Empire Theatre
260 Westminster Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
260 Westminster Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
3 people
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After having been known as the Victory for about sixteen years, the theatre re-opened on August 2, 1936 as the Empire. Some extensive renovations, in and out, had been done to the place and cost, according to a newspaper ad, over $35,000. The theatre saw a new marquee, new booth equipment, refurbished plumbing, new upholstery and drapery, rugs, linoleum, attendants' uniforms. The first program in the theatre’s incarnation as the Empire was Let’s Sing Again and The Ex-Mrs. Bradford. Admission prices ranged from 15 cents to 30 cents. The ad boasted of Alaskan Air air-conditioning system and a new sound system. The theatre was under new local management and was part of the local chain, Associated Theatres, Inc. of R.I. Doors opened daily at 10 A.M. The theatre, opposite the Shepard Company department store, would shut down thirteen years later and be razed to create another downtown department store, W. T . Grant’s.
This nice 1940s photo of the theatre when it was known as the Empire was just brought to my attention.
Here is a photo of the interior of the Low’s-Keith’s-Victory-Empire. In his book Temples of Illusion Roger Brett calls this “the most graceful sweep of balconies ever to be seen in a Providence theater.”
He adds, “It had only the lower balcony when built; the gallery was added in 1882. As in the Providence Opera House and the Westminster, gallery gods sat, not on chairs, but on hard wooden benches.”
In November of 1946, when this theatre was called the Empire, one of the films shown in second-run was Roberto Rossellini’s Open City, which had played to great acclaim at the East Side’s Avon Cinema two months earlier. It was about as different a kind of program as had ever played here, theatrical or cinematic. It was paired, incongruously, with the Bob Steele Cinecolor B-Western Northwest Trail. In eighteen months the theatre would be gone.
The end comes for two venerable theatres Providence theatres: Keith’s and the Westminster. The following elegy was written by Roger Brett in his 1976 book Temples of Illusion, a history of downtown Providence theatres:
“In the late spring of 1948, the grand old theater of Westminster Street was torn down to provide space for a store. This was the theater built in 1878 as Low’s Opera House; renamed Keith’s Opera House and then Keith’s Theater. It was the house (…) whose stage had held the brightest stars of Keith vaudeville’s most brilliant day.
“Late in 1949, as winter close in once more, the next oldest theatre in the city got the crowbar and wrecking ball treatment.
“The gaudy old house that had opened as the Westminster Musée and Menagerie with variety acts, animals, and freaks on display in 1886, and had become known as the Sink, the city’s most famous burlesque house, made way for a parking lot.
“In their last years when they were known as the Empire and the Bijou, the two houses had shown second-run and reissued films, usually with no more than a handful of old derelicts in attendance. Unlike today, there was no great interest in old movies and it is doubtful that more than a few dozen classic film fans like myself went in these theaters for any other reason than to escape the cold or to sleep. However, it was in the Empire (née Keith’s) that I was first introduced to the Little Caesar of Edward G. Robinson, and The Prisoner of Zenda of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Ronald Colman. And it was at the Bijou (née Westminster and Sink) that I was exposed to Eddie Cantor and a bevy of platinum blondes in The Kid from Spain, and to Boris Karloff in the original Frankenstein of 1931. Now, it was no longer possible for a downtown movie theatre to pay its own way if it were anything less than first run, and so, down they came.”
A Providence Journal Almanac from 1940 gives the seating capacity of the Empire (formerly Victory and Keith’s) as 1603.
Here is a photo of Keith’s Theatre back in the early decades of the 20th Century.
PROVIDENCE THEATRES: “TEMPLES OF ILLUSION"
A book called "Temples of Illusion,” by Roger Brett, was published in 1976. It is Mr. Brett’s detailed history of all the old downtown area theatres of Providence from 1871 to 1950. It includes numerous rare photos, a list of theatres with name changes, and a map to show exactly where they all were. The book is an invaluable resource and is owned by many libraries in the R.I. CLAN system. I found a copy for sale online and will use it as a reference for future postings.
Time-line for name-changes for this theatre as listed in the Providence Public Library topical card catalog:
1878-1888 Low’s Opera House
1888-1898 Keith’s Gaiety Opera House
1898-1911 Keith’s New Theatre
1912-1919 Keith’s Theatre
1920-1936 Victory Theatre
1936-1949 Empire Theatre
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.
Roger Katz, there were TWO theatres named Victory at different times. (1) Low’s – Keith’s – Victory – Empire. This was located at 260 Westminster Street at Union Street and is the theatre in this posting. (2) Modern -Playhouse – Victory. This is the theatre at 440 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. There were also THREE Empire Theatres at different times.
The 1925 Providence Journal Almanac gives the seating capacity of the Victory as 1950 seats. Other data: proscenium opening, 32x32 feet; footlights to back wall, 35 feet; between side walls, 80 feet; height to gridiron, 42 feet.
Is the Keith’s in thisold postcard the theatre that became the Victory? The card has a 1906 date on it.
Then the Modern may have been named the Victory at one point after the Victory at the above address was razed. The Modern/Playhouse was at 440.
The Victory and the Empire were separate theatres. However, I have the Victory listed at 440 Westminster St.
The theatre, formerly Keith’s New Theatre, was located opposite Shepard’s Department Store (now U.R.I. Providence campus) on Westminster Street. It may later have been called the Empire, but there are indications from newspaper ads that another theatre at one time called the Empire was further up on Westminster Street at number 368. Can someone explicate the names, name changes, and locations of these Westminster Street Theatres in downtown Providence?