Cobb Theatre
1005 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02118
1005 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02118
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Donald C. King’s new book ‘The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History’ describes this as “a 700-seat one-floor motion picture house opposite the Columbia Theatre, next to the Apollo Theatre”.
He goes on to call the Cobb and Apollo of the Depression era “once nickelodeons but then truly crap-cans, playing the very last runs, admission 10 cents at all times. Several nearby restaurants offered a complete meal for 25 cents, which was salvation for the Depression’s unemployed, who slept in those nearby dime movie houses”. King says that they both lasted into the 1940’s.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
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According to the 1921 City Directory, the Cobb was at 1009 Washington Street, and the Apollo was at 1050 Washington. They were not next to one another and, in fact, were on opposite sides of Washington St. But both were near the Columbia Theatre. The 1927 Film Daily yearbook lists the Cobb as having 500 seats. The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the Cobb has a photo taken in May 1941. The front of the marquee says “New Cobb Theatre – Always 2 Big Features”. The Report states that the Cobb was not a MGM customer; that it was built about 1910; that it was in Poor condition, and that it had 700 seats, apparently all on one floor.
In his long, undated essay “Saga of the Movie Industry in Boston”, Joe Cifre says that the Cobb Theatre was one of the very early film houses in Boston and was originally called the Dreamland Theatre. He defines “early” as 1906 and earlier.
Where can I find this essay?
The essay “Saga of the Movie Industry in Boston” by Joseph S. Cifre was published in some type of magazine, either a trade publication or a historical society bulletin. I’m guessing it was written around 1950, and I estimate that Joe Cifre was born around 1890. In the 1950s, his name and comments were in the newspapers occasionally because he was considered an authority on Boston movie theatres and film distribution. He got his start as a teenager with his brother, working at his dad’s nickleodeon in the West End (near North Station). That was the Monaco at Green & Hale streets in 1905. If you go to the Tufts University library system and can find the Earle Stanley Stewart theatre collection there, look for a paper-bound booklet, 8 x 11 inches, with a cream cover with an exterior photo of the Old Howard Theatre on it, and titled “Boston Convention July 1983, Theatre Historical Society”. That booklet was published by “Charlie” Stewart and contains not only the entire Cifre article, but a page of additional comments, author unknown (probably Charlie).In addition, the Collection probably has the original publication in which the Cifre article appeared.
More about Joe Cifre. In 1916 he opened a theatrical equipment company, apparently called Joe Cifre Inc. Around 1953 he sold his company to Arthur Porter and partners who changed its name to Major Theatre Equipment Corp. This company has just moved from Dorchester Avenue in South Boston to larger quarters on Holmes St. in North Quincy.
Dear Ron Salters,can you let me know how you found the Earle Stanley Stewart collection at Tufts Library. I am unable to locate it.
Thank you S. B.
S.B. – Earle Stanley Stewart was the elderly owner of the Charles Stewart Theatrical supply company in Somerville. He had a life-long collection of “paper” relating to theater buildings in general, and Boston-area theaters in particular. When he died in the 1990s, I was told by the late Donald King, a theater historian and writer who was a close friend of Stewart’s, that the entire collection had been willed to the library system at Tufts University. He also told me that the library had learned that 4 additional boxes of material had been loaned by Stewart to another collector prior to his death so they successfully worked to have the boxes returned. I heard this circa-1998 or so. I have never actually been in a Tufts library and do not know what the status of this collection is today.
In a 1918 Boston street directory, the Cobb Th. is listed at 1009 Washington Street in the South End, on the west side of the street, near Cobb Street.
In his autobiography, the comedian Fred Allen (1894-1956) says that he played in small-time vaudeville at this theater when it was stilled called the Dreamland. This would have been in the 1912-1914 period.
The Cobb shows up on a 1917 map. In a 1928 map, it’s Cobb Theatre, Apollo Theatres Inc. In 1938, both the Cobb and the Apollo up the street are owned by John A. Henes.