Although this information doesn’t deal directly with the Casino/Pier, this is probably an appropriate place to post, since the Pier depot, with which this deals, was about a block away. A Providence Journal article of August 30, 1938 reported a planned movie show at the abandoned Narragansett Pier Railroad Station. I’ve paraphrased some of the information.
A group of men, having formed their own movie company, “S.P.E.”, had produced the feature film The Verdict, from a French play by Erckman-Chatrian called The Bells. Harold Thewlis, one of the members of the group, had the leading role. A second feature, Concentrated Vodka, an original comedy written and acted by the producers, would also be offered that week with showings on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday…and more if boxoffice receipts warranted. Travel films taken by the company during a European bicycle trip would also be featured.
I could uncover no information on these films, although other film versions of Erckman-Chatrian’s play can be found on IMDb.
Their programming is a delicious mixture of the new and old, with short runs. It is a model of what campus cinemas and urban art houses could be, should be, but rarely are. The projection is generally very good, they are equipped for 16mm, 35mm, 70mm. Aspect ratios are respected, proper masking employed.
One strong quibble, and I hope this was a fluke: for the re-issue of The Leopard a few months ago, the sound was tinny and screechy, as though they had Dolby switched on for a mono print or there was some soundtrack alignment problem. It just wasn’t right at all. I complained (at the clueless ticket window). Phone calls were made to the projectionist but nothing was done to correct anything. The dialog and Nino Rota’s beautiful score sounded horrible throughout the film and kind of ruined the showing for me. I had driven here all the way from Providence.
Fall River never seems to have had an art house, although the more popular or more exploitable foreign films played around town in generally dubbed versions. The Swedish Elvira Madigan, for example, was booked at the Durfee in 1968.
Dick, I’ve been looking at Fall River Herald-News on microfilm and may be able to determine that at some point…or at least when it closed.
The Brazilian film O Cangaceiro, a kind of bandit-western, played here in June of 1955, perhaps in a Portuguese-language print, since the ad contained some enticement in Portuguese for the local ethnic community. It was weirdly paired with The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. The week before had brought Rossellini’s Woman paired with Shamed, a sensational Italian double bill of the time dubbed for wider release and labeled FOR ADULTS ONLY. Earlier, in May, the Embassy had an early Mastroianni piece (he was then unknown) with Eleonora Rossi-Drago: Sensualità …“it drives men wild.”
Fall River never seems to have had an art house, although the more popular or more exploitable foreign films played around town in generally dubbed versions. The Swedish Elvira Madigan, for example, was booked at the Durfee in 1968.
In February of 1939 The Providence Journal reported the banning of two films scheduled for the Avon. One was Amphitryon; the other was the Russian-made Professor Mamlock. The Journal wrote, “On recommendation of George W. Cowan, the Providence Bureau of Police and Fire yesterday denied to the Avon Theatre permission to show [the pictures] on the ground that they ‘do not meet with the standards of decency set up for public exhibitions in this city.'
"Capt. Cowan…reported that some scenes in the fils were salacious and immodest.”
Later it was reported that the theatre threatened court action. The film Professor Mamlock had won critical acclaim elsewhere and had appeared on the New York Times 10-best list. The picture dealt with the plight of persecuted Jews in Nazi Germany.
In another article the Journal said that “the amusement inspector held that the Soviet film tended to incite racial hatred and contained Communist propaganda.”
One asks, racial hatred of whom? The Jews? But the film was against racism. In its most famous scene, the Jewish doctor, Professor Mamlock, his white overall inscribed with the yellow star and the word “Jude”, marches with great dignity through a crowd of Brown Shirts.
I don’t have any data yet about the film’s subsequent showings in Providence, if they eventually occurred. One thing I have noticed, however, is that the Avon, from around this point up until the end of World War II, generally booked “safe” programs, free of controversy.
To my knowledge, that was the only roadshow for La Dolce Vita anywhere. Although I am not sure about the west coast. It did, however, play major theatres in many cities, theatres that rarely showed subtitled foreign films.
