Philharmonic Hall (renamed Avery Fisher Hall) was regularly used for the opening and closing nights of the New York Film Festival each year, as well as for special film events. In its first years it was pretty much used for the entire festival. (I have in front of me a program booklet from 1966). I remember seeing Gance’s Napoleon and Stroheim’s Greed there.
I have been to a number of these, and the presentation is a class act! I wish they were shown in more theatres across the land. Many of the theatres used are suburban multiplexes, making it difficult to get to them by public transportation. I wish there were a venue within my city of Providence, such as the Providence Place Mall 16. At present someone in this area has to go to Swansea, Massachusetts or else Warwick, RI, each a good twenty minute drive from the city…if you have a car!
The above comment skirts the issue. The fact that the people at Trinity are hard-working and dedicated does not change the reality that the interior was totally altered and vandalized by them. “Redid” is an appalling euphemism. There is very little of the original except a bit in the lobby rotunda. Everything else is gone forever. I grew up in the fifties and sixties and remember quite vividly what a gorgeous wonder it was. Do you?
Trinity could have created what they did out of any nondescript building in Providence. By comparison, look at PPAC and see how that place was respected; look at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester; look at the beautiful Emerson Majestic in Boston. Our own Majestic deserved as much.
When members of the Theatre Historical Society of America visited Providence, they were very immensely disappointed by what they saw inside. Regarding “they love the fact that they are in a building with so much history,” I find that rather lame since there is no evidence of that history inside any more, nor does anyone there really know or care about that, in my opinion. When I was on that tour, the Trinity Rep person who gave the presentation patronizingly denigrated the history of the Majestic as having become just another second run theatre at the end. That’s not true, and even if it were, the place was still a magnificent edifice whose interior deserved better than what Trinity Rep inflicted on it. Finally, the Majestic was by no means a shambles before Trinity acquired it. It was a fully functional well-maintained movie palace that could no longer compete with suburban mall cinemas.
1933 newspaper ad for the Hollywood Theatre. Torch Singer with Joan Crawford and a Zane Grey western To the Last Man. Note that later that week “3 BIG TIME VAUDEVILLE ACTS” would alternate with the film program. The Hollywood Theatre, built by Samuel Bomes in the 1920s, was a popular neigborhood theatre until not much after 1960. True to its name, it generally presented popular recent Hollywood films for the whole family as a second-run area theatre, though much of what it showed was first-run for East Providence. It was razed in August 2008.
The important event of the 1880-81 season of this theatre when it was known as Low’s was the only appearance in Providence up to that time of the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt. (Per George O. Willard’s book History of the Providence Stage 1762-1891.)
I know it is beautiful and I have visited it (from Providence) numerous times. Even more beautiful is the long-closed Orpheum Theatre. It was opened to the public for a rope-light tour last October. I went. Did you? A magnificent place that needs a lot of work. I hope they eventually get it restored and put back into used. http://www.orphinc.org/
My guess is that it would cost upwards of $15 million to restore and open that theatre. Too bad the city of East Providence couldn’t purchase it, set up a foundation, and somehow get funds to slowly re-vitalize it. I’d love to see this happen. Look at the Stadium in Woonsocket…it happened there! The Park in Cranston is being re-constructed. Perhaps the United in Westerly. East Providence needs to have something like that as well with the Hollywood Theatre. It should not be destroyed. It is not a nuisance as some seem to think but a unique opportunity.
On May 1st I attended a performance here by the great stand-up comedian George Carlin, who has since died. The house was packed to the rafters and the enthusiasm for both the performer and the theatre itself was overwhelming.
Mary-Ann,
There are photos and images of the exterior and interior in previous postings on this page. Just scroll, click on the highlighted links, and see what few are available. I wish there were more.
Fifty years ago today, June 20, 1958, I saw a Mario Lanza double bill at the Uptown Theatre, which was what the Columbus was called then. The films were The Great Caruso and Because You’re Mine. Besides this fact, I noted in my diary that the theatre had a new marquee.
Fifty years ago today on June 18, 1958 I took an early train up to Boston from Providence ($3.41 round trip fare) to spend the day in the city, with a good deal of book-shopping. But the first thing I did was to see a movie musical program of Oklahoma and Carousel at this theatre. The double bill ran from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M., and I paid 60¢ admission. For books I got The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Walden, Life on the Mississippi, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tobacco Road, The Catcher in the Rye. The six books cost a total of $2.30! I want 1958 again.
According to a publicity booklet put out by the Cinema Verdi for the 1944-45 season, this theatre, for a few months starting on January 14, 1944, was renamed the Cinema Verdi, with a policy of Italian films. With the selling of the theatre, “Cinema Verdi” moved to a new home on 8th Avenue at 41st Street in the Arena Theatre.
Philharmonic Hall (renamed Avery Fisher Hall) was regularly used for the opening and closing nights of the New York Film Festival each year, as well as for special film events. In its first years it was pretty much used for the entire festival. (I have in front of me a program booklet from 1966). I remember seeing Gance’s Napoleon and Stroheim’s Greed there.
I have been to a number of these, and the presentation is a class act! I wish they were shown in more theatres across the land. Many of the theatres used are suburban multiplexes, making it difficult to get to them by public transportation. I wish there were a venue within my city of Providence, such as the Providence Place Mall 16. At present someone in this area has to go to Swansea, Massachusetts or else Warwick, RI, each a good twenty minute drive from the city…if you have a car!
