Loews Cheri
50 Dalton Street,
Boston,
MA
02115
50 Dalton Street,
Boston,
MA
02115
8 people
favorited this theater
The Cheri complex remained in operation for about 40 years; few movie theaters in Boston have had such a lengthy life span other than the old movie palaces such as the Saxon, Savoy, etc. that have been converted to other uses. The first auditorium opened in February, 1966 with Marlon Brando in “The Chase”. The second auditorium opened in November, 1966 with Jack Lemmon in “The Fortune Cookie”. The third screen (i.e., the smaller auditorium on the upper level with the separate paybox) opened in July 1967 with Walter Matthau in “A Guide to the Married Man”.
The Cheri hosted a number of roadshows during the late-1960’s, including “Funny Girl” and “Oliver!”. When “Funny Lady” premiered there in an exclusive run in 1975, one screen showed the film on a reserved seat basis and another on a general admission basis.
The larger of the two lower level auditoriums was twinned in 1989. Following the closings of the Charles, Cinema 57 and Paris in the early-1990’s, the Cheri and Nickelodeon became the top theaters in the city for major Hollywood first run releases (essentially by default; the only other theater in Boston was the widely disliked Copley Place).
Attendance at the Cheri declined sharply after the opening of the nearby AMC Fenway in the late-1990’s and after a brief tenure as a discount house the Cheri closed in 2001 and is now a bowling alley and nightclub.
Whether the Cheri was deserving of such longevity is another matter. The auditoriums had mediocre sightlines, noticeably low ceilings and average sized screens. I don’t believe that any of the auditoriums were equipped for 70MM. Other Boston theaters of that era such as the Paris, Pi Alley (prior to twinning) and the main auditorium of the Charles complex were much more impressive.
Contributed by
Erik Hestnes
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Recent comments (view all 64 comments)
Well, if you squint, you can sort of see the cinema. Signs about street level use to be the marquee with the listing of films and times. The small glass “house” to the left of the large building was the ticket booth in its final iteration. (You use to buy tickets inside down the stairs, and then wait in the lobby, but later USA Cinemas changed the flow by trying to keep large and rowdy crowds on the street, which Boston Police did not like and forced them to hire paid details.) The main entrance was next to the ticket booth, and the other entrances were exits from the theaters.
I worked at the Cheri with member J-Semp, who also made films, including a hilarious “Godzilla” movie. I started working there in April 1970 — about 6 weeks before my 16th birthday. The three films playing on my first day were “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”; “Fellini Satyricon”; and Visconti’s “The Damned” — my first X-rated movie. “Woodstock” opened there in August 1970, I think, and we had hippies sitting on the carpet waiting for each show; the film was 3 ½ hours long and sold out for a very long time. We had midnight shows and early morning shows (9 or 10 a.m.) — and pot smoke wafting through the auditorium at every show.
I have so many wonderful memories of working there — so many kids (high school & college) on the staff. We were a tight crowd and often went to Ken’s in Copley Square after work to get a bite to eat.
I don’t think I saw this in any of the postings: The signs for Theatres 1 & 2 hung from short lengths of chain, and we would switch the signs based on how big the crowds were, because one was larger than the other. The tickets for each film indicated the number of the theater, and to keep proper track of the grosses we’d have to switch the signs when we switched the movie.
