Beacon Hill Theatre
1 Beacon Street,
Boston,
MA
02108
1 Beacon Street,
Boston,
MA
02108
5 people
favorited this theater
The original Beacon Theatre was opened in 1913 by movie theatre pioneer Jacob Lourie. The building at 47-53 Tremont Street was built in 1874 as a bank. In 1948, the architectural firm William Riseman Associates remodeled the theatre and it was renamed Beacon Hill Theatre from November 10, 1948.
Ben Sack allegedly won this theatre in a poker game, and it became the beginning of what eventually became the regionally dominant Sack Theatres chain.
From at least World War II through the 1960’s, the Beacon/Beacon Hill Theatre was one of Boston’s premiere art houses. In 1969, it was torn down and replaced with the One Beacon Street tower, which contained a new single-screen Beacon Hill Theatre in its basement.
The second Beacon Hill Theatre, which opened in 1971, featured primarily first-run Hollywood films. It was triplexed in the early-1980’s and briefly became an art house again, until Sack opened the Copley Place multiplex.
During its last few years, the Beacon Hill Theatre showed mostly B-grade action and exploitation films, mixed in with an occasional move-over from one of Sack’s better-quality downtown houses.
In 1992, it became the first of many former Sack Theatres that Loews would close over the following decade.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca, John Toto, Ron Newman
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Recent comments (view all 89 comments)
Regarding Ron’s post from June 2005 — “The book also says that "on November 10, 1948, a refurbished Beacon became the Beacon Hill Theatre” — I came across an article on the refurb of this & two other NE theatres in the Motion Picture Herald’s Better Theatre’s section (12/18/1948). Included are various before & after images of the exterior and interior, as well as a floorplan and some interesting prose.
You can see the images here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yloxt58
I couldn’t Photoshop the interior images into anything worthwhile, so they’re not in that album. You can see those images & read the article, if you’d like. I’ve made the PDF available here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yfxpvjt
The Carving Station restaurant was replaced by another called Pressed Sandwiches, but now that has closed as well.
Item in Boxoffice magazine, January 6, 1951:
George Kraska, managing director of the Beacon Hill, said that the opening day of the Italian film “Bitter Rice,” broke every record for the showing of a foreign film in the house and that “it looks like a six weeks' or longer run.” The picture cannot play Sundays. The previous record for the theatre was held by “The Bicycle Thief,” which ran eight weeks.
Any idea why it could not play on Sundays?
I noticed this with certain other films in that period with “adult content.” Apparently it was a type of local blue-law restriction on certain entertainments deemed inapropriate for Sundays.
Another related item I found was that later in 1951 the manager of the Delavan Theatre in Delavan, Wisconsin, quit after the Lions Club protested the showings of “Bitter Rice.” Many locals expressed indignation and suggested that the theatre should be boycotted.
The cover of Boxoffice magazine, April 28, 1958, had a montage of Ben Sack with four of his theatres: the Saxon, the Capri, the Beacon Hill, and the Gary.
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_042858
…and an article on Sack and his success with the acquisition of Boston theatres:
View link
Ron ,Interesting answer to your Question on Sunday showings can be found in an old Motion Picture Almanac.I have one from 1956 and they have everystate and Blue laws on Sundays.If you could ever get ahold of one these Almanacs you would have any Question Answered on Sunday showings.IF you have a state in Question I would be glad type down the Blue laws for that state in Question.
I ONLY went to the Beacon Hill 2 time. One time to see The Towering Inferno because Westgate Mall was sold ot and the other time was to see THIS IS CINERAMA re-release. My wife and I were so disappointed that it was in single projector panavision and no stereo that we walked out After I got Home I was so dissapointed and mad that I sat down and wrote a 7page letter to Sack theatres explaining my distress. About a week later I received a letter with 12 passes to any Sack theatres for free. Sack/USA theatres sure let their properties fall into disrepair didn’t they.
I remember the second version of this theater with fondness.
It was deep underground, reached by a long, wide flight of stairs. The decor was very stark and “modern,” almost clinical. However, the equipment was all brand-new and technically excellent.
The auditorium seated between 800 or 900. The curtainless screen was 55 feet wide and concave. It was, at the time, the only curved movie screen in downtown Boston (the Cinerama having closed a few years earlier). The booth had 35/70mm projectors, and was capable of showing 35mm with monaural optical and four-track stereo sound, and 70mm with six-track stereo sound.
Beneath the screen was a curious barrier or grille made of white wooden slats, tilted inward towards the screen. It looked like an ultra-wide cow-catcher on a locomotive! Never did figure out what it was for.
My first visit was for the 70mm reissue of THIS IS CINERAMA in 1972. Although probably not as exciting as the original 3-projector version, if you sat up close (as I did) you got a very powerful sense of depth and participation. The soundtrack was played at VERY high volume, and sounded excellent, as did most of the films I saw at this venue.
Many other 70mm films played at the Beacon over the years, including blow-ups of PAPILLON and THE WIND AND THE LION, the re-issue of THE EXORCIST, and the 3-D reissue of HOUSE OF WAX. They also showed the 3-D version of ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN, which was X-rated, although I managed to get in anyway. :)
A pair of large full-range speakers were installed on the side walls of the theater for the “Sound 360” showing of DAMNATION ALLEY. These remained in place until the theater was converted to a triplex in the late ‘70s. The conversion cut the theater in half lengthwise, retaining the curved screen for the main auditorium, and adding two very small auditoriums in the rear.
The last film I saw there was Bertolucci’s 1900.
Walked past the former location yesterday(6/19)– still looks the same as the street view(which is circa 2009) Pressed Sandwiches closed almost a year and a half ago.
I will say that looking at the structure, it has the look of a movie theater marquee, even with the signage on it.