Rivoli Theatre
1755 Park Street,
Hartford,
CT
06106
1755 Park Street,
Hartford,
CT
06106
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The Rivoli Theatre was in a neighborhood of Hartford. In the mid-1960’s it became a kind of repertory art house for a while. Further details on the history of this theatre would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
The Rivoli first opened around 1926 and had 949 seats. It was demolished in 1975 to make way for the Parkville Community School.
The Rivoli was part of a chain that included the Webster Theatre in Hartford (now a live music venue) and the Plaza Theatre in Windsor (abandoned since 1997 and sitting there empty).
I only went there a couple of times in 1965…once to see Ingmar Bergman’s then-new ALL THESE WOMEN on a double bill with TWO-WAY STRETCH. At the time the theatre seemed very dingy. I returned for a revival program of CYRANO DE BERGERAC with OPEN CITY. Strange combo! OPEN CITY was projected as though it were a wide screen film…heads cut off or part of the subtitles. For a wannabee rep house, they clearly didn’t grasp the concept of aspect ratio.
An Austin organ Opus 1433 Size 3/8 was installed in the Rivoli Theater in 1926 at a cost of $10,000.
I enjoyed this theater and first saw “King of Hearts”, 3 nights running, when it premiered in Hartford in the late 60’s. “KoH” is one of my all time favorites.
Item in Boxoffice magazine, August 14, 1961:
OLDTIME PRICES REVIVED
The Rivoli in Hartford. Conn., turned back the hands of time to the days of the 15-cent admission. The gimmick was used for four consecutive matinees of “The Golden Age of Comedy” and “Gorgo.” The 800-seat house charged 15 cents for children and 25 cents for adults and sold popcorn for only five cents."
Conversion of this theatre from sub-run to an art house policy, as reported in Boxoffice magazine, October 14, 1963:
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By the 1970’s it was playing X-rated movies like “THE MINX” playing March 24,1970.