From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
One of my friends tells a funny story about the Capitol Theater. When he was a young fellow in the 1960s, he went there to see a double feature: Way Way Out * with Anita Ekberg, and The Fantastic Voyage with Raquel Welch. Noting that both these starlets were voluptuous women, he says he remembers that night’s cinematic experience as “an evening of booberama.” The Capitol Theater was erected in 1920 as part of a block-long structure created by the development team of Allen-Charette, who emblazoned their names for posterity on the brick facade just below the roof-line. The name Capitol is also still etched in stone above what used to be the theater entrance, although the glittering marquee is long gone. Built on the site of the Old Timothy Coffin estate, the Capitol passsed through the hands of numerous owners, including the Zeitz family of Zeiterion fame. One lady remembers a dapper gentleman named Butch at the Capitol, a short man in a soft hat who did double duty as usher and ticket taker. By the late 1960s, the films being shown at the Capitol got a little ragged, such as one high-browed offering entitled I Spit on Your Grave. In the 1970s there were rock concerts and other special events. Sometime around 1980, the lights came down at the Capitol Theater for the final time.*
From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
A gentleman named Arcade Marcoux, Sr. opened the Baylies Square Theatre in 1922. The premiere offering was a silent feature called “Cops” and starring Buster Keaton. By the late 1930s, the motion picture industry was boooming while its predecessor, vaudeville, was on the ropes. Arcade Marcoux decided to buck the trend. Beginning in 1938, he brought in the best vaudeville had to offer. Every Saturday and Sunday night, during the 40 week vaudeville season that ran from fall to spring, comedians and dancers and French troupes down from Montreal lit up the stage. Throughout the 1940s, over 3,000 live acts appeared at the Baylies Square, with names like the Harmonioca Rascals, the Radio Rogues, and Sid Graumann’s Musical Stairs. The orchestra, which included a Hammond Organ, was directed by Pat Healy. People remember “Bank Night” at the theater where you could win cash prizes as part of a lottery, or “Dish Night” where the proprietors passed out dinner plates and sugar bowls – everybody tried to collect a complete set. In 1960, the Baylies Square underwent a major renovation and was renamed the Arcade. The first show in the reopened theater was Mike Todd’s Around the World in 80 Days starring David Niven. Throughout the sixties, hits like Spartacus and State Fair*and * The Fugitive Kind [i]packed them in. By the seventies the theaters at the malls had pretty much drained all the customers out of the cities. The Arcade suffered the ignominy of showing X-rated films. In February 1977 the Arcade Theater burned to the ground. The former Baylies Square Theater, New Bedford’s northernmost entertainment center, kept them rolling in the aisles for 55 years, and then was no more. There’s an A1 Express Lube station on the site today.
I decided to write a few lines about Arcade Marcoux simply because the man had an interesting name. Arcade Marcoux – is that a terrific French name, or what? Mr. Marcoux was born in St. Paul, Canada, in 1880. He came to America in 1922 and promptly opened the Baylies Square Theater. Soon thereafter Arcade Sr. was joined in the business by Arcade, Jr. The father and son team also operated a bowling alley just to the west of the theater, and at one time or another they ran a laundry, a package store, and an establishment called Champ Raceway. Both men were avid fishermen. Marcoux the elder died in 1956. Marcoux the son passed away in 1969.[/i]
From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
There’s still quite a few people out there who remember Allen’s Theater, which stood on the east side of the street between Phillips Avenue and Coffin Avenue. The little theatre – it boasted only 620 seats which was very small by the standards of the time – had a brief but violent life. The theater was built in 1909, and was named after George W. Allen, Jr., who operated a number of theaters in New Bedford in the early part of the century. In 1933 the place was bombed – for what reasons I have never been able to determine. Then in November, 1940, a raging fire leveled the Allen’s Theater and all the businesses surrounding it. After the fire, a one-story stretch of buildings was constructed, anchored on the Coffin Avenue end by an A&P. When this A&P closed in 1976, it was the last of the famous supermarket chain to leave the city.*
A Providence Journal article of 6-2-07 wrote of Richard Rose, federal prosecutor in the case that sent major Vincent “Buddy” Cianci to prison on a racketeering conviction:
[i]When Rose was 16, he was a truant who spent a lot of time hanging out in downtown Providence, then a wasteland of dying department stores, adult bookshops and X-rated movie theaters. When the Paris Cinema, where Rose liked to watch kung fu movies and films like Superfly, also switched to porn movies, in the spring of 1975, Rose and a friend collected 1,500 signatures on a petition.
The dynamic new mayor, Buddy Cianci, who had visions of transforming downtown, was appearing on a television broadcast in Burnside Park, in front of the federal courthouse where Rose would prosecute Cianci years later. Rose went downtown, and tried to present the mayor with his petition, but was unable to.
