RKO Boston Theatre
614 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
614 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
6 people
favorited this theater
Opened as the Keith-Albee Boston Theatre on October 5, 1925, with 3,231 seats. This house still ran combo live shows and movies through the mid-1940’s.
Cinerama came in Christmas week of 1953 and stayed until around 1969. They sealed off balcony with a foot of cement and twinned the downstairs running Asian films and porn until around mid-1970’s.
Contributed by
Richard Dziadzio
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 89 comments)
Keith’s Theater on Tremont in 1906, large format photo:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6560?size=_original
In the photo which J.F.Lundy has posted, note the attraction, the Fadettes Women’s orchestra. They played at Keith’s for the entire summer of 1906. This very nice photo shows the Tremont Street entrance for B.F Keith’s Theater (later the Normandie and the Laffmovie) on Washington St. This entrance was later adapted for the RKO Keith Memorial Theater (now the Opera House). After WW II, the structure was “modernized.” The 2 theaters are not to be confused with the subject of this page, the RKO Boston Theatre. In the photo, note how people overdressed in the old days— hey, it’s summer and they all have jackets and coats on !
This photograph of the RKO Keith-Boston Theater was taken in 1935 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
That building seen in the lower right (that reads, “Delicates…”) is now the RMV.
Thank you, Riff. By clicking here you can see a more current view of the building with what is probably a “Delicatessen” sign. The business was likely frequented by vaudevillians that played the RKO Boston. Someone on this site will likely know more about it.
In a 1918 Boston street directory, there was a Bacon and Company department store on the site of the RKO Boston.
Here’s another photograph of the RKO Keith-Boston Theatre taken in 1933 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
The large building which contains the RKO Boston predates the theater by some 20 years or so. There is a photo of the building under construction on page 122 of the Arcadia Press book “Boston in Motion” by Cheney and Sammarco, 1999. The photo looks north on Washington Street and was taken June 26, 1905. The 600 Washington Street building was well along in the photo, but not yet completed. There is a huge temporary sign on it advertising the Henry Siegel Company department store which went into the building.
Hello I’m currently working on a book about the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and am looking for photos and programs/newspaper clippings etc from each city in which the film premiered in originally in 1968. If you saw the film in it’s initial run in the theater have a good memory of your experience, I’d love to interview you about seeing it. To date I have interviewed over 20 people that have worked on the film, and several close members in the Kubrick camp as well. If you can help please email me at
Hello I’m currently working on a book about the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and am looking for photos and programs/newspaper clippings etc from each city in which the film premiered in originally in 1968. If you saw the film in it’s initial run in the theater have a good memory of your experience, I’d love to interview you about seeing it. To date I have interviewed over 20 people that have worked on the film, and several close members in the Kubrick camp as well. If you can help please email me at