Patsy: I regret that my links are dated now. Robert Montgomery, a West Palm Beach attorney and philanthropist who underwrote the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, was unable to find others to support the museum, forcing closure. Currently, from the outside, the building looks about the same. Several weeks ago, there was some kind of construction going on inside. Over five years ago, the sloping floor from the theater was removed and made flat. The balcony and projection booth were made into exhibit space. So, the interior is no longer a theater. In its heyday, the museum had planned to build an annex, also in Art Moderne style, across the alley in the rear of the building for additional offices and meeting rooms. Try this URL and scroll down just below mid-page for severa views of this theatre. No guarantees as to how long the link will last. Tom
The South End must have been an interesting place to live with all these theaters, whether live or motion picture. If your home was in these neighborhoods, you had much within walking distance. I’d give anything to go back to that era in a time machine.
It’s interesting: the 1928 map shows the outline of the long, narrow, lobby/corridor that led past the flanking retail stores to the auditorium. Also interesting: the configuration of the tracks in the Park Street station.
Ron-I’ve only been to the BPC once for a benefit performance given by comedian Robert Klein. I remember the modern interior. I wish they’d done a restoration instead, though I suppose it’s a miracle that the building is still standing.
Ron. Yes, it was Houghton and Dutton. Here’s a web page showing a trade card for the store: http://www.cyberbee.com/september05.html I saw a picture of the store in Jane Holtz Kay’s “Lost Boston.” Tom
CinemarkFAn: I hope you can do it. A lot of people live within walking distance of the theater. I once did myself at 505 N. Lake Shore. I loved the McClurg.
dwodeyla: No, not related to John Norton. We became friends when I called the Home Office in Chestnut Hill with a technical question about Dolby. He must have talked to me for twenty minutes with all sorts of information. We’d chat from time to time, and had lunch at Legal Seafood nearby. Through him, I became a theater checker. I might have been the checker during your last year at the Braintree GC at the original Plaza site. Anyway, they changed the checker program, and I was dropped. Later, I got bogged down with family matters and lost touch with John. He was very knowledgable, and I truly enjoyed learning technical aspects of cinema with him. He chose HPS-4000 speaker systems for several auditoriums in the GC chain. They have superb clarity, particularly in the mid-range. I think the current AMC Braintree Cinema still has them in one auditorium (at least they looked like the same configuration—cinema 3 on the left in the SE corner). When I asked the current AMC manager, he didn’t know. The THX designations for the two, big auditoriums are gone, as well as the Kodak image quality designations. John Norton had the highest professional standards. I’m sure he was the key reason why GC had such high presentation quality. I wish him all the best in his current endeavors. tn
dwodeyla: when I find the slides, I’ll be glad to scan them and send them. DaVia: The design of the first Braintree General Cinema your Dad did was quite handsome, a rather classic modernist theater building of the day. The lobby was about two stories high and had floor to ceiling windows on the west elevation which was the front of the building. In the late afternoon, the sun streamed into the lobby. Please give your Dad my best. Perhaps he knew John Norton at GCC headquarters. That theater was a real part of my youth, myself being one of the first mall rats at So.Shore Plaza, and I saw many films there. tn
dwodeyla: Yes, the listings should be made. Somewhere, in my piles of architecture stuff, I have some slides I took of the GCC Braintree theater, the one that’s a Circuit City now. I know some people at the Braintree Historical Society who might have a photo of the Braintree Theater in Braintree Square. bigred: I noticed when AMC took over the Braintree GCC that the quality of the place declined.
I think you’ve listed them all. I forgot that the Cameo in South Weymouth had been twinned, as well as the theater in Scituate Harbor. The Loring is a wonderful, local theater with a loyal following. They now have Dolby. I’ve never visited Stoughton. I live in hope that the Wollaston will revive, but I guess it’s beyond the pale. I had the same hope for the East Milton theater. I see the Norwood theater has been twinned. I haven’t been there in years. Anyway, in my note to Richard I said “HAD” some single venues, which is, alas, mostly the case.
Richard: <<If you think the matinee was bad you should have seen Friday nights. >> Yikes! Glad I missed those. I’m trying to remember, did the theater have a balcony? My recollection is that it did not. Do you recall the “Art” theater in Quincy Square? My memory of it is fading, though positive. I think it might have had a Deco style exterior and possibly interior. The South Shore had a number of decent, single-screen venues (some of which remain) before the ‘plexes took over. tom
Richard: The Braintree Theater was purchased by the owner of the then nearby Barile Plumbing company and converted into a commercial building in the early sixties. It may still be called the Barile Building. Barile Plumbing is gone, I believe. The building has professional offices on the second floor and a mix of retail and offices on the first floor. I recall friends of my parents saying the Braintree Theater was popular, drawing people from surrounding towns. I attended a few matinees there when I was very young, just before it closed. Kids matinees then were extremely noisy and rowdy. Such behavior would NEVER be tolerated today.
