Park Theatre
28 Chelsea Street,
Everett,
MA
02149
28 Chelsea Street,
Everett,
MA
02149
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Showing 26 - 32 of 32 comments
Kids who grew up in the ‘50’s and '60’s will remember the children’s matinees every Saturday and Sunday. Always double features, preceded by cartoons, Three Stooges, and serials like Batman and Captain Video. Many a packed noisy house. On Saturdays, you collected an extra ticket at admission for the contests/prizes part of the show, which was after the trailers (just before the second feature). Leo had this giant board of hidden numbers which was placed on the stage in front of the curtains, and a kid was selected to point at cards on the board to reveal the winning numbers. This was followed by the balloon blowing contest, where kids got to stand on the stage in front of the screen and get cheered on.
The PARK THEATRE in EVERETT MA. has avery rich history. My late father in law (LEO BROTMAN) spent 38 years at the theatre 28 of which were as manager. The Theatre was owned bu a gentleman named Irving Green but for all practical purposes it was my father in law who ran the theatre along with his father as one of two doormen, His daughter (my wife) as candy girl, his wife handing out the dishes on dish night and his son as one of the ushers. The theatre was built in the 1920s as THE STRAND..For a short time after that it was known as the OLYMPIA and then in the early thirties it became THE PARK. Originally it was a legitimate theatre..Then silents came in and then the Talkies. Leo Actually worked on installing the original sound system and was the projectionist until 1939 when he became the manager. The original seating caopacity was 900 but was reduced to 700 when cinemascope came in and a new screen was installed. The screen was 16x32. The largest screen in the area for a theatre that size. I have enough information to fill a book,,but I will stop now and pick it up at a later time. Suffice it to say it was a true family theatre and the only one of the three theatres in Everett to survive the new television era. Sam s
The Park became a live theatre in early or mid-1980s, still using its original name. I recall reading in the newspaper that a large forestage had been constructed out in front of the proscenium. I also have a memory that it was to be the winter home of the Provincetown theatre company, but I seem to recall that they didn’t last a full season there.
According to this article – View link (scroll down to Page 2), the Park Theatre was replaced by apartments; whether this was via a complete demolition of or a gutting and rebuild of the structure which housed the Park is unclear. Meanwhile, two very partial images of the interior (not enough to capture any notable architectural elements) of the Park’s auditorium can be seen on this page – http://www.paulmangone.com/images.htm – within the website of former Extreme (a one-time popular Boston-based rock band) bass player Paul Mangone, from the days when Mangone was playing with The Dream, another group from the area.
This page says 28 Chelsea Place, but I have no idea where the site gets its directory information from. The phone number listed on that page is disconnected.
I found a street address for what I presume is the same Park Theatre in Everett: 23 Chelsea Place.
In the Boston Globe archives, I found an article from January 3, 1982, saying that it had closed the previous year. Carmen Zingariello then bought it in March 1981 and reopened it in October 1981 with both movies and live shows.
A March 16, 1982 article also mentions the Park Theatre. Programming included movies, vaudeville, Gilbert & Sullivan, and big band shows (which “fill the house”).
The last citation I can find in the Globe archive is from November 19, 1984. The Park had become home to the Provincetown Repertory Theatre, which was about to produce an eight-month, eight-play season there.
If someone can come up with a street address, I’ll try to visit the location and find out if it is still standing. Unfortuantely, I seem to recall hearing that it was torn down.