Churchgoers Told Not to Attend [Center] Cinema Theater
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel F. Shalloo told parishioners yesterday at Holy Name Church in Fall River not to patronize the [Center] Cinema Theater as long as it shows what he said were objectionable films.
Persons attending mass in Our Lady of the Angels Church and St. Mary’s Cathedral were warned not to see “The Fox,” which is currently playing at the theater.
“The Fox” is adapted from a novel of the same name by the famed English author, D. H. Lawrence.
[Note: The Fox dealt with two lesbians and starred Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea. At this time the theatre was known as Center Cinema.]
I saw it that week at Cinema I and was bowled over. It was a tremendous experience, visually stunning, with a great musical score, and the audience ate it up. Michael Cimino’s film was light years better than much of the current crop of summer films. Its reputation as a critical failure is unwarranted.
A friend who remembers visiting the VIP reported, “As I recall, it was at ground level—there were never many people in the gay section. Dark and uncomfortable…”
Did EW actually visit all these places and rate them in all their aspects? The Cable Car Cinema in Providence, for example, is appealingly funky but has projection that is infuriatingly inept.
When it was a porno house, the Paris Cinema was managed by William Ikenberry, who was later to manage the relatively short-lived VIP Luxury Cinema on Westminster Mall across from Grace Church.
PROVIDENCE – About 25 people gathered in Grace Church yesterday to discuss what the church’s rector called an issue of “downtown development and planning” – a sex-film theater just across Westminster Mall.
“The significant issue is to determine if this is a bellwether for the way this community is going to go,” the Rev. Daniel Warren of the Episcopal church said later. “We’re not going to shut down theaters of this type. We’re just saying it’s in the wrong place.”
REPRESENTED at the meeting were the Providence Chamber of Commerce, Women Against Violence Against Women, the Westminster Senior Center, Rhode Island Council of Churches, Johnson & Wales College and the Downtown Providence Improvement Association.
Mr. Warren said the VIP Luxury Cinema at 311 Westminster Mall poses a greater threat than the former Paris Cinema or other such businesses in the city, because it’s “10 or 12 steps across the mall from the church,” in the center of the business district and in the immediate vicinity if Johnson & Wales dormitories.
“It will inhibit our ability to carry on programs associated with the church,” he said.
He added that his “ire” is not with the patrons of the theater, but with “the managers and owners who manipulate that kind of exploitation for profit.”
He said, “I have nothing but compassion for the lonely clientele and I invite them here. One minute in Grace Church might be more inspirational.”
A spokesman for Johnson & Wales said the location of the theater next door to a dormitory, with only one wall separating them, was “beyond coincidence.” He said the site was picked to “pander to students.”
ALTHOUGH no concrete plans were made, Mr. Warren said it was “conceivable” that the group would consider picketing the theater.
For now, Mr. warren said, a committee headed by James Fairchild of the Chamber of Commerce will attempt to meeet with the theater’s owners.
The theater is owned by Elmgrove Associates, a limited partnership that is represented by Cranston lawyer George F. McDonald and managed by William Ikenberry, Mr. Warren said. Ikenberry also managed the former Paris Cinema on Weybosset Street, which showed erotic films.
Corporation papers filed with the secretary of satate list Pauline Streeter, 86 Fashion Drive, Warwick, as treasurer of VIP Cinema, Inc. and McDonald as the corporation’s attorney.
“I have no interest, no concern and no reaction,” McDonald said from his Cranston law office Tuesday.
Although the cinema had two screens, the place was always known as the Paris Cinema (not “Cinemas”) throughout its life. Here is an ad announcing the opening day of the Paris Cinema in 1969. It includes a representation of the cinema front.
By RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
BURRILLVILLE – Declaring that “we can’t take it any longer,” the operators of Burrillville’s only movie theater announced Friday night that starting immediately they will refuse to admit any youths into the theater for any film regardless of the rating unless they are accompanied by an adult.
