Circle Cinemas
399 Chestnut Hill Avenue,
Brookline,
MA
02146
399 Chestnut Hill Avenue,
Brookline,
MA
02146
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 106 comments found
Grand opening ads from October 7th, 1940 and November 24th, 1965 uploaded here.
More coverage of the proposed hotel development is at Brookline Patch: Part of New Cleveland Circle Hotel Would Fall on Brookline Land
The proposed hotel project on the site of the Circle is also mentioned in the business news in today’s Boston Herald. The hotel will have 150 rooms and 24,000 sq ft of retail space. It says that the “60-year-old theater” (actually, closer to 70 y/o) closed two years ago due to slow ticket sales.
Another article about the proposed project to raze the theater and build a hotel; it has a picture of the theater after it closed that will enlarge if you click on it: View link
I found it hard to believe that “LOVE STORY” played that long[one year] even though it was filmed there.26 weeks about par.It probably ran that long at Southgate Cinema.I am sure it seemed liked a year to employees with one screen.
I’m amused that the article describes Applebee’s and Ground Round as “restaurant concepts” rather than actual restaurants.
A developer is proposing to build a hotel on the site; apparently, the building is already slated for demolition: View link
<<< Many films played the Circle exclusively in the 60s and 70s, including “Love Story” (which ran for over a year) >>>
The Circle’s engagement of “Love Story” ran for 26 weeks, exactly one-half year.
Went by last month, still sitting there silently
Fun place, went to a lot of movies here while in college – the Ground Round used to be right next door, but it preceded the theater into retirement
‘Sleep No More’ will not be held at the Circle Cinemas after all. The ART website now says “A mystery location in Brookline Village”.
Yes it’s closed. But the ART was scouting it out as a possible temporary location for an immersive live show. See the last few comments above yours, starting in December 2008.
I thought the Circle was closed…..unless it’s being converted into a live theatre venue.
American Repertory Theatre is definitely putting on a Punchdrunk show next season, but it will not be Faust. It will be “Sleep No More, an immersive production inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, told through the lens of a Hitchcock thriller.”
Whether it will take place at the Circle, I don’t know. The ART’s web page says only “An extraordinary, unexpected location will be exquisitely transformed into an installation of cinematic scenes that evoke the world of Macbeth.” I guess they’ll announce the actual location some time in the fall.
The Brookline TAB posted an article online last Friday:
One last curtain call at Circle Cinema?
I assume it will be published in this week’s printed newspaper. The article confirms that the American Repertory Theatre “scouted out the empty building as the possible setting for an elaborate theatrical piece”, which may or may not be Faust. The ART hasn’t made any decision on whether to go ahead with such a site-specific production.
The TAB article also discusses prospects for condominium, hotel, or other development on the site.
I looked at your article over at Universal Hub, Ron. Thanks.
I also saw the film “Love Story” at the Circle years ago.
Here’s hoping that they build another theatre instead of luxury condos or a parking lot, and that they build a theatre that doesn’t play the same schlocky stuff in the way of movies that most of the theatres these days play.
Over at Universal Hub, I speculate some more about Faust and the ART and the Circle Cinemas.
I remember the Circle Cinemas (along with other now-defunct cinemas) with a somewhat sad fondness. It was a beautiful theatre before it got “twinned”, and I saw some very nice films there, before and after it was “twinned'.
The Great Race
Chinatown
Superman I and Superman II
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Munich
Zodiac
to name afew. Just as often as not, as kids, my sister and I would attend movies there with or without family or friends, and then eat in the Howard Johnson’s afterwards.
Harry Potter and the Phoenix
He’s a member of this Flickr group, whose description suggests that the American Repertory Theatre is scouting locations to stage a production of Faust.
I couldn’t figure that out, Ron. I looked at the people in the pictures, thinking that maybe they were members of some sort of theatrical company, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The most oblique comments which accompany the photographs include one mentioning that an opening at the parking garage ‘could be enclosed with plastic and made into cornfield’ (huh?) and another that the cabinets and desk in one of the offices ‘could be struck’ – all kind of weird, at least on the surface…
What are all those people doing in the closed theatre? Are they looking at it with the idea of reopening it, or demolishing it?
A random set of photographs of the Circle Cinemas, taken in mid-October: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31393958@N02/
You’re welcome. Also, if you visited it in 1966, it was still then a single screen.
Thanks, Ron for the correction on my posting. I gues my own nostalgia for The Circle got the best of me (too)!
adding to the above: the letter-writer was manager of the Circle from 1971 to 1976, and assistant manager before that.