The young Rose told a Providence Journal reporter at the time: “The mayor is trying to get people into the city. These movies aren’t helping.â€[/i]
A Mary Pickford wannabee standing in front of the Opera House entrance in Newport in 1919. The movie being shown is the 1919 western Sally Burke of the U-Bar-U, with Louis Bennison.
The sepia “faded-color” version of Reflections in a Golden Eye, mentioned in the above comments, also played the Providence area at East Providence’s Four Seasons Cinema, now the Patriot Cinemas. I distinctly remember seeing it there.
Found. An OLD TATTERED PROMOTIONAL POSTCARD of the Eckel Theatre from 1919. Printed text on message side:
[i]ANNIVERSARY WEEK—-THANKSGIVING—-1913-1919.
Mary Pickford in “The Hoodlum"
ENTIRE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd.
Miss Pickford Appearing in an Altogether Unusual Role,
Unique in the Annals of Films.
FOREMOST IN PICTURES— ECKEL THEATRE— ALWAYS A GOOD SHOW
Six years ago, Thanksgiving Day, 1913—-to be exact—-the Eckel opened its doors as Syracuse’s Foremost Pictureplay House. It offered then, as it does now, the best there was in Pictures; pictures that were different. This policy has been more than maintained—-it has been made perfect. Remember the last Mary Pickford picture “Daddy Long Legs?” Well, Mary is here to help celebrate Anniversary Week, beginning Sunday, November 23rd, in her very latest picture “The Hoodlum.” We expect you too.
Very truly yours,
ECKEL THEATRE.[/i]
Ronnie D.,
They don’t show movies regularly here but feature an assortment of events including plays, the RI International Film Festival, and currently, for three weeks, the first American showings of Michael Corrente’s Brooklyn Rules. Last summer members of the Theatre Historical Society of America visited the place and went gaga over it, as with PPAC.
RonnieD,
That’s the only currently known picture of the Darlton, and it was published in the Providence Journal at the time of the theatre’s closing. There must be more photos out there.
Mr. P, thank you very much. Sometimes you can loook at an old builking and say to yourself, “This was a theatre,” because of some external evidence like a scenery tower. Here there is nothing evident. Do you know about what year the Bellevue closed? I never went to the Bellevue and am from Johnston. I have a keen interest in old RI theatres. Here you can see my FLICKR SET of pictures on that topic.
Here is a POSTCARD IMAGEof the Strand Theatre in 1946. The films listed on the marquee are California with Barbara Stanwyck and Ray Milland and Night Train to Memphis as the co-feature.
Mr. P, in THIS PICTURE of Dexter Street, across from Stanley’s, would the red brick building be next to where the Bellevue was (parking lot to its right) or is the red building originally the theatre itself? Rand Street is to the left of the building, just beyond the stores with the apartments above them. I took this yesterday.
On January December 31, 1918 a fire broke out at 11:30 PM in the furnace room after the theatre had closed. It caused considerable damage so that the theatre would not re-open for several days, according to a January 1st article in the Providence Journal.
The film Show of Shows was shown at the Majestic at the end of December 1929 and the start of January 1930. It was projected in a process called “Magnifiscope…the enlarged screen.” The ads stated that “The Majestic was the first to present the talking picture and is now the first to present the newest development, the Enlarged Screen.” In 1953 the Majestic would be the first RI theatre to utilize CinemaScope, with the extremely popular feature The Robe.
Two movie ads from the Rome newspaperll Messaggero on March 14, 1941 or XIX, 19th year of Fascism. At the Bernini: Scarpe Grosse/Big Shoes, Dino Falconi, 1940, with Amedeo Nazzari and Lilia Silvi. Starting tomorrow at the Barberini: La prima donna che passa/The First Woman Who Passes By, Max Neufeld, 1940, with Alida Valli. These were the only movies with display ads, but the film listings had over sixty theatres listed with the titles and times of films playing. In addition to Italian films there were many French titles and some American movies, including Ombre rosse which was John Ford’s Stagecoach with John Wayne and Claire Trevor. American films would be blocked by year’s end with the declaration of war between the two nations shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack. The Barberini is now a multiplex called Multisala Barberini and still thrives on Piazza Barberini. It was at one time owned by Roberto Rossellini’s father. I do not know where in Rome the Bernini was located.
In June 1965 the Lincoln Art Theatre held the American premiere of this fine 1961 commedia all'italiana, The Fascist/Il federale, unfortunately all but forgotten today.
LynnZZZ, request an administrator to change the name. I have no such power. It was always the Lincoln Art to me too since I went there in the 1960s and after to see films like Luciano Salce’s The Fascist and Jiri Weiss' Sweet Light in a Dark Room and Fellini’s The Clowns.
1959 photo of the Capitol Theater when it was showing The Five Pennies and Tokyo After Dark.
