Yes, the Central was actually in Pawcatuck(Stonington, CT.) It and Westerly center straddle the RI/CT state line. Informally people referred to the Central as being in Westerly, RI, whereas it is technically in Pawcatuck
Ron,
To clear up your concern in your comment, that photo is actually of the Bijou Theatre, which in its last months was renamed the Empire or “New Empire,” after the earlier Empire (Keith’s) down the street had closed a couple of years earlier. It looks like they transported the marquee up the street! This “New Empire” didn’t last more than a year. If you look at the marquee of this closed theatre, it urges patrons to patronize the Victory, further up the street, which was also at times named the Modern and Westminster Playhouse.
Ron Salters,
Can’t you scan and post a photo of this theatre (and a few others) from these M.G.M. cards? It’s really frustrating hearing there is a photo of this place and not being able to see it. This would be very helpful especially in the case of places like this where no other known photos seem to survive.
Where the Metropolitan Theatre was located there is now an apartment building, Beneficent House. I now live in that building. In the entrance lobby there is a painting of the former theatre that occupied that space.
Brian (bgcivilwar), I am enjoying your comments. To post pictures, put your photos on a server (like Photobucket) and just provide a link on this page to the appropriate photo on your server.
Near the beginning of the 1951 movie “Teresa,” there is a shot of what seems like this theatre, displaying the 1947 movie “Fiesta” on the marquee, possibly put there to indicate the immediate post-war setting of the story about a G.I. and his Italian wife.
Several nostalgic comments related to this theatre by people who had visited the place before it closed in the 1940s can be found on the Facebook page “I grew up in the north end of Providence.” Also, in hastily describing this theatre in my description at the top of the page, I incorrectly referred to the neighborhood as Eagle Park, which is actually a short distance from here, rather than as the North End.
After World War I Keith’s became the Victory Theatre until the late 1930s when it became the Empire. Here is a photo of the theatre as the Victory. VICTORY THEATRE
Newspaper ads from 1963 show the theatre was being regularly used for stage productions. The ads refer to the theatre as “The Playhouse,” giving the address 1003 Main Street.
In The Providence Journal, August 26, 2013, there appears this extensive (online) article on the birth, life, and death of the Metropolitan Theatre. Several rare and excellent photos are shown.
newenglander,
That’s a difficult task. If there is a Bristol “historical society”, you might want to start with them. If the film footage was donated to someone, it MAY have wound up in the archives of the RI Historical Society in Providence. They have an archive of film shot in RI.
JulieAnnMazza,
No, that was taken from a newspaper clipping and is all there was. The Providence Journal archives may contain a wider photo. My link of June 16, 2005 (q.v.) shows more. It is a postcard image of when the theatre was the Emery. Photos of the Carlton are impossibly rare.
I noted in my diary on September 28, 1962 (50 years ago today) that I went to a double bill here at the Fine Arts: Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” and Fellini’s “La Strada.” I also noted that they served (complimentary) small cups of Bolivian coffee.
The building that housed this theatre (on the second floor) was called Broley Hall. Today it is occupied by Our Place Tuxedos and Uniforms. The Casino was the first cinema in Centredale.
A couple of friends and I saw the movie “The Spiral Road” here on August 18, 1962 after not being able to get into the play “The Glass Menagerie” at the Newport Playhouse.
An article on the history of the location appears in The Providence Journal, August 12, 2012. It includes images of the Cycledrome that had been located there
as well as a 1940 image of the drive-in’s entrance. Article with images.
Tinseltoes is correct. It is two blocks down from Carnegie Hall, and around the corner from the Carnegie Deli, which is at 7th near 55th, an eatery that is a point of reference for me.
The United Theatre has been reopened for quite a while now and should no longer be listed as closed. Their website: http://www.theunitedtheatre.org/
Yes, the Central was actually in Pawcatuck(Stonington, CT.) It and Westerly center straddle the RI/CT state line. Informally people referred to the Central as being in Westerly, RI, whereas it is technically in Pawcatuck
Ron, To clear up your concern in your comment, that photo is actually of the Bijou Theatre, which in its last months was renamed the Empire or “New Empire,” after the earlier Empire (Keith’s) down the street had closed a couple of years earlier. It looks like they transported the marquee up the street! This “New Empire” didn’t last more than a year. If you look at the marquee of this closed theatre, it urges patrons to patronize the Victory, further up the street, which was also at times named the Modern and Westminster Playhouse.
