I have just found out that the nice marquee mentioned above is out for restoration, that the United is undergoing extensive revamping and reconstruction and will be re-opened as a three-screen art house for the area. A consultant to the project is Mr. Joe Masher, general manager of Bow-Tie Cinemas, who informed me himself. I consider this extremely good news for the Westerly/Stonington area.
A February 24, 1933 Fall River Herald article (replete with extensive detail not included here) reported that the Bijou had been sold at auction the day before at $7,000 to Nathan Yamins, who announced the the theatre entrance at 162 North Main Street would be remodeled for business purposes and that the auditorium itself on Durfee Street would be razed for a public garage and a gasoline station.
For the previous thirty years the theatre had been used for theatrical productions as well as sporting events. The Bijou had been constructed as a modification of the original Casino which had been there and had been the sports center of the community. The Casino had been built in 1895 and had a polo-rink/skating-rink (47 x 100 feet), pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, banquet and assembly rooms. Ephraim E. Wood of Boston, builder of the Casino, had been a big polo enthusiast. Polo matches with teams from area cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, New Bedford and Salem were presented. The Casino was used too for indoor baseball games. In 1903 the Casino was restructured and rebuilt so that it became the Bijou. Interestingly, the bowling alleys remained.
The Bijou finally opened in 1904, with an incomplete stage roof. Actors had to wait in the wings with umbrellas before going on! In a show with Eph Thompson’s elephants, the animals had to make their entrance to the stage by entering the lobby and parading down the aisles of the theatre. Vaudeville shows became part and parcel of the Bijou presentations. The theatre seated 1,800 people. There was for a time a vaudeville war between the Bijou and the Savoy (down North Main Street a bit). In 1915 and 1916 the Bijou was the home of Loew’s Vaudeville with Louis Boas as manager. The best movie attractions came here and to the nearby Savoy. The Bijou was the second theatre in New England to be wired for the showing of sound movies (the first may have been the Majestic in Providence). The end of the Bijou can be attributed to the end of the Savoy in the fire that raged two blocks away in 1928 and destroyed that theatre, for out of the ashes of the Savoy would emerge the grand Durfee, which would overshadow the Bijou and precipitate its demise after the elegant new showplace opened in 1929.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 280.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the address of the Central as 85 Central Street and with a seating capacity of 600.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Assembly as 254.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Midway as 350.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Palace as 250.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 2,445.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gaves the seating capacity as 1,257.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Olympia as 875.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 879. I was told by someone who used to vist the theatre that it had a balcony.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 265.
I have just found out that the nice marquee mentioned above is out for restoration, that the United is undergoing extensive revamping and reconstruction and will be re-opened as a three-screen art house for the area. A consultant to the project is Mr. Joe Masher, general manager of Bow-Tie Cinemas, who informed me himself. I consider this extremely good news for the Westerly/Stonington area.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 300.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 1,011.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 1,704.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 278.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity of the Olympia as 1383.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity of the Lyric as 430.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 950.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 800.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 626.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 600.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 600.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 500.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating as 1,000.
A February 24, 1933 Fall River Herald article (replete with extensive detail not included here) reported that the Bijou had been sold at auction the day before at $7,000 to Nathan Yamins, who announced the the theatre entrance at 162 North Main Street would be remodeled for business purposes and that the auditorium itself on Durfee Street would be razed for a public garage and a gasoline station.
For the previous thirty years the theatre had been used for theatrical productions as well as sporting events. The Bijou had been constructed as a modification of the original Casino which had been there and had been the sports center of the community. The Casino had been built in 1895 and had a polo-rink/skating-rink (47 x 100 feet), pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, banquet and assembly rooms. Ephraim E. Wood of Boston, builder of the Casino, had been a big polo enthusiast. Polo matches with teams from area cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, New Bedford and Salem were presented. The Casino was used too for indoor baseball games. In 1903 the Casino was restructured and rebuilt so that it became the Bijou. Interestingly, the bowling alleys remained.
The Bijou finally opened in 1904, with an incomplete stage roof. Actors had to wait in the wings with umbrellas before going on! In a show with Eph Thompson’s elephants, the animals had to make their entrance to the stage by entering the lobby and parading down the aisles of the theatre. Vaudeville shows became part and parcel of the Bijou presentations. The theatre seated 1,800 people. There was for a time a vaudeville war between the Bijou and the Savoy (down North Main Street a bit). In 1915 and 1916 the Bijou was the home of Loew’s Vaudeville with Louis Boas as manager. The best movie attractions came here and to the nearby Savoy. The Bijou was the second theatre in New England to be wired for the showing of sound movies (the first may have been the Majestic in Providence). The end of the Bijou can be attributed to the end of the Savoy in the fire that raged two blocks away in 1928 and destroyed that theatre, for out of the ashes of the Savoy would emerge the grand Durfee, which would overshadow the Bijou and precipitate its demise after the elegant new showplace opened in 1929.