Victory Theatre

i walk by here every day on my way back from the gym for the past 2 months here and there i have seen workers going in and there is a dumpster outside. the smell of asbestos when you walk by is unreal even in the winter but i really do hope they are doing good things inside. im afraid its to far gone

This project seems unfortunately to be stalled. In an article on the New England Public Radio website dated April 12,2013,the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA)artistic director Donald Sanders says he thinks MIFA could secure funding, complete renovations, and open the theatre in three years.

That pushes the reopening to 2016.

Check out my post on the Victory Theatre at After the Final Curtain

The photo tours posted by Matt Labros in january show the paintaings to the left and right of the proscenium to be gone — I hope they were simply removed for restoration (I expect that to be the case)

According to the above article, the victory has raised $19,500,000 of the $27,000 needed to complete the renovation, and they sre launching a fundraising campaign to raise the remaining amount. A much earlier fundraising cappain’s proceeds were partially used some time ago to repaier the roof, remove asbestos, board up the building and complete the renovation plans.

Another link with great photos:

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The whole site is amazing, poke around.

The Victory is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 2286 seats and open daily.

Congrats!

So nice to read this update!

And the photo tour was really nice to see…almost made it seem like you were actually there walking around. The round lobby is quite unusual as I personally don’t know of another theatre with this unique lobby design though I’m sure there may be others. I must now read the history and learn how and why this theatre was neglected.

A link to video of the interior.

Some of the recent publicity I’ve seen regarding the Victory’s history mistakenly reports that the Victory opened as a “stage theatre” and later was converted to movies. This is entirely incorrect. Samuel and Nathan Goldstein of Western Massachusetts Theatres Incorportated (at that time known as “G.B. Theatres”) were early pioneers in the movie business, having started in the first decade of the 20th century operating what were then known as “nickelodeons” which were storefront movie houses. Along with The Broadway Theatre in Springfield, the Victory represented their expansion into the “major leagues” as they rode the crest of the wave of the movies’ exploding popularity at the end of World War I. The Victory’s name itself is a reference to the Allied Victory in the World War the year before on 11 November 1918. The Eagle Medallion at the center of the proscenium ties it all together.

In the 1920s these grand theatres were known as “presentation houses” and offered a combined bill of a silent film and a stage show on the same program and for a single admission price. The performances were often presented on a “continuous show” basis. The Victory Symphony Orchestra provided accompaniment for the film and music for the live show as well. The Grand Organ often substitued for the orchestra during matinee performances. The relatively shallow depth of the Victory’s stage suggests that it was designed for “vaudeville” type acts presented along with a film, rather than fully mounted stage productions. The arrival of “talking pictures” in the late 1920s resulted in the eventual elimination of the live portion of the program.

The Victory continued to operate on a continuous show basis through the early 1970s, opening daily at 1:00 P.M. and running double feature film programs continuously until 11:00 P.M. During the years of World War II opening time was often as early as 8:45 A.M. with showing continuous from 9:00 A.M. through 11:00 P.M. The early opening was to accomodate war workers in Holyoke’s factories who worked the 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. shift and would stop at a restaurant to eat and then take in a movie on their way home from work!

There’s a whole bunch (48 total) of interior photos of the Victory at Rambling VanDog’s Flicker site:

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