Capri Theater

What happened to that stairway when the theater was demolished?

You mention that it was 're-opened' in the 60s. For how long had it been closed? Was it used only as a stage house before the re-opening?

The 'Toy' theater was built in 1914, architects Putnam and Cox.
I had an after-school job in the library '58-'62, and remember some of the staff used to congregate at the Stage Lounge adjacent. Some of my co-workers remembered it as the Copley theater which housed a stock company, but that was probably before WWII. Rosilind Russell was supposed to have been a member of the stock company. My guess is it was closed sometime before WWII, and became a movie theater when Sack got it. The stairs apparently got jettisoned with the demolition.

Thist is listed as "Triplex" but I don't think that can be correct. The Cheri was the first multiplex in Boston, and I'm not sure it was even open yet when this was torn down.

Some have suggested that the Capri was also known at the Copley Theatre. I have the impression they're two different buildings. The Copley was in a renovated hotel building, next door to The Stage Lounge on Stuart St. It was originally owned by E.M. Loew.
Where was the Capri?

This is an article that I found about this theter:

"The Copley Theater began as the second Toy Theater, erected in 1914, and rechristened Copley in 1916. In 1922, the Copley moved to Stuart Street, between Dartmouth and Huntington Avenues. It became the Capri moviehouse in 1957, and has long since been razed to make room for the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension.

Located in what architectural historian Douglass Shand-Tucci has called the "aching void" in Copley Square, the Copley Theater was one of the pioneering "Little Theatres" of America that sought to present vital, contemporary plays in intimate settings. The Copley was also known for its American G.B. Shaw premieres. The theater's beautiful staircase was the gift of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a regular patron of the Copley, as was the American society painter, John Singer Sargent.

From 1917 to 1923, the Copley was under the direction of Henry Jewett, who also had his own repertory company there. E.E. Clive assumed the directorship of the Copley in the 1920's".

According to a friend who worked there, when Sack took over the building near the Mass Pike entrance, now a hotel, he named the theatre The Capri. It played Bridge on the River Kwai, and Breakfast at Tiffaneys. The film La Dolce Vita played the Saxon.
When the Capri was sold, Sack took over an E,M.Loews building and named the theatre The Copley. This is now a Christian Science building. Both the Capri and Copley were on Huntington Ave, but not in the same location.

I am now looking at a copy of Walter Muir Whitehill's book Boston: A Topographical History, second edition, published 1968.

On page 196 is a photograph of the S.S. Pierce building in Copley Square, at the southwest corner of Huntington Avenue and Dartmouth Street, where today's Westin Copley Place hotel stands. Two buildings further down Huntington, on the same side as the S.S. Pierce building, is a marquee labelled "COPLEY". The marquee appers to be blank; perhaps the theatre is not being used. The photo is dated 1958.

On the next page is another photograph of the same scene, also dated 1958. The S.S. Pierce building has been torn down and replaced by a parking lot. The marquee now says "CAPRI" and features the movie Stage Struck. The names of the actors on the marquee are too small to read in this photo, but I presume they are Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg.

Several stories above the marquee, a banner announces "WORLD PREMIERE STAGE STRUCK". Since the movie is set in NYC, and some movie databases say it came out in 1957, the "WORLD PREMIERE" banner seems quite odd.

The entrance shown is quite clearly on Huntington Avenue, not Stuart Street. Perhaps there was another entrance on Stuart, but you can't see it from these photos.

At the end of July 1961, the Boston Herald Traveler lists "The New Capri" at 175 Huntington Ave, playing Lolita.

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 Toy Theatre was built in 1914, becoming the Copley in 1916. It was on Dartmouth Street, facing the side of the Copley Plaza Hotel.

In 1922, the Copley Theatre was cut into two pieces, turned 90 degrees, and reassembled so that its entrance faced Stuart Street! Its proprietors felt (probably wrongly) that Stuart Street would become a major thoroughfare and therefore it would be to the theatre's advantage to have a marquee facing that street.

In 1955, the entrance was moved once again, to Huntington Avenue. That is the entrance and marquee that you see in Walter Muir Whitehill's book.

