Beacon Hill Theatre

The exact address for this theatre is 1 Beacon Street, which becomes Tremont Street at that point. The theatre was still operating in the early 90s and by that time it contained three auditoriums in its beneath-street-level location.

Ads for attractions at this theatre always indicated "Opposite Parker House."

I believe this to be the BEACON THEATRE, which was the sister to the MODERN THEATRE on Washington St. This theatre was opened in 1913 by movie theatre pioneer Jacob Lourie and his partners. It had, along with the MODERN, the first Western Electric sound projection equipment installed in the country. It premiered along with its sister theatre, the Boston showing of the "Jazz Singer". It was build exclusively for the showing of moving pictures and along with the MODERN was the first deluxe movie-only theatre in New England. It was opened by New England Theatres Operating Company (NETOCO) and later was part of the M&P and ATC before SACKs.

The 2nd Beacon Hill Theatre, which still exists underground,
was built in the same block as the original. This house was tripled
in the 70s by blocking off the rear 20% of both left and right rears.
The entrance still sticks out of the ground.

The former entrance is now a COPY COP.When you entered the Theatre, you immediately walked down several levels of stairs. The Theatre faces going down Tremont St. You walk over that big flat sidewalk area with the auditorium underneath you.

The Beacon Hill, before closing in November of 1992, essentially operated as a grindhouse for the last 10 years or so of its operation, showing mostly low-budget action and horror flicks, along with the occasional move-over from one of the other Sack/USA/Loews Theatres - the Charles, Cheri, Cinema 57, Pi Alley, Copley Place, and Nickelodeon, among others - operating in Boston at the time. (Of that lot, only the Copley Place currently remains open for business.)

And I hear that the Copley will soon be closing as well!

A few years ago, the management at the One Beacon Street Building expanded their underground garage. I used to park my car there. I'm pretty sure that was the space occupied by the Beacon Hill Theater, so the theater substructure most likely has been demolished. I saw several films when it was an art house venue ("Kagamusha," "Say Amen, Somebody,") and a couple when it became a grind house. The last film I saw there was "Beverly Hills Cop II," and the urban crowd at the matinee was rowdy. You had to climb a lot of stairs to get back to street level.

Ben Sack won this theatre in a poker game. When the film "And God Created Woman" played here, the Assistant Manager, Izzy Strier, needed Mr Sack's intervention to avoid being arrested by the Boston Police for running a film which violated Boston's blue laws.
Nearly all Downtown Boston theaters were owned by Ben Sack from the late 1950's and through the 1970's, run by Mr Sack, and Alan Friedberg with Bill Glazer, until sold to the Loews Corporation. Any anecdotes and information on the history of Sack Theatres would be appreciated.

In the mid-1970s, Sack ran these theaters in central Boston: Beacon Hill, Pi Alley, Savoy (now Opera House), Saxon (now Cutler Majestic), Gary, Cinema 57 (now Stuart Street Playhouse), Music Hall (now Wang Center), and Cheri. They later took over the Charles and Paris.

I'm pretty sure that the Beacon Hill Theater I saw in the 1970s replaced an earlier theater on the same spot.

Does anyone know what famous Bostonian ushered at a Loews Theatre in Boston? Thanks.

Ron - yes the original Beacon Hill was at roughly that same spot.
Dwodeyla- I too have heard that Ben Sack won the (original) Beacon Hill Theatre in a poker game. Sack was originally a junk dealer, and this winning was his entry into the entertainment business. I believe he died last year (or possibly the year before). His family has gold 'lifetime' passes to get into former Sack houses for free. When I worked for Loews I had the opportunity to talk to his grandson, Terry Sack, who was a very nice guy. When I mentioned my interest in local cinema history (and the fact that I knew his grandfather's name, a rarity for young people today) he was kind enought to offer me the opportunity to meet with Mr. Sack, but alas, I never made the time to do so.

