Magnet Theatre
301 Washington Street,
Dorchester,
MA
02121
301 Washington Street,
Dorchester,
MA
02121
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The Magnet Theatre was one of several neighborhood movie theatres scattered throughout Dorchester. Further information welcomed.
Contributed by
Ron Salters
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
A Jehovah’s Witness church is now at this location, according to online directories. Is it the same building or a new one?
The theatre pages of various editions of the Boston Post in the late-1940s have small ads for the Magnet Theatre and the Mattapan Theatre. The two theatre names (with their phone numbers) are at the top of the ad, with the same movies playing at both.
I looked at the Google Street View for this location and there is no building which resembles the 1941 MGM Report photo of the Magnet Theater. The JW church at that address appears to be a newer structure and is even set back from the sidewalk.
1428 seats seems to be a little high for this theater. The Magnet Theater is listed in the 1935 Film Daily with 740 seats. In the 1950 edition, the seating is given as 714. The Magnet Theater isn’t listed in 1955.
Lost- I entered “1428 seats” because that’s what was on the MGM report. As I stated above on the posting of 1-28-07, I was suspicious because the number of seats for both orchestra and balcony was “714” each, or 1428 for both. It appears that “714” was actually the total for the entire theater.
Many articles exaggerate the seat count. Even some of the seat counts given by the Film Daily are on the high side, especially older editions of the Film Daily Yearbook.
That’s for sure. It was very common to round up the numbers, so that 625 seats, for example, became 700. They never seemed to round down, however!
I have been told that the Magnet was at one time known as the “Colony Theatre”. I don’t know how accurate that info is.
In a 1918 Boston street directory, the Magnet Th. is listed at 295 Washington Street in Dorchester, on the west side of the street, between Faxon St. on the north and Harvard St. on the south.
Ron, I’m writing a book about a man who grew up on Erie St. in Dorchester and went to the Magnet theatre in the late 30s and 40s. I read your description of a photo and would love to see it so I can describe it in the book. Can you help me. my email address is