The new policy began Friday when the operators turned away about 100 youngsters who had come to see the PG-rated ‘Towering Inferno.’
“I feel bad for all the good kids,” Mrs. Ann Votolato explained, “But we couldn’t take the hassle from the teenagers year after year. People were complaining they couldn’t see the movie because of the noise. Some kids were coming in drunk with bottles.”
Mrs. Votolato and her husband Mario, who have been operating the town-owned movie theater for 10 years, said the new policy will be in effect for both matinee and evening performances.
“The only exception may be Walt Disney movies,” Mrs. Votolato said, “but we may even pull out the Walt Disney films so we don’t have that problem.”
Until now the movie house has specialized in G and PG-rated films, while showing an R-rated film occasionaly.
“It’s a big step,” Votolato commented. “But it was either this or close the theater. We’ve lost just about all our adult business. Now maybe we can start building up our adult trade again. People didn’t want to come here any more because it was a zoo.”
The theater operator said youths have brought drugs into the theater, have vandalized bathrooms and have also on occasion stolen car batteries and thrown dirt into the gas tanks of cars while people have been patronizing the theater.
After the theater initiated its policy, a large number of youngsters congregated outside the steps of the town hall to complain to council members who were holding their regular monthly meeting.
Several councilmen voiced concern about the policy, saying they wonderered whether it was [fair to those youngsters] who weren’t causing trouble.
A delegation, led by council president Richard J. Hodson, visited the theater owner later in the night. But after the Votolatos explained the problem, they came aways more or less agreeing that the operators had to take some steps.
A September, 1975 newspaper ad shared with the Boro Drive-In in South Attleboro, Massachusetts, promotes Games Guys Play along with Games Girls Play and the third feature, Roommates. $4.00 a carload.
A September, 1975 newspaper ad shared with the Quonset Drive-In in North Kingstown, RI, promotes Games Guys Play along with Games Girls Play and the third feature, Roommates. $4.00 a carload.
An article in the Providence Journal of September 16, 1976 reported the projected opening of the Cable Car that was set for October 20. The piece quoted a description of the new cinema by owner/creator Raymond Bilodeau as being a place of “rugged architecture and elegance.” The place seems actually to have opened, quietly, around October 30, 1976 when the first feature shown was Luther, a film in the American Film Theatre series which had previously been shown in Rhode Island. The cinema, formerly a garage, was to have armchairs, love seats and sofas and a seating capacity of 130.
For the finale of the 9th R.I. International Film Festival this evening at the Columbus Theatre, the presentation was a 35mm copy of the two-strip Technicolor version of the 1926 The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks. It was a wonder to behold. 1926 was the year the Columbus opened and this was the festival’s tribute to the place. The accompanying music was provided by the unique Alloy Orchestra.
Preceding the feature was a surviving fragment of the 1916 My Lady of the Lilacs, made by the Rhode Island company called Eastern Film Corporation and now preserved by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Yes, it is tame…and I believe you are right about the belated importation and the timing of the release with Lamarr’s burgeoning popularity. I’ve seen it a couple of times over the years and I believe it has been shown on TCM. DVDs are available through Amazon.com and other outlets.
The Ken Loach film Poor Cow was playing its second week here at the beginning of May, 1968. This was an unusual art-house type booking for this former neighborhood theatre.
Although this information doesn’t deal directly with the Casino/Pier, this is probably an appropriate place to post, since the Pier depot, with which this deals, was about a block away. A Providence Journal article of August 30, 1938 reported a planned movie show at the abandoned Narragansett Pier Railroad Station. I’ve paraphrased some of the information.
A group of men, having formed their own movie company, “S.P.E.”, had produced the feature film The Verdict, from a French play by Erckman-Chatrian called The Bells. Harold Thewlis, one of the members of the group, had the leading role. A second feature, Concentrated Vodka, an original comedy written and acted by the producers, would also be offered that week with showings on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday…and more if boxoffice receipts warranted. Travel films taken by the company during a European bicycle trip would also be featured.
