The Newport Daily News microfilm revealed regular movie programs here, as well as vaudeville acts, during the years before World War I. The place was then named Freebody Park Theatre. In November of 1939 a “gala opening” was announced for the theatre with a double bill of 3 Smart Girls Grow Up & Gunga Din. The theatre then closed only weeks after that. An ad said the Casino would be closed for alterations and that “We will re-open about January 1st.” It was signed by manager H. Pastman. There were no re-opening ads until the following summer when it opened as the Casino Civic Theatre with a summer season of live theatre.
The theatre was used in the early 1980s or thereabouts by Flickers, the Newport Film Society, for some of its 16mm film programs. I saw The Shop on Main Street there in that series. I’ve also been to at least one chamber music concert here. The place really is a true Newport treasure but has always seemed to be under-utilized, at least in recent years. I am told it is undergoing restoration. So we may hear more about it soon. The place seems like a natural for the Newport Music Festival, a summer chamber music festival that uses the mansions, and may even have been used for it in the past. I am trying to delve further into the place’s history. The Tennis Hall of Fame website contains some information on the Casino and the surrounding grounds and buildings. www.tennisfame.com
Gone With the Wind had its first run engagement in Newport at this theatre (then called the Strand) beginning on March 29, 1940. It ran exactly one week only, and was not held over. There were continuous performances beginning at 10 A.M., reserved evening performances beginning at 7:30, and a reserved Sunday matinee at 2:00 P.M. Admission prices were 75¢ for matinees and $1.00 for reserved performances. Top admission prices for other films at the time in Newport theatres were 25 to 40 cents. Children’s prices and matinee prices for adults in Newport theatres were then as low as 10¢.
The Paramount became the E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Sunday, April 21, 1940. An ad in the Newport Daily News on April 15, 1940 said that on Sunday, April 21 “the Colonial Theatre, with its entire staff, moves to the new E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Broadway.” The theatre had been shut down for a while before the re-opening, probably for some improvements. The first program under this new aegis was Invisible Stripes and Remember the Night.
An ad in the Newport Daily News on April 15, 1940 said that on Sunday, April 21 “the Colonial Theatre, with its entire staff, moves to the new E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Broadway.”
First decade of the Palace Theatre
from The Building Boom in Jamestown, Rhode Island, 1926-1931, by Sue Maden, 2004:
1920s: The Palace Theatre built in 1921 is shown in this photo from the 1920s. Photo courtesy of the Jamestown Historical Society.
1931: [At the Town Council Meeting] The town clerk is to request the proprietor of the Palace Theatre to submit to him the number of performances held during the year 1930.
1931: Messrs. Ferdinand Ambrust and Leroy F. Meredith have leased for a period of years the Palace Theatre on Narragansett Avenue to W. C. Purcell of Fall River, manager of the Academy of Music of that city. Mr. Purcell is already making considerable improvements and redecorating. He will have a new ticket office at the entrance and will have talking pictures.
Albee Audience Stages Sit-Down Until Second Feature is Shown
That was the headline of an article in the Providence Journal on February 2, 1939. The night before, 500 customers who had wandered in after 7 o'clock howled in protest at 10:45 when the lights came on but they were demanding to see It Happened One Night.
But because of the length of the double-bill program of revivals of Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It Happened One Night and added attractions that included a WEAN spelling bee on the stage, newsreels, and trailers, the last scheduled showing (as published in the paper) of It Happened One Night was 5:38 P.M.
Unaware of or unable to accept that, the patrons who had arrived after 7 P.M. were not going to leave until seeing that movie. One large gentleman, according to the newspaper article, threatened, to “tear the place apart.” Most people just sat; others upbraided staff, ushers, even elevator operators. Pursuing an appeasement policy, the management started things happening one night all over again and the film had another, unscheduled showing at 11 P.M. Theatre manager John Kane explained it was not the theatre’s fault, but because the features and other attractions were long, customers were getting more than their money’s worth and a late showing of One Night had not been included in the program. The following day the program ran its customary length and there would be no problems.