There are still a few people around in the Loews Boston operations that go back to the Sack days... more ushers and projectionists than managers. I worked with a great lady at Harvard Square who got her start as an usher at the Saxon when she was 15. She has worked pretty much every theater in Boston, the Charles, Beacon Hill, etc. She still works at the Harvard Square Theatre.

Do any of you guys remember the old Sack policy trailers where the little animated people in sacks formed the "S" in "Sack"?

If you walk around the rear of the Loews Assembly Square Cinemas, the fire dept. pipes still say "Sacks Cinema" on them.

Also, I am not sure about the other area Loews, but the Assembly Sq. Cinema was still technically operated by "Sacks Theatres" on its entertainment license, at least until the Loews bankruptcy of 2001. All of the theaters were operated under various corporate entities because of grandfathering issues, etc.

Those are my "Sacks" tidbits. Anybody else?

re Sacks tidbits. I remember in the 1950s that the Sack organization every year in the Spring would place ads in the trades announcing that that particular year's Oscar Winning "Best Picture" had opened in a Sack Theatre. This went on for years.

Also re Sacks: does anybody remember in 1962 when the Sack organization took over a large 1920's-era house, renamed it the Music Hall, and attempted a film + stage show policy? Opening film was "Billy Rose's Jumbo." I don't think the policy faired too well, and the only other note I have about the MH is that it booked and suffered through a fairly disastrous roadshow run of Fox' "Cleopatra" in 1963.
Back to the basement Beacon Hill. In the winter of 1973 it ran the 70mm version of "This Is Cinerama."

veyoung,

that theater is the Wang Theatre, now part of Boston's Wang Center for the Performing Arts. It opened as the Metropolitan, was affiliated with Paramount, and was renamed by Sack's as the Music Hall, a name that stuck until it became a performing arts center.

There's a separate listing here for the Wang Center. When it was still the Music Hall it often presented rock concerts.

I applied for a job as an usher at the old Beacon Hill, but I was only 15, and too young. 'And God Created Woman' with Brigitte Bardot was the feature. I was interviewed by the then unknown Ben Sack himself. This was before he took over the Plymouth which he renamed the Gary, and the Majestic, which he renamed the Saxon. The old Beacon Hill was completely demolished whn they built the high rise 'One Beacon'; however, they did put in the theater complex in part of the parking garage. It was a descent into the underworld, and in one auditorium, you could hear the trolly cars screeching by on their way from Park st to Govt. center.

The Beacon Hill closed on Monday, November 30, 1992, according to a Globe article published two days later.

On Friday, January 17, 1992, fistfights broke out and at least six gunshots were fired inside the Beacon Hill Theatre during a 10 pm screening of ''Juice,'' a movie about New York City street gangs.

You have to wonder if that was a factor in Sack's decision to close this theatre a few months later.

Ron- AS I mentioned above, I saw "Beverly Hills Cop II" at this theater, and it was the rowdiest crowd I'd ever experienced at a film. That was my last visit movie there. I guess it went downhill after that. I'm a member of the church across the street. When the Beacon Hill ran art films, I'd catch a show on Sunday afternoon, since I'd already parked in the basement garage there.

ian and veyou
Sack tidbits
Ben Sack used to do personalized 'trailers' for up-coming features, where he would sit at a desk and tell you how special this was. He also had one of him shaking hands w/ some moguls and announced his 'bit part' in ???? (He got some bit part in either the 10 commandments, or Ben Hur, or more likely the Cardinal.)
He was reportedly so shocked that no one came to the movie 'Darling' w/ Julie Christie, that he granted free admission to 'up' the word-of-mouth. I went. It played the Keith Memorial (Opera House).

When the events of January 17, 1992 - which Ron made reference to in his post earlier today, the Beacon Hill was part of the Loews chain.

I meant to type...

When the events of January 17, 1992 - which Ron made reference to in his post earlier today - occurred, the Beacon Hill was part of the Loews chain.