From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
One of my friends tells a funny story about the Capitol Theater. When he was a young fellow in the 1960s, he went there to see a double feature: Way Way Out * with Anita Ekberg, and The Fantastic Voyage with Raquel Welch. Noting that both these starlets were voluptuous women, he says he remembers that night’s cinematic experience as “an evening of booberama.” The Capitol Theater was erected in 1920 as part of a block-long structure created by the development team of Allen-Charette, who emblazoned their names for posterity on the brick facade just below the roof-line. The name Capitol is also still etched in stone above what used to be the theater entrance, although the glittering marquee is long gone. Built on the site of the Old Timothy Coffin estate, the Capitol passsed through the hands of numerous owners, including the Zeitz family of Zeiterion fame. One lady remembers a dapper gentleman named Butch at the Capitol, a short man in a soft hat who did double duty as usher and ticket taker. By the late 1960s, the films being shown at the Capitol got a little ragged, such as one high-browed offering entitled I Spit on Your Grave. In the 1970s there were rock concerts and other special events. Sometime around 1980, the lights came down at the Capitol Theater for the final time.*
From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
A gentleman named Arcade Marcoux, Sr. opened the Baylies Square Theatre in 1922. The premiere offering was a silent feature called “Cops” and starring Buster Keaton. By the late 1930s, the motion picture industry was boooming while its predecessor, vaudeville, was on the ropes. Arcade Marcoux decided to buck the trend. Beginning in 1938, he brought in the best vaudeville had to offer. Every Saturday and Sunday night, during the 40 week vaudeville season that ran from fall to spring, comedians and dancers and French troupes down from Montreal lit up the stage. Throughout the 1940s, over 3,000 live acts appeared at the Baylies Square, with names like the Harmonioca Rascals, the Radio Rogues, and Sid Graumann’s Musical Stairs. The orchestra, which included a Hammond Organ, was directed by Pat Healy. People remember “Bank Night” at the theater where you could win cash prizes as part of a lottery, or “Dish Night” where the proprietors passed out dinner plates and sugar bowls – everybody tried to collect a complete set. In 1960, the Baylies Square underwent a major renovation and was renamed the Arcade. The first show in the reopened theater was Mike Todd’s Around the World in 80 Days starring David Niven. Throughout the sixties, hits like Spartacus and State Fair*and * The Fugitive Kind [i]packed them in. By the seventies the theaters at the malls had pretty much drained all the customers out of the cities. The Arcade suffered the ignominy of showing X-rated films. In February 1977 the Arcade Theater burned to the ground. The former Baylies Square Theater, New Bedford’s northernmost entertainment center, kept them rolling in the aisles for 55 years, and then was no more. There’s an A1 Express Lube station on the site today.
I decided to write a few lines about Arcade Marcoux simply because the man had an interesting name. Arcade Marcoux – is that a terrific French name, or what? Mr. Marcoux was born in St. Paul, Canada, in 1880. He came to America in 1922 and promptly opened the Baylies Square Theater. Soon thereafter Arcade Sr. was joined in the business by Arcade, Jr. The father and son team also operated a bowling alley just to the west of the theater, and at one time or another they ran a laundry, a package store, and an establishment called Champ Raceway. Both men were avid fishermen. Marcoux the elder died in 1956. Marcoux the son passed away in 1969.[/i]
From the 1990s (?) booklet The Avenue – Memories of Acushnet Avenue, by Carmen Maiocco:
The 1912 Italian silent spectacle Quo Vadis? opened at the Astor Theatre in early 1913. It was promoted as a “gorgeous $150,000 production.”
A Providence Journal article of 6-2-07 wrote of Richard Rose, federal prosecutor in the case that sent major Vincent “Buddy” Cianci to prison on a racketeering conviction:
[i]When Rose was 16, he was a truant who spent a lot of time hanging out in downtown Providence, then a wasteland of dying department stores, adult bookshops and X-rated movie theaters. When the Paris Cinema, where Rose liked to watch kung fu movies and films like Superfly, also switched to porn movies, in the spring of 1975, Rose and a friend collected 1,500 signatures on a petition.
The dynamic new mayor, Buddy Cianci, who had visions of transforming downtown, was appearing on a television broadcast in Burnside Park, in front of the federal courthouse where Rose would prosecute Cianci years later. Rose went downtown, and tried to present the mayor with his petition, but was unable to.
The young Rose told a Providence Journal reporter at the time: “The mayor is trying to get people into the city. These movies aren’t helping.â€[/i]
The first Old South Theatre appears on this postcard which was mailed in 1914.
A Mary Pickford wannabee standing in front of the Opera House entrance in Newport in 1919. The movie being shown is the 1919 western Sally Burke of the U-Bar-U, with Louis Bennison.