Roland, yes, I agree about those photos. I wish there were more. I had breakfast with Fred Deusch this morning. He had read an article about me and my love of old theatres that was published in The Observer and other papers two weeks ago. I asked the interviewer to include my e-mail address, and Mr. Deusch responded. A bit of good luck. He gave me those pictures and told me a few stories. See the Elmwood site for more. He told me that later as a projectionist, he worked at the Elmwood, Cinerama, the Pawtucket Strand, some others. I told him I’d ask him other stuff from time to time. He’s really a nice guy.
If you want a copy of the article about me that prompted it all, email me your address, and I can mail it to you.
Auburn is a neighborhood of Cranston. That seating capacity was changed when the theatre was triplexed a few decades ago. Now that it is being restored as a single auditorium, it is sure to change again.
In this 1948 photo, on the left, we see the Chestnut Street marquee of the Metropolitan Theatre. Beyond the bus, we see Empire Street. The Majestic Theatre is the white bit near the top right. The point of this posting is to show you the relative locations of the two theatres. The photo was taken by Fred Deusch, then an usher at the Met.
I’m not sure how long it lasted, but probably through the 1960s. Johnston and Pawtucket had similar licensing interference in the 1970s. Roberts stated that the “showing of this picture [The Spanish Earth] in places of public entertainment…might lead to antagonize and stir up racial hatreds among a large number of people of foreign extraction. We are living peacefully together in this community.”
Incidentaly, there was a great deal of pro-Mussolini public sentiment in this heavily Italian area. Pro-Mussolini documentaries were shown at the Uptown (Columbus) Theatre. There were Mussolini societies, a pro-fascist paper, and even a Mussolini Street on Federal Hill, changed when the war broke out, though a Balbo Avenue (named after a high-ranking Blackshirt and possible Mussolini successor) lingered on for years after until it finally became DePasquale Ave.
How about this…? The film about the Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Earth, by Joris Ivens, was also banned in Providence in 1937, before the Avon was born. The police censor Thomas H. Roberts said the (pro-republican) film’s dialog contained “unfriendly references to friendly powers,” namely Germany and Italy. Can’t offend the sensibilities of those two nice communist-fighting countries!
More censorship: In June of 1959, at the urging of Providence Police Lt. George P. Blessing, city amusements inspector, the Avon Cinema made several cuts in the Brigitte Bardot film that was scheduled to be shown, Love is My Profession (En cas de malheur). A year earlier the Avon had been given permission to show another Bardot vehicle, And God Created Woman, after making cuts recommended by Lieutenant Blessing. What a blessing to have the lieutenant protect our morals! A court test was not sought by either the distributor, Kingsley International Pictures, or Thayer Amusement Corp., owners of the Avon.
From The Providence Journal, June 20, 1925, in an article announcing the imminent closing of the 17-year-old Bijou:
“Since it was built in March, 1908, the Bijou seldom failed to yield a profit to its owners. Summers, always dull periods for theatres, failed for a number of years to affect the profit and loss column of the Bijou. But the last two summers have witnessed a falling off in patronage. This decline, according to Frank E. Page, for a number of years the manager of the Bijou and one of its builders, was caused by daylight saving, automobiles and stronger competition from the larger theatres which for some seats brought their price range within that of the Bijou.”
A Providence Evening Bulletin article of November 17, 1965 reported that the Capitol was being demolished at the time of writing in order to create a parking lot, as part of the Weybosset Hill renewal project. The article said that “City Hall officials hailed the availability of more parking space with the death of the Capitol Theater, in view of the Christmas shopping season.” The spot occupied by the theatre and the subsequent lot now maps as being in the line of Interstate 95 where it passes through the city.
The Studio Cinema, created from the balcony of the Columbus Theatre, opened on November 24, 1965. The first program was the Italian film White Voices, about the amorous adventures of Italian castrati, singers de-testicled to maintain beautiful voices in the upper singing register but who were still able to have sex…and without the danger of impregnating women. Here is the opening day ad.. Both upstairs and downstairs would be art-house venues for a few years until both screens became used for porno…a policy that lasted over three and a half decades.
The Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Massachusetts belongs here…on an expanded list, perhaps. 10 is too short a list. I would add the illustrious Brattle in Cambridge as well. Getting back to the Cable Car Cinema in Providence that I commented on above. Providence’s Avon Cinema is way better, for programming, projection, and environment. Believe me. Just because the Cable Car has overpriced pastry and ratty couches, that doesn’t make it better.
You mean as a single auditorium? Easier said than done. In the best of all possible worlds, maybe. Then what will it be used for, given the neighborhood it is in? Who’s going to come? Where will people park? I have a fantasy that mile-away Providence College would buy and restore this theatre, as Emerson in Boston bought and restored the Majestic. Alas, that’s unlikely.
The best that could happen is that it re-open as it was before it closed last year. There was a recent piece in the Providence paper that said that a party was planning on doing just that. We’ll see if it happens.
If the Castle were located on the east side of Providence or in the South Main Street/Wickenden Street area, it could successfully become the more-than-one-screen art house that Providence sorely needs. But it’s not.
The Newport Daily News microfilm revealed regular movie programs here, as well as vaudeville acts, during the years before World War I. The place was then named Freebody Park Theatre. In November of 1939 a “gala opening” was announced for the theatre with a double bill of 3 Smart Girls Grow Up & Gunga Din. The theatre then closed only weeks after that. An ad said the Casino would be closed for alterations and that “We will re-open about January 1st.” It was signed by manager H. Pastman. There were no re-opening ads until the following summer when it opened as the Casino Civic Theatre with a summer season of live theatre.
The theatre was used in the early 1980s or thereabouts by Flickers, the Newport Film Society, for some of its 16mm film programs. I saw The Shop on Main Street there in that series. I’ve also been to at least one chamber music concert here. The place really is a true Newport treasure but has always seemed to be under-utilized, at least in recent years. I am told it is undergoing restoration. So we may hear more about it soon. The place seems like a natural for the Newport Music Festival, a summer chamber music festival that uses the mansions, and may even have been used for it in the past. I am trying to delve further into the place’s history. The Tennis Hall of Fame website contains some information on the Casino and the surrounding grounds and buildings. www.tennisfame.com
Gone With the Wind had its first run engagement in Newport at this theatre (then called the Strand) beginning on March 29, 1940. It ran exactly one week only, and was not held over. There were continuous performances beginning at 10 A.M., reserved evening performances beginning at 7:30, and a reserved Sunday matinee at 2:00 P.M. Admission prices were 75¢ for matinees and $1.00 for reserved performances. Top admission prices for other films at the time in Newport theatres were 25 to 40 cents. Children’s prices and matinee prices for adults in Newport theatres were then as low as 10¢.
The Paramount became the E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Sunday, April 21, 1940. An ad in the Newport Daily News on April 15, 1940 said that on Sunday, April 21 “the Colonial Theatre, with its entire staff, moves to the new E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Broadway.” The theatre had been shut down for a while before the re-opening, probably for some improvements. The first program under this new aegis was Invisible Stripes and Remember the Night.
An ad in the Newport Daily News on April 15, 1940 said that on Sunday, April 21 “the Colonial Theatre, with its entire staff, moves to the new E.M. Loew’s Paramount on Broadway.”
First decade of the Palace Theatre
from The Building Boom in Jamestown, Rhode Island, 1926-1931, by Sue Maden, 2004:
1920s: The Palace Theatre built in 1921 is shown in this photo from the 1920s. Photo courtesy of the Jamestown Historical Society.
1931: [At the Town Council Meeting] The town clerk is to request the proprietor of the Palace Theatre to submit to him the number of performances held during the year 1930.
1931: Messrs. Ferdinand Ambrust and Leroy F. Meredith have leased for a period of years the Palace Theatre on Narragansett Avenue to W. C. Purcell of Fall River, manager of the Academy of Music of that city. Mr. Purcell is already making considerable improvements and redecorating. He will have a new ticket office at the entrance and will have talking pictures.