I could uncover no information on these films, although other film versions of Erckman-Chatrian’s play can be found on IMDb.
Their programming is a delicious mixture of the new and old, with short runs. It is a model of what campus cinemas and urban art houses could be, should be, but rarely are. The projection is generally very good, they are equipped for 16mm, 35mm, 70mm. Aspect ratios are respected, proper masking employed.
One strong quibble, and I hope this was a fluke: for the re-issue of The Leopard a few months ago, the sound was tinny and screechy, as though they had Dolby switched on for a mono print or there was some soundtrack alignment problem. It just wasn’t right at all. I complained (at the clueless ticket window). Phone calls were made to the projectionist but nothing was done to correct anything. The dialog and Nino Rota’s beautiful score sounded horrible throughout the film and kind of ruined the showing for me. I had driven here all the way from Providence.
I saw an October, 1915 newspaper ad for a “Loew’s Bijou”
Fall River never seems to have had an art house, although the more popular or more exploitable foreign films played around town in generally dubbed versions. The Swedish Elvira Madigan, for example, was booked at the Durfee in 1968.
Dick, I’ve been looking at Fall River Herald-News on microfilm and may be able to determine that at some point…or at least when it closed.
The Brazilian film O Cangaceiro, a kind of bandit-western, played here in June of 1955, perhaps in a Portuguese-language print, since the ad contained some enticement in Portuguese for the local ethnic community. It was weirdly paired with The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. The week before had brought Rossellini’s Woman paired with Shamed, a sensational Italian double bill of the time dubbed for wider release and labeled FOR ADULTS ONLY. Earlier, in May, the Embassy had an early Mastroianni piece (he was then unknown) with Eleonora Rossi-Drago: Sensualità …“it drives men wild.”
Fall River never seems to have had an art house, although the more popular or more exploitable foreign films played around town in generally dubbed versions. The Swedish Elvira Madigan, for example, was booked at the Durfee in 1968.
Well, not so. In November of 1940 Cowan banned another Avon-booked movie, the French film Daybreak (Marcel Carné’s Le Jour se lève) because it had been condemned by the National (Catholic) Legion of Decency. That film, starring Jean Gabin, was one of the great masterpieces of the pre-war French cinema! Again, the final disposition is unclear from the information I curently have.
In February of 1939 The Providence Journal reported the banning of two films scheduled for the Avon. One was Amphitryon; the other was the Russian-made Professor Mamlock. The Journal wrote, “On recommendation of George W. Cowan, the Providence Bureau of Police and Fire yesterday denied to the Avon Theatre permission to show [the pictures] on the ground that they ‘do not meet with the standards of decency set up for public exhibitions in this city.'
"Capt. Cowan…reported that some scenes in the fils were salacious and immodest.”
Later it was reported that the theatre threatened court action. The film Professor Mamlock had won critical acclaim elsewhere and had appeared on the New York Times 10-best list. The picture dealt with the plight of persecuted Jews in Nazi Germany.
In another article the Journal said that “the amusement inspector held that the Soviet film tended to incite racial hatred and contained Communist propaganda.”
One asks, racial hatred of whom? The Jews? But the film was against racism. In its most famous scene, the Jewish doctor, Professor Mamlock, his white overall inscribed with the yellow star and the word “Jude”, marches with great dignity through a crowd of Brown Shirts.
I don’t have any data yet about the film’s subsequent showings in Providence, if they eventually occurred. One thing I have noticed, however, is that the Avon, from around this point up until the end of World War II, generally booked “safe” programs, free of controversy.
To my knowledge, that was the only roadshow for La Dolce Vita anywhere. Although I am not sure about the west coast. It did, however, play major theatres in many cities, theatres that rarely showed subtitled foreign films.
from The Providence Journal, May 6, 1968:
Churchgoers Told Not to Attend [Center] Cinema Theater
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel F. Shalloo told parishioners yesterday at Holy Name Church in Fall River not to patronize the [Center] Cinema Theater as long as it shows what he said were objectionable films.