I think they do a commendable job here in employing some handicapped persons as ticket-takers.
The sepia “faded-color” version of Reflections in a Golden Eye, mentioned in the above comments, also played the Providence area at East Providence’s Four Seasons Cinema, now the Patriot Cinemas. I distinctly remember seeing it there.
Found. An OLD TATTERED PROMOTIONAL POSTCARD of the Eckel Theatre from 1919. Printed text on message side:
[i]ANNIVERSARY WEEK—-THANKSGIVING—-1913-1919.
Mary Pickford in “The Hoodlum"
ENTIRE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd.
Miss Pickford Appearing in an Altogether Unusual Role,
Unique in the Annals of Films.
FOREMOST IN PICTURES— ECKEL THEATRE— ALWAYS A GOOD SHOW
Six years ago, Thanksgiving Day, 1913—-to be exact—-the Eckel opened its doors as Syracuse’s Foremost Pictureplay House. It offered then, as it does now, the best there was in Pictures; pictures that were different. This policy has been more than maintained—-it has been made perfect. Remember the last Mary Pickford picture “Daddy Long Legs?” Well, Mary is here to help celebrate Anniversary Week, beginning Sunday, November 23rd, in her very latest picture “The Hoodlum.” We expect you too.
Very truly yours,
ECKEL THEATRE.[/i]
Ronnie D.,
They don’t show movies regularly here but feature an assortment of events including plays, the RI International Film Festival, and currently, for three weeks, the first American showings of Michael Corrente’s Brooklyn Rules. Last summer members of the Theatre Historical Society of America visited the place and went gaga over it, as with PPAC.
RonnieD,
That’s the only currently known picture of the Darlton, and it was published in the Providence Journal at the time of the theatre’s closing. There must be more photos out there.
July, 1963 program shared with the Seekonk “Art” Drive-In.
Mr. P, thank you very much. Sometimes you can loook at an old builking and say to yourself, “This was a theatre,” because of some external evidence like a scenery tower. Here there is nothing evident. Do you know about what year the Bellevue closed? I never went to the Bellevue and am from Johnston. I have a keen interest in old RI theatres. Here you can see my FLICKR SET of pictures on that topic.
Here is a POSTCARD IMAGEof the Strand Theatre in 1946. The films listed on the marquee are California with Barbara Stanwyck and Ray Milland and Night Train to Memphis as the co-feature.
Mr. P, in THIS PICTURE of Dexter Street, across from Stanley’s, would the red brick building be next to where the Bellevue was (parking lot to its right) or is the red building originally the theatre itself? Rand Street is to the left of the building, just beyond the stores with the apartments above them. I took this yesterday.
On January December 31, 1918 a fire broke out at 11:30 PM in the furnace room after the theatre had closed. It caused considerable damage so that the theatre would not re-open for several days, according to a January 1st article in the Providence Journal.
On February 2, 1919 Fays Theatre hosted the great Russian pianist in a recital. Prices ranged from $1.00 to a top of $2.00.
The film Show of Shows was shown at the Majestic at the end of December 1929 and the start of January 1930. It was projected in a process called “Magnifiscope…the enlarged screen.” The ads stated that “The Majestic was the first to present the talking picture and is now the first to present the newest development, the Enlarged Screen.” In 1953 the Majestic would be the first RI theatre to utilize CinemaScope, with the extremely popular feature The Robe.
Two movie ads from the Rome newspaper ll Messaggero on March 14, 1941 or XIX, 19th year of Fascism. At the Bernini: Scarpe Grosse/Big Shoes, Dino Falconi, 1940, with Amedeo Nazzari and Lilia Silvi. Starting tomorrow at the Barberini: La prima donna che passa/The First Woman Who Passes By, Max Neufeld, 1940, with Alida Valli. These were the only movies with display ads, but the film listings had over sixty theatres listed with the titles and times of films playing. In addition to Italian films there were many French titles and some American movies, including Ombre rosse which was John Ford’s Stagecoach with John Wayne and Claire Trevor. American films would be blocked by year’s end with the declaration of war between the two nations shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack. The Barberini is now a multiplex called Multisala Barberini and still thrives on Piazza Barberini. It was at one time owned by Roberto Rossellini’s father. I do not know where in Rome the Bernini was located.
BR at the NYC World.
1950
This article recently appeared in the New Bedford paper. It’s about efforts to save the Orpheum.
In June 1965 the Lincoln Art Theatre held the American premiere of this fine 1961 commedia all'italiana, The Fascist/Il federale, unfortunately all but forgotten today.
LynnZZZ, request an administrator to change the name. I have no such power. It was always the Lincoln Art to me too since I went there in the 1960s and after to see films like Luciano Salce’s The Fascist and Jiri Weiss' Sweet Light in a Dark Room and Fellini’s The Clowns.