Orpheum Theatre
1 Hamilton Place,
Boston,
MA
02108
1 Hamilton Place,
Boston,
MA
02108
16 people
favorited this theater
The Orpheum Theatre is one of the oldest ‘Cinema Treasures’ in the country.
Opened in 1852, the theater has hosted everything from vaudeville to symphony to movies and is now a rock concert venue.
The original entrance was on Washington Street (just down the street from the old Paramount and RKO Keiths/Opera House), in the heart of Boston’s downtown shopping district, but that entrance was turned into a retail store and patrons now must walk down a back alley to get in.
The Orpheum Theatre was host to a now-famous U2 concert and has hosted innumerable acts over the years.
It has remained one of the most popular concert venues in all of New England.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
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Recent comments (view all 145 comments)
Don King’s time-line says that the theater name was changed to Aquarius Theatre on January 18, 1972. That sounds about right to me. But I seem to recall that the Orpheum name was brought back later sort of informally, over a period of time. King implies that Loews gave up operations not long before the Aquarius name change.
Which would mean the supposed ‘1968’ photo referred to above is misdated.
I just found part of the answer, since the Boston Globe now provides free access to its entire archive for 7-day subscribers. The Orpheum closed as a movie theatre on January 31, 1971 and reopened as the Aquarius, a live concert hall, on May 27, 1971. The first featured performer was James Brown.
The new owner was an African-American business owner and activist named Arthur Scott. Newspaper articles of the time compared his new venture to the Apollo Theatre in New York City.
Later articles in 1971 say that films returned to the Orpheum/Aquarius from time to time, with a showing of “Jimi Hendrix At Berkeley” on 9/3/71, and a 99-cent double-feature festival programmed by Justin Freed (later of the Park Square, Kenmore Square, and Coolidge Corner) during the first ten days of 1972: A Man Called Horse with The Detective; The Sterile Cuckoo with Plaza Suite; Rosemary’s Baby with Wait Until Dark.
Another Globe article says that the name changed from Loew’s Orpheum to just Orpheum in August of 1967, which seems to be confirmed by the daily film listings for that month. (I haven’t yet figured out if there’s a way to see advertisements in the Globe archives.)
Movie advertisements in the Boston Globe can be seen via ProQuest, which is available on the computer systems at many public libraries.
This theater is listed as the “Empire” in the 1906 Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. This was after the heavy reconstruction of Summer, 1900; and further alterations in 1904-05. The seating capacity is listed as 1,844, but the breakdown does not add up to that: Orchestra 845; Balcony 518, Gallery 333; total: 1,696 plus box seats. Tickets cost 25 cents to 75 cents. The proscenium opening was 41 feet wide X 30 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep. The listing says that the Empire was occupied at that time by the Empire Stock Company.
The theatre organ database indicates a 3-manual 35 rank Frazee organ (their opus 30) was installed at the Loew’s Orpheum in 1916. Its current location unknown.
Click here for an exterior view of the Loew’s Orpheum Theatre in 1931.
WHICH boston theatre had Cinemascope first and premiered with the Robe. Was it the Astor, Metropolitan or the Lowes Orpheum?