In 1958, Ben Sack acquired this theatre for his movie chain and changed its name to the Capri. When the state took it for the Massachusetts Turnpike extension in the early 1960s, Sack moved its marquee a few blocks down Huntington Avenue to the former Strand Theatre, which then became the second Capri.

I rememmber both entrances still in existance in the early 60s. You could go in the doors on Huntington walk through and exit on to Stuart. I don't think there was a marquee on the Stuart Street entry. It was sort of a pie-shaped arrangement.

On July 31, 1959, according to my diary entry, I saw a revival of Chaplin's "Modern Times" at the Capri (formerly Copley) Theatre. It was the only time I ever went there.

This photo (described here) shows Stuart Street in the 1930s, looking east from Huntington Avenue towards Dartmouth Street. The Copley Theatre is on the left side.

I lived in Boston from Sept. 1959 to July 1960. I recall the Capri running the movie version of Swan Lake for the duration.

According to Donald C. King's new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, the Toy Theatre opened in 1914. William Morris took it over in 1916 and renamed it Copley, opening with Harry Lauder's play The Night Before. King says that "Morris tried films, then a stock company, but nothing worked."

It originally had 600 seats, but after it was disassembled and rotated onto Stuart Street in 1922, it gained 400 more seats.

The Shuberts took over the Copley in the 1930s. At one point it hosted productions of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre Project for unemployed theatre workers.

On January 31, 1958, Ben Sack reopened the Copley as a first-run movie house called the Capri. King says that Sack's second Capri (formerly the Strand) opened on July 6, 1962, but that conflicts with the Herald ad that dwodeyla reported above.

Here's a link to the ad in the newspaper.
http://img41.echo.cx/my.php?image=capri4ii.jpg

Thanks. The ad says July 30, 1962 -- not 1961.

I don't know if any of you had a chance to visit Ben Sack's former home this past weekend. Here is a link to a few of the photos I took. http://img70.imageshack.us/img_viewer.php?loc=img70&image=bensackestate0013co.jpg&gal=img277/2589/bensackpenholderandsign4ba.jpg

Thanks to Ron for pointing out the error of my previous message. Guess the mystery of the Capri is solved!

He had a screening room in his home. Here's a link to a photo
of a projector. http://img146.echo.cx/img146/9553/bensackestate007insidescreenin.md.jpg

King's book says this theatre had several different street addresses over time, as its entrance moved from one street to another. It opened at 188 Dartmouth Street. Then, when it was turned around and expanded, the address became 461 Stuart Street. Finally, a new entrance was added at 22 Huntington Avenue.

From the Boston Public Library's photo collection:

Toy Theatre, Later the Copley Theatre. Photo taken some time between 1914 and 1922.

The architects were Putnam and Cox and it opened Dec. 1914. I knew it in the late-1940s and early 1950s as a Shubert house which was dark most of the time. When a play opened there in October 1953, I jumped at the chance to see the theatre. I attended the Sat. matinee of "Anna Lucasta" on stage on Oct. 10, 1953. This was a rare, for those days, non-union non-Equity production, so there was a picket line in front of the entrance on Huntington Ave, just up from the SS Pierce Bldg, and across from the side of the BPL. I timed my movements carefully and managed to get thru the line and into the lobby. I had a balcony seat, but was told to sit downstairs. The theater was situated so that after coming in from Huntington Ave., you turned right into the back of the house. It had one balcony. I don't recall any other stage attractions there in the 1950s, but occasionally movies were presented. Then Sack took it and renamed it Capri, and put on a new marquee. I saw at least one movie there some time circa 1960 or 1961. The auditorium and stage were within the block. I never did understand the story about cutting the Toy Th. up and turning it around, etc. After the land was taken for the Mass. Turnpike extension, Sack moved the Capri name over to the old Strand down Huntington Avenue, on the opposite side of the street. In recent years, the New England Life Hall on Clarendon St. near Boylston St. was renamed "Copley Theatre".

This 1917 map shows the Copley Theatre in its original Dartmouth Street location, before it was moved to Stuart Street.

