The 1953 British film The Kidnappers, also called The Little Kidnappers (in the U.S.)ran for 20 weeks here in 1954. That must have been some sort of record at a time when movies rarely played more than one to three weeks. The film featured Duncan Macrae, Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter.
The Orpheum has some claim to fame for admirers of Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic The Bicycle Thief/Ladri di biciclette, which played here at the Orpheum in May 1952 for two weeks only. A review appeared in the Montreal Gazette on May 20, 1952.
In Providence News, July 22, 1924, there appeared a full-page column by columnist “Sally.” In “Seeing the Shops With Sally” she discusses a day in the city of Providence, places to shop, things to do…and much more. Yesterday, she writes, after buying some candy at the Arcade, she headed to a movie program at the Modern. Her words:
“There is nothing like a good picture to break the monotony of a week’s housework. Consequently the Modern Theatre is the selected place for the one day vacation.
"Sally stole a few hours from her work yesterday and went to see the picture ‘Recoil,’ that is playing there now. This Rex Beach production is entertaining to the extreme and when shown with the comedies ‘Wedding Showers’ and ‘Powder Marks,’ it makes a very interesting bill.”
For the complete article, with lots of nostalgic material on the city of Providence and other places in Rhode Island, go to this DIRECT LINK to the entire page.
From The (Providence) Evening Tribune, September 8, 1916:
“Narragansett’s season is rapidly nearing its end, and departures are now the rule rather than arrivals. Social events are few and far between, and for lack of these, society here has taken to the ‘movies.’ The attractive new moving picture house at the Pier fills a long-felt want and the patronage from the cottage colony and hotels has been so large that practically every seat has been taken for the evening performances. Indeed, if one wishes to meet friends just now one needs only to go to the ‘movies’ at any time between 8 and 10 o'clock.”
Here is a NEWSPAPER AD from August 4, 1896. It shows the Forest Casino open for entertainment events and also points out the showings of Edison Vitascope films at probably a separate building at the park. Vitascope shorts had been shown two months earlier in Providence. Movies were just coming into existence and considered a side-show novelty.
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
“The Three X Club of Wakefield will hold a week end hop in the Wakefield Opera House tonight, which will be preceded by moving pictures featuring Bebe Daniels in ‘Nancy from Nowhere’ and Conway Tearle in ‘Marooned Hearts.’ Miller’s new jazz orchestra will furnish music for the pictures and dancing. The hall has been tastefully decorated with tri-colored garlands and fancy Japanese lanterns for the occasion, and many electric fans are to be in operation around the hall.”
Last April the theatre was open to the public briefly, as reported in this article in The Westerly Sun, which includes a photo of the interior. ARTICLE
EARLY 20TH CENTURY PHOTO of Rocky Point Park. Forest Casino was located within the amusement park. Many area residents flocked to this park during the warm months. Ferries and direct trolleys could bring them in. They could picnic or have a RI shore dinner, visit the amusements and rides, go to a dance hall, attend a vaudeville and movie program before returning home. I don’t believe any actual photos of the Forest Casino survive, and I believe that it may have been destroyed in a fire that leveled some of the park early on.
From The (Providence)Evening News, August 7, 1909: “A new vaudeville show and new sets of moving pictures are offered in the Forest casino and the bill is one that cannot fail to please.”
From Providence News, June 1, 1920: “Forest Casino offered an extra good bill of pictures and vaudeville and was well patronized.”
A Providence Journal item on May 19 indicated that there would be a fundraiser on June 3 to benefit the Greenwich Odeum Theatre. The venue has been closed for several years because it could not meet new stricter fire codes in the wake of the 2003 Station Night Club fire in West Warwick.
I walked by it a couple of weeks ago. No films were playing but I saw a lot of work activity in the lobby area. I don’t know what is going on. Perhaps some restructuring? Conversion to another use?
Alan,
“Across the street” but up Broadway was the Paramount, now an apartment building. Next to the Strand by a couple of doors is the Opera House. Diagonally behind the Strand and the Opera House, on Thames Street, was the Colonial, now an Express store. There were no others in that area unless you go back to around 1907. My guess is that you are thinking of the Paramount. The Paramount is listed on Cinema Treasures.
Russell, I asked that same question to Tom Falciglia, son of the man who built the Columbia. He said he had none and didn’t know of any. Perhaps some photos may emerge at some point, from neighbors of the theatre, for example. Unfortunately there are numerous RI theatres of the past of which no known photos exist, for example the Olympia in Woonsocket, the Broadway in Pawtucket, the Gem in Arctic.
The 1953 British film The Kidnappers, also called The Little Kidnappers (in the U.S.)ran for 20 weeks here in 1954. That must have been some sort of record at a time when movies rarely played more than one to three weeks. The film featured Duncan Macrae, Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter.
The Orpheum has some claim to fame for admirers of Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic The Bicycle Thief/Ladri di biciclette, which played here at the Orpheum in May 1952 for two weeks only. A review appeared in the Montreal Gazette on May 20, 1952.