Other memories: “Joe,” with Peter Boyle as a nasty, bigoted, hippie-hating, blue collar guy – it came out of nowhere and played for months — still one of the most shocking film experiences I ever had; “Summer of ‘42” — also played for months — audiences loved it — didn’t ring true for me; the dismal Christmas of 1970 when we showed “Where’s Poppa?” and “I Never Sang for My Father” in nearly empty houses (can’t remember what the third film was that Xmas). BTW “Fiddler on the Roof” was another roadshow that played while I was there. I left to work at the Saxon under manager Lenny Barrack (who had a bookie operation in his balcony-level office) and assistant manager Merrill Frank, who had been at the Cheri and moved to the Gary shortly after I got arrived at the Saxon. THere was a tunner behind the Saxon Coke machine tthat connected to the Gary. We would go help them during busy times (the engagements of “Bedknobs & Broomsticks” and “Cabaret” stand out in my mind); and Gary staff would come over and help us when we were busy (“Klute,” “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” and Streisand’s “On a Clear Day…”). We would go over to the Gary on breaks to waych the movies, and I remember “Fortune and Men’s Eyes,” a scary, violent, gay prison movie (even drag queen Michael Greer was frightening) that made me want to rethink being gay (although I couldn’t take my eyes off co-star Zooey Hall — beautiful man!).
The Saxon went through some hard times while I was there — some softcore stuff (“Kamasutra”) and B movies. But I loved the Saxon, and always dreamed of restoring it — which, thankfully, Emerson College has done. People who worked at the SAxon then will remember that in the second balcony (never used due to insufficient fire exits) had one giant speaker (8’ x 8' by my recollection) in the center of the seating that had been used only once for the thunder in the Noah’s Ark scene in John Huston’s “The Bible” — or so I was told. I later worked at the Pi Alley, but that’s another story. Ahh, the memories … All the theaters of my youth in Boston gone forever, but not forgotten.
Interesting reading.
I remember that the Cheri became a discount theatre (where one could get in for five dollars a screening), right before it closed down.
Following up on some of the previous comments about the opening of the Cheri. The first screen opened in February 1966 with “The Chase.” The second screen opened in November of the same year with “The Fortune Cookie.” The third screen (i.e., the smaller auditorium on the upper level with the separate box office) opened in July 1967 with “A Guide to the Married Man.” The source for this info is Variety (back issues are now available online).
Good Stories from the old employees.
ahhh….good times…lots of Berklee students passed through here. I worked there during the school year in the mid-90s. Interesting place. I can’t recall the manager I originally worked for before he was pushed out. From what I recall he was a long-time employee. Looong time and maybe knew someone high up in the chain? He had this thing about hiring young Asian boys. An abundance of them worked there along with a lot of Berklee students and mostly the odd student from somewhere else. Good guys, but it always seemed like an odd hiring swing. They were the big game in town even in the mid-90s as EVERYONE hated that POS Copley. And the biggest theater at the Cheri still was great for opening blockbusters. Lots of nooks and cranies in that place, particularly as theater 4 was set off upstairs with no concession stand or ticket booth. By the time I worked there miscellaneous rolling concessions boxes were left to gather dust in the hallway up there. It was a reasonably fun place to work though, until TOM – now I remember his name – was pushed out for a newer, younger and much cockier guy. They used to do lots of sneak previews and premiers there as well as the Piper-Heisdrick award each year. I remember specifically Harvey Keitel one year (who I only saw from a distance) and Vanessa Redgrave. I was working the door (or the ticket taker spot at the bottom of the stairs really) and she came down by herself, very graceful and unassuming. She was an extraordinarily lovely woman, even to the nutball who was hounding her with questions. Two great (scary) memories were walking in one day back from Spring Break immediately after a robbery occured – complete with gunshot – before the cops came, and having to change that marquee. Which was only accessible through basically a hole in the wall in the adjacent parking garage. After which you had to stand on a rickity ladder almost near the top to change the first movie. Scary as s**t especially when it was windy.
I may be wrong but I do believe that 1 and maybe 2 of the Cheri’s were 70 mm equipped. They were a roadshow theatre at times.
Correct. I think Cheri 1 had a Century JJ 35/70mm projector and Cheri 2 had a Norelco AAll 35/70, both with platters. Originally, they had pairs of each before automation. They ran many 70mm films. “Chitty Bang Bang”, “Sleeping Beauty”, dozens of others. Small screens and very sharp image.
I saw Moulin Rouge in 2001. I think it may have been the last film shown there.