B. F. Keith's Theatre
547 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
547 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 45 of 45 comments
From Emerson College’s news office:
Planning proceeds for College’s Paramount Center development on Washington Street
Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.
I’m pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building, which appears to occupy some or all of the former Bijou and B.F. Keith Theatre footprints.
I’m also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to reuse the name “Bijou” for either the smaller stage or the screening room?
In its great Vaude days this house was known as Keith’s New Theatre or just plain Keith’s. It was never called the Colonial Th., as it is in Douglas Gilbert’s 1942 book “American Vaudeville”, or in the writings of Joe Laurie Jr., a vaudevillian, theatrical historian, and writer for Variety. Others picked up on their mistake and so the name appears in error in other writings. There was only one Colonial Theatre in Boston, the legit house on Boylston Street.
When I was a kid I had the chance many times to go into the Laffmovie, but didn’t because I did not like Abbott & Costello movies which were often presented there. I thought it was just a hole in the wall and had no idea what a grand house it was. A friend who was a year younger than me went there several times and, since his mother had taken him to the Colonial on Boylston Street, he likened the Laffmovie to that theatre in terms of size and rococco decoration. The Laffmovie had a semi-circular marquee over its entrance just north of the Paramount. It closed at the end of February 1951 and was demolished beginning in July 1951. The Bijou was also demolished at that time. A famous book on the ten best theatres in America published in the 1890s lists Keith’s New Theatre as one of the ten. Rarely does Yankee Magazine ever discuss New England theatres, but this house was the subject of an article entitled “The Furnace Room had a Velvet Rug” in the March 1974 issue.Much was made in the article of the fact that when the theatre was new the public was invited to tour the basement utility spaces.
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This theatre was no longer named “Keith’s” by 1935. The show was probably at the RKO Keith Memorial, or possibly the RKO Keith-Boston.
The Boston Athenaeum has an extensive collection of Boston theatre playbills. Send a message to their librarian, Rebecka Persson: and she may be able to help you.
I am very interested in getting the programme of Tuesday April 29, 1935 at the Keith’s Theatre where the show “Hello Paris” of the Folies Bergere had a representation.
A book about one of the dancer, Alberto Spadolini is in process and the autor needs this details.
Thank you very much for your help.
Charles Pisciotta
Mill Valley, CA
e-mail:
No, this theatre has been demolished. You are thinking of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, which was built next door to replace this one.
See the Opera House listing for more information.
This theater has been renovated and is now open as the Opera House.
Donald C. King’s new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History has many photos and an extensive 11-page description of this theatre. I got most of my initial information about this theatre from an earlier article that King published in the third quarter 1974 issue of the Theatre Historical Society’s journal Marquee.
When the theatre opened, its electric generating room was itself a major attraction, which had an elevated marble walkway for visits by patrons.
On May 18, 1896, Thomas Edison’s Vitascope motion pictures were shown here, for the first time in Boston. “The film show consisted of short subjects, none of which ran more than a few minutes, and featured were John C. Rice and May Irwin in a picture of a kiss from the stage comedy The Widow Jones.” Shows were at 11 am, 3:30 pm, and 9 pm, and included vaudeville. Newspapers speculated that the new invention could be used to permanently preserve copies of stage performances and deliver them all over the world.
In February 1913, B.F. Keith’s Theatre and the National both offered Edison’s Talking Pictures, “a phonograph and film device, some 13 years ahead of workable sound pictures. The problem was amplification: a phonograph horn, no matter how big, could not carry sound any further than a few rows.”
B.F. Keith’s no-longer-New Theatre closed on June 30, 1928, “featuring a stage-load of vaudeville stars including Ethel Barrymore, Will Cressy, Chick Sale, and Fred and Dorothy Stone.” The Keith-Albee organization no longer needed this house since they were about to open the larger and even more lavish Keith Memorial Theatre next door.
