Boston Opera House

This was a nice surprise finding this site by chance, following a link from the restoration of the Belasco Theater here in Los Angeles. It made me want to search for the elegant old theater where I began my film career – the Sack Savoy Theater.

It was 1972. My freshman college roommate and I wanted a part-time job where we could work together. I wanted to work in a movie theater as I was already an avid film buff and wanted free tickets. I saw an ad for the Sack Savoy and we hopped on the trolley from BU, talking the manager into hiring us but only if we worked the same shifts as this area was notorious for being in the middle of the seedy Combat Zone and just down the street from where Chesty Morgan was showing off her notorious attributes. The films were geared for the downtown action crowd, and sometimes it was a little spooky going through that damp tunnel into the main theater.

I started in the small theater in the back, first selling candy and popcorn, later promoted to tickets, first at the Tremont Street entrance, the next year upped to the main box office on Washington. Playing for what seemed like months was SOUNDER, the first serious crossover drama about a black family and earning Cicely Tyson an Academy Award nomination. The big theater was mobbed every night for the brand new action star, Bruce Lee, starring in FISTS OF FURY and the next year ENTER THE DRAGON.

Owner Ben Sack, who never emerged from his upstairs offices, called down every day at the same time to ask what the day’s gross was and what serial number on the ticket we were up to. We all had to be ready for the call and it was always nerve-wracking to make sure our numbers and BO take matched. The calls were always very abrupt. He never said his name. Just asked for the numbers and hung up. I worked for him for several years and laid eyes on him maybe once.

A couple of times the manager allowed us to explore the old areas upstairs from when it was a live music hall. I remember it being very dusty everywhere, with one room featuring a large old fashioned billiards table, and the old bathrooms or “lounges” were over the top. You could still see how glamorous and beautiful the theater had been, with the soaring marble columns and ornately painted ceilings everywhere, even upstairs covered under the dust and old equipment. I loved coming to work every day. Our pay was $10.10 a shift â€" a decent part-time pay in those days, plus the incredible good fortune of getting in free to every theater all over Boston to see whatever we wanted any day of the week. All we had to do was call the manager and he called ahead for passes. Being the home theater of the chain’s owner, working at the Savoy had its own prestige.

Landed a job at General Cinema on graduation (as a receptionist, but I got the job because of my long experience at the Savoy!), and a couple of jobs later for Warner Bros (because of my extensive film background!) for almost two decades, ultimately as VP of Worldwide Acquisitions. When people asked me how I started in this business, I always happily reported: selling tickets and popcorn. Those were the glory times and many happy memories. An aside – my freshman roommate continued in the film biz too, a long time agent and now a talent manager.

Ron, this Globe movie page from October 1959 (linked from this blog entry) has an ad calling it “RKO KEITH’S Memorial”, with the apostrophe.

The marquee and the verticle cloth banner above it have now been changed to read “Boston Opera House” instead of just plain “Opera House”. Most TV and newspaper ads for shows at this venue now have “Boston Opera House” as the theater name instead of “Opera House”.

tisloews – you have sharp eyesight to spot the “E.M.Loews Theatres” sign in ken mc’s 1980 Savoy photo, posted on 4-21-09. I didn’t notice it. The EML offices had been located in the Publix Theatre bulding on Washington Street. That theater closed in Spring 1983 and the offices were moved out. I didn’t really pay much attention to where they moved. The company didn’t last too much longer after that.

It is interesting that in Ken Mc’s 1980 photo of the SAVOY the brick buildiing to its right has a sign ot it that says E.M. LOEWS THEATRES was that a theatre or just E.M. LOEWS office.

to danpetitpas- thanks for posting the links to the 2 photos of the structure on Tremont Street and its rear on Mason Street. Note that it is right next to the south wall of the Tremont-oin-the-Common condo building. It is on the exact footprint of the old 1890s Keith structure which provided a Tremont Street entrance for the old Keith’s Theatre (later, Normandie and Laffmovie). I think that it is perhaps slightly narrower than the original. It is not the original in a preserved state, however. The original structure was demolished totally about circa-1990. This new structure was built about 7 or so years ago. I suspect that the developer was required to build it, but it no longer serves any purpose, because patrons cannot get into the Opera House from Mason Street they way they used to. See posts above which discuss the demolition of the arcade alongside the south wall of the Opera House at the time that the major renovations took place in the early 2000’s. When the west end of the arcade was demolished, it was replaced by stage space at stage-right. There no longer is a thru doorway for patrons to go out onto Mason Street and then walk thru to Tremont inside the new structure. Or vice-versa.

I was reading some of the older posts from earlier this year, and I just wanted to clarify that the corridor or alleyway that ran between Tremont Street and Mason Street and led to the rear of the Opera House is still there. I walk by it every day. You can see a picture of it wedged between two apartment buildings here and the back view here courtesy of Google Street View. It was restored a few years ago as part of the Opera House renovation.

It’s actually nothing more than a few steel I-beams holding the facades on and a roof. There is no marquee on it, but you can see where it was, and the glass doors, I believe, are always locked, although they might help in bringing in deliveries from Tremont. The white stone is similar to the white stone used on the facade of the Opera House on Washington St, and they may date to the 1940 renovation.

The city of Boston has a policy of keeping old alleys intact. For example, there’s a passageway from Temple Place to Winter Street that probably dates back to when Sam Adams lived there. Or it’s also possible that the Opera House owns that slim piece of property. But it’s still there preserved.

The Boston Herald today has an article about the move from the Wang Theatre to the Opera House of the Boston Ballet Company. It says that the orchestra pit at the Opera House has just been rebuilt and enlarged. It can now accomodate up to 60 musicians.

The Boston Globe and Boston Herald websites both report that Live Nation has sold the Orpheum, the Opera House, and the Paradise Rock Club (in Allston) to the newly organized Boston Opera House Ventures LLC , owned by Don Law and David Mugar. Law is president of Live Nation New England, but his new company will operate separately from Live Nation, according to the Herald.

Yes, the entrance to the Opera House is on Washington Street (east side) and from the outer lobby there was an “arcade” which ran along the south side of the theater all the way to Mason Street at the rear of the stage (west side). The western half of that arcade was demolished, along with the entire stage house, around 2004. During the movie days, the arcade was kept unlocked, so that pedestrians could use it as a short-cut. Also, it was used by movie patrons who purchased their tickets at the Tremont St. box office, went out the back of the Tremont St. entrance, crossed Mason Street and then entered the west door of the arcade.

to Life’s too short- the rear entrance of the Opera House arcade, and the west half of the arcade, were demolished circa-2004 or so at the time the heavy renovations on the Opera House started. They torn down the entire stage house, from the proscenium arch rearward, and this included the west half of the arcade. The new structure today contains exit doors where the arcade entrance on Mason St. was located. The stage door today, for performers and stage hands, is in the approximate location of the original stage door. It’s no longer possible for patrons to enter the theater from Mason St. because the stage-right wings and the scenary dock are in the way.

Hey Ron, why was the rear entrance of the Opera House arcade removed?

Here is a 1938 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/czukg7