I did some glancing through The Woonsocket Call on microfilm. A December 1929 ad advertising “Tanned Legs” referred to the Bijou as a Publix Theatre. I saw that the place was still operating in 1957 and had installed CinemaScope along with everyone else, but by 1958 the ads stopped; so it must have closed around then.
In his recent autobiography “The Good, the Bad, and Me,” actor Eli Wallach recalls his days as an aspiring Broadway actor in the 1940s. On days of casting rejections he would wander, he says, on 42nd Street where, for a quarter, he would watch the movies of great French actors Harry Baur, Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, Jean-Louis Barrault, Raimu. He writes on page 93: “‘God, that was brilliant acting,’ I would think, and try to find something in their performances to take as my own.” Wallach does not mention the Apollo by name, but it is certain that this is the theatre where French movies with those actors aften played and that he undoubtedly visited before taking the subway back to his home in Brooklyn.
In his recent autobiography “The Good, the Bad, and Me,” actor Eli Wallach (born 1915) recalls going frequently to the Rialto when he was growing up in Brooklyn.
He writes: “On Saturday the Union Street Toughs would go to the Rialto, a movie palace about three blocks from my house. The Rialto had a big marquee with red and green lights flickering on it, and I would pay for my admission with the dime I had earned during the week… We would all sit on wooden benches in the smoke-filled theater and watch Westerns starring Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, and William S. Hart, who became my heroes…” (pages 20-21)
Wallach could not have imagined that one day he would be acting in films himself, including westerns such as “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” from which his book derives its sly title.
Although I haven’t been to the Dedham Community Theatre often, I was able to see that it is greatly appreciated by the local residents. May it thrive. Here are two photos. ONE TWO
Here is a photo of the Coolidge showing their marquee (and building windows) promoting their current 3-D Festival. I saw a wonderful print of the M.G.M. musical “Kiss Me Kate” today. I hadn’t seen it in 3-D since 1954, the year it was made. The audience was most appreciative, from the sound of the appplause. Films in the series include “House of Wax,” “The Mad Magician,” “Miss Sadie Thompson,” “Gorilla at Large” and more.
Well, to be exact, one could also say that Mr. William Fox, Mr. Marcus Loew, and the brothers named Warner were human beings before their names would refer to homonymous corporations.
Yes, indeed. Singer and Newport socialite Jane Pickens died in Newport in 1992 at the age of 83. A photo-portrait of her hangs in the theatre that was re-named for her while she was still alive.
When the Paramount building was constructed, it included a business block for retailers on either side of the theatre entrance. Among the businesses that were opened to coincide with the theatre’s inauguration were the Belmont Delicatessen and the Palace of Sweets. The Newport Daily News reported on the deli as selling, among other items, “Italian biscotti, which are quite a delicacy.” Also in the block was First National Stores. An ad for it proclaimed “New Meat Market and Groceries in Paramount Block, 82 Broadway, extends its greeting to Paramount Theatre…Highest Quality Meats.”
Before it became the Strand and later the Jane Pickens, this theatre’s name was the Lafayette. A Newport Daily News 1929 article I just read, pertaining to the opening of the Paramount on Broadway, gave the background of David J. Dugan, first manager of the Paramount. Mr. Dugan had taken over the old Lafayette Theatre in 1919. He had put on one season of stock with a company known as the Lafayette Players, which included later (N.Y.) Broadway notables like Paul Donner, Charles Bickford, and Albert Hickey. After the engagement Mr. Dugan leased the Lafayette to Louis M. Boas of Fall River, who made improvements and renamed it the Strand, which it was called for many decades. Mr. Dugan supervised the work and Mr. Boas later made Mr. Dugan the manager of the Strand. In 1922 Mr. Dugan bought the lease of the Strand and operated the house until 1925. He then sold the lease to Publix Theatre Corporation and was kept on as manager. When Publix built the larger and more elegant nearby Paramount in 1929, they gave him the position of manager of the prestigious new theatre.
The Paramount Theatre, across from Newport City Hall, opened to great fanfare on August 10, 1929, after the beginning of the sound era. The theatre was the finest and most elegant that the resort-colony city of Newport had ever seen and the only theatre that was ever built in this city-by-the-sea, from ground up, with the specific goal of showing motion pictures. It was also the last movie theatre ever built within Newport’s city limits. The opening program for “A New Institution – The New Paramount – a Publix Theatre,” as the opening day ad in the Newport Daily News described the place, was “Charming Sinners” with Ruth Chatterton and Clive Brooks. Admission prices ranged from 25 cents to 50 cents for adults. For children it was 10 cents.
