Mayfair Theatre
334 Broad Street,
Cumberland,
RI
02864
334 Broad Street,
Cumberland,
RI
02864
1 person
favorited this theater
Originally opened as Shea’s Theatre in 1915, it later became the Strand Theatre. By 1941 it was listed as the Roosevelt Theatre, which lasted into at least 1943. By 1950, it had been renamed Lincoln Theatre.
Later known as the Mayfair Theatre, it was a village movie theatre in the Valley Falls part of Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
I wonder when the name “Lincoln” began. It was also called that on February 1, 1950 when the bill was She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Jigsaw, according to a rare Providence Journal ad.
Judging by the info presented above, the theatre was still in existence in the mid 1950s and had installed CinemaScope. Anyone have any more precise information about when it ceased operation?
Item in Boxoffice Magazine, February 2, 1957:
“The Lincoln Theatre building in Valley Falls has been sold by the PHC Company of Pawtucket to Robert W. Jalbert of North Providence. The structure, a showplace in the lower Cumberland Valley community when it was built 40 years ago, was sold for $19,000.”
[Note: that means the theatre was probably built around 1917.]
Item in Boxoffice magazine, May 3, 1941:
“Charles Tobey of the Roosevelt in Valley Falls, R.I. was in the district.”
[That is, he was in Boston, probably doing summer bookings with distributors. Not earth-shaking, but we also know from this that the theatre was called the Roosevelt at this time.]
Operators of various theatres in the Pawtucket-Lincoln-Valley Falls area in 1951, gave their opinions on ways to combat the effects of TV on their theatres. Written as a report for the Pawtucket Times, the results were also reported in Boxoffice magazine in the issue of January 27, 1951:
View link
Thanks Gerald,interesting.
1,300 textile workers/strikers meet at Strand Theatre, Valley Falls, in February 1922.
PROVIDENCE NEWS
A 1919 Providence News article reported on certain Central Falls and Valley Falls theatres violating the state prohibition on Sunday film exhibition. READ ARTICLE HERE
Shea’s Theatre became the Strand on January 1, 1919, according to the above article.
Joseph Shea’s intention to build a movie theater on Broad Street in Valley Falls was announced in the April 10, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper. The plans were by Providence architect John F. O'Malley, who later designed the Leroy Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.