Capri Theater
22 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
02116
22 Huntington Avenue,
Boston,
MA
02116
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Opened in December 1914 as the Toy Theatre. Later renamed Copley Theatre. It became a movie theatre named the Capri Theater and was ’re-opened' in the 1960’s. Ran “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “La Dolce Vita” and a revival of “Modern Times”.
One peculiar thing was its staircase, which was donated by Isabella Stewart Gardner. The stairs had been used at the opening of Fenway Court, ripped out of there when the tapestry room was created around WW I, and installed in the theater.
Some of G.B. Shaw’s plays had their American premiere there. Next door was a lounge named ‘the Stage’.
Torn down for the exit ramps of the Mass Turnpike in 1962, when the ill-fated Capri name was moved to the Strand on Huntington Avenue.
Contributed by
Boris
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Recent comments (view all 37 comments)
I believe that the question asked by pmont was, can a theater be listed here if it only showed porn.
And the answer is yes, since we have a number of such listings already (especially in NYC).
I have seen those other two (three, actually — as there’s reference to another North Station II on Portland), so I guess I knew the answer to my question. I can’t imagine it’s very easy to get an accurate record of those storefront porn theatres, but they’re interesting to those interested in theatre histories (return of the nickelodeon..? sorta…). I found ads in either the Phoenix, Globe, or Real Paper for the Art Cinema, the Pussycats, and the South Station, but not the ones referenced in the article (or, as far as I recall, the North Station — though I’ll have to check on that one).
In any case, I’ve consulted the Boston Business Directory Theatre & Cinema section for 62, 67, 72, and 77 for a googlemap experiment which is a sort of sidebar (for my own use) to an essay I’m writing (settled on theatres in Boston/Camb/Somerville & what they were playing Mem Day 1977 vs. Mem Day 2008 — if anyone’s interested, I’ll post links), and I don’t believe I saw any indication of those Combat Zone theatres, though some of the previously legit theatres make the list.
Thanks for the reply. Awesome site. It’s been really helpful in filling in Boston theatre history.
Please do post links, though they may be more appropriate if posted on pages of theatres that were still operating in those years. You may want to consider submitting your maps and essay to CinemaTreasures as a news article.
I believe that the “Capri Theatre” at 701 Washington St. was a very small, rather dingy place that shared space with a porno bookstore…I suspect it was more of a cruising site than a movie house. I think there was a very similar movie/bookstore joint in the late 1970’s next to the Publix, though I don’t recall its name. Possibly these places had names for incorporation purposes, but not for exhibition on any kind of sign or marquee…it is likely that they got their “viewing audiences” from the clientele of the porn stores, so names really didn’t matter.
JustPlainBill is correct. There were some little porn “theaters” down in the “Zone” which were affiliated with porno bookstores and located in storefronts. One was the “State II” near the State Theatre entrance on Washington St. At the time, I didn’t consider them to be “real” movie theaters; and didn’t really pay much attention to them. Some of these may have had only “viewing booths” for 8mm film loops, and not had any seats, screen or projectors.
In an article in the old Boston Post of May 14, 1950 “Many Hits Made Upon Hub Stages” by drama critic Elliot Norton, mention is made of the play “Harvey” which opened at the Copley Theatre on Tues. Oct. 7, 1944. Written off by everyone as a quick flop, the Boston audiences at the Copley liked it from the start and it went on to New York where it became one of the most popular plays of the 1940s. It was later made into a sucessful movie.
The cover of Boxoffice magazine, April 28, 1958, had a montage of Ben Sack with four of his theatres: the Saxon, the Capri, the Beacon Hill, and the Gary.
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_042858
…and an article on Sack and his success with the acquisition of Boston theatres:
View link
As the “Copley Theatre”, this house was listed in a 1918 Boston street directory at 186 Dartmouth Street, west side of street, between Harwich St. and Huntington Ave. This was before the theater was reconstructed with its main entrance on Huntington Ave.
Here is a drawing of the curtain.