Hmmm, as I think about the information in my prior post, supposedly from old city directories, I’m wondering if perhaps the address was actually 293, not 273 Essex Street. The Salem Theater was farther down Essex Street (if one were walking east) at 285 Essex. My recollection is that the Plaza Theater directly abutted the Salem Theater (sharing a common wall). It would make much more sense then if the Plaza would have been at 293 Essex. I must believe that was the case.
I just found another reference based on actual old Salem directories that gives the location of the Empire Theater as 285 Essex Street, which I believe from visual memory would probably be correct. It appears that 293 Essex Street, as given at Cinema Tour is incorrect.
The address of the Plaza Theater was 273 Essex Street in Salem, MA. The marquee called the theater the New Plaza Theater, as the predecessor Plaza Theater had stood on the exact same lot.
Here is a link to a photo from March 21, 1940 showing the marquee of the Paramount Theatre in Salem, MA during the premier of “The House of Seven Gables”.
Probably the only more fitting movie for the closing would have been “The Last Picture Show”. I was living in Norwood at the time and had no knowledge of the closing. Otherwise, I would have driven to Salem with my wife to see the last movie. As a matter of fact, we had our first date there around 1963. The movie then was the comedy “Bachelor Flat” with Terry Thomas. I just happened to be in Salem shortly after the demolition. Driving down Church Street, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I got out of the car and stood where the theater had been. There was not even a brick left on the ground as a
souvenir. Now it’s just a memory. Speaking of Saturday matinees, where I was 10 or so and went to the Paramount with my friends, tickets for kids under 12 were 25 cents! Yes, I do recall the manager’s office directly across from the lobby exits facing St. Peter Street, and next to the left side grand staircase to the balcony when entering from the foyer. I believe that once James Field left, Phil Bloomberg became the theater manager. In the end, in the name of urban renewal, the Paramount was torn down—all for a parking garage that stood mostly empty for years thereafter. Ironically, the wrecking company went bankrupt trying to take the theater down. They had previously knocked down the much older Federal Theater (a vaudeville house), which dropped like a house of cards I’m told. The Paramount was steel reinforced, which made it a far more difficult project, thus the huge cost overruns.
When my dad was in high school in the early 1930s, he worked as an usher at the Paramount Theatre (originally Publix)in Salem, MA, designed by Rapp & Rapp of Chicago with 2,187 seats. I believe that the uniform there in his time was black pants, red jacket and red cap, quite similar to hotel bellhop garb of the era. I once saw a picture of the ushers at the Salem Paramount c. 1930 (there were a considerable number in the photo), but being in the Salem Evening News, it was a black and white picture. As I think back to the 1950s when I used to see movies there, the uniform seemed the same.
The address of the Empire was 293 Essex Street in Salem. In addition to the orchestra and balcony seating, there were also boxes on the side walls. I had once heard that the balcony had been permanently closed due to a structural deficiency, but I don’t know if that was actually true or not.
I was able to locate a picture of a Robert-Morton 2/4 Style 75 theater organ on the Internet, formerly installed in a theater and now in a funeral chapel. The 2/4 means two keyboards and 4 ranks—a rather small theater organ, but recall that the Plaza seated only 750
patrons. So a smaller organ would make sense. Here is the link:
Here is the link to an article describing the current installation with picture of the Paramount’s Wurlitzer #2121 in Jerry Gould’s barn studio in Maple Valley, WA. The article also lists the instrument sounds available in this huge theater organ.
If anyone would like to see pictures of the Paramount’s great Wurlitzer organ #2121 (installed in July 1930) and later as installed at the Pizza & Pipes Restaurant in Seattle, WA, after the theater was demolished, here is the link:
No doubt the information on the organ at the Plaza is correct. In the years I went there as a kid in the 1950s though, I never heard it played, nor did I see it on the stage. By then I suppose it could have been behind the movie screen or the stage proscenium, or even sold and removed. I do clearly recall that there were no faux boxes or recessed alcoves in the interior walls for organ pipe chambers. So it would be interesting to know where the organ pipes were installed.
