An excellent picture article entitled “Mr. Low’s ‘Hall’ Comes Down,” written by Robert L. Wheeler, appeared in The Providence Journal on May 30, 1948 at the time of the demolition of this venerable old theatre. The author traced the history of the place from its opening as Low’s Opera House in 1878 and enumerates many of the illustrious performers who had graced its stage, including Ethel Barrymore, Oscar Wilde (1883), Sophie Tucker, Lillian Russell (1911), Sarah Bernhardt (1881), Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Fred Allen and others. In one of Wheeler’s concluding sentences, he asserted, “But in 1937 the Empire gave up and settled back to drowse out its twilight years in a coma of shopworn cinemas. Nobody mourned when they caved in the roof a few days ago.”
I was only six years old when this theatre ended its days, and I am certain I never was taken to it, but of all the lost Providence theatres I have read about in my research on the topic in recent years, this is the one I now most regret not having known.
Max, but when did it become an art or repertory house? This thread isn’t about the oldest neighborhood theatres, but specifically about those theatres that have been art/repertory movie theatres for the longest time.
Spanish-language programs appeared at the Art Cinema from 1972 and were run on Saturdays by promoters Raphael Nunes and Virgilio Grullon. A Providence Journal article of February 5, 1973 reported that in an article headlined “Films Please R.I. Latin Americans.” The program continued after that at the Elmwood Theatre.
The Spanish-language programs had appeared earlier at the Art Cinema, and had been run on Saturdays by the same promoters. A Providence Journal article of February 5, 1973 reported that in an article headlined “Films Please R.I. Latin Americans.”
The notorious Deep Throat played at the Johnston Cinema in 1975. A Providence Journal article of April 15 reported that councilman Joseph Falvo complained that the theater’s then current feature was…“the filthiest movie ever shown on the screen.” He promised to call a town council meeting to “decide what action should be taken.” A 1972 Superior Court ruling had restrained the council from interfering in the theater’s operation.
The Warwick Mall Cinemas closed on January 28, 1999 after the last showings of A Bug’s Life and Mighty Joe Young. It had opened in April of 1971 twenty-eight years earlier. A Providence Journal article from the previous day reported the closing. The Theatre had opened as a two-screener. Later one of the auditoriums was split in two. The seating capacities were 450, 360, and 330.
The actual opening date of this cinema was Friday, April 14, 2000. The total seating capacity was given as 4,100 seats. The opening-day attractions included Keeping the Faith, American Psycho, 28 Days, Where the Money Is, Rules of Engagement, High Fidelity, Return to Me, Ready to Rumble, The Road to El Dorado, Erin Brokovich, American Beauty and Skulls.
In January of 1947 the Avon began a “classy” reserved-seat engagement of Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. To my knowledge it is the only reserved-seat engagement that ever played this art house. Here is a newspaper ad from a few weeks before the opening. Note that the prices, ranging from $1.20 to $2.40, were about three to four times the going rates for that period. There were two showings per day.
Paul, that Chaplin re-issue series played at the Plaza, not the Little Carnegie. I remember seeing a number of them there, including City Lights at a late show. And I believe it was in the 1960s.
The Warwick Cinema was host to the series of films in the “American Film Theatre” package, beginning in 1973 and continuing in 1974. Among the films shown, all based on well-known plays, were Butley, A Delicate Balance, The Homecoming, The Iceman Cometh, Lost in the Stars, Luther, Rhinoceros, Three Sisters. I do not remember if any of the films in the second season in 1975 played here, though I remember seeing some of them elsewhere. Most of the movies featured superb casts and fine directors.
Amusingly enough, the Cranston Public Library, directly across from where the Garden City Cinema used to be, has a video copy of Rachel, Rachel in its collection.