Persons attending mass in Our Lady of the Angels Church and St. Mary’s Cathedral were warned not to see “The Fox,” which is currently playing at the theater.
“The Fox” is adapted from a novel of the same name by the famed English author, D. H. Lawrence.
[Note: The Fox dealt with two lesbians and starred Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea. At this time the theatre was known as Center Cinema.]
I saw it that week at Cinema I and was bowled over. It was a tremendous experience, visually stunning, with a great musical score, and the audience ate it up. Michael Cimino’s film was light years better than much of the current crop of summer films. Its reputation as a critical failure is unwarranted.
A friend who remembers visiting the VIP reported, “As I recall, it was at ground level—there were never many people in the gay section. Dark and uncomfortable…”
Did EW actually visit all these places and rate them in all their aspects? The Cable Car Cinema in Providence, for example, is appealingly funky but has projection that is infuriatingly inept.
When it was a porno house, the Paris Cinema was managed by William Ikenberry, who was later to manage the relatively short-lived VIP Luxury Cinema on Westminster Mall across from Grace Church.
from the Providence Journal, July 13, 1984:
Providence group decries site of sex-film theater
By WENDY KILLEEN
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE – About 25 people gathered in Grace Church yesterday to discuss what the church’s rector called an issue of “downtown development and planning” – a sex-film theater just across Westminster Mall.
“The significant issue is to determine if this is a bellwether for the way this community is going to go,” the Rev. Daniel Warren of the Episcopal church said later. “We’re not going to shut down theaters of this type. We’re just saying it’s in the wrong place.”
REPRESENTED at the meeting were the Providence Chamber of Commerce, Women Against Violence Against Women, the Westminster Senior Center, Rhode Island Council of Churches, Johnson & Wales College and the Downtown Providence Improvement Association.
Mr. Warren said the VIP Luxury Cinema at 311 Westminster Mall poses a greater threat than the former Paris Cinema or other such businesses in the city, because it’s “10 or 12 steps across the mall from the church,” in the center of the business district and in the immediate vicinity if Johnson & Wales dormitories.
“It will inhibit our ability to carry on programs associated with the church,” he said.
He added that his “ire” is not with the patrons of the theater, but with “the managers and owners who manipulate that kind of exploitation for profit.”
He said, “I have nothing but compassion for the lonely clientele and I invite them here. One minute in Grace Church might be more inspirational.”
A spokesman for Johnson & Wales said the location of the theater next door to a dormitory, with only one wall separating them, was “beyond coincidence.” He said the site was picked to “pander to students.”
ALTHOUGH no concrete plans were made, Mr. Warren said it was “conceivable” that the group would consider picketing the theater.
For now, Mr. warren said, a committee headed by James Fairchild of the Chamber of Commerce will attempt to meeet with the theater’s owners.
The theater is owned by Elmgrove Associates, a limited partnership that is represented by Cranston lawyer George F. McDonald and managed by William Ikenberry, Mr. Warren said. Ikenberry also managed the former Paris Cinema on Weybosset Street, which showed erotic films.
Corporation papers filed with the secretary of satate list Pauline Streeter, 86 Fashion Drive, Warwick, as treasurer of VIP Cinema, Inc. and McDonald as the corporation’s attorney.
“I have no interest, no concern and no reaction,” McDonald said from his Cranston law office Tuesday.
Although the cinema had two screens, the place was always known as the Paris Cinema (not “Cinemas”) throughout its life. Here is an ad announcing the opening day of the Paris Cinema in 1969. It includes a representation of the cinema front.
from the Providence Journal, September 28, 1975:
Movie house hassle brings youth ban
By RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
BURRILLVILLE – Declaring that “we can’t take it any longer,” the operators of Burrillville’s only movie theater announced Friday night that starting immediately they will refuse to admit any youths into the theater for any film regardless of the rating unless they are accompanied by an adult.
