AMC Braintree 10

An article in the print edition of the Quincy Patriot Ledger, January 9 2013, states that the Braintree License Board has given permission to the AMC Braintree 10 to present midnight screenings on Thursdays, Fridays and Sats. But the shows must end by 230AM, otherwise additional permit will be needed. The article states that the cinema has been undergoing renovations which will reduce the total seating capacity from over 2,000 to 974 seats. Expensive leather seats are being installed which can be reclined, so if the movie is boring, you can sleep. Sound and projection systems are also being updated. The work is being performed with the cinema open.

Great photo Bob! I’m posting one of the front of the theatre from 1988.

I enjoyed my times at GCC.they worked the crap out of managers and that salary certainly never covered the long hours,but i think most of us never did it for the money.

They still have the Vic 8 there for 70mm but if I remember correctly the 70mm parts have been mostly stripped off and it is used exclusively for 35mm.

Braintree also recently installed their Sony 4K SXRD projector in Cinema 2. They can no longer show 35mm in that house. Currently they’re showing Avatar in 3D in that particular house.

Can anyone tell me the screen size of the largest auditorium? And does the said auditorium still have a 35/70 projector? I’m curious.

I never met him, because Fred Tomeo was the Manager at the Drive In when I managed the Cinema. The name is familiar though, and I believe his daughter was an Assistant Manager at the Natick Drive In.

In the early and mid-90’s I remember driving extra lengths to go to this theatre. They were one of the few theatres in the area to have those special strobe lights installed for the Twister and Lost World trailers. When they went off I had no idea what was happening— boy was it effective! They also sold taco bell at the concession stand which was extra awesome back then. Sad to hear that it’s gotten worse…

Braintree’s finest manager passed away this week, Izzy Strier, who managed the theatre in the South Shore Plaza from 1966 until 1975 was a legend in the town. Here are my comments regarding his career:
Izzy was a legend, admired by everyone, including every theatre manager who worked for GCC. Over the years, whenever a manager came to Boston for a meeting, and whenever managers traveled to other cities, everyone wanted to meet “Izzy”. He began his career working for Ben Sack at several Boston theatres, including the Music Hall during their busiest years, with films like Goldfinger selling thousands of tickets a day. He helped open the Cheri, then was lured over to GCC by Mel Wintman and Richard Smith to help them open their newest theatre, the Northshore Peabody Cinema in 1963. In 1966, General Cinema wanted their best to open the Cinema being planned for the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. Izzy went, and became a legend. When he left Braintree in 1976, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declared the day “Izzy Strier Day” and a grand dinner was held in his honor at the Jordan Marsh Restaurant in the South Shore Plaza. Many will remember his promotions, and relationships with Town Clerk Bob Brunell, as well as many merchants and government officials. When General Cinema wanted their best manager to open the new Home Office Theatre at Chestnut Hill in 1975, they picked Izzy. He managed that one until 1986, when they wanted him to handle one of their top ten theatres in Framingham. From being their top salesman in VIP tickets, to number one Concessions Manager, to Manager of the Year, Izzy was the manager that everyone wanted to be like. But nobody ever came close.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of kids grew up working for Izzy at those theatres, and will never forget what was usually their first job. Izzy would say “please do me a BIG favor” and everyone wanted to help him do whatever it took. And he made everyone who worked for him, proud of their theatre.

dwodeyla: No, not related to John Norton. We became friends when I called the Home Office in Chestnut Hill with a technical question about Dolby. He must have talked to me for twenty minutes with all sorts of information. We’d chat from time to time, and had lunch at Legal Seafood nearby. Through him, I became a theater checker. I might have been the checker during your last year at the Braintree GC at the original Plaza site. Anyway, they changed the checker program, and I was dropped. Later, I got bogged down with family matters and lost touch with John. He was very knowledgable, and I truly enjoyed learning technical aspects of cinema with him. He chose HPS-4000 speaker systems for several auditoriums in the GC chain. They have superb clarity, particularly in the mid-range. I think the current AMC Braintree Cinema still has them in one auditorium (at least they looked like the same configuration—cinema 3 on the left in the SE corner). When I asked the current AMC manager, he didn’t know. The THX designations for the two, big auditoriums are gone, as well as the Kodak image quality designations. John Norton had the highest professional standards. I’m sure he was the key reason why GC had such high presentation quality. I wish him all the best in his current endeavors. tn

dwodeyla: when I find the slides, I’ll be glad to scan them and send them. DaVia: The design of the first Braintree General Cinema your Dad did was quite handsome, a rather classic modernist theater building of the day. The lobby was about two stories high and had floor to ceiling windows on the west elevation which was the front of the building. In the late afternoon, the sun streamed into the lobby. Please give your Dad my best. Perhaps he knew John Norton at GCC headquarters. That theater was a real part of my youth, myself being one of the first mall rats at So.Shore Plaza, and I saw many films there. tn

I’d love to see scans of your slides, I managed the old theatre in the South Shore Plaza from 1975-77 and again 1983-1986. I have a few black and white photos, not much.

Your right about General Cinema being about quality but to bad the same doesn’t go for AMC. They are more concerned about crushing or elimiting compition rather than quality.