The newspaper ran page after page of stories and photos about every aspect of the theatre, and Newporters hailed it with great pride. “CROWDS STORM THE NEW THEATRE DOORS, ADMIRE LOBBY, FOYERS, LOUNGES AND MAIN AUDITORIUM,” read the headline. The article continued, “ From the cross aisle people looked in admiration down into the body of the house, with its towering walls, muralled in panels combining the modernistic and Oriental touch, until the eye meets the two great grills banking the stage, and then paused on the blue and gold drapery of the entertainment focus. Turning, the eye traveled the dim heights of buff velour upholstering on the tiers of seats, paused for a moment on the back wall with its vertical and horizontal openings fromn the projection chamber, and then swept across the ceiling, where flower electric figures shed their soft glow.”
“Suddenly the lights dimmed, and with a rush of sound the current flowed through the transmitters and a burst of music swept the house, from the Western Electric reproducer focused behind trhe movie screen. Playing from records, the mechanism handled the interlude, while the throng packed the more than 1200 seats. Then slowly the curtains parted on the stage, and the huge silver curtain came into view, the tempo changed, and in a blue illumination the greetings of the management were extended to patrons.”
Other articles detailed the standards for and training of ushers and other staff, extolled the latest-technology refrigeration, gave a catalog of details on the “modernistic trend” of decor incorporated into the theatre, gave background on Paramount Pictures, on Newporter David J. Dugan, who was the Paramount’s resident manager. A piece praised the “New Theatre Parking Garage,” adjacent to the building. An ad asserted it could house forty cars!
The photos of the theatre included shots of the marquee and entrance, the ticket booth, two views of the auditorium, the foyer, the projection both.
I never had the good fortune to be inside this theatre. Although a Rhode Islander, I am not from Newport, and the theatre closed by the early 1960s, perhaps earlier…more research on this to come. I do remember seeing the marquee of the shuttered buiklding when I was still in my teens and visiting Newport in that same decade. Good quality photographs of the theatre, originally belonging to the Newport Daily News, were donated to and are now in the possession of the Newport Historical Society and examples may appear on this site in coming weeks and months. The ones reproduced in the opening-day article reveal a theatre which, to my eye, very closely resembled the Stadium in Woonscocket (happily restored and preserved, unlike the doomed Paramount which became gutted in the 1980s and now serves as a low-housing unit.) There was no balcony, but the rear of the theatre, beneath the projection booth, featured a large section with stadium seating. The theatre had an open exterior entranceway, just beyond the marquee and leading to the doors to the lobby. The entranceway and free-standing ticket-booth also resembled those of the Woonsocket Stadium.
While I was thrilled to find so much information (there is lots more than I report here), I was very saddened that this lovely mid-size theatre of elegance would cease to exist not much later than thirty years after its construction. Newport has done a great deal to preserve its past heritage, from mansions on Bellevue Avenue to small homes in historic neighborhoods of great character. It has saved two movie theatres: the Jane Pickens (Strand) and the Opera House, whose exterior has been brought back to something resembling its 19th Century glory while awaiting interior restoration to a single auditorium. Those two theatres are this week hosting the Newport International Film Festival. Too bad the Paramount, the greatest of the lot, did not have the same destiny. Imagine the many uses the place might have today! Because of its substantial size, it could have accomodated touring Broadway shows, popular entertainment acts, could have been used during the popular Newport Music Festival for performances by large ensembles and popular artists throughout the year. The city is heavily visited and not just during the summer tourist season.
“Daughter of Deceit” was Luis Buñuel’s “ La Hija del engaño.” The director’s more obscure Mexican films were being released for the first time in art and specialty houses in the U.S. Most had been shown already, but in unsubtitled showings in Spanish-language cinemas. The Little Theatre at the Public showed a few of them. I remember seeing “El Bruto” there.
Joe, you can also easily show those photos by posting them on a server such as Photobucket and simply linking to the URL. I and numerous others do that. Go to www.photobucket.com
It’s free up to a certain limit.
The only other possibility might have been the Columbus Theatre/Studio Cinema twin up on Broadway. At that time, before going into porno, they showed mostly first and second-run art product but could easily have thrown in a double bill like that. Small world, I used to go to Camille’s and Johnson’s Hummocks during those years and even…hmmmm!…the Fife and Drum on Weybosset Street.