The new policy began Friday when the operators turned away about 100 youngsters who had come to see the PG-rated ‘Towering Inferno.’
“I feel bad for all the good kids,” Mrs. Ann Votolato explained, “But we couldn’t take the hassle from the teenagers year after year. People were complaining they couldn’t see the movie because of the noise. Some kids were coming in drunk with bottles.”
Mrs. Votolato and her husband Mario, who have been operating the town-owned movie theater for 10 years, said the new policy will be in effect for both matinee and evening performances.
“The only exception may be Walt Disney movies,” Mrs. Votolato said, “but we may even pull out the Walt Disney films so we don’t have that problem.”
Until now the movie house has specialized in G and PG-rated films, while showing an R-rated film occasionaly.
“It’s a big step,” Votolato commented. “But it was either this or close the theater. We’ve lost just about all our adult business. Now maybe we can start building up our adult trade again. People didn’t want to come here any more because it was a zoo.”
The theater operator said youths have brought drugs into the theater, have vandalized bathrooms and have also on occasion stolen car batteries and thrown dirt into the gas tanks of cars while people have been patronizing the theater.
After the theater initiated its policy, a large number of youngsters congregated outside the steps of the town hall to complain to council members who were holding their regular monthly meeting.
Several councilmen voiced concern about the policy, saying they wonderered whether it was [fair to those youngsters] who weren’t causing trouble.
A delegation, led by council president Richard J. Hodson, visited the theater owner later in the night. But after the Votolatos explained the problem, they came aways more or less agreeing that the operators had to take some steps.
In September of 1975 the Darlton was a discount house showing Bite the Bullet for $1.00.
A September, 1975 newspaper ad shared with the Boro Drive-In in South Attleboro, Massachusetts, promotes Games Guys Play along with Games Girls Play and the third feature, Roommates. $4.00 a carload.
A September, 1975 newspaper ad shared with the Quonset Drive-In in North Kingstown, RI, promotes Games Guys Play along with Games Girls Play and the third feature, Roommates. $4.00 a carload.
Opening of the Cable Car Cinema
An article in the Providence Journal of September 16, 1976 reported the projected opening of the Cable Car that was set for October 20. The piece quoted a description of the new cinema by owner/creator Raymond Bilodeau as being a place of “rugged architecture and elegance.” The place seems actually to have opened, quietly, around October 30, 1976 when the first feature shown was Luther, a film in the American Film Theatre series which had previously been shown in Rhode Island. The cinema, formerly a garage, was to have armchairs, love seats and sofas and a seating capacity of 130.
In fact, the theatre had a seating capacity that was more like 175 initially and was reduced to about 130 about fifteen years later when the place was modified to accomodate café tables to the right of the open projection booth and a kitchen was carved out of one of the former two bathrooms and part of the rear of the auditorium.
The location where the theatre once existed is now the parking lot for Gasbarro’s Liquors.
For the finale of the 9th R.I. International Film Festival this evening at the Columbus Theatre, the presentation was a 35mm copy of the two-strip Technicolor version of the 1926 The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks. It was a wonder to behold. 1926 was the year the Columbus opened and this was the festival’s tribute to the place. The accompanying music was provided by the unique Alloy Orchestra.
Preceding the feature was a surviving fragment of the 1916 My Lady of the Lilacs, made by the Rhode Island company called Eastern Film Corporation and now preserved by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Yes, it is tame…and I believe you are right about the belated importation and the timing of the release with Lamarr’s burgeoning popularity. I’ve seen it a couple of times over the years and I believe it has been shown on TCM. DVDs are available through Amazon.com and other outlets.
Oddly, the film did not open in New York until Christmas of 1940, judging from the date of the New York Times review.
The Ken Loach film Poor Cow was playing its second week here at the beginning of May, 1968. This was an unusual art-house type booking for this former neighborhood theatre.