Gardner Cinemas 1 & 2
34 Parker Street,
Gardner,
MA
01440
34 Parker Street,
Gardner,
MA
01440
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing all 8 comments
The Orpheum in Gardner is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 1,000 seats and open 6 days per week.
The marquee in the 1939 Life photo found by mister boob is the same marquee which was on the Orpheum in the 1941 photo on the MGM Theatre Report. This theater did have a narrow entrance.
According to the article mentioned above, the building had been triplexed by the time of its closing. From the looks of the google photo, the building had a very long narrow lobby going to the auditorium which was well back from the street.
The link to the Life magazine photo was originally found by a new member named “misterboo”. Your thanks should go to “misterboo” for the photo. Welcome to Cinema Treasures “misterboo”.
Here is a 1939 photo from a new collection of Life Magazine images on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/5celtq
As the Orpheum, this theater was included in the MGM Theatre Photograph and Report project. The form has an exterior photo taken in 1941. The theater had a narrow entrance with a small rectangular marquee and a vertical blade sign above. Movies posted were “That Night in Rio” and “Man Who Lost Himself”. To the right of the entrance was Student Bros. shoe store. The Report says that the Orpheum had been playing MGM films for over 15 years; it was over 15 years old (as of 1941), and in Good condition, and had 1158 seats, with the same breakdown as in the heading above. The theatre was on Parker St., and the competing theater was the Uptown.
As of December 24, 2007, it hasn’t been demolished, but it is falling apart. A story from WCVB explains that a 25 foot section of the roof gave way under the weight of melting ice and snow. The building is now condemned.
This article talks about the fire that destroyed the former Gardner Cinemas on May 5th.