I seem to remember an Evergreen Films distributorship from this period, theatrical and non-theatrical, specializing in off-beat product…associated with Evergreen Books, perhaps.
I live in neighboring Johnston and never heard of the area where the Park is located being called “downtown Cranston.” Maybe the “center” of Cranston or Rolfe Street area. Is there an “uptown Cranston?” When was the Park originally built? Was this really a vaudeville theatre at one time? (I’m just asking; I’d like to know.) In any case, this is all very good news.
Here is some updated news about plans to renovate the Park for concerts and theatrical productions. The theatre, closed for several years now, has been in limbo.
A program like that MIGHT have played the Avon Cinema on Thayer Street (the films definitely played there individually in first-run) or the Art Cinema on Broad Street. Both theatres are listed on Cinema Treasures. I cannot confirm, however, where in fact the program was shown in the time-frame you mention. You might be able to check the Providence Journal microfilm for movie ads around that time.
In this photo we can see, behind the trolley, a bit of the Rainbo Theatre. After the theatre was demolished, the vacant lot became used for decades as a turn-around for the Dyer-Pocasset bus line. An uneven short fragment of the theatre building remained like some kind of Roman ruin.
I agree, Jerry Kovar. Racy ads for art films does not automatically predestine a theatre for eventual pornship. And the redoubtable Paris Theatre showed Brigitte Bardot in “And God Created Woman” for over a year by peddling her breasts and butt outline, and it should be singled out as well as the “grandma of porn.” I walked by there yesterday. They are showing “Ladies in Lavender.”
I’d like to resign from the topic since the issue is so self-evident to me that it is becoming tedious. However, if AlAlvarez or anyone else has an extended listing of what was shown at the Apollo over their “great years” (e.g.: dates, lists of double bills) I would like to have access to that. I understand enough about their programming and went to enough films there to have a pretty good idea of what they did. Still, it is sketchy. I’m:
I did some glancing through The Woonsocket Call on microfilm. A December 1929 ad advertising “Tanned Legs” referred to the Bijou as a Publix Theatre. I saw that the place was still operating in 1957 and had installed CinemaScope along with everyone else, but by 1958 the ads stopped; so it must have closed around then.
In his recent autobiography “The Good, the Bad, and Me,” actor Eli Wallach recalls his days as an aspiring Broadway actor in the 1940s. On days of casting rejections he would wander, he says, on 42nd Street where, for a quarter, he would watch the movies of great French actors Harry Baur, Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, Jean-Louis Barrault, Raimu. He writes on page 93: “‘God, that was brilliant acting,’ I would think, and try to find something in their performances to take as my own.” Wallach does not mention the Apollo by name, but it is certain that this is the theatre where French movies with those actors aften played and that he undoubtedly visited before taking the subway back to his home in Brooklyn.
In his recent autobiography “The Good, the Bad, and Me,” actor Eli Wallach (born 1915) recalls going frequently to the Rialto when he was growing up in Brooklyn.
He writes: “On Saturday the Union Street Toughs would go to the Rialto, a movie palace about three blocks from my house. The Rialto had a big marquee with red and green lights flickering on it, and I would pay for my admission with the dime I had earned during the week… We would all sit on wooden benches in the smoke-filled theater and watch Westerns starring Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, and William S. Hart, who became my heroes…” (pages 20-21)
Wallach could not have imagined that one day he would be acting in films himself, including westerns such as “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” from which his book derives its sly title.
And Providence. We need you even more.
Although I haven’t been to the Dedham Community Theatre often, I was able to see that it is greatly appreciated by the local residents. May it thrive. Here are two photos.
ONE
TWO
Here is a photo of the Coolidge showing their marquee (and building windows) promoting their current 3-D Festival. I saw a wonderful print of the M.G.M. musical “Kiss Me Kate” today. I hadn’t seen it in 3-D since 1954, the year it was made. The audience was most appreciative, from the sound of the appplause. Films in the series include “House of Wax,” “The Mad Magician,” “Miss Sadie Thompson,” “Gorilla at Large” and more.
Well, to be exact, one could also say that Mr. William Fox, Mr. Marcus Loew, and the brothers named Warner were human beings before their names would refer to homonymous corporations.
As a matter of fact a photo of and short biography about singer/socialite Jane Pickens can be found on the theatre’s website under “about us.”
Yes, indeed. Singer and Newport socialite Jane Pickens died in Newport in 1992 at the age of 83. A photo-portrait of her hangs in the theatre that was re-named for her while she was still alive.