I did get to hear an organ recital once on the big Wurlitzer at the Paramount in Salem in the early 1960s. The last name of the organist was Simpson. When the Paramount was demolished, the Wurlitzer and organ pipes went to a pizza parlor out West which no longer exists. What a fate for such a great instrument!
I’d like to add some information for the Paramount Theater in Salem, MA. The architectural firm was the prestigious Rapp & Rapp of Chicago, IL. I had indicated that it opened in 1928, but it was still under construction then. The actual opening date was April 19, 1930. A few years later Publix sold its interest in the theater to John A. Deery, a Salem realtor. The Paramount was believed to be one of the first theaters designed exclusively for “talkies”. Nevertheless, although the stage depth was only 15 feet, many big name acts appeared at that venue over the years. The last movie exhibited there was “Midnight Cowboy”. I had mentioned 1967 as the year of demolition, but it appears to have been a few years later around 1971. I also neglected to mention that James Field managed the theater for 30 years starting in 1935. After the theater closed, he subsequently worked for the Salem Redevelopment Authority, and, ironically, in that capacity oversaw the theater demolition project.
I forgot to mention in my earlier post—you had mentioned the YMCA. At least into the early 1960s, there was a theater of sorts right in the Y. It was called Ames Memorial Hall. If you went into the main entrance on Essex Street, went up the marble staircase to the main level, and turned left at the top landing, you entered the hall. It had a stage and a wrap-around shallow balcony. When I was a kid the hall was used as the venue for the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claude Philips, dances (there was a ballroom dance school held there for years run by Harriet James as well as Teen Town for the high school kids), lectures, piano recitals, and other uses. I believe that the hall was later converted into squash courts.
That’s probably true that the Plaza was in fair condition in 1941. My dad said it was getting shabby back in the 30s. I had forgotten all about that clock in the marquee until you mentioned it here. That was definitely unique. Also, I am I’m quite sure that the name on the marquee read “The New Plaza”, as it was the namesake for an earlier Plaza. Thanks for the E. M. Loew’s information. I always wondered if that theater was originally part of a chain. It might also explain how E. M. Loew’s Salem Theater was built directly next door—the chain probably owned both adjacent lots.
A unique difference was the location of the ticket booth at the Plaza. It was built into the right side of the entrance wall at a slant to draw theater goers to the window. The Paramount and Salem Theaters both had standalone ticket booths under their marquees and in front of the entrance doors.
The Plaza was closed during the early 60s, and had a perpetual David Frye Realtor sign in the front lightbox facing the sidewalk. Yes, it was small and quite rundown. I don’t believe it ever saw any meaningful refurbishment during its entire existence. My dad once said was getting shabby even in his time. My friends and I always opted for the balcony. The main floor was much smaller, and even the last row down there was too close to the screen. Upstairs you could get considerably farther back. I had forgotten about the marquee claim of “Always 2 Big Hits”, haha! They were always second run, of course. In the 50’s war movies were frequently shown there.
The theaters in Salem had very different characters. The Plaza was shabby, the Paramount was the crown jewel, and E. M. Loew’s Salem was modern—but boring in design. Yet compared to today’s shoebox “theaters”, I guess it was a palace.
Yes, I followed your suggestion and entered those four theaters I mentioned in the thread. Maybe others will be able to add more information about them as time goes on.
I grew up in Salem, MA in the 40s and 50s. At that time there were actually four (4) theaters on Essex Street: The Paramount was on the north side of the street near St. Peter St. The Empire, the Plaza, and E.M. Lowe’s Salem were fairly clustered together on the south side of lower Essex Street down toward Jerry’s Army & Navy.
The Paramount opened as a Publix Theater in 1928. It was designed as a classic movie palace with 2,187 seats. Its interior was Rococo style with a balcony. The side walls featured faux boxes, which actually housed lights to illuminate enormous murals in the manner of Watteau in tall arches behind the boxes. The two front boxes had curtains instead of murals. They hid away the giant Wirlitzer organ pipes. The screen was 85 feet long, which later became an equally long cinemascope screen. When the theater opened in 1928, it boasted air conditioning, a first. The balcony was originally designated as the smoking section. Seeing a movie in that grand old theater was an event. Phil Bloomberg was the owner/operator in that era. It was demolished in the 60s to make way for a parking garage, which had to be the folly of the decade. It would have made an extraordinary performing arts center.