The image in that photo looks like Cine 539, elsewhere on Cinema Treasures.
Here is a better link to that March 3, 1945 BOXOFFICE ARTICLE by Helen Kent, with photos of the Kent Theatre.
In Providence News, July 22, 1924, there appeared a full-page column by columnist “Sally.” In “Seeing the Shops With Sally” she discusses a day in the city of Providence, places to shop, things to do…and much more. Yesterday, she writes, after buying some candy at the Arcade, she headed to a movie program at the Modern. Her words:
“There is nothing like a good picture to break the monotony of a week’s housework. Consequently the Modern Theatre is the selected place for the one day vacation. "Sally stole a few hours from her work yesterday and went to see the picture ‘Recoil,’ that is playing there now. This Rex Beach production is entertaining to the extreme and when shown with the comedies ‘Wedding Showers’ and ‘Powder Marks,’ it makes a very interesting bill.”
For the complete article, with lots of nostalgic material on the city of Providence and other places in Rhode Island, go to this DIRECT LINK to the entire page.
From The (Providence) Evening Tribune, September 8, 1916: “Narragansett’s season is rapidly nearing its end, and departures are now the rule rather than arrivals. Social events are few and far between, and for lack of these, society here has taken to the ‘movies.’ The attractive new moving picture house at the Pier fills a long-felt want and the patronage from the cottage colony and hotels has been so large that practically every seat has been taken for the evening performances. Indeed, if one wishes to meet friends just now one needs only to go to the ‘movies’ at any time between 8 and 10 o'clock.”
Here is a NEWSPAPER AD from August 4, 1896. It shows the Forest Casino open for entertainment events and also points out the showings of Edison Vitascope films at probably a separate building at the park. Vitascope shorts had been shown two months earlier in Providence. Movies were just coming into existence and considered a side-show novelty.
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
In the October 30, 1961 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, an ad was run showing how many mainstream theatres were showing Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a subtitled Italian movie. This theatre was one of those in Rhode Island. LINK
Item in Providence News, July 22, 1922:
“The Three X Club of Wakefield will hold a week end hop in the Wakefield Opera House tonight, which will be preceded by moving pictures featuring Bebe Daniels in ‘Nancy from Nowhere’ and Conway Tearle in ‘Marooned Hearts.’ Miller’s new jazz orchestra will furnish music for the pictures and dancing. The hall has been tastefully decorated with tri-colored garlands and fancy Japanese lanterns for the occasion, and many electric fans are to be in operation around the hall.”
This drive-in opened in 1948 and closed in 1987.
Last April the theatre was open to the public briefly, as reported in this article in The Westerly Sun, which includes a photo of the interior. ARTICLE
EARLY 20TH CENTURY PHOTO of Rocky Point Park. Forest Casino was located within the amusement park. Many area residents flocked to this park during the warm months. Ferries and direct trolleys could bring them in. They could picnic or have a RI shore dinner, visit the amusements and rides, go to a dance hall, attend a vaudeville and movie program before returning home. I don’t believe any actual photos of the Forest Casino survive, and I believe that it may have been destroyed in a fire that leveled some of the park early on.
SEPTEMBER 1914 AD
From The (Providence)Evening News, August 7, 1909: “A new vaudeville show and new sets of moving pictures are offered in the Forest casino and the bill is one that cannot fail to please.”
From Providence News, June 1, 1920: “Forest Casino offered an extra good bill of pictures and vaudeville and was well patronized.”
A Providence Journal item on May 19 indicated that there would be a fundraiser on June 3 to benefit the Greenwich Odeum Theatre. The venue has been closed for several years because it could not meet new stricter fire codes in the wake of the 2003 Station Night Club fire in West Warwick.
I walked by it a couple of weeks ago. No films were playing but I saw a lot of work activity in the lobby area. I don’t know what is going on. Perhaps some restructuring? Conversion to another use?
Alan, “Across the street” but up Broadway was the Paramount, now an apartment building. Next to the Strand by a couple of doors is the Opera House. Diagonally behind the Strand and the Opera House, on Thames Street, was the Colonial, now an Express store. There were no others in that area unless you go back to around 1907. My guess is that you are thinking of the Paramount. The Paramount is listed on Cinema Treasures.
Alan, that Newport theatre might have been the Strand, now known and listed as the Jane Pickens Theatre.
Russell, I asked that same question to Tom Falciglia, son of the man who built the Columbia. He said he had none and didn’t know of any. Perhaps some photos may emerge at some point, from neighbors of the theatre, for example. Unfortunately there are numerous RI theatres of the past of which no known photos exist, for example the Olympia in Woonsocket, the Broadway in Pawtucket, the Gem in Arctic.
The first all-talking movie, Lights of New York, began a run at the Majestic Theatre on August 5, 1928.
NEWSPAPER AD
Opening day for Emery’s Majestic as a full-time motion picture venue, March 31, 1923.
NEWSPAPER AD
Newspaper ad for opening of Tol'able David in January 1922.
Opening day ad, February 7, 1916.