Albee Audience Stages Sit-Down Until Second Feature is Shown
That was the headline of an article in the Providence Journal on February 2, 1939. The night before, 500 customers who had wandered in after 7 o'clock howled in protest at 10:45 when the lights came on but they were demanding to see It Happened One Night.
But because of the length of the double-bill program of revivals of Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It Happened One Night and added attractions that included a WEAN spelling bee on the stage, newsreels, and trailers, the last scheduled showing (as published in the paper) of It Happened One Night was 5:38 P.M.
Unaware of or unable to accept that, the patrons who had arrived after 7 P.M. were not going to leave until seeing that movie. One large gentleman, according to the newspaper article, threatened, to “tear the place apart.” Most people just sat; others upbraided staff, ushers, even elevator operators. Pursuing an appeasement policy, the management started things happening one night all over again and the film had another, unscheduled showing at 11 P.M. Theatre manager John Kane explained it was not the theatre’s fault, but because the features and other attractions were long, customers were getting more than their money’s worth and a late showing of One Night had not been included in the program. The following day the program ran its customary length and there would be no problems.
And heeeere’s the photo I described above but didn’t link you to.
Roland, yes, I agree about those photos. I wish there were more. I had breakfast with Fred Deusch this morning. He had read an article about me and my love of old theatres that was published in The Observer and other papers two weeks ago. I asked the interviewer to include my e-mail address, and Mr. Deusch responded. A bit of good luck. He gave me those pictures and told me a few stories. See the Elmwood site for more. He told me that later as a projectionist, he worked at the Elmwood, Cinerama, the Pawtucket Strand, some others. I told him I’d ask him other stuff from time to time. He’s really a nice guy.
If you want a copy of the article about me that prompted it all, email me your address, and I can mail it to you.
Auburn is a neighborhood of Cranston. That seating capacity was changed when the theatre was triplexed a few decades ago. Now that it is being restored as a single auditorium, it is sure to change again.
Here is a 1995 photo of the Park Theatre. (Courtesy of Fred Deusch.)
Here is a 1995 photo of the Castle Theatre. (Courtesy of Fred Deusch.)
Fred Deusch, usher and doorman at the Metropolitan Theatre in the 1940s, recalled that one of his tasks was to transport incoming prints of movies to the projection booth, which was located above the ceiling of the auditorium. A pulley device had to be used to hoist the containers up. One night when he was doing this, pianist José Iturbi was performing on stage. (The Met regularly had live performances: musicals, opera and symphony orchestras.) The pulley mechanism began to squeak loudly, and a visibly displeased Iturbi kept glancing up to see what was causing the noise. A photo of Fred Deusch appears in my previous posting.
In this 1948 photo, on the left, we see the Chestnut Street marquee of the Metropolitan Theatre. Beyond the bus, we see Empire Street. The Majestic Theatre is the white bit near the top right. The point of this posting is to show you the relative locations of the two theatres. The photo was taken by Fred Deusch, then an usher at the Met.
Photos of the Metropolitan Theatre, 1948
(Thanks to Fred Deusch)
BROAD STREET ENTRANCE
CHESTNUT STREET ENTRANCE
In this next photo, beyond the bus, we see Empire Street. The Majestic Theatre is the white bit near the top right:
CHESTNUT STREET MARQUEE
FRED DEUSCH, DOORMAN
FRANK BURLINGHAM, USHER
TONY THE FIREMAN & EDGAR GRANT, USHER
PHIL THE TICKET TAKER
Elmwood Theatre, 1950s photos
(Thanks to Fred Deusch)
MARQUEE -1956- AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
OLD PROJECTORS
PROJECTIONISTS FRED DEUSCH (left) & LEONARD PERKINS
TODD-AO 70mm PROJECTOR
TODD-AO PROJECTOR, CLOSE
ELMWOOD AVENUE FROM FIRE ESCAPE OF THEATRE
Here is a 1950s photo of projectionist Joe Cobb in the booth at the Fairlawn Theatre. Taken by Fred Deusch.
The seating capacity, according to the theatre’s own website, is 1226. The theatre has one level only. There is no balcony.
