This is a photo of the Keith’s Theatre which became the Victory. There is another picture (postcard) of this theatre which became the Victory in my April 15 posting above.
The theatre first opened as the Imperial in 1902. At the start it was primarily a a theatrical venue before switching to movies. In the end it was considered a “scratch house” because of its cheapness and by then its shabbiness (although it was a theatre of remarkable character beneath all that.)
Some documented ownership follows. A 1925 Providence Journal Almanac lists the manager of the Liberty as as one John F. Carey, the seating capacity as 827. A 1931 Almanac lists Samuel Bomes as owner. The 1939 Almanac gives Samuel Bomes as president and manager and the corporation name as Elmwood Amusement Corporation. The 1948 Almanac lists Samuel as president and Edward Bomes as manager. A 1968 listing gives the “Art Theater” owner as Playhouse, Inc; Sol Turek, manager, with a seating capacity now at 750. The 1973 edition sates the owner was Sounderling Broadcasting Corp., SBC, Providence. Charles Conway was manager.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire (later called the “Bijou”), RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” They all re-opened before long.
The 1925 Providence Journal Almanac gives the following data about the E. F. Albee Theatre (as it was then named): Harry W. Grull, general manager; Foster Lardner, manager; seating capacity, 2300; proscenium opening, 38x38 feet; footlights to back wall, 38 feet; between side walls, 78 feet; height to gridiron, 60 feet.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire (later the second “Bijou”), RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” They all re-opened before long.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire, RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” At that time this theatre was known as the Empire. Empire should be added as an alternate name for this theatre.
Here is a movie ad for the Hippodrome from the Christmas season of 1915. Note the presence of Mr. Edward M. Fay, Providence showman and theatre owner as well as musician. He led the orchestra accompanying the movies. But who could afford those admission prices?
Hail, and good-bye!
The Opera House opened as a theatre on December 4, 1871. It ceased operation on March 4, 1931. It was demolished not long thereafter (not in the “late 1920s” as I hypothesized in my original theatre description.) In the six decades it had been open at the northwestern corner of Dorrance and Pine Streets, adjacent to the famed Narragansett Hotel, it had brought to the Rhode Island capital city great theatrical productions, musical events, and movies big and small in a classy environment that exuded a sense of importance and dignity.
It was a victim of hard times as the depression took its toll and of the competition from other big nearby theatres, especially the immense, more luxurious Loew’s State (opened 1928) around the corner and up Weybosset Street about two blocks away, and probably also because of other factors I am unaware of.
The theatre did not just fade out quietly. It went out with a bang via an enormous closing gala, similar to what took place at the final night of New York’s old Metropolitan Opera when it would shut down in the 1960s as the company prepared to move to its new home at Lincoln Center.
The printed program survives from that final evening of Providence’s Opera House in the collection of Mr. Edward M. Fay, R.I. showman, theatre-owner, and musician, who had a hand in that evening’s gala farewell to a 60-year-old grande dame. (A copy is in a folder of the Edward M. Fay collection at the Rhode Island Historical Society.)The program lists a number of guest celebrities including song writer George M. Cohan of “Over there!” fame. Mr. Cohan was from Providence. Mr. Harry Langdon, “favorite comic of the talkies,” as the program asserted, appeared in person. An ensemble finale, led by Mr. Edward M. Fay, was a tearful “Auld lang syne.”
The printed program gave a history of the theatre which concluded:
“After the final chapter is written tonight, the building will come down. Only memories will remain of an institution that for three score years held high place in the cultural, social, and civic life of Providence and of the State of Rhode Island. AVE ATQUE VALE!”
First Vitaphone anywhere???
Television has no future???
An article in the Rhode Islander section of the Providence Sunday Journal for April 20, 1947 wrote of Edward M. Fay, “the dean of R.I. showmen,” who owned the Majestic, Fays, the Rialto, the Carlton and other venues. The article asserts that Mr. Fay was the first in the nation to wire a theatre (the Majestic) for Vitaphone. Here follow excerpts:
“Mr. Fay was the first man in the country who mustered enough faith in the garrulous movies to have a theatre (the Majestic) wired for them. He offered the Vitaphone tio the world on Christmas Day in 1926, and everybody knows what happened since…”
And on the future of television the Journal quoted Mr. Fay as saying, “I think television has had the greatest promotion the country has ever seen…but I don’t think it will compete with movies or with radio in the home. Commercially I can’t see it at all. It’s all right for a championship prize fight or football game, but that’s about all. I can’t see it.”
