Rialto Theatre
709 South Street,
Boston,
MA
02131
709 South Street,
Boston,
MA
02131
1 person
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This theatre in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston has been alluded to on other pages of Cinema Treasures and on some local nostalgia websites discovered via Mr. Google. I am posting it, although not a neighborhood resident or even a Massachusetts resident. I did, however, see a movie there once. The theatre used to be visible from Washington Street as one drove to or from downtown Boston.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
Was the Rialto originally called the “Roslindale Theatre”? In the list of theatres in the Boston Register and Business Directory, Issue 85, 1921, there is a Roslindale Theatre, 711 South Street. (The 1941 MGM Theatre Report says it was at 709 South Street).
Oddly, in the 1918 edition of the same publication, there is a “Roslindale Theatre moving pictures” listed at 4255 Washington Street, west side of street, between Poplar Street and Ashland Street to the north, and Grove Street to the south. I’m not familiar with that theater. The South Street address is correct for the Rialto.
In the 1921 Boston street directory, there is nothing at all listed for 4255 Washington St.
A further clue that this theater was originally called the “Roslindale Theatre” is in a May 1919 Boston Police Dept report which CT member Edward Findlay has found. In routine license matters, it mentions Charles J. Gorman, prop. of the “Roslindale Theatre” at 703-711 South Street and 411 South Street.
411 South Street? Google Maps puts that address in the middle of the Arboretum.
Yeah, I don’t understand that at all; at first I thought it was the residence of Charles Gorman, the theater’s manager. (Maybe he lived in one of the trees).
Here’s the Rialto in 1924, listed as C.J. Gorman’s Amusement Enterprises.
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I remember driving by in the mid-1970s after they tore it down, and being amazed how small the footprint of the building seemed to be.
Ron Salters – I just found this on a Roslindale Historical Society web page: “There was Rand’s Corner, and then there was the library where the Rialto Theatre is now, but that was moved, that was only a wooden structure. And there was also a movie place where we watched silent movies.” This silent movie house must have been the one at 4255 Washington street. The building was one in from Corinth street, but there’s no mention of a theatre on the fire insurance map. Perhaps just a small hall used for showing silents.
Yes, in the 1905-1915 period, it was common to rent small neighborhood halls and exhibit movie shows in them.
Regarding the exterior photo posted above, I don’t know what year Sean Connery in “Diamonds are Forever” was released, but the exterior of the Rialto obviously had a drastic make-over and modernization, because its appearance is very different from the exterior photo taken in May 1941 for the MGM Theatre Report.
“Diamonds Are Forever” was released in December of 1971.