An odd thing about this theatre was that the subway ran fairly close behind the screen vibrating the entire house when it did.
They showed a ripoff revival of 'This Is Cinerama' one time. Supposedly a new lens enabled them to show Cinerama with one projector. A manager who worked there at the time told me during that run they had 2 boxoffice lines. One waiting to buy tickets and another waiting for refunds.
Supposed to be a scary place to work because of it being 2-3 floors below street level anything could happen and no one outside would notice anything.

According to a Boston Globe article published on May 21, 1982, Sack Theatres (re)instituted an art and foreign film booking policy at the Beacon Hill on February 26, 1982, starting with Das Boot, followed by Garde a Vue and Christiane F.. On the day the article was published, the theatre was showing The Atomic Cafe, Smash Palace, and Roommates.

I believe this policy lasted until Sack opened the Copley Place in February 1984.

The Beacon Hill was indeed one of Boston's prime art houses in the 1950s and 1960s and, I believe, earlier, with many of the top foreign films playing here. I remember movies like the French version of "Gigi" playing here in the early 50s. I was too young to come to Boston to see it at the time, but I used to like to check out movie ads in the Boston papers. I believe the first movie I ever saw here was Nanni Loy's "The Four Days of Naples" in 1963. I came up from Providence as a college student just to see that. The other art houses in the period of the 1950s and 1960s were the Kenmore Cinema (torn down to build I-90), the Exeter Street Theatre, and the Telepix (later Park Square Cinema), the West End Cinema (1960s). I would love to hear other people's memories of Boston art houses in the pre-1960s era.

Interesting to read the above posts about the booking policy for the Beacon Hill.

The summary for the Beacon Hill should probably be revised to point out---as other posters have done---that there were two separate theaters with this name, presumably at the same address. The original may have had a consistent arthouse policy but the replacement (the underground bunker version that opened in the late 60/early 70s) never established a clear identity, as it went from a first run showcase to grindhouse with a brief stint as an arthouse in between.

In the early l970s, the Beacon Hill exhibited major first run releases such as "The Towering Inferno" (in an unusual move, "Inferno" was shown simultaneously at another Sack theater in Boston; I think it was the Cinema 57) and "Papillon." I remember seeing Fellini's "Casanova" at the Beacon Hill in the mid-70s, which was shown on a reserved seat basis. After the conversion to a triplex, the theater mostly showed move-over runs or first runs of Grade B films (apart from a brief detour as an arthouse as noted above) and eventually became known---as the 57 was in its final years---of showing exploitation films that attracted unruly crowds.

For those interested, I've posted on the Copley Place Cinemas page some Sack -> USACinemas -> Loews history for Boston and Cambridge.

From a Boston Herald article published on July 7, 1992:

"The Beacon Hill was the first movie house in the Boston-based Sack Theaters chain. According to legend, scrap metal magnate Benjamin Sack won the Beacon Hill in a poker game in the 1950s, launching what would become the region's largest theater chain. Sack's own version of the story was that he returned to the gin rummy table to retrieve a gold pencil and fell into a conversation with another player, a film exhibitor. Sack said he lent the man $10,000, which later expanded into a $200,000 investment in three theaters, including the Beacon Hill.

The original Beacon Hill theater was demolished in 1969 to make way for the 1 Beacon St. office tower, but the underground Beacon Hill theater opened below the original site in 1971."

The article also says that the theatre was 41 steps below ground, with no elevator or other handicapped access.

Just for the record, this was the theatre that ran the much-maligned 70mm version of "This Is Cinerama" in 1973.

Yes it was veyoung, see my comment on the boxoffice lines on my Jan 5 posting.

Was the original theatre here called the 'Beacon Hill' or just the 'Beacon' ?

Beacon Hill.