I wonder if by the time Mr. Fay died in 1964 he had realized the enormous threat (among other threats) to movie theatres that television would represent over the coming decades, so much so that all the theatres he owned or ran in Providence would be demolished or gutted for other uses?
For a time in the early silent era there was another Gaiety called Keith’s Gaiety, which eventually became known as the Nickel. As Loew’s State replaced the Webosset Street Gaiety, the Albee would replace the Westminster Street Nickel/Keith’s Gaiety. They were exactly a block apart.
In the 1916 Westerly city directory there is listed a Princess Theatre at West Broad Street on the bridge. “On the bridge” was also given for references to the Lyric. The Lyric and Princess must have been the same place.
Ad from 1910: “Popular-priced vaudeville theatre of Providence. The home of everything that is god. First-class vaudeville and motion pictures. Three hours show without a repeat for 10 cents.”
The Bullock’s location was Richmond Street at Pine Street, a block from Weybosset Street and behind where Loew’s State Theatre (the future PPAC) would be built.
The Nickel was the last of several names for this “nickelodeon” before it was demolished. Its sequence of names was Dime (Providence Dime Museum) – Keith’s Gaiety – Lothrop’s – Olympic – Park – Nickel. The lobbies of the Albee Theatre, when that theatre was built, occupied the approximate space of the Nickel. I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
A Providence Journal ad from June 26, 1910 boasts “Positively coolest theatre in Providence. Six-foot fan drawing fresh air from the roof and forcing it into the auditorium, first passing through a large chamber filled with ice.”
The program for that day included a variety of stage acts as well as “New and up-to-date motion pictures.” Performance continuous from 12:00 to 10:30 P.M. Admission: 10 cents.
Before the theatre opened as Loew’s State in 1928, a smaller movie house, the Gaiety Theatre (later known as Conn’s City), had been there and was demolished to make way for the new movie palace and business block. After it was called Loew’s State and before it became Providence Performing Arts Center, it was the Palace, then the Ocean State. So the complete name sequence was Loew’s State, Palace, Ocean State, Providence Performing Arts Center or PPAC, commonly pronounced “P-Pack.”
All right. We can now straighten this out! First off, there were THREE theatres in Providence that were called “Empire” at different times.
This post should refer to the original Empire which was located at 410 Westminster Street (not 440, which was Modern – Playhouse – Victory and never an Empire.) Now, 410 Westminster Street was where Empire Street ended in the 1910s. The city wanted to extend Empire Street out a block further to Weybosset Street, and so the Empire had to be demolished to create the thoroughfare. This was the original Empire. It never had another name.
The address in the listing should be changed to 410 Westminster Street, which was the address for the first Empire and which I found in the 1913 Providence City Directory. This one had never been nor would ever become a Victory Theatre. It didn’t even survive World War I. So my previous entry is to be ignored.
(2) Lows – Keith’s – Victory – Empire. This was located on Westminster Street at Union Street. (Listed under “Victory.”)
(3) Westminster – Empire – Bijou. This one was on Westminster Street at Snow Street. (Listed under “Bijou.”)
Clear?
I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society. That clears up a great deal of confusion for me.
Somebody please update the address to 410 Westminster Street.
I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society. That clears up a great deal of confusion for me on several theatres.
The Scenic had been the old Westminster Congregational Unitarian Church before its life as a theatre. It didn’t BECOME a church, as I wrote above; it HAD BEEN one. I misread my earlier notes.
This is a photo of the Keith’s Theatre which became the Victory. There is another picture (postcard) of this theatre which became the Victory in my April 15 posting above.
It was in 1919 that the Scenic became the Rialto.
The theatre first opened as the Imperial in 1902. At the start it was primarily a a theatrical venue before switching to movies. In the end it was considered a “scratch house” because of its cheapness and by then its shabbiness (although it was a theatre of remarkable character beneath all that.)
The architect’s name is properly spelled Oresto DiSaia. The theatre closed in 1954.
