Symphony Cinema
252 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
252 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
2 people
favorited this theater
In the late 60s this theatre was carved out of the first floor of a building across from Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue in Boston.
It was an art house showing a mixture of off-beat, independent American, and foreign-language films. The seating was not raked and it was often difficult to see all of the screen (and subtitles) if you were in a bad spot. The programming was very interesting and adventuresome, however. It disappeared, I believe, by the end of the 70s.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
A July 21, 1969 newspaper ad for the theatre has it as the Symphony I & II. So at some point in the late 1960s a second screen was added. The movie playing on that date was the very successful Swedish sex film I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW, directed by Vilmot Sjöman. On that date, a Saturday, the X-rated film was playing on both screens, with staggered starting times: first show at 11 A.M. and the last one at 10:45 P.M. People must have been turning up in droves.
The Symphony switched to blaxploitation fare in the 70’s. I remember trying to get into see “Midnight Cowboy” (on second run) there around 1970 or 71, but they wouldn’t let me in as I was under 18.
Yeah, “Midnight Cowboy,” which won the Academy Award for best picture, was actually rated X. Its initial run had been at the Saxon, I believe. The Saxon is now the Cutler-Majestic at Emerson College.
I saw ‘curious Yellow’ ‘Barbarella’ and ‘Flesh Gordon’ there, late 60s.
I have a gay guide book for Boston (published in 1977) in which the Symphony II Theater is listed at a street address 252 Huntington Avenue screening gay male porn movies.
That couldn’t have lasted very long. This page says that the adjoining BU Theatre bought the Symphony Cinemas building some time between 1978 and 1981. I recall it was earlier in that range, rather than later.
Ron;
Thanks for posting those details, it is always good to piece together another slice of the history, especially when it comes from ‘the horses mouth’.
I recall standing in line awaiting to get in to see “I Am Curious, Yellow” like it was the second coming or something. yawn.
I remember seeing The Collector, The Chase and A Funny Thing Happend on the way to the Forum. We always went to Brigham’s afterwards
I recall seeing the classic (and infamous) horror/slice-and-dice film “Last House On The left” there in late 1976…I guess the place was not long for this world by that point, and had fallen on pretty hard times.