When the Paramount building was constructed, it included a business block for retailers on either side of the theatre entrance. Among the businesses that were opened to coincide with the theatre’s inauguration were the Belmont Delicatessen and the Palace of Sweets. The Newport Daily News reported on the deli as selling, among other items, “Italian biscotti, which are quite a delicacy.” Also in the block was First National Stores. An ad for it proclaimed “New Meat Market and Groceries in Paramount Block, 82 Broadway, extends its greeting to Paramount Theatre…Highest Quality Meats.”
Before it became the Strand and later the Jane Pickens, this theatre’s name was the Lafayette. A Newport Daily News 1929 article I just read, pertaining to the opening of the Paramount on Broadway, gave the background of David J. Dugan, first manager of the Paramount. Mr. Dugan had taken over the old Lafayette Theatre in 1919. He had put on one season of stock with a company known as the Lafayette Players, which included later (N.Y.) Broadway notables like Paul Donner, Charles Bickford, and Albert Hickey. After the engagement Mr. Dugan leased the Lafayette to Louis M. Boas of Fall River, who made improvements and renamed it the Strand, which it was called for many decades. Mr. Dugan supervised the work and Mr. Boas later made Mr. Dugan the manager of the Strand. In 1922 Mr. Dugan bought the lease of the Strand and operated the house until 1925. He then sold the lease to Publix Theatre Corporation and was kept on as manager. When Publix built the larger and more elegant nearby Paramount in 1929, they gave him the position of manager of the prestigious new theatre.
The Paramount Theatre, across from Newport City Hall, opened to great fanfare on August 10, 1929, after the beginning of the sound era. The theatre was the finest and most elegant that the resort-colony city of Newport had ever seen and the only theatre that was ever built in this city-by-the-sea, from ground up, with the specific goal of showing motion pictures. It was also the last movie theatre ever built within Newport’s city limits. The opening program for “A New Institution – The New Paramount – a Publix Theatre,” as the opening day ad in the Newport Daily News described the place, was “Charming Sinners” with Ruth Chatterton and Clive Brooks. Admission prices ranged from 25 cents to 50 cents for adults. For children it was 10 cents.
The newspaper ran page after page of stories and photos about every aspect of the theatre, and Newporters hailed it with great pride. “CROWDS STORM THE NEW THEATRE DOORS, ADMIRE LOBBY, FOYERS, LOUNGES AND MAIN AUDITORIUM,” read the headline. The article continued, “ From the cross aisle people looked in admiration down into the body of the house, with its towering walls, muralled in panels combining the modernistic and Oriental touch, until the eye meets the two great grills banking the stage, and then paused on the blue and gold drapery of the entertainment focus. Turning, the eye traveled the dim heights of buff velour upholstering on the tiers of seats, paused for a moment on the back wall with its vertical and horizontal openings fromn the projection chamber, and then swept across the ceiling, where flower electric figures shed their soft glow.”
“Suddenly the lights dimmed, and with a rush of sound the current flowed through the transmitters and a burst of music swept the house, from the Western Electric reproducer focused behind trhe movie screen. Playing from records, the mechanism handled the interlude, while the throng packed the more than 1200 seats. Then slowly the curtains parted on the stage, and the huge silver curtain came into view, the tempo changed, and in a blue illumination the greetings of the management were extended to patrons.”
Other articles detailed the standards for and training of ushers and other staff, extolled the latest-technology refrigeration, gave a catalog of details on the “modernistic trend” of decor incorporated into the theatre, gave background on Paramount Pictures, on Newporter David J. Dugan, who was the Paramount’s resident manager. A piece praised the “New Theatre Parking Garage,” adjacent to the building. An ad asserted it could house forty cars!
The photos of the theatre included shots of the marquee and entrance, the ticket booth, two views of the auditorium, the foyer, the projection both.
I never had the good fortune to be inside this theatre. Although a Rhode Islander, I am not from Newport, and the theatre closed by the early 1960s, perhaps earlier…more research on this to come. I do remember seeing the marquee of the shuttered buiklding when I was still in my teens and visiting Newport in that same decade. Good quality photographs of the theatre, originally belonging to the Newport Daily News, were donated to and are now in the possession of the Newport Historical Society and examples may appear on this site in coming weeks and months. The ones reproduced in the opening-day article reveal a theatre which, to my eye, very closely resembled the Stadium in Woonscocket (happily restored and preserved, unlike the doomed Paramount which became gutted in the 1980s and now serves as a low-housing unit.) There was no balcony, but the rear of the theatre, beneath the projection booth, featured a large section with stadium seating. The theatre had an open exterior entranceway, just beyond the marquee and leading to the doors to the lobby. The entranceway and free-standing ticket-booth also resembled those of the Woonsocket Stadium.