Here is an ad for the presentation of INTOLERANCE at the Opera House in April of 1918.
The Providence Opera House was designed by John Fox of Boston who later designed the Music Hall (1877) of Lewiston, Maine. It seated 1350.
Some documented ownership follows. A 1925 Providence Journal Almanac lists the manager of the Liberty as as one John F. Carey, the seating capacity as 827. A 1931 Almanac lists Samuel Bomes as owner. The 1939 Almanac gives Samuel Bomes as president and manager and the corporation name as Elmwood Amusement Corporation. The 1948 Almanac lists Samuel as president and Edward Bomes as manager. A 1968 listing gives the “Art Theater” owner as Playhouse, Inc; Sol Turek, manager, with a seating capacity now at 750. The 1973 edition sates the owner was Sounderling Broadcasting Corp., SBC, Providence. Charles Conway was manager.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire (later called the “Bijou”), RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” They all re-opened before long.
The 1925 Providence Journal Almanac gives the following data about the E. F. Albee Theatre (as it was then named): Harry W. Grull, general manager; Foster Lardner, manager; seating capacity, 2300; proscenium opening, 38x38 feet; footlights to back wall, 38 feet; between side walls, 78 feet; height to gridiron, 60 feet.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire (later the second “Bijou”), RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” They all re-opened before long.
The Providence Evening Bulletin of June 30, 1937 reported that the Empire, RKO Albee, and Carlton were closing for various periods of time for “overhauling.” At that time this theatre was known as the Empire. Empire should be added as an alternate name for this theatre.
Here is a movie ad for the Hippodrome from the Christmas season of 1915. Note the presence of Mr. Edward M. Fay, Providence showman and theatre owner as well as musician. He led the orchestra accompanying the movies. But who could afford those admission prices?
Hail, and good-bye!
The Opera House opened as a theatre on December 4, 1871. It ceased operation on March 4, 1931. It was demolished not long thereafter (not in the “late 1920s” as I hypothesized in my original theatre description.) In the six decades it had been open at the northwestern corner of Dorrance and Pine Streets, adjacent to the famed Narragansett Hotel, it had brought to the Rhode Island capital city great theatrical productions, musical events, and movies big and small in a classy environment that exuded a sense of importance and dignity.
It was a victim of hard times as the depression took its toll and of the competition from other big nearby theatres, especially the immense, more luxurious Loew’s State (opened 1928) around the corner and up Weybosset Street about two blocks away, and probably also because of other factors I am unaware of.
The theatre did not just fade out quietly. It went out with a bang via an enormous closing gala, similar to what took place at the final night of New York’s old Metropolitan Opera when it would shut down in the 1960s as the company prepared to move to its new home at Lincoln Center.
The printed program survives from that final evening of Providence’s Opera House in the collection of Mr. Edward M. Fay, R.I. showman, theatre-owner, and musician, who had a hand in that evening’s gala farewell to a 60-year-old grande dame. (A copy is in a folder of the Edward M. Fay collection at the Rhode Island Historical Society.)The program lists a number of guest celebrities including song writer George M. Cohan of “Over there!” fame. Mr. Cohan was from Providence. Mr. Harry Langdon, “favorite comic of the talkies,” as the program asserted, appeared in person. An ensemble finale, led by Mr. Edward M. Fay, was a tearful “Auld lang syne.”
The printed program gave a history of the theatre which concluded:
“After the final chapter is written tonight, the building will come down. Only memories will remain of an institution that for three score years held high place in the cultural, social, and civic life of Providence and of the State of Rhode Island. AVE ATQUE VALE!”
First Vitaphone anywhere???
Television has no future???
An article in the Rhode Islander section of the Providence Sunday Journal for April 20, 1947 wrote of Edward M. Fay, “the dean of R.I. showmen,” who owned the Majestic, Fays, the Rialto, the Carlton and other venues. The article asserts that Mr. Fay was the first in the nation to wire a theatre (the Majestic) for Vitaphone. Here follow excerpts:
“Mr. Fay was the first man in the country who mustered enough faith in the garrulous movies to have a theatre (the Majestic) wired for them. He offered the Vitaphone tio the world on Christmas Day in 1926, and everybody knows what happened since…”
And on the future of television the Journal quoted Mr. Fay as saying, “I think television has had the greatest promotion the country has ever seen…but I don’t think it will compete with movies or with radio in the home. Commercially I can’t see it at all. It’s all right for a championship prize fight or football game, but that’s about all. I can’t see it.”