To find it, look at the top of the map, in the middle of the bottom (west) side of Dartmouth Street, between Huntington Avenue and the railroad tracks.

Right above it, on the other side of Dartmouth, you'll see a small unmarked street. That is Stuart Street. When this street was later extended west to Huntington Avenue, the Copley Theatre was right in the way. That is why it had to be moved.

This 1928 map shows the Copley Theatre at its new location on Stuart Street. There is not yet an entrance on Huntington Avenue; that apparently came later.

Is there another Capri still? From a 1973 Phoenix article:

"Although their names do not appear on any available public records, the Venius Brothers are reported to control the Two O’Clock Lounge 642 Washington St.; the Picc-A-Dilly 657 Washington St.; the Twin-X Cinema 669-675 Washington St.; the Capri Theatre 701 Washington St.; Jerome’s Lounge 666 Washington St.; and a “live model” studio over the Twin-X."

I think the site's also missing the Twin-X Cinema (although it's visible next to the Publix/Gaiety in some photos posted there)... though maybe theaters that never showed anything but porn are missing for a reason.

No, there are lots of adult theaters listed.

Here in Boston, we have listings for two theatres that (to my knowledge) showed only X-rated movies: North Station Cinema and South Station Cinema. We don't have listings for the Twin-X or for the 'Art Cinema' that was across Tremont Street the Saxon/Majestic. If anyone knows more about either of these, please add them.

I suspect any movie theatre at 701 Washington was fairly short-lived, and probably was little more than a storefront.

I believe that the question asked by pmont was, can a theater be listed here if it only showed porn.

And the answer is yes, since we have a number of such listings already (especially in NYC).

I have seen those other two (three, actually -- as there's reference to another North Station II on Portland), so I guess I knew the answer to my question. I can't imagine it's very easy to get an accurate record of those storefront porn theatres, but they're interesting to those interested in theatre histories (return of the nickelodeon..? sorta...). I found ads in either the Phoenix, Globe, or Real Paper for the Art Cinema, the Pussycats, and the South Station, but not the ones referenced in the article (or, as far as I recall, the North Station -- though I'll have to check on that one).

In any case, I've consulted the Boston Business Directory Theatre & Cinema section for 62, 67, 72, and 77 for a googlemap experiment which is a sort of sidebar (for my own use) to an essay I'm writing (settled on theatres in Boston/Camb/Somerville & what they were playing Mem Day 1977 vs. Mem Day 2008 -- if anyone's interested, I'll post links), and I don't believe I saw any indication of those Combat Zone theatres, though some of the previously legit theatres make the list.

Thanks for the reply. Awesome site. It's been really helpful in filling in Boston theatre history.

Please do post links, though they may be more appropriate if posted on pages of theatres that were still operating in those years. You may want to consider submitting your maps and essay to CinemaTreasures as a news article.

I believe that the "Capri Theatre" at 701 Washington St. was a very small, rather dingy place that shared space with a porno bookstore...I suspect it was more of a cruising site than a movie house. I think there was a very similar movie/bookstore joint in the late 1970's next to the Publix, though I don't recall its name. Possibly these places had names for incorporation purposes, but not for exhibition on any kind of sign or marquee...it is likely that they got their "viewing audiences" from the clientele of the porn stores, so names really didn't matter.

JustPlainBill is correct. There were some little porn "theaters" down in the "Zone" which were affiliated with porno bookstores and located in storefronts. One was the "State II" near the State Theatre entrance on Washington St. At the time, I didn't consider them to be "real" movie theaters; and didn't really pay much attention to them. Some of these may have had only "viewing booths" for 8mm film loops, and not had any seats, screen or projectors.

In an article in the old Boston Post of May 14, 1950 "Many Hits Made Upon Hub Stages" by drama critic Elliot Norton, mention is made of the play "Harvey" which opened at the Copley Theatre on Tues. Oct. 7, 1944. Written off by everyone as a quick flop, the Boston audiences at the Copley liked it from the start and it went on to New York where it became one of the most popular plays of the 1940s. It was later made into a sucessful movie.