The Empire Theater was already shuttered when I was a kid. It had 1,200 seats and had been used as a playhouse as for vaudeville in its time. I peered through the front doors when it was being demolished, and its interior was beautifully ornate.
The Plaza was actually the “New Plaza” built in 1917 with 750 seats to replace its predecessor, which had burned down. The Plaza had a Spanish motif interior. The orchestra floor had very little slope if any and was surprisingly small. The balcony was far larger than the downstairs, as it overlapped not only part of the main floor, but extended back as well over the lobby. This theater had deteriorated over the decades and was quite dingy and musty. It closed in the late 50s and never reopened. Its perpetual coming attraction was a David Frye Real Estate poster in its movie feature display by the ticket window.
E.M. Lowe’s Salem Theater was built in the early 50s and had 1,000 seats. By then the artisans had retired or died off, so movie theaters were no long grand in appearance with molded ceilings, lunnets, and filigree decoration. The Salem was instead a modern, plain vanilla movie house with nondescript wallpapered walls, a plain tile ceiling, and no balcony. I will concede that the seats moved forward on rails so that one could recline a bit. Despite its shortcomings, if it were still there (it burned down in the 90’s I believe), it would lord it over the multiplex shoeboxes that pass for “theaters” today with their screens slightly larger than television screens.
My mother told me that when she was a kid, there were two small silent picture theaters on Central Street, the Comique and the Nickelodian. Those had disappeared by the time I came along. There was also the larger Federal Theater which was a vaudeville house and showed some movies before closing. By the time I came along, it had long closed and been converted first into a bowling alley, and subsequently a First National supermarket. If memory serves, it was located on New Derby Street.
Hmmm, as I think about the information in my prior post, supposedly from old city directories, I’m wondering if perhaps the address was actually 293, not 273 Essex Street. The Salem Theater was farther down Essex Street (if one were walking east) at 285 Essex. My recollection is that the Plaza Theater directly abutted the Salem Theater (sharing a common wall). It would make much more sense then if the Plaza would have been at 293 Essex. I must believe that was the case.
I just found another reference based on actual old Salem directories that gives the location of the Empire Theater as 285 Essex Street, which I believe from visual memory would probably be correct. It appears that 293 Essex Street, as given at Cinema Tour is incorrect.
The address of the Plaza Theater was 273 Essex Street in Salem, MA. The marquee called the theater the New Plaza Theater, as the predecessor Plaza Theater had stood on the exact same lot.
Here is a link to a photo from March 21, 1940 showing the marquee of the Paramount Theatre in Salem, MA during the premier of “The House of Seven Gables”.
View link
Hi Jon,
Probably the only more fitting movie for the closing would have been “The Last Picture Show”. I was living in Norwood at the time and had no knowledge of the closing. Otherwise, I would have driven to Salem with my wife to see the last movie. As a matter of fact, we had our first date there around 1963. The movie then was the comedy “Bachelor Flat” with Terry Thomas. I just happened to be in Salem shortly after the demolition. Driving down Church Street, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I got out of the car and stood where the theater had been. There was not even a brick left on the ground as a
souvenir. Now it’s just a memory. Speaking of Saturday matinees, where I was 10 or so and went to the Paramount with my friends, tickets for kids under 12 were 25 cents! Yes, I do recall the manager’s office directly across from the lobby exits facing St. Peter Street, and next to the left side grand staircase to the balcony when entering from the foyer. I believe that once James Field left, Phil Bloomberg became the theater manager. In the end, in the name of urban renewal, the Paramount was torn down—all for a parking garage that stood mostly empty for years thereafter. Ironically, the wrecking company went bankrupt trying to take the theater down. They had previously knocked down the much older Federal Theater (a vaudeville house), which dropped like a house of cards I’m told. The Paramount was steel reinforced, which made it a far more difficult project, thus the huge cost overruns.
