Bijou Cinema
110 Front Street,
Worcester,
MA
01608
110 Front Street,
Worcester,
MA
01608
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The Bijou Cinema was a three screen art cinema located in the Worcester Common Outlets. The facility opened decades ago as the Galleria Cinemas, was shuttered a long while, and then opened under its present name.
The theater closed again in November of 2004 and will be razed for an expansion of the mall. One of the final films shown at the Bijou Cinema was a revival of “The Last Picture Show”.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
Here’s a photo of the Bijou marquee and entrance area taken a while back.
View link
In July of 1984, when this was the Galleria, I saw Electric Dreams. The last films I saw here were Zelary, a very long Czech film, and the director’s cut of Donnie Darko on November 6, 2004, shortly before the place closed.
Although it sounds like this isn’t the same theater, there was another theater called the Bijou in Worcester. It played silent films in 1912. Later the building was turned into a five-and-dime store. It sounds like the old Bijou was located at Eighth and Millbury Street.
for more information, there’s a 1978 audio interview (with transcript) with one of the owners at
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/102
This website has some vintage photos of the Family theater. Click on the small photos to expand them.
Address:
110 Front St
Worcester, MA 01608
I had just moved to the Worcester area in 1978, when it was the Worcester Center Cinema. I remember walking the mall, then going to see a movie afterwards. We used to joke about the size of the screens :–)
If I remember correctly, didn’t they used to show plays there too?
Was there another Family Theater in Worcester? This was in Boxoffice magazine in January 1960:
WORCESTER, MASS.-The E.M. Loew circuit, operator of the Family Theater here for many years, has placed a “For Rent or For Sale” sign on the marquee. The house has been shuttered since last spring. The circuit continues to run the Plymouth, a first run, here.
That should be for this theater.
The Bijou appears to be a shopping mall theater, opened in 1973 according to the post on 11/30/74. It doesn’t fit.
The 1955 Film Daily lists a Family Theater with 800 seats. The address given is slightly different. 116-22 Front Street.
If it was a shopping mall theater it wouldn’t be listed in 1955 as the Family Theater.