Fitchburg Theater
336 Main Street,
Fitchburg,
MA
01420
336 Main Street,
Fitchburg,
MA
01420
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I believe the last time it was used was in the late-1970’s or early-1980’s. It was a nice theater with a balcony. I’m not sure if it is owned by the bank or the City of Fitchburg. I heard the the renovations were too much for the City.
It is right on Main Street across from City Hall. The last thing they did to it was put up a fake storefront so it wouldn’t look so shabby during the Longsjo Bicycle Races! (That was a few years ago)
Contributed by
Judy Murray
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
Here is a recent photo. Address is on the marquee.
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 2014 style 190 was installed in the Fitchburg Theater on 1/3/1929. Status: sold.
Here is a small page I have put together from down under in Australia for all people interested on this page in the old Theatres of Fitchburg. Turn your volume up as it contains music ! and enjoy.
View link
soundmemory- thanks for putting this up, very interesting stuff !
does anyone know who owns this theater now?
Here is a July 1960 ad from the Fitchburg Sentinel:
http://tinyurl.com/y88cmbt
I worked at the Fitchburg Theater from 1978 to the middle 80’s and what a time it was the concerts like Devo,Jay Ferguson,Johnny and Edgar Winter. Awesome. And the midnight movies The song remain the same and the Rocky Horror Picture show. But in 1980 the theater was turned into a 3 theater I remember caddy shack was there at the time the guy who owned it was Bill Haney. Then he sold it to USA cinemas and one night they had a party and it was the beginning of the end. They used water hoses and cut the big screen up what a waist. I was in the theater last summer The downstairs is all gone the big screen is gone. the other 2 theater’s are still there. I got a lot of old stuff out of there last year lots of memories. Buy the way Brian I am sure I remember you.
I have great memories of the Fitchburg Theater. When I was little they’d play 2 movies on the Saturday matinee & raffle off a bicycle between shows. And I worked as a projectionist there for about a year during high school. Playing first run movies like Body Heat, Arthur, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Halloween & the Empire Strikes back. I was trained on the carbon arc projectors in that oven of a projection booth by a genius named Leo & ate a lot of Espresso pizza with Frank. Bill was the owner & his brother Brian & Chinky ran the place. (Had to drop the keys of to them after we closed at night to TWEEDS restaurant.)
I really loved that beautiful old place, but was never smart enough to take any pictures of the inside before it was ruined. (Which really was kind of stupid considering Leo was teaching me photography at the time.)
Try to explain to a kid today how immense & ornate that screen/stage was. How incredible the acoustics were or…..how terrifying it was to walk through in the dark, barring all the doors after closing, while Dave (another projectionist) played the theme from Halloween.
It really was something standing at the top of the balcony, just below the projectionist booth stairs & being able to recite every line of Raiders while downing warm soda & stale popcorn. It was a time & place I’ll never forget.
Anyway. I really enjoyed this page. Thanks for the memories.
The Fitchburg went through a complete remodeling in 1954. The central box office was moved to the side and an indirect lighted marquee was installed with new lights in the ceiling of the marquee and outside lobby. The wood paneled side wall was in a ranch-style and painted a rich dark brown. Glass doors and windows completed the remodeling of the front.
The ranch style wall paneling was carried into the lobby, and large modernistic display panels replaced the small heavily ornate ones formerly used. Up to date lighting fixtures were also installed.
In order to increase profits a new concession stand was installed where the theatre formerly only sold candy. Incloded in the new concession area was a new popcorn machine, ice cream, and hot dogs.
The remodeled theatre was operated by Ben Sack. The architect for the remodel was Louis Chiaramonte. Seating after the remodel was 1,750.
Here’s a two-page trade article about the modernization of the Fitchburg Theatre: boxofficemagazine