When my dad was in high school in the early 1930s, he worked as an usher at the Paramount Theatre (originally Publix)in Salem, MA, designed by Rapp & Rapp of Chicago with 2,187 seats. I believe that the uniform there in his time was black pants, red jacket and red cap, quite similar to hotel bellhop garb of the era. I once saw a picture of the ushers at the Salem Paramount c. 1930 (there were a considerable number in the photo), but being in the Salem Evening News, it was a black and white picture. As I think back to the 1950s when I used to see movies there, the uniform seemed the same.
The address of the Empire was 293 Essex Street in Salem. In addition to the orchestra and balcony seating, there were also boxes on the side walls. I had once heard that the balcony had been permanently closed due to a structural deficiency, but I don’t know if that was actually true or not.
I was able to locate a picture of a Robert-Morton 2/4 Style 75 theater organ on the Internet, formerly installed in a theater and now in a funeral chapel. The 2/4 means two keyboards and 4 ranks—a rather small theater organ, but recall that the Plaza seated only 750
patrons. So a smaller organ would make sense. Here is the link:
View link
Here is the link to an article describing the current installation with picture of the Paramount’s Wurlitzer #2121 in Jerry Gould’s barn studio in Maple Valley, WA. The article also lists the instrument sounds available in this huge theater organ.
View link
If anyone would like to see pictures of the Paramount’s great Wurlitzer organ #2121 (installed in July 1930) and later as installed at the Pizza & Pipes Restaurant in Seattle, WA, after the theater was demolished, here is the link:
View link
The pizza restaurant closed in the 1980s. Today the organ is privately owned and installed in a barn studio.
No doubt the information on the organ at the Plaza is correct. In the years I went there as a kid in the 1950s though, I never heard it played, nor did I see it on the stage. By then I suppose it could have been behind the movie screen or the stage proscenium, or even sold and removed. I do clearly recall that there were no faux boxes or recessed alcoves in the interior walls for organ pipe chambers. So it would be interesting to know where the organ pipes were installed.
I did get to hear an organ recital once on the big Wurlitzer at the Paramount in Salem in the early 1960s. The last name of the organist was Simpson. When the Paramount was demolished, the Wurlitzer and organ pipes went to a pizza parlor out West which no longer exists. What a fate for such a great instrument!
I’d like to add some information for the Paramount Theater in Salem, MA. The architectural firm was the prestigious Rapp & Rapp of Chicago, IL. I had indicated that it opened in 1928, but it was still under construction then. The actual opening date was April 19, 1930. A few years later Publix sold its interest in the theater to John A. Deery, a Salem realtor. The Paramount was believed to be one of the first theaters designed exclusively for “talkies”. Nevertheless, although the stage depth was only 15 feet, many big name acts appeared at that venue over the years. The last movie exhibited there was “Midnight Cowboy”. I had mentioned 1967 as the year of demolition, but it appears to have been a few years later around 1971. I also neglected to mention that James Field managed the theater for 30 years starting in 1935. After the theater closed, he subsequently worked for the Salem Redevelopment Authority, and, ironically, in that capacity oversaw the theater demolition project.
Hi Jon,
I forgot to mention in my earlier post—you had mentioned the YMCA. At least into the early 1960s, there was a theater of sorts right in the Y. It was called Ames Memorial Hall. If you went into the main entrance on Essex Street, went up the marble staircase to the main level, and turned left at the top landing, you entered the hall. It had a stage and a wrap-around shallow balcony. When I was a kid the hall was used as the venue for the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claude Philips, dances (there was a ballroom dance school held there for years run by Harriet James as well as Teen Town for the high school kids), lectures, piano recitals, and other uses. I believe that the hall was later converted into squash courts.
Hi Ron,
That’s probably true that the Plaza was in fair condition in 1941. My dad said it was getting shabby back in the 30s. I had forgotten all about that clock in the marquee until you mentioned it here. That was definitely unique. Also, I am I’m quite sure that the name on the marquee read “The New Plaza”, as it was the namesake for an earlier Plaza. Thanks for the E. M. Loew’s information. I always wondered if that theater was originally part of a chain. It might also explain how E. M. Loew’s Salem Theater was built directly next door—the chain probably owned both adjacent lots.
