Orson Welles Cinema
1001 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge,
MA
02138
1001 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge,
MA
02138
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 119 comments found
I am actually the Production Manager of the documentary you’re talking about on the Orson Welles. It was actually Tommy Lee Jones that we interviewed here’s the article: http://bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view/20220427inside_track_headline.
If any of you have a strong affiliation with the theater please get in touch with me. We are currently looking to interview people who worked at the theater, went to the film school, etc. Please email me at and tell me about your connection to the Orson Welles Cinema!
Thanks,
Lauren
Someone is working on a documentary history of the Orson Welles Cinema. I read about just a few days ago but now cannot find the article. There was a color photo showing the actor Jon Lithgow sitting with the director. Jon Lithgow was quoted as saying something to the effect that his first paid job in the entertainment industry was at the Welles when he was a student. I think that this article was in the Boston Herald.
marcthorny, would it be possible to get copies of the newsletter? I’d be happy to pay for duplicating or scanning.
There IS still one ongoing and STILL ACTIVE vestige of the Orson Welles Cinema – the long running Boston Science Fiction Film Marathon which has been held on President’s Day Weekend every February since 1976 (the first 11 were held at the Orson Welles)! This year’s 37th edition will be held February 19-20, 2012 at the Somerville Theater. Info: http://www.bostonsci-fi.com/ Messageboard: http://sf.theboard.net/
The Orson Welles Cinema…..ahhhhh, yes! Memory lane! I didn’t go to film school, but I remember frequenting the Orson Welles quite a bit as a student, and for many years after that, especially when I lived right around the corner from that cinema! I saw many a great movie at the Orson Welles Cinema, including my all time favorite, West Side Story. Those days were grand…and…gone…for.ever! (sniff, sniff).
Great reading about that wonderful cinema – I studied at the Orson Welles Film School 72 & 73 (off the top of my head memory) Any other students remember those years –?– love 2 hear from others in that raggle-taggle gathering :) My avatar pix still resembles those Cambridge days :) Great courses there.
I saw the programs on the website for the Somerville Theatre’s Classic/repertory programming for this summer, Ron. Thanks.
Somerville Theatre will be doing some repertory programming this summer: View link
How I wish that the Orson Welles Cinema and most of the other Repertory Movie Houses were still in existence! (sigh).
I’m grateful for the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Brattle Theatre, both of which I hold yearly memberships to, but…
This site wasn’t taking comments yesterday, so a day or so late on this. But, May 24th represented the 25th Anniversary of the fire that ultimately destroyed the Orson Welles Cinema. Talks continued about re-opening the place, but it was not to be.
A sad 25th Anniversary. But, the memories continue.
I was researching something and wow, the last thing I expected to find was a “Hi to Marty” (and others) from one Fogwrestler on a comment thread. Thanks, and Hi back at you. I was employed at the Orson Welles from 1973 to 1976 as staff, manager, then moved upstairs to do Public Relations, which involved writing Press Releases, running screenings, etc., even went to shop at Cannes Film Festival. It was a great job and I feel we were at the center of a cool cultural universe. I moved on to the bigger NYC playing field but have great memories of Cambridge and the Welles. I’ve been on Facebook with lots of people and, for those who are interested, there are photos and comments on the Orson Welles page.
Oh, wow!! I had no idea that there was an Orson Welles newsletter! How I miss that place, still!
My wife edited the newsletter of the O.W. Complex. I still have copies of Volume 1, numbers 2, 3, and 4 all dated 1973.
2 has an article on Truffaut visiting the theater (with photos), another on Garbo, and schedule for the November’s “Great Ladies” series. #3 (December) dedicated to the animation series during that month, “A Treasury of the World’s Great Animation” with article by Dave Stone and pics from the ‘73 Halloween party. #4 (confusingly dated January 1973) is about the Horror/Sci-Fi Festival with an article on Jack Pierce. Each issue also has a “music menu” for performers at The Bar in the complex and other ads, features, and photos.
Wow! More interesting information! Thanks again for the heads-up. Something new is learned every day!
Mpol, not only is it “interesting”, but tickets are still available online or at the Somerville the day of the show.
And, not only are we doing a 25th anniversary since the fire tribute, the Marathon IS the only continuing link to the Welles.
Hmmmm…The Annual Science Fiction film marathon sounds interesting, La Connection! Thanks for the heads-up!
The 36th Annual Science Fiction film marathon is this weekend, Feb.20-21st. The event began at the Orson Welles Cinema, and this year we will be doing a special tribute to the Orson Welles at around 11:30 am on the 20th at the Somerville Theater. Info: http://sf.theboard.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
I’m trying to date the Orson Welles retrospective that the Orson Welles had, as well as the Western retrospective that they screened. Didn’t they also have a Film Noir retrospective? I’m guessing these were between 1969 and 1973.
Thanks, Gerald. That’s good to know, although nothing beats a huge movie theatre screen.
MPol,
Though 16mm has been pretty much replaced by DVD and other digital formats, there are plenty of archives and educational institutions I know of that still maintain large collections of 16mm film prints.
There’s a facebook page for the Orson Welles…
View link
Thanks for the info, billchayes.
btw, I don’t think they use 16mm films anymore. At least I haven’t heard of that, but I might be wrong.
the film school was part of the theater complex. google leacock and marshall. leacock helped to develop the first portable 16mm sync sound equipment and made many of the first and classic verite docs. He founded the MIT film dep’t. Marshall founded the Center for Documentary Anthropology (now Documentary Educational Resources) and was the first to make ethnographic films that presented indigenous societies as being made up of people with individual personalities just like us, rather than as a bunch of natives dancing around a fire or making baskets. His films are still staples of Anthro 101.
There was an Orson Welles Film School? That I honestly didn’t know about. Some of my classmates in undergrad school during the mid-1970’s, used to call it the “Orson Smells”. Familiarity and recognition, and memories abound. I don’t know who Ricky Leacock and John Marshall were, but it must’ve been interesting for you, as a film teacher, to hear them lecture.
hoo boy…what memories. I taught for a while at the Orson Welles Film School…must have been around 1971. I remember Wayne Wadhams (quack)(now deceased)used to call it the “Awesome Smells”. Grat things did happen there though. Ricky Leacock and John Marshall would come and talk to my classes.