I’m not sure how long it lasted, but probably through the 1960s. Johnston and Pawtucket had similar licensing interference in the 1970s. Roberts stated that the “showing of this picture [The Spanish Earth] in places of public entertainment…might lead to antagonize and stir up racial hatreds among a large number of people of foreign extraction. We are living peacefully together in this community.”
Incidentaly, there was a great deal of pro-Mussolini public sentiment in this heavily Italian area. Pro-Mussolini documentaries were shown at the Uptown (Columbus) Theatre. There were Mussolini societies, a pro-fascist paper, and even a Mussolini Street on Federal Hill, changed when the war broke out, though a Balbo Avenue (named after a high-ranking Blackshirt and possible Mussolini successor) lingered on for years after until it finally became DePasquale Ave.
How about this…? The film about the Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Earth, by Joris Ivens, was also banned in Providence in 1937, before the Avon was born. The police censor Thomas H. Roberts said the (pro-republican) film’s dialog contained “unfriendly references to friendly powers,” namely Germany and Italy. Can’t offend the sensibilities of those two nice communist-fighting countries!
More censorship: In June of 1959, at the urging of Providence Police Lt. George P. Blessing, city amusements inspector, the Avon Cinema made several cuts in the Brigitte Bardot film that was scheduled to be shown, Love is My Profession (En cas de malheur). A year earlier the Avon had been given permission to show another Bardot vehicle, And God Created Woman, after making cuts recommended by Lieutenant Blessing. What a blessing to have the lieutenant protect our morals! A court test was not sought by either the distributor, Kingsley International Pictures, or Thayer Amusement Corp., owners of the Avon.
From The Providence Journal, June 20, 1925, in an article announcing the imminent closing of the 17-year-old Bijou:
“Since it was built in March, 1908, the Bijou seldom failed to yield a profit to its owners. Summers, always dull periods for theatres, failed for a number of years to affect the profit and loss column of the Bijou. But the last two summers have witnessed a falling off in patronage. This decline, according to Frank E. Page, for a number of years the manager of the Bijou and one of its builders, was caused by daylight saving, automobiles and stronger competition from the larger theatres which for some seats brought their price range within that of the Bijou.”
A Providence Evening Bulletin article of November 17, 1965 reported that the Capitol was being demolished at the time of writing in order to create a parking lot, as part of the Weybosset Hill renewal project. The article said that “City Hall officials hailed the availability of more parking space with the death of the Capitol Theater, in view of the Christmas shopping season.” The spot occupied by the theatre and the subsequent lot now maps as being in the line of Interstate 95 where it passes through the city.
The Studio Cinema, created from the balcony of the Columbus Theatre, opened on November 24, 1965. The first program was the Italian film White Voices, about the amorous adventures of Italian castrati, singers de-testicled to maintain beautiful voices in the upper singing register but who were still able to have sex…and without the danger of impregnating women. Here is the opening day ad.. Both upstairs and downstairs would be art-house venues for a few years until both screens became used for porno…a policy that lasted over three and a half decades.
The Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Massachusetts belongs here…on an expanded list, perhaps. 10 is too short a list. I would add the illustrious Brattle in Cambridge as well. Getting back to the Cable Car Cinema in Providence that I commented on above. Providence’s Avon Cinema is way better, for programming, projection, and environment. Believe me. Just because the Cable Car has overpriced pastry and ratty couches, that doesn’t make it better.
You mean as a single auditorium? Easier said than done. In the best of all possible worlds, maybe. Then what will it be used for, given the neighborhood it is in? Who’s going to come? Where will people park? I have a fantasy that mile-away Providence College would buy and restore this theatre, as Emerson in Boston bought and restored the Majestic. Alas, that’s unlikely.
The best that could happen is that it re-open as it was before it closed last year. There was a recent piece in the Providence paper that said that a party was planning on doing just that. We’ll see if it happens.
If the Castle were located on the east side of Providence or in the South Main Street/Wickenden Street area, it could successfully become the more-than-one-screen art house that Providence sorely needs. But it’s not.