‘Rachel, Rachel’ Sparks Call to Revoke License
The Providence Journal Bulletin reported on September 19, 1968 that attempts were made to revoke the theatre license of the Graden City Cinema. John M. Voccola, a Republican representing the Fourth Ward, released a letter to councilman Norman H. Olson, chairman of the council’s safety services and license committee, demanding that owners of the theater be called before the committee “to show cause why the license whould not be revoked.”
At issue was the film Rachel, Rachel. The movie, directed by Paul Newman and starring his wife Joanne Woodward, dealt with the lesbian love relationship of a spinster schoolteacher.
In his letter, Mr. Voccola said the the theatre had previously indicated at the time they applied for a license that they would not show “objectionanble” films and “I emphasized the fact that I would not approve this license if any obscene or undesirable movies were shown.”
At the time Rachel, Rachel was playing at several area theatres, had received numerous favorable reviews form critics. A Journal film critic had described the movie as “a masterpiece of sensitive characterization…brilliantly acted and directed, of a state of loneliness and isolation.”
On September 21, 1938, the flood waters produced by the hurricane caused damage at the orchestra level of the theatre. Much of downtown Providence was flooded and similar damage occurred at other area theatres. Over the following month 900 new cushioned chairs were installed to replace the damaged ones. New drapes, footlights, backstage wiring, a public-address system, sound horns behind the movie scteen were also put in. The theatre re-opened on October 21, exactly one month later.
A February, 1994 newspaper ad said the theatre was temporarily closed due to storm damage but that the rental store was open. The place was advertised as the “Johnston Video Cinema.” Now it is only a store, with viewing booths…no theatre.
The current issue of Newsweek, September 12, 2005, has a large photo on pages 42 & 43 of a flooded Canal Street. On the left can be seen the marquee of the Saenger Theatre. On the right is Loew’s State. Vehicles and people can be seen in about two feet of water or more.
The current issue of Newsweek, September 12, 2005, has a large photo on pages 42 & 43 of a flooded Canal Street. On the left can be seen the marquee of the Saenger Theatre. On the right is Loew’s State. Vehicles and people can be seen in about two feet of water or more.
The Avon Cinema in Providence opened as an art house in 1938 with Abel Gance’s The Life and Loves of Beethoven and has been operating ever since. Perhaps there are other older ones. I don’t know. But this one certainly deserves consideration. It is a single-screener and and currently a first-run art house.
Work continues on the Liberty Theater Cultural Center. This Providence Journal news-photo by Kathy Borchers shows the rear of the auditorium and the former projection booth.
A photo-article in The Providence Journal of September 1, 2005 discusses continuing plans to convert the former Bomes-owned Liberty Theatre (later Art Cinema) to a neighborhood “community space where arts and culture are displayed and celebrated.”
The building is currently owned by the Providence Redevelopment Agency, which takes ownership of abandoned properties.
The consensus among area residents is to turn the building into the “Liberty Theater Cultural Center, a facility that could serve as a multi-cultural arts and education resource for the South Side and the entire city.” Under the plan, the center would have space for live theater and dance, musical performances, film and culturally diverse performing arts.
The article reports that plans would likely include gutting the interior and replacing electrical, plumbing, heating and air and sprinkler systems, according to an assessment by the Urban Design Group. Cost estimates range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
The theatre opened in 1921 and has been closed since 1975.
Three men were held in a plot to destroy the movie projector at the Liberty Theatre in September of 1931. One of the men, Conrad S. Lavigne, had worked there as a projectionist. He pleaded guilty and was given a jail term. The theatre was owned by Samuel Bomes, who several years before had brought injunction proceedings against the Moving Picture Operators' Union to enjoin picketing about the theatre and the case eventually went to the Supreme Court. An article about the attempted break-in appeared in the Providence newspaper on September 13, 1931.
The theatre was twinned in the fall of 1972 with auditoriums seating about 500 each.
An excellent picture article entitled “Mr. Low’s ‘Hall’ Comes Down,” written by Robert L. Wheeler, appeared in The Providence Journal on May 30, 1948 at the time of the demolition of this venerable old theatre. The author traced the history of the place from its opening as Low’s Opera House in 1878 and enumerates many of the illustrious performers who had graced its stage, including Ethel Barrymore, Oscar Wilde (1883), Sophie Tucker, Lillian Russell (1911), Sarah Bernhardt (1881), Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Fred Allen and others. In one of Wheeler’s concluding sentences, he asserted, “But in 1937 the Empire gave up and settled back to drowse out its twilight years in a coma of shopworn cinemas. Nobody mourned when they caved in the roof a few days ago.”
I was only six years old when this theatre ended its days, and I am certain I never was taken to it, but of all the lost Providence theatres I have read about in my research on the topic in recent years, this is the one I now most regret not having known.
Max, but when did it become an art or repertory house? This thread isn’t about the oldest neighborhood theatres, but specifically about those theatres that have been art/repertory movie theatres for the longest time.
Spanish-language programs appeared at the Art Cinema from 1972 and were run on Saturdays by promoters Raphael Nunes and Virgilio Grullon. A Providence Journal article of February 5, 1973 reported that in an article headlined “Films Please R.I. Latin Americans.” The program continued after that at the Elmwood Theatre.
The Spanish-language programs had appeared earlier at the Art Cinema, and had been run on Saturdays by the same promoters. A Providence Journal article of February 5, 1973 reported that in an article headlined “Films Please R.I. Latin Americans.”
A 1979 ad for the theatre calls it “Hartford Showplace” and touts “Adult film and live exotic dancers.”
The notorious Deep Throat played at the Johnston Cinema in 1975. A Providence Journal article of April 15 reported that councilman Joseph Falvo complained that the theater’s then current feature was…“the filthiest movie ever shown on the screen.” He promised to call a town council meeting to “decide what action should be taken.” A 1972 Superior Court ruling had restrained the council from interfering in the theater’s operation.
The Warwick Mall Cinemas closed on January 28, 1999 after the last showings of A Bug’s Life and Mighty Joe Young. It had opened in April of 1971 twenty-eight years earlier. A Providence Journal article from the previous day reported the closing. The Theatre had opened as a two-screener. Later one of the auditoriums was split in two. The seating capacities were 450, 360, and 330.
The actual opening date of this cinema was Friday, April 14, 2000. The total seating capacity was given as 4,100 seats. The opening-day attractions included Keeping the Faith, American Psycho, 28 Days, Where the Money Is, Rules of Engagement, High Fidelity, Return to Me, Ready to Rumble, The Road to El Dorado, Erin Brokovich, American Beauty and Skulls.
Eileen Farrell, Woonsocket-born operatic contralto and star of the Metropolitan Opera, appeared in recital at the Stadium on October 3, 1961.
In January of 1947 the Avon began a “classy” reserved-seat engagement of Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. To my knowledge it is the only reserved-seat engagement that ever played this art house. Here is a newspaper ad from a few weeks before the opening. Note that the prices, ranging from $1.20 to $2.40, were about three to four times the going rates for that period. There were two showings per day.
Paul, that Chaplin re-issue series played at the Plaza, not the Little Carnegie. I remember seeing a number of them there, including City Lights at a late show. And I believe it was in the 1960s.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Symphony Space and the Thalia cannot be separate listings!!!
The Warwick Cinema was host to the series of films in the “American Film Theatre” package, beginning in 1973 and continuing in 1974. Among the films shown, all based on well-known plays, were Butley, A Delicate Balance, The Homecoming, The Iceman Cometh, Lost in the Stars, Luther, Rhinoceros, Three Sisters. I do not remember if any of the films in the second season in 1975 played here, though I remember seeing some of them elsewhere. Most of the movies featured superb casts and fine directors.
Amusingly enough, the Cranston Public Library, directly across from where the Garden City Cinema used to be, has a video copy of Rachel, Rachel in its collection.
‘Rachel, Rachel’ Sparks Call to Revoke License
The Providence Journal Bulletin reported on September 19, 1968 that attempts were made to revoke the theatre license of the Graden City Cinema. John M. Voccola, a Republican representing the Fourth Ward, released a letter to councilman Norman H. Olson, chairman of the council’s safety services and license committee, demanding that owners of the theater be called before the committee “to show cause why the license whould not be revoked.”
At issue was the film Rachel, Rachel. The movie, directed by Paul Newman and starring his wife Joanne Woodward, dealt with the lesbian love relationship of a spinster schoolteacher.
In his letter, Mr. Voccola said the the theatre had previously indicated at the time they applied for a license that they would not show “objectionanble” films and “I emphasized the fact that I would not approve this license if any obscene or undesirable movies were shown.”
At the time Rachel, Rachel was playing at several area theatres, had received numerous favorable reviews form critics. A Journal film critic had described the movie as “a masterpiece of sensitive characterization…brilliantly acted and directed, of a state of loneliness and isolation.”
On September 21, 1938, the flood waters produced by the hurricane caused damage at the orchestra level of the theatre. Much of downtown Providence was flooded and similar damage occurred at other area theatres. Over the following month 900 new cushioned chairs were installed to replace the damaged ones. New drapes, footlights, backstage wiring, a public-address system, sound horns behind the movie scteen were also put in. The theatre re-opened on October 21, exactly one month later.
A February, 1994 newspaper ad said the theatre was temporarily closed due to storm damage but that the rental store was open. The place was advertised as the “Johnston Video Cinema.” Now it is only a store, with viewing booths…no theatre.
The oldest still-in-operation art house in New York City, I would guess, is the Paris Theatre, which opened in 1948 with Symphonie Pastorale.
The current issue of Newsweek, September 12, 2005, has a large photo on pages 42 & 43 of a flooded Canal Street. On the left can be seen the marquee of the Saenger Theatre. On the right is Loew’s State. Vehicles and people can be seen in about two feet of water or more.
The current issue of Newsweek, September 12, 2005, has a large photo on pages 42 & 43 of a flooded Canal Street. On the left can be seen the marquee of the Saenger Theatre. On the right is Loew’s State. Vehicles and people can be seen in about two feet of water or more.
The Avon Cinema in Providence opened as an art house in 1938 with Abel Gance’s The Life and Loves of Beethoven and has been operating ever since. Perhaps there are other older ones. I don’t know. But this one certainly deserves consideration. It is a single-screener and and currently a first-run art house.
Work continues on the Liberty Theater Cultural Center. This Providence Journal news-photo by Kathy Borchers shows the rear of the auditorium and the former projection booth.
Renewal plans for the Liberty Theatre/Art Cinema.
A photo-article in The Providence Journal of September 1, 2005 discusses continuing plans to convert the former Bomes-owned Liberty Theatre (later Art Cinema) to a neighborhood “community space where arts and culture are displayed and celebrated.”
The building is currently owned by the Providence Redevelopment Agency, which takes ownership of abandoned properties.
The consensus among area residents is to turn the building into the “Liberty Theater Cultural Center, a facility that could serve as a multi-cultural arts and education resource for the South Side and the entire city.” Under the plan, the center would have space for live theater and dance, musical performances, film and culturally diverse performing arts.
The article reports that plans would likely include gutting the interior and replacing electrical, plumbing, heating and air and sprinkler systems, according to an assessment by the Urban Design Group. Cost estimates range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
The theatre opened in 1921 and has been closed since 1975.
Three men were held in a plot to destroy the movie projector at the Liberty Theatre in September of 1931. One of the men, Conrad S. Lavigne, had worked there as a projectionist. He pleaded guilty and was given a jail term. The theatre was owned by Samuel Bomes, who several years before had brought injunction proceedings against the Moving Picture Operators' Union to enjoin picketing about the theatre and the case eventually went to the Supreme Court. An article about the attempted break-in appeared in the Providence newspaper on September 13, 1931.