On April 1, 1929, it reopened as Shubert’s Apollo, but by 1930 had changed its name again to the Lyric. It was not successful as a legitimate stage, and then became the Normandie Ballroom (I posted a link to a photo of this above). Its auditorium became a dance floor with tables.
On December 16, 1939, it became a movie theatre, still called the Normandie. The first show was a double feature of I Was a Captive of Nazi Germany and The Fight For Peace. Soon afterwards, owner Fred Lieberman made it part of his “proven pictures” circuit, showing old movies or low admission prices.
The theatre was demolished in 1951, after further name changes to Laff-Movie, Art-Movie, and Mirth-Movie.
Cover of a Keith’s Theatre program from 1901, showing the lobby and staircase.
A photo of B.F. Keith, 1902
From the Boston Public Library’s photo collection:
Demolition of Keith’s Theatre, 1952
Demolition of Keith’s Theatre, from the roof
Demolition of Keith’s Theatre, showing workman
Normandie Ballroom, 1936 (formerly the B.F. Keith Theatre)
Act Drop, B.F. Keith’s Theatre, 1913
Red Room, Keith’s Theatre
Grand Stairway, Tremont Street Entrance, Keith’s Theatre
In this 1945 photo (described here), look closely at the sign between the Paramount and RKO Keith’s marquees. At the top of the sign, you can barely see the words “New Normandie” — which is what this theatre was called by then. I wish I could read the rest of the sign, which presumably advertises the currently playing movie.
Here’s the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. Photo is described here.
Today’s Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College’s plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the B.F. Keith’s entrance and the Bijou Theatre.
Some of this redevelopment will also take place on “a vacant parcel called the North Lot”, which I believe is where the B.F. Keith used to stand.
See today’s comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.
And here’s a 1999 photo and description of the still-standing 545-547 Washington Street building. Compare it with the earlier photos that I’ve linked to.
The BF Keith Theatre entrance was in the left storefront, now occupied by the the “High Voltage” store.
The Bijou entrance was in either the center arch or the right storefront. That store is now vacant, but for many years, it contained the amusement arcade shown in the 1999 photo.
The upper stories also remain boarded up and empty. It’s a sadly underutilized building which now drags down the entire neighborhood surrounding it.
This 1930 photo, described here, shows the BF Keith’s vertical sign on Tremont Street (advertising “Outside The Law”) above or next to a Lyric Theatre marquee.
In 1897, a second entrance to this theatre was built at 163 Tremont Street. It included a stairway and tunnel under Mason Street. For over three decades after this theatre was demolished, 163 Tremont continued to serve as an entrance to the adjoining RKO Keith Memorial theatre. Unfortunately, this entrance’s elaborate detail had long been either removed or covered over by the 1960s. Few people mourned when it was demolished in the mid-1980s to make way for condominiums.
Some picture postcards of the Tremont Street entrance, when it was still grand:
1905 picture postcard, described here. Keith’s entrance is the green, arched building near the left side.
Another picture postcard, from 1908, described here.
Keith’s by Night, described here.
Keith’s Theatre at Night postcard, described here.
Somewhere I recall reading that it was also briefly called the ‘Mirthmovie’ near the end of its life. I don’t know why it went through so many name changes.
The Film Daily Yearbook,1950 lists this theatre as the Art Movie Theatre, with a seating capacity of 1,239. Obviously seating has been reduced due to fire code enforcements and closing an upper balcony.
In this 1934 winter nighttime photo (described here), you can just barely see the Normandie sign at the left, followed by the Bijou, the newer RKO Keith Memorial, and finally the Modern.
For comparison, look at this picture taken between 1907 and 1915, which shows the Keith’s and Bijou Dream entrances side-by-side. Photo is described here.
A 1906 photo of Keith’s Theatre, described here. Keith’s Theatre is the green building. To its left is the Adams House hotel. To its right is an establishemnt called “O'Callaghan’s”, of which I know nothing. It is where the Bijou Theatre should be located. Perhaps the Bijou is closed at this time, or has had its entrance consolidated with Keith’s.