I've seen references to the 'Beacon' theatre in several places. One is in Donald C. King's "Historical Survey of the Theatres of Boston" (published in the Theatre Historical Society's magazine Marquee, Third Quarter 1974). Another is in David Kruh's book Always Something Doing: A History of Boston's Infamous Scollay Square. So I'm pretty sure that the theatre changed its name from 'Beacon' to 'Beacon Hill' at some point.

Whether Ben Sack did this in the 1950s, or it happened earlier, I'm not yet sure.

A 1958 photo of the first Beacon Hill Theatre. The photo is described here.

The marquee advertises

NEVER ANYTHING LIKE IT
BRIGITTE BARDOT
AND GOD CREATED WOMAN

with Bardot's name in much, much larger letters than the other two lines.

Above the marquee, a banner advertises an upcoming World Premiere of "The Goddess" with Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges.

And in this 1945 photo, described here, the theatre's marquee says BEACON, not Beacon Hill. It's too blurry to see what film the marquee advertises.

The original BEACON THEATRE at 53 Tremont was the sister theatre to the MODERN THEATRE on Washington St. This theatre was opened in 1913 by Boston movie theatre pioneer Jacob Lourie and his partners. It had, along with the MODERN, the first Western Electric sound projection equipment installed in the country. It premiered along with its sister theatre, the Boston showing of the "Jazz Singer". It was build exclusively for the showing of moving pictures and along with the MODERN was the first deluxe movie-only theatre in New England. The policy of "Double Feature" was conceived and implemented by Jacob Lourie. This was done out of necessity because his competitors (ie Mr. Loew, etc) were starting to show a Feature with Vaudeville. Lourie's stages were too small at the Beacon and Modern. Hollywood responded to Lourie's innovation by producing "B" films. It was opened by New England Theatres Operating Company (NETOCO) and later was part of the M&P and ATC chains.

Film Daily Yearbooks, 1941, '43 and '50 list this as the Beacon Theatre with a seating capacity given as either 787 or 786. Also the address given is 53 Tremont Street.

A 1953 photo, described here. In this photo, the marquee says "Beacon Hill" and advertises a "New England premiere" of Noel Coward's "Tonight at 8:30".

Ron: I think just above "Noel Coward's" it says "J Arthur Rank Film." The style of the "Beacon Hill" lettering is classic fifties. Great photo.

Interior photo:http://www.esteyorgan.com/Opus1463.html

Interior photo: http://www.esteyorgan.com/Opus1463.html

Copy Cop has closed at this location. The former theatre entrance now has "Retail Space For Lease" signs in the windows.

The photo TC provided a link to is of the original Beacon Hill Theatre, which was demolished in 1969 to make way for the One Beacon Street office tower; to the facing right of the tower's frontage, the subterranean three-screen Beacon Hill Cinemas were built.

Actually, the subterranean cinema was built as a single screen, then much later subdivided into three.

In reality the BEACON THEATRE and the BEACON HILL should be separate entries since they are different theatres. Back in the day runners would go between the BEACON and MODERN carrying the film so they could switch showings between the two sister theatres.

The sequence of events was:
- Beacon Theatre opened in 1913
- Beacon Theatre was renamed to Beacon Hill Theatre in the 1950s (maybe by Ben Sack?)
- First Beacon Hill Theatre was torn down in 1969. (You could consider it the very last of the Scollay Square theatres to be demolished.)
- Second Beacon Hill Theatre opened in 1971. It was a single screen, underground, in approximately the same location as the first theatre.
- Second Beacon Hill Theatre was triplexed some time in the early 1980s
- Second Beacon Hill Theatre closed in 1992

It's hard to separate this into two different entries because the first theatre was renamed part way through, then the second theatre was given the same name as the first.

Excellent point, John. I'd think creating an entry for the original Beacon Hill Theatre, based on the information provided on this page, would be simple enough and best for clarification's sake, as this particular Beacon Hill Theatre and the one constructed originally on or near the same location were two separate structures with, their geographical connection notwithstanding, unique histories. A quick glance of the initial summarized history at the top of the page (alternative name for the later, original single-screen Beacon Hill Theatre demolished in '69 included) would be a dead giveaway as to what theatre was being discussed, as would the screen counts under the general listing on the page prior.

The address of the second Beacon Hill (and later of the Copy Cop that replaced it) was One Beacon Street, but the entrance was on Tremont Street, just north of Beacon. The two streets meet at right angles.

Ron, either Pinanski or Sack renamed it - I'm thinking Pinanski, since he renamed the MODERN the MAYFLOWER about the same time. Perhaps, it does make since to combine the histories. We have certainly pointed out the difference between the two "names"

If the Beacon Hill listing isn't split into two entries, then I would suggest expanding the initial summary, which doesn't apply to the second version of the theater. The Beacon Hill wasn't much of an art house during the 1970s; it primarily exhibited first run Hollywood product. The Exeter and Orson Welles were probably the top art houses in the Boston area during that decade.

Based on everyone's comments, I sent in a Correction with the new summary that you see above. I hope everyone likes it. If not, feel free to send in another correction.

If we were starting over, I'd create two separate entries, but this at least clarifies the history.

Ron, very nice consolidation of facts. I just checked on the first time I went to the Beacon Hill Theatre by consulting a diary entry from May 9, 1963. I was a student at Providence College and drove up to Boston to see the Italian film "The Four Days of Naples," about the citizen uprising against the Nazi occupation of the city. I noted the place as "the comfortable and pleasant Beacon Hill Theatre."

Donald C. King's new book, The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, says that Jacob Lourie opened the Beacon in Feburary 1910 (not 1913 as earlier stated here) and was "architect Blackall's first film house and joined Boston's thriving multitude of dime movie enterprises. It played films and vaudeville for ten cents." It had 800 seats. Lourie went on to open the Modern on June 25, 1914.

The book also says that "on November 10, 1948, a refurbished Beacon became the Beacon Hill Theatre, subsisting on foreign first runs and films moved over from the Astor."

Ron: Thanks for the book reference, revised description and updates. What's amazing is the number of movie "firsts" in Boston, like the "double feature" and the Westrex sound system mentioned above. Louis Mayer started in the business somewhere in Massachusetts, a first for him anyway. MIT grad Herbert Kalmus invented the flickerless shutter and the Technicolor film process. Kalmus, who shunned publicity, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His former home on Cape Cod is now a bed & breakfast. One of the parlors there has a library of his technical journals.

King's book also says the second Beacon Hill Theatre opened in 1973, while the Herald article I quoted above says 1971. Anyone know for sure, or will I have to revisit the Boston Public Library's microfilm room and look at old ads?

I am not entirely sure which date is correct, but after briefly reviewing King's book I would not conclusively rely on the date he provided. The book appears in many ways to be an impressive feat of research, particularly with respect to theaters of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s (the primary focus of the book). I reviewed the final chapters focusing on the 1950s onward and that quick review revealed a number of factual errors, such as a reference to the twinning of the 57 (it was always a two screen complex), the Paris being demolished "around 2000," etc.

Since I've posted many notes from his book on this site over the past week, I'd appreciate any corrections that you can add.

Erik, I think the author moved out of the Boston area in the 1970s or 80s and therefore his coverage of events after that is pretty spotty. Among the things he doesn't mention, but are familiar to me:

- conversion of the Telepix to the Park Square Cinema
- closing of the first Kenmore Square theatre and opening of the second one
- closing of the Abbey and its later reopening as the Nickelodeon
- the Symphony Cinemas
- the Garden Cinema
- Cinema 733
- conversion of the Cinema 57 to a live stage
- the Copley Place Cinemas

Ron: I agree. The book offers considerable detail as to the history of Boston theaters until the 1960s or thereabouts. Subsequent decades are given a comparatively cursory review. If the author left the Boston area in the 1970s or 1980s, that would help account for the less-detailed treatment and the errors and omissions. When I have the chance, I will review those final chapters again for factual glitches.

King implies that the second iteration of the Beacon Hill opened as a triplex ("Ben Sack moved his Beacon Hill theatre into the new Beacon Hill Theatres 1-2-3..."). As noted above, the Beacon Hill wasn't subdivided until the early 1980s.

The Italian neo-realist film masterpiece The Bicycle Thief opened here in 1950. Revenge with Anna Magnani had played in 1949 as had the "scandalous" Devil in the Flesh from France. Bitter Rice opened in 1951, Miracle in Milan and The Mill on the Po in 1952.

Did "Valley Of The Dolls" ever play here?

RE: the discussion above of Donald King's recent Boston theatres book. He did not leave the Boston area in the 1970s or 1980s, but way back in the early 1950s! Or maybe in the 1940s. The original Beacon Theatre was opened about Feb.1910, designed by Clarence Blackwell and had 700-plus seats. It was on the west side of Tremont St., a short distance north of Beacon. It had a big verical sign, and was similar in size to the Modern/Mayflower. It had a balcony. I remember seeing the first Brigit Bardot film there in the late-1950s and there was a full house on a Friday evening, as she had generated a great deal of publicity. I seem to recall that the office building which stood just south of the theatre and which was located at the corner of Tremont and Beacon had originally been a famous Boston department store. When all of this was torn down, the entrance for the new Beacon cinema was approximately on the same site. I saw "Caligula" in there in the Fall of 1980. It had 3 screens then, and I recall that it was spotless, immaculate inside.

I think that the name of the department store which occupied the building just south of the original Beacon Th. was "Houghton & Dutton" or something like that. Their building was converted into office space and was demolished to make way for the present One Beacon Street tower. The architect for the theatre was, of course, Clarence Blackall, not "Blackwell" as above.

Ron. Yes, it was Houghton and Dutton. Here's a web page showing a trade card for the store: http://www.cyberbee.com/september05.html I saw a picture of the store in Jane Holtz Kay's "Lost Boston." Tom

You guys are so good with info! Amazing.
My first memory of attending a show/movie here was to see "The Loved One," which I skipped school to go see after an article in Playboy about it which flipped my switches. I sat and watched in awe all day and for a few more times after that initial viewing. Little did I know what had been excised from the reel for what reason one can only surmise, what with Boston's notorious old laws and what-have-yous that brought scissors to the films. Years later, as this film was unavailable in any form by the 35mm, it was run on the San Francisco PBS affiliate (1980 or so) with a scene that I had never seen before. Zounds! It could be shown on TV but not in this theater in 1965/6? This removed footage was of the meeting with the astronaut's stripper wife. It amazes to this day that this snip was unseen by me for so long.
Same thing happened with the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine." Whether it was to show more screenings per day or whatever, the film got chopped up more with every visit made to see it.
Does anyone recall Ben Sack's full-page in the Boston papers to get people in to see "Darling" for free after it was scrutinized by the Catholic church? The Legion of Decency had such a hold that no one went to see this "condemned" film. "Darling" did not play here, though; it was at another downtown Sack theater.

The Beacon Theatre is visible on this 1982 map. It is on the west side of Tremont Street, just north of Beacon Street, adjoining Houghton & Dutton Co. Dry Goods.

Oops -- that should have said this 1928 map !

Warning to dialup users: the map image is huge and will take a long time to load.

I do believe that this was where our parents took us in 1958 or 1959 to see "Gigi" starring Maurice Chevalier. I was only 7 in 1958, so don't blame me if I am wrong. But I do remember exactly that in the autumn of 1968 "Yellow Submarine" arrived here. We had seen that movie in London in July 1968, just days after The Beatles had come to the world premiere in Piccadilly Circus. But when we saw it in Boston again we were shocked that the song "Hey, Bulldog" had been cut. This was apparently done for the entire U.S. release and it was not the individual theater's responsibility.

