Bijou Theatre

Thanks again — this is wonderful!! I never knew there was ever a theater at that location. Childs' Restaurant would have been between it and the Arcade in “my day,” but I don’t know if it’s actually the same building.

I’ll put my meager recollection’s at the Fay’s site.

Oh I’m not sure exactly why it acquired the reputation that it did. The prevailing rumor was that the place was overrun by bugs and vermin, etc. and that undesirable people hung out there. One of my fellow music students at that time told me that “the seats are so low, a man sat on my brother.” This is about all I can recall of the Bijou. It and the Empire disappeared seemingly at the same time, although I seem to remember that the Empire went on to present road show musicals for a time. It’s hard to imagine now that there were so many theaters in downtown Providence! Besides the magnificent, palatial Loew’s State (now “PPAC”), there was the Albee, the Strand, the Majestic (which is still glorious and is home to the inimitable Trinity Square Repertory Company’s two theaters), The Metropolitan, Fay’s, The Carlton, the Capitol (another “undesirable” place)along with the aforementioned Bijou and Empire. And the area where all these were located is probably less than a square mile. I haven’t checked to see if the Liberty Theater is included Cinema Treasures. It was not downtown but in South Providence, probably on Broad Street, and was a neighborhood theater that I remember from my high school days.

Yes, this later one is the one I remember, but it closed sometime in the late 40s — I used to pass it when I was going up the street to my piano lesson!! By that time it had a terrible reputation and was the kind of place your mother wouldn’t allow you to go into!!