Orpheum Theatre
1 Hamilton Place,
Boston,
MA
02108
1 Hamilton Place,
Boston,
MA
02108
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 145 comments found
WHICH boston theatre had Cinemascope first and premiered with the Robe. Was it the Astor, Metropolitan or the Lowes Orpheum?
Click here for an exterior view of the Loew’s Orpheum Theatre in 1931.
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.
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.
Movie advertisements in the Boston Globe can be seen via ProQuest, which is available on the computer systems at many public libraries.
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.)
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.
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.
Which would mean the supposed ‘1968’ photo referred to above is misdated.
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.
Can anyone here establish exact dates when the theatre was renamed to Aquarius, and when it reverted back to Orpheum? It would also be nice to know when the last regularly-scheduled movie ran, and what it was.
Donald King in his Boston theaters history book covers the confusing changes of name at this theater between 1900 and 1910, already mentioned above, but worth repeating. In the summer of 1900, the Boston Music Hall underwent heavy reconstruction inside to convert it from a concert hall into a vaudeville theater. The orientation of the auditorium was reversed, from looking toward the stage at the south end of the building, to facing it at the north end. When it reopened in early-Sept 1900, it was still named “Boston Music Hall”. In Feb. 1905, it was renamed the Empire Theatre. Boston movie theater historian Joe Cifre included the Empire as one of Boston’s earliest movie film venues. In 1906, it became the Orpheum Theater, and was under management by William Morris. He presented short movies as part of two-a-day vaudeville shows. In 1909, it was briefly named American Music Hall before becoming Loew’s Orpheum Theater the following year when Marcus Loew took it over. He did not renovate it into its present appearance until 1915.
Yes, when the house closed for major renovations which created today’s auditorium, it was already being run by Marcus Loew, so it was an early Loew house. The “11 PM” is when the shows usually ended for the day. The vaude shows of that day also often included various movie shorts at the end of the program, so they were not 100% live.
This must have been one of Marcus Loew’s earliest theatres. I found an ad for Loew’s Orpheum in the Boston Daily Globe of April 28th, 1911, which is four years prior to the 1915 closure for re-building reported in some of the postings above. The attraction at Loew’s Orpheum on 4/28/1911, which is nearly a century ago, was “All Star Vaudeville,” with continuous performances from 9:00am to 11:00pm (persumably starting time for the last show). Tickets were 10 cents and 15 cents in the mornings, and 10-15-25 cents for the rest of the day and night.
Seventy-two years ago today, John Ford’s B&W “Stagecoach,” a now classic western that elevated John Wayne to major stardom, opened its Boston premiere engagement at the paired Loew’s State and Orpheum. Columbia’s B&W thriller, “Whispering Enemies,” with Jack Holt and Dolores Costello, was the supporting feature…On that same day, M&P’s paired Paramount and Fenway opened with WB’s “Blackwell’s Island” and 20th-Fox’s “The Arizona Wildcat,” while M&P’s individually booked Metropolitan unveiled Paramount’s “Midnight,” supported by the same studio’s “King of Chinatown.”
Tinsetoes' comments above about the day-and-date film policies at the “Loewsstateandorpheum” and the Paramount/Fenway theaters are 100% accurate. I was a patron at all 4 theaters circa-1950.
From the mid-1930s into at least the 1950s, Loew’s usually booked the Orpheum and the State with the same movies due to the State’s uptown location. In December, 1939, “Gone With the Wind” played its Boston premiere engagement at both houses. The Orpheum gave continuous performances of “GWTW” during the day, with reserved seats at night. The State gave only two reserved-seat showings daily.
New England Theatres also usually had a day-and-date policy in Boston for the Paramount and Fenway Theatres. For example, August 31, 1950, was opening day at Loew’s State & Orpheum for “Summer Stock” with short subjects, while the Paramount & Fenway unveiled “Fancy Pants” and “A Modern Marriage.”
There was a vertical sign above the Washington St. entrance of the Orpheum in the 1950s, but I don’t think it was as tall as the one Mann photographed in 1931. On another matter: The Boston Public Library has an on-line video collection “Boston at the Movies”. One of the novelty films is “Boston Subway from an Electric Car”. They say it was filmed in downtown Boston in Dec. 1900, Copyrighted in Dec. 1901, first shown on Jan. 7, 1901 at the Boston Music Hall. In view of the Copyright date, I wonder if the first show was on Jan. 7, 1902?? In any event, by Jan. 1901 or 1902, the Boston Music Hall no longer existed, and had been remodeled into the Orpheum.
Thanks, tisloews. I’ll post a few more of George’s marquee photographs as time permits.
By the way Brad,I think it is great that George Mann thought to shoot all the marquees that they were on,and that the photos still survive and are still out there for us to see.
Great photo Brad, and yes the vertical was quite nice, looks a lot like the vertical of the Loews Palace in Washington D.C.
That vertical sign is awesomely huge. Wonder when it was taken down?
Thank you, Ron. I apologize for posting the wrong photograph. I haven’t posted anything for a while and need to slow down and do it correctly. I haven’t found a way to correct or delete an error, so I’ll just re-submit the entry below.
This photograph of the Loew’s Orpheum Theratre was taken in 1931 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
Did you link to the wrong photo by mistake? That photo is of the RKO Boston theatre, not the Orpheum.
This photograph of the Loew’s Orpheum Theratre was taken in 1931 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.