Very interesting having found this thread. I was an usher at the Beacon Hill from around 1975 to 1978. I'd love to hear from any old friends who worked there. Some of the things I remember the most and thought was so cool were the underground exits that catacombed along the right side when it was one big theater... and the candy girl that I fell in love with too... Lots of laughs, I also got chosen in Boston magazine for number 3 of the top ten most boring jobs in Massachusettes working as the ticket taker there when I was 15. It was just beginning to struggle badly in the late 70s with crowds of 45 normal on any given weeknight amd 80 on a weekend night in what I remember being an 837 seat theater but I could be wrong with that number (it was long ago and my mind was on the candy girl :) ). I'd be happy to answer any questions on this place or hear from the people who became my best friends that I've lost touch with.

This site is amazing. I enjoy the wealth of information and everyone’s fond remembrances.
My own recollections of the “old” or original Beacon Hill, the single screen theater above ground at the corner of Beacon and Tremont Streets are from the late 1960’s. I use to sometimes cut classes to attend the daytime screenings. The first time I went there, I remember having a hard time finding the theater because the address was 1 Beacon St and the entrance was on Tremont Street. Go figure. I remember asking several people if they knew where the Beacon Hill Theater was.
I thought this theater was not as ornate or stylish as some of the other Sack houses (Savoy, Music Hall, or the Saxon). As I remember, the auditorium was rather shoe-boxy rather than fan shaped and seemed smaller than the other theaters with a smaller screen more suited to art films rather than glossy Hollywood movies. (The great and much appreciated photo provided by TC illustrates that). Strangely, I don’t recall the two balconies lining the side walls. Films I remember seeing at the Beacon Hill: Louis Malle’s “Viva Maria”; Richardson’s “The Loved One”; Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451”; Stanley Donen’s “Two For the Road”.

I only went to the “new” Beacon Hill Theater once. Did not care for it at all. It was down what seemed like an endless flight of wide stairs and gave me a very uncomfortable feeling that if any emergency occurred (other than a nuclear disaster) being underground felt precarious to me. I remember the spanking new theater feeling very clinical and cold nothing ornate or individualizing about it and I think the dominant color scheme was white. JoeyO could confirm or refute it. The film was Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”.

If I recall correctly, the emergency exits in the theater opened into the adjacent underground garage near the ramp for the cars, so in an emergency, there was a direct, unobstructed, and relatively fireproof, exit up to Tremont Street. After the theater closed, they knocked down the walls and created more parking.

The former entrance to this theatre is now a sandwich restaurant called The Carving Station.

And now the Carving Station restaurant has closed.

The Beacon Hill Theatre....yup--I remember it very well. I saw a number of movies there, including the movie "Fantasia", which I saw three times during the fall of 1963, as a seventh grader, due to attending friends' birthday parties, and one with some family friends when my mom had just given birth to my younger brother. Afew years later, I saw the movie "101 Dalmations", which was also cool, and I think I may have even seen "Mary Poppins" there, too.

You probably saw all of those at the first Beacon Hill Theatre, the one that was torn down in 1969.

Could be, Ron. I think that I may have also viewed the Beatles film "Yellow Submarine" there, too.

Regarding Ron's post from June 2005 -- "The book also says that "on November 10, 1948, a refurbished Beacon became the Beacon Hill Theatre" -- I came across an article on the refurb of this & two other NE theatres in the Motion Picture Herald's Better Theatre's section (12/18/1948). Included are various before & after images of the exterior and interior, as well as a floorplan and some interesting prose.

You can see the images here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yloxt58

I couldn't Photoshop the interior images into anything worthwhile, so they're not in that album. You can see those images & read the article, if you'd like. I've made the PDF available here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yfxpvjt