Ron, I didn’t realize you were working from their website. I was able to find that image of the Broadway and others.
Ron Salters, Can’t you scan and post a photo of this theatre (and a few others) from these M.G.M. cards? It’s really frustrating hearing there is a photo of this place and not being able to see it. This would be very helpful especially in the case of places like this where no other known photos seem to survive.
Where the Metropolitan Theatre was located there is now an apartment building, Beneficent House. I now live in that building. In the entrance lobby there is a painting of the former theatre that occupied that space.
Brian (bgcivilwar), I am enjoying your comments. To post pictures, put your photos on a server (like Photobucket) and just provide a link on this page to the appropriate photo on your server.
Near the beginning of the 1951 movie “Teresa,” there is a shot of what seems like this theatre, displaying the 1947 movie “Fiesta” on the marquee, possibly put there to indicate the immediate post-war setting of the story about a G.I. and his Italian wife.
The cinema appears briefly in Jim Jarmusch’s film “Only Lovers Left Alive.”
Several nostalgic comments related to this theatre by people who had visited the place before it closed in the 1940s can be found on the Facebook page “I grew up in the north end of Providence.” Also, in hastily describing this theatre in my description at the top of the page, I incorrectly referred to the neighborhood as Eagle Park, which is actually a short distance from here, rather than as the North End.
After World War I Keith’s became the Victory Theatre until the late 1930s when it became the Empire. Here is a photo of the theatre as the Victory. VICTORY THEATRE
The Alan… There is a link I posted to an image from that period in the comment just above this one you just added. Click.
Newspaper ads from 1963 show the theatre was being regularly used for stage productions. The ads refer to the theatre as “The Playhouse,” giving the address 1003 Main Street.
In The Providence Journal, August 26, 2013, there appears this extensive (online) article on the birth, life, and death of the Metropolitan Theatre. Several rare and excellent photos are shown.
ARTICLE
newenglander, That’s a difficult task. If there is a Bristol “historical society”, you might want to start with them. If the film footage was donated to someone, it MAY have wound up in the archives of the RI Historical Society in Providence. They have an archive of film shot in RI.
JulieAnnMazza, No, that was taken from a newspaper clipping and is all there was. The Providence Journal archives may contain a wider photo. My link of June 16, 2005 (q.v.) shows more. It is a postcard image of when the theatre was the Emery. Photos of the Carlton are impossibly rare.
I noted in my diary on September 28, 1962 (50 years ago today) that I went to a double bill here at the Fine Arts: Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” and Fellini’s “La Strada.” I also noted that they served (complimentary) small cups of Bolivian coffee.
Here is an image of a poster advertising a film at the Strong in 1916 with a newspaper boy nearby.Poster
The building that housed this theatre (on the second floor) was called Broley Hall. Today it is occupied by Our Place Tuxedos and Uniforms. The Casino was the first cinema in Centredale.
This was actually located in Middletown, RI, the town adjacent to Newport, and not in Newport itself.
A couple of friends and I saw the movie “The Spiral Road” here on August 18, 1962 after not being able to get into the play “The Glass Menagerie” at the Newport Playhouse.
An article on the history of the location appears in The Providence Journal, August 12, 2012. It includes images of the Cycledrome that had been located there as well as a 1940 image of the drive-in’s entrance. Article with images.
I visited this cinema in late August 1970 to see the Sergio Citti/Pier Paolo Pasolini film “Ostia”, with Franco Citti and Laurent Terzieff.
Tinseltoes is correct. It is two blocks down from Carnegie Hall, and around the corner from the Carnegie Deli, which is at 7th near 55th, an eatery that is a point of reference for me.
No,unfortunately I don’t know of any.