While I was thrilled to find so much information (there is lots more than I report here), I was very saddened that this lovely mid-size theatre of elegance would cease to exist not much later than thirty years after its construction. Newport has done a great deal to preserve its past heritage, from mansions on Bellevue Avenue to small homes in historic neighborhoods of great character. It has saved two movie theatres: the Jane Pickens (Strand) and the Opera House, whose exterior has been brought back to something resembling its 19th Century glory while awaiting interior restoration to a single auditorium. Those two theatres are this week hosting the Newport International Film Festival. Too bad the Paramount, the greatest of the lot, did not have the same destiny. Imagine the many uses the place might have today! Because of its substantial size, it could have accomodated touring Broadway shows, popular entertainment acts, could have been used during the popular Newport Music Festival for performances by large ensembles and popular artists throughout the year. The city is heavily visited and not just during the summer tourist season.
One can only dream.
This opening day ad appeared in the Newport Daily News in 1929.
“Daughter of Deceit” was Luis Buñuel’s “ La Hija del engaño.” The director’s more obscure Mexican films were being released for the first time in art and specialty houses in the U.S. Most had been shown already, but in unsubtitled showings in Spanish-language cinemas. The Little Theatre at the Public showed a few of them. I remember seeing “El Bruto” there.
Joe, you can also easily show those photos by posting them on a server such as Photobucket and simply linking to the URL. I and numerous others do that. Go to www.photobucket.com
It’s free up to a certain limit.
Is that located in Sandton, where they housed our tour group in 2000, or in central Johannesburg?
The only other possibility might have been the Columbus Theatre/Studio Cinema twin up on Broadway. At that time, before going into porno, they showed mostly first and second-run art product but could easily have thrown in a double bill like that. Small world, I used to go to Camille’s and Johnson’s Hummocks during those years and even…hmmmm!…the Fife and Drum on Weybosset Street.
I seem to remember an Evergreen Films distributorship from this period, theatrical and non-theatrical, specializing in off-beat product…associated with Evergreen Books, perhaps.
I live in neighboring Johnston and never heard of the area where the Park is located being called “downtown Cranston.” Maybe the “center” of Cranston or Rolfe Street area. Is there an “uptown Cranston?” When was the Park originally built? Was this really a vaudeville theatre at one time? (I’m just asking; I’d like to know.) In any case, this is all very good news.
Here is some updated news about plans to renovate the Park for concerts and theatrical productions. The theatre, closed for several years now, has been in limbo.
I believe Radley Metzger’s steamy “Camille 2000” got audiences hot and bothered there for a while in 1969.
I’m not positive, but I believe the Garrick was also used as a “legit” theatre and is where the off-Broadway hit “The Fantasticks” ran for many years.
A program like that MIGHT have played the Avon Cinema on Thayer Street (the films definitely played there individually in first-run) or the Art Cinema on Broad Street. Both theatres are listed on Cinema Treasures. I cannot confirm, however, where in fact the program was shown in the time-frame you mention. You might be able to check the Providence Journal microfilm for movie ads around that time.
Shouldn’t this be listed as “Criterion Theatre” rather than “The Criterion”? The definite article does not appear to be part of its name.
In this photo we can see, behind the trolley, a bit of the Rainbo Theatre. After the theatre was demolished, the vacant lot became used for decades as a turn-around for the Dyer-Pocasset bus line. An uneven short fragment of the theatre building remained like some kind of Roman ruin.
I agree, Jerry Kovar. Racy ads for art films does not automatically predestine a theatre for eventual pornship. And the redoubtable Paris Theatre showed Brigitte Bardot in “And God Created Woman” for over a year by peddling her breasts and butt outline, and it should be singled out as well as the “grandma of porn.” I walked by there yesterday. They are showing “Ladies in Lavender.”
I’d like to resign from the topic since the issue is so self-evident to me that it is becoming tedious. However, if AlAlvarez or anyone else has an extended listing of what was shown at the Apollo over their “great years” (e.g.: dates, lists of double bills) I would like to have access to that. I understand enough about their programming and went to enough films there to have a pretty good idea of what they did. Still, it is sketchy. I’m: