happened one night,,woll rogers in david harum,, rudy vallee and jimmy durante in george white scandals-does anyone know their possible worth,,i'm trying to get more info to sell them for my father who need the money since my mother had a stroke??? any info would help thanks---this would answer any question too if any vaudeville acts and plays happened their too

What dates are on those posters?

This theatre definitely had live stage plays at times, but I thought that was only under its previous names, Chickering Hall and [Loew's] St. James.

unfortunately all the postrs just give the date and month the plays took place---all posters were made by allen show print in beverly mass---these posters were actually hung against the wall face against the wall in my chilhood house and that house dates to the 1800's--they used them as a wall paper and i'm 40

sorry most say also " a $1,000,000 show"---and it gives the adress as "cor. mass and hunington aves"---then will give the weeks starting

the admission was also 30 cents at the time too

if it helps to i have one for the rialto theatre that use to be where goverment center is today that showed william powwell and bette davis in fashion follies 1934-----------maybe all these are old movie poster board ads?

Based on the titles and actors you listed, I'm strongly inclined to believe that these posters advertised movies, not live stage shows.

A few months ago, I added a page here for that Rialto Theatre. It was a pretty disreputable place by the time it closed, but probably a bit more classy back in 1934.

that;s what i'm think too now reading history based on this site,,would they be worth trying to get something for them for my father and if so where? thanks for all you help

That I can't really help you with, as I know nothing about the local or national market for such items. It's possible that the Bostonian Society or the Boston Athenaeum would want them, but I don't know what they would pay (if anything).

thannks again---at least i have some dircetion i may follow

I believe that Ron Newman's account of the E.M.Loew's St. James preceeding the Loew's State is accurate. But, comparing the two theaters would lead one to believe they were of the same ownership, which they were not. The former was part of the E.M. Loew's chain based in Boston. The latter was part of the New York based Loew's Corporation of New York.

King's book says the St. James Theatre was Marcus Loew's, not E.M. Loew's.

Interesting! Was Marcus Loew's theaters a chain in addition to E.M. Loews and Loews?

No. Marcus Loew was the founder of Loew's (which dropped its apostrophe some time in the late 1960s).

The Little Building at 80 Boylston Street, now an Emerson College dormitory, displays at its front entrance some panels detailing the college's history. One of them says that Emerson College occupied Chickering Hall from 1901 to 1911, with offices and a library on the first floor, nine classrooms on the second floor, and morning use of the (then) 800-seat auditorium.

By 1911, the college could no longer afford to remain here, and it relocated to smaller and less luxurious quarters in Copley Square.

(Of course, Emerson is much richer and larger these days. It now owns the beautifully restored Majestic Theatre and has announced plans to renovate the Paramount as well.)

I went to movies at the Uptown occasionally in 1950s and 1960s. It was a beautiful theatre, kept in very fine condition. There were good houses there on weekday matinees. I saw films like "Topkapi" and "Ocean's Eleven" there. Walking down the street in back which ran out to Mass. Ave. you could get a good view of the right side of the auditorium and stagehouse. Although the theatre entrance is thru the center bay of the old Chickering bldg on Huntington Ave., I think that whatever was in back was probably demolished in 1912 because the structure in back (auditorium & stage) did not look like an adaptation of an existing building. The scene door was on the rear stage wall on the sidewalk, while the stage door and dressing room windows were at stage-left. The architects for the St. James Theatre were Peabody & Stearns. It opened as a playhouse on August 30, 1912. The MGM Theatre Photo and Report card for this theatre has a photo dated simply "1941"."The Lady Eve" and "Sea Wolf" are the attractions . In front of the theatre is the construction for the extension of the trolley subway from Copley to Northeastern Univ. The Report states that the house is not a MGM customer; The condition is Good; and the seating is: 854 orchestra; 812 balcony; total: 1666 seats.

Where does someone find the MGM Theatre Photo and Report Card?

For an explanation of the MGM Theatre Photograph and Report project, see under Warner Theatre, Worcester MA .

A photo of the Uptown Theatre being demolished. The photo is described here, but I don't trust the description, since it says the photo is from 1962 or 1963. From other information posted here, the theatre was demolished considerably later. I also don't think the Prudential Tower, also shown here, was in a finished condition in 1963.

Ron Newman - I was attending movies at the Uptown in 1962 and 1963! It was not demolished until the late-1960s. Work on the Pru tower was stopped for a long while, due to, I think, money problems. Its construction was very slow. The date may be wrong, but it's a good photo.

The ST. JAMES THEATRE is quite prominently visible near the bottom of this 1928 map.

It is on the left side of wide Huntington Avenue, just above Horticultural Hall.

The Uptown was demolished in 1968. I used to walk past it on my way to my concession job at the Cheri that summer.

to dwodeyla- do you recall when in 1968 the demolition occured? I suspect that it was in the second half of the year. Also, do you recall seeing demolition work underway at the Capri/ Strand nearby on Huntington Avenue ?

It was probably August of '68. I didn't notice what was happening to the Capri. Wish I had paid more attention. I think the Uptown had been taken over by General Cinema before it closed. Izzy Strier remembers they sold hot dogs at the refreshment stand.

It would have been August of '68. I don't remember noticing the Capri at the time. General Cinema had taken over the Uptown before it closed, but I never went inside. Izzy Strier remembers they sold hots dogs at the refreshment stand.

How many ways can I send the same message?

Thanks, dwodeyla, for trying to pin down the demolition period. I had an idea that it could not have happened prior to May 1968. The Uptown was a favorite theatre of mine.

I know this is a long, long time ago, but does anyone remember a Howard Johnsons restaurant being in this building?

Not in the Uptown, but maybe across the street on Huntington Ave? Or around in back?

No Howard Johnsons in my recollection but there was a Brighams right along side of the Uptown that sold ice cream, milkshakes, frappes, etc.

This was around the late 40's, early 50's.

I think that Jim L is correct-- I have a very vague memory that there was a Brigham's or a store very similar to Brigham's near the Uptown entrance, perhaps to the left (west).

I'm going to have to find it, but I'm pretty certain I have a Howard Johnson match book cover with this address. This would be long ago, probably the early 1930's.

And actually this is part of a bigger puzzle I'm trying to solve in finding the first Howard Johnson restaurants [I know... that's not what this site is about]. This has become an obsession...

Here's a link to the first store, http://www.nahant.com/hojopage/a%20hallbauer%20nahant%201912.jpg and the page it's from details the history of HoJos.

Actually, Wollaston, heres a link to that picture http://www.nahant.com/hojopage/a%20wollaston%201924.jpg

cagey- Howard Johnson was a Quincy resident. His first HoJo's was in Quincy, near the Wollaston Theatre in the 1920s; also another location in the Granite Trust Bldg (still standing) across from the Strand Theatre in Quincy center.

Thanks, but I knew of them. His first store was at Wollaston, second in Quincy Square. See the theater reference here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Johnson%27s I suspect that the enterprising Johnson open his next store in Boston to capitalize on that event and I'm trying to find where it was. Thanks for the input! I'm going to look for that match book right now...

Ok, let's put it this way. I know for a fact there was a Brighams to the left of the Uptown (facing the Uptown) because I worked at that theatre for 3 years in the late 40's and many a time I would go next door for a milk shake or a frappe.As far as a Howard Johnson being there at that time, like I said in my previous post, I don't think there was, not in that time frame anyway.

During 1959 &'60 I remember a Brighams on Mass Ave. near the Loews State. Around the Uptown I recall Walton's Cafeteria on the east side of Gainsboro St., Hayes-Bickford Cafeteria on the west side of Gainsboro, Waldorf Cafeteria, Ramona's Restaurant and Joe & Nemos on Huntington Ave.

A Frazee theater organ opus 32 size 3/19 was installed in the St. James Theater in 1915.

Well, I finally found the matchbook cover: http://www.kevingalvin.name/hojocover.htm I don't suspect this store was open very long as this is the only mention of it I've seen.