The above comment skirts the issue. The fact that the people at Trinity are hard-working and dedicated does not change the reality that the interior was totally altered and vandalized by them. “Redid” is an appalling euphemism. There is very little of the original except a bit in the lobby rotunda. Everything else is gone forever. I grew up in the fifties and sixties and remember quite vividly what a gorgeous wonder it was. Do you?
Trinity could have created what they did out of any nondescript building in Providence. By comparison, look at PPAC and see how that place was respected; look at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester; look at the beautiful Emerson Majestic in Boston. Our own Majestic deserved as much.
When members of the Theatre Historical Society of America visited Providence, they were very immensely disappointed by what they saw inside. Regarding “they love the fact that they are in a building with so much history,” I find that rather lame since there is no evidence of that history inside any more, nor does anyone there really know or care about that, in my opinion. When I was on that tour, the Trinity Rep person who gave the presentation patronizingly denigrated the history of the Majestic as having become just another second run theatre at the end. That’s not true, and even if it were, the place was still a magnificent edifice whose interior deserved better than what Trinity Rep inflicted on it. Finally, the Majestic was by no means a shambles before Trinity acquired it. It was a fully functional well-maintained movie palace that could no longer compete with suburban mall cinemas.
Poster for Lubitch’s Sumurun (1920) when it played here.
Old poster for Children of Divorce, starring Clara Bow, at the Rialto in 1927.
Here is a poster for the movie Holiday at the Crescent:
John G409, Yes, fine.
“wrong size print"
You mean they sent a 70mm print instead of 35mm one? I mean, what other possibilities are there?
Yes, of course. Thanks. Sometimes it pays to check what you write for factual errors.
1933 newspaper ad for the Hollywood Theatre. Torch Singer with Joan Crawford and a Zane Grey western To the Last Man. Note that later that week “3 BIG TIME VAUDEVILLE ACTS” would alternate with the film program. The Hollywood Theatre, built by Samuel Bomes in the 1920s, was a popular neigborhood theatre until not much after 1960. True to its name, it generally presented popular recent Hollywood films for the whole family as a second-run area theatre, though much of what it showed was first-run for East Providence. It was razed in August 2008.
My blog on the Hollywood Theatre after its demise.
The important event of the 1880-81 season of this theatre when it was known as Low’s was the only appearance in Providence up to that time of the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt. (Per George O. Willard’s book History of the Providence Stage 1762-1891.)
I last saw it in 70mm in D.C. in 2002, at the Uptown on their huge curved screen. It was mind-boggling.
“….is this a flat floor auditorium?”
Almost. Very slight incline.
Yes, go to http://www.flickr.com , enter “Cable Car Cinema” in search, and you will find a few. It’s not much to look at inside.
Here is a vintage photo of the Cable Car Cinema building when it was M. Burns Motor Transportation in 1962:
View link
I know it is beautiful and I have visited it (from Providence) numerous times. Even more beautiful is the long-closed Orpheum Theatre. It was opened to the public for a rope-light tour last October. I went. Did you? A magnificent place that needs a lot of work. I hope they eventually get it restored and put back into used.
http://www.orphinc.org/
Zelda08,
I do not have any information about that. That would certainly be an interesting, though very sad, story
My guess is that it would cost upwards of $15 million to restore and open that theatre. Too bad the city of East Providence couldn’t purchase it, set up a foundation, and somehow get funds to slowly re-vitalize it. I’d love to see this happen. Look at the Stadium in Woonsocket…it happened there! The Park in Cranston is being re-constructed. Perhaps the United in Westerly. East Providence needs to have something like that as well with the Hollywood Theatre. It should not be destroyed. It is not a nuisance as some seem to think but a unique opportunity.
On May 1st I attended a performance here by the great stand-up comedian George Carlin, who has since died. The house was packed to the rafters and the enthusiasm for both the performer and the theatre itself was overwhelming.
Mary-Ann,
There are photos and images of the exterior and interior in previous postings on this page. Just scroll, click on the highlighted links, and see what few are available. I wish there were more.
Fifty years ago today, June 20, 1958, I saw a Mario Lanza double bill at the Uptown Theatre, which was what the Columbus was called then. The films were The Great Caruso and Because You’re Mine. Besides this fact, I noted in my diary that the theatre had a new marquee.
Fifty years ago today on June 18, 1958 I took an early train up to Boston from Providence ($3.41 round trip fare) to spend the day in the city, with a good deal of book-shopping. But the first thing I did was to see a movie musical program of Oklahoma and Carousel at this theatre. The double bill ran from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M., and I paid 60¢ admission. For books I got The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Walden, Life on the Mississippi, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tobacco Road, The Catcher in the Rye. The six books cost a total of $2.30! I want 1958 again.
The url doesn’t work for the above.
According to a publicity booklet put out by the Cinema Verdi for the 1944-45 season, this theatre, for a few months starting on January 14, 1944, was renamed the Cinema Verdi, with a policy of Italian films. With the selling of the theatre, “Cinema Verdi” moved to a new home on 8th Avenue at 41st Street in the Arena Theatre.