Providence Performing Arts Center

I see that Bob Foreman has also posted, in the photo section, an article from the local paper from 1958 that tells a good bit about the history of the theater and especially its current manager, William J. “T” Trambukis. Turns out that the history of these two was intertwined from the start. “T” started out here as an usher working his way up the ladder until being named the eleventh manager in 1954. This was a case of bad timing as the hurricane struck soon after. However it did give him a chance to shine as he supervised the repairs and got the theater up and running again.

According to earlier comments, “T” was still the

manager here in 1963, and it is possible he turned out the lights as the final manager for Loew’s when they shut it down in 1971. This whole story may explain something I always wondered about at the time, which was, why did Loew’s have a regional office in Warwick RI, a city they had no theaters in?

This theater was a big operation and there were department heads for systems, I guess HVAC, Engineering, Electricals, cleaning, floor staff, concessions, and box office in addition to assistant managers, secretary, and even a poster artist and house painter. That is more department heads than I had employees at the Loew’s theater I was trying to manage for him. No wonder he had so little use for my efforts.

As I said earlier, I did not have much contact with “T” just his twice a year inspection plus my initial job interview with him. Although the Grand and Tara theaters had in the past been managed by local hires from Atlanta, I was the first local hire he made instead of transferring an existing manager in from elsewhere in his region. The City Manager, also the manager of the Grand, was a nice boss named John Hebert who always treated me fairly and I know he felt badly when he had to pass on criticisms from “T”. He left Atlanta to be manager of the Loew’s flagship, the Times Square Loew’s State. I stopped by to see him when I was in NYC in 1984, and by then he was the City Manager of The Bronx.

Thanks for posting these articles Bob. They have brought back a lot of memories that are not nearly as unpleasant as I remember them being as I was living them.

On B&W photo listed for 1965, it’s actually 1971 when Walt Disney’s “moneymaker” “$1,000,000 Duck” opened in theatres. Tony Roberts, star of the movie said it was a box office smash after a Broadway performance.

Seems that this movie theatre was simply called the “Loew’s Theatre” from 1950-1972. The Beatles' February 11, 1964 concert in Washington, DC was shown on closed circuit television here along with separate videotaped performances by the Beach Boys and Lesley Gore on March 14 & 15, 1964. In ‘71 the theatre changed ownership and in '72 it became a live music venue called the “Palace Concert Theatre”.

This theater showed the original print of Lon Chaney’s London After Midnight. My uncle owned the original hand painted poster which was sold in the late 80s…

I also saw King Kong 1976 on opening day here with the same Uncle as above. It was so packed we had to sit in the last row under the balcony.

Another Loews State.

from Boxoffice Magazine, August 19, 1950:

Promotion Drive Started on Film in Production
PROVIDENCE – A long range buildup to the eventual presentation of “Quo Vadis,” now in production in Italy, is being dramatized by Maurice Druker, manager of Loew’s State. Druker has had a large display case erected in the theatre lobby upon which he posts weekly cablegrams reporting the progress of the film, now about half finished.

In addition, photographs showing the picture in the making are displayed. Intense interest has been expressed by patrons entering and leaving the theatre. Many of them have stopped to ask Druker how soon the film will come to the city.

Note: Quo Vadis would open in New York in November, 1951. It opened at this theatre in Providence, then known as Loew’s State, not long after that.

Go to the link below to read more about this theatre and the City of Providence proclaiming Feb 17 as Temptations Day. Otis Williams is the last remaining original Temptation.

http://www.otiswilliams.net/news1

How I wish that the PPAC would go back to having their Big Screen Classic Film Series! I miss that.

Well we agree on the semantics. If a person has time to post a link or photo then they also have time to credit the author. Or at the very least go back and give credit when they have receieved a compliment or thanks for a photo that they did not take, such as is the case here.

But I suppose if that person was so busy making multiple comments on as many C/T postings as possible then I can see how they would not have time to give the proper credit.

No, not that it matters, but as much as you comment you often are thanked for “sharing” a photo. The author is the one who shares it.

Just my opinion that anyone who has time to link someone elses photo has time to credit the author.

I wonder if it would be too much trouble for lostmemory to begin crediting the author of the photos that he links on Cinema Treasures? It would be nice if the appropriate person could be thanked or recognized for taking the photo rather than the person that submits the comment. I see that his comments run into the hundreds.

The Providence Performing Arts Center is also another beautiful old theatre palace that’s perfect for showing old classics, etc., and alsoi has a balcony. Up until several years ago, they, too had classic film series. I saw my alltime favorite movie, West Side Story, which played as part of the film series that year, in 2000, which was also coincided with a big promotion of Wurlitzer Organ that they were having. Before the movie started, however, the audience was treated to rather schmaltzy organ renditions of several prominent WSS songs, which resembled the kind of music that’s frequently heard on a skating rink or a ballpark during a baseball game. The organist went on just a bit too long, and I thought he would never get off, especially since the movie had started. Finally, the organist and organ, both of which and who had been sitting on a small piece of the floor that was automatically pulled down below the stage was whisked down below the platform by some sort of motor and pulleys, or whatever, and, we all enjoyed the film. Although there were only 600 people in a 3500-seat theatre, we all enjoyed the film. Just going to the PPAC and even looking at the outside was a wonderfully artistic experience in itself. Since I had a parttime job at a nearby piano dealer shop as a floor tuner, I drove down to Providence, RI, from the Bay State quite frequently. It was only an hour and a half south of where I live—no big deal.

A couple of years later, I got to see a wonderful stage production of WSS, which was an equally wonderful experience. On several occasions, I tuned the piano backstage of the theatre, which was kind of neat, also.