I wonder if by the time Mr. Fay died in 1964 he had realized the enormous threat (among other threats) to movie theatres that television would represent over the coming decades, so much so that all the theatres he owned or ran in Providence would be demolished or gutted for other uses?
For a time in the early silent era there was another Gaiety called Keith’s Gaiety, which eventually became known as the Nickel. As Loew’s State replaced the Webosset Street Gaiety, the Albee would replace the Westminster Street Nickel/Keith’s Gaiety. They were exactly a block apart.
The Union opened in May of 1913.
In the 1916 Westerly city directory there is listed a Princess Theatre at West Broad Street on the bridge. “On the bridge” was also given for references to the Lyric. The Lyric and Princess must have been the same place.
Ad from 1910: “Popular-priced vaudeville theatre of Providence. The home of everything that is god. First-class vaudeville and motion pictures. Three hours show without a repeat for 10 cents.”
The Bullock’s location was Richmond Street at Pine Street, a block from Weybosset Street and behind where Loew’s State Theatre (the future PPAC) would be built.
Ads indicate the theatre had a balcony.
The Nickel was the last of several names for this “nickelodeon” before it was demolished. Its sequence of names was Dime (Providence Dime Museum) – Keith’s Gaiety – Lothrop’s – Olympic – Park – Nickel. The lobbies of the Albee Theatre, when that theatre was built, occupied the approximate space of the Nickel. I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
A Providence Journal ad from June 26, 1910 boasts “Positively coolest theatre in Providence. Six-foot fan drawing fresh air from the roof and forcing it into the auditorium, first passing through a large chamber filled with ice.”
The program for that day included a variety of stage acts as well as “New and up-to-date motion pictures.” Performance continuous from 12:00 to 10:30 P.M. Admission: 10 cents.
The Casino Theatre opened in 1907.
Before the theatre opened as Loew’s State in 1928, a smaller movie house, the Gaiety Theatre (later known as Conn’s City), had been there and was demolished to make way for the new movie palace and business block. After it was called Loew’s State and before it became Providence Performing Arts Center, it was the Palace, then the Ocean State. So the complete name sequence was Loew’s State, Palace, Ocean State, Providence Performing Arts Center or PPAC, commonly pronounced “P-Pack.”
Before it was demolished in the 1920s to make way for the Loew’s State Theatre and building, the Gaiety was for a time known as “Conn’s City.”
All right. We can now straighten this out! First off, there were THREE theatres in Providence that were called “Empire” at different times.
This post should refer to the original Empire which was located at 410 Westminster Street (not 440, which was Modern – Playhouse – Victory and never an Empire.) Now, 410 Westminster Street was where Empire Street ended in the 1910s. The city wanted to extend Empire Street out a block further to Weybosset Street, and so the Empire had to be demolished to create the thoroughfare. This was the original Empire. It never had another name.
The address in the listing should be changed to 410 Westminster Street, which was the address for the first Empire and which I found in the 1913 Providence City Directory. This one had never been nor would ever become a Victory Theatre. It didn’t even survive World War I. So my previous entry is to be ignored.
(2) Lows – Keith’s – Victory – Empire. This was located on Westminster Street at Union Street. (Listed under “Victory.”)
(3) Westminster – Empire – Bijou. This one was on Westminster Street at Snow Street. (Listed under “Bijou.”)
Clear?
I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society. That clears up a great deal of confusion for me.
Somebody please update the address to 410 Westminster Street.
This theatre had been originally built in 1888 as a dime museum called Westminster Mus̩e. The theatre had three names: Westminster РEmpire РBijou. Its address was 368 Westminster Street.
I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society. That clears up a great deal of confusion for me on several theatres.
Bullock’s Theatre opened in 1909. It had been the old Richmond Street Congregational Church. It was later renamed the Globe.
The Scenic had been the old Westminster Congregational Unitarian Church before its life as a theatre. It didn’t BECOME a church, as I wrote above; it HAD BEEN one. I misread my earlier notes.