A unique difference was the location of the ticket booth at the Plaza. It was built into the right side of the entrance wall at a slant to draw theater goers to the window. The Paramount and Salem Theaters both had standalone ticket booths under their marquees and in front of the entrance doors.
Hi, Jon
The Plaza was closed during the early 60s, and had a perpetual David Frye Realtor sign in the front lightbox facing the sidewalk. Yes, it was small and quite rundown. I don’t believe it ever saw any meaningful refurbishment during its entire existence. My dad once said was getting shabby even in his time. My friends and I always opted for the balcony. The main floor was much smaller, and even the last row down there was too close to the screen. Upstairs you could get considerably farther back. I had forgotten about the marquee claim of “Always 2 Big Hits”, haha! They were always second run, of course. In the 50’s war movies were frequently shown there.
The theaters in Salem had very different characters. The Plaza was shabby, the Paramount was the crown jewel, and E. M. Loew’s Salem was modern—but boring in design. Yet compared to today’s shoebox “theaters”, I guess it was a palace.
Hi Ron,
Yes, I followed your suggestion and entered those four theaters I mentioned in the thread. Maybe others will be able to add more information about them as time goes on.
I grew up in Salem, MA in the 40s and 50s. At that time there were actually four (4) theaters on Essex Street: The Paramount was on the north side of the street near St. Peter St. The Empire, the Plaza, and E.M. Lowe’s Salem were fairly clustered together on the south side of lower Essex Street down toward Jerry’s Army & Navy.
The Paramount opened as a Publix Theater in 1928. It was designed as a classic movie palace with 2,187 seats. Its interior was Rococo style with a balcony. The side walls featured faux boxes, which actually housed lights to illuminate enormous murals in the manner of Watteau in tall arches behind the boxes. The two front boxes had curtains instead of murals. They hid away the giant Wirlitzer organ pipes. The screen was 85 feet long, which later became an equally long cinemascope screen. When the theater opened in 1928, it boasted air conditioning, a first. The balcony was originally designated as the smoking section. Seeing a movie in that grand old theater was an event. Phil Bloomberg was the owner/operator in that era. It was demolished in the 60s to make way for a parking garage, which had to be the folly of the decade. It would have made an extraordinary performing arts center.
The Empire Theater was already shuttered when I was a kid. It had 1,200 seats and had been used as a playhouse as for vaudeville in its time. I peered through the front doors when it was being demolished, and its interior was beautifully ornate.
The Plaza was actually the “New Plaza” built in 1917 with 750 seats to replace its predecessor, which had burned down. The Plaza had a Spanish motif interior. The orchestra floor had very little slope if any and was surprisingly small. The balcony was far larger than the downstairs, as it overlapped not only part of the main floor, but extended back as well over the lobby. This theater had deteriorated over the decades and was quite dingy and musty. It closed in the late 50s and never reopened. Its perpetual coming attraction was a David Frye Real Estate poster in its movie feature display by the ticket window.
E.M. Lowe’s Salem Theater was built in the early 50s and had 1,000 seats. By then the artisans had retired or died off, so movie theaters were no long grand in appearance with molded ceilings, lunnets, and filigree decoration. The Salem was instead a modern, plain vanilla movie house with nondescript wallpapered walls, a plain tile ceiling, and no balcony. I will concede that the seats moved forward on rails so that one could recline a bit. Despite its shortcomings, if it were still there (it burned down in the 90’s I believe), it would lord it over the multiplex shoeboxes that pass for “theaters” today with their screens slightly larger than television screens.
My mother told me that when she was a kid, there were two small silent picture theaters on Central Street, the Comique and the Nickelodian. Those had disappeared by the time I came along. There was also the larger Federal Theater which was a vaudeville house and showed some movies before closing. By the time I came along, it had long closed and been converted first into a bowling alley, and subsequently a First National supermarket. If memory serves, it was located on New Derby Street.
Now they’re all gone.