Since this is a forum for the appreciation and preservation of theaters, the more we study and understand the demise of the Publix, the better equipped we are to save theaters in the future. The irony is that that the theater might well have been saved in conjunction with new development that would generate tax revenue. The sad fact is that this was a building in a district with historic and architectural significance, and one which could have could have lived on, contributing to the cultural life of Boston. You can plop a condominium tower just about anywhere.
William: Kind thanks for this interesting description. Could it handle VistVision in the horizontal format? Did Ampex provide the speakers and amps or just the magnetic reproducer electronics? Altec—of the some era—did a fair amount of work for movie theaters, both speakers and electronics. Both provided expensive, top-of-the-line equipment. A church I attended had an Altec monophonic amp (to drive headsets for the hearing impaired!!),an early solid state unit. It weighed a ton, was rack mounted, and cost a bundle. t.
John: Thanks for this update, sad as it is. Like yourself, I really liked the McClurg Court. In the seventies when I was just out of school, I had a studio apartment nearby and could walk there—a real luxury. As you say, yet another health club. :–( When I lived there, the McClurg Building had club and pool near the second level deck, possibly.
Eric… <<King’s book also states that the Pi Alley was twinned “soon” after opening in 1969.>> Hmmm, well, if his theater history begins around 1620 (venues for Pilgrim morality plays), I suppose, to the author, the nine year span to 1978 could be considered “soon.”
dwodeyla: I think AMC mainly just wants to get big. They just announced they were buying Loew’s. So, Boston is now a one company movie theater town again, I think, if you don’t count the Kendall in Cambridge, which is a a Landmark and or Samuel Goldwyn theater. I’m sure AMC figures obsessive attention to soap dispensers does little for the bottom line. I pay attention to such things. During the eighties and early nineties, I was a theater checker for the Braintree Cinemas. They figured out who I was, and I got moved down to the Hanover Cinema, a less glamourous assignment. They removed the Dolby equipment when I was there. That theater is open again under different ownership. I drove by about a month ago around nine in the evening. It was packed. Anyway, regarding the Braintree Ten—no more THX and no more Kodan screen certification either.
Ron: Thanks for the book reference, revised description and updates. What’s amazing is the number of movie “firsts” in Boston, like the “double feature” and the Westrex sound system mentioned above. Louis Mayer started in the business somewhere in Massachusetts, a first for him anyway. MIT grad Herbert Kalmus invented the flickerless shutter and the Technicolor film process. Kalmus, who shunned publicity, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His former home on Cape Cod is now a bed & breakfast. One of the parlors there has a library of his technical journals.
Patsy: I regret that my links are dated now. Robert Montgomery, a West Palm Beach attorney and philanthropist who underwrote the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, was unable to find others to support the museum, forcing closure. Currently, from the outside, the building looks about the same. Several weeks ago, there was some kind of construction going on inside. Over five years ago, the sloping floor from the theater was removed and made flat. The balcony and projection booth were made into exhibit space. So, the interior is no longer a theater. In its heyday, the museum had planned to build an annex, also in Art Moderne style, across the alley in the rear of the building for additional offices and meeting rooms. Try this URL and scroll down just below mid-page for severa views of this theatre. No guarantees as to how long the link will last. Tom
The South End must have been an interesting place to live with all these theaters, whether live or motion picture. If your home was in these neighborhoods, you had much within walking distance. I’d give anything to go back to that era in a time machine.
It’s interesting: the 1928 map shows the outline of the long, narrow, lobby/corridor that led past the flanking retail stores to the auditorium. Also interesting: the configuration of the tracks in the Park Street station.
Ron-I’ve only been to the BPC once for a benefit performance given by comedian Robert Klein. I remember the modern interior. I wish they’d done a restoration instead, though I suppose it’s a miracle that the building is still standing.
Ron. Yes, it was Houghton and Dutton. Here’s a web page showing a trade card for the store: http://www.cyberbee.com/september05.html I saw a picture of the store in Jane Holtz Kay’s “Lost Boston.” Tom
CinemarkFAn: I hope you can do it. A lot of people live within walking distance of the theater. I once did myself at 505 N. Lake Shore. I loved the McClurg.
Ron, I got my drive’s license in 63. I’m pretty sure it was the Milton then. t
dwodeyla: No, not related to John Norton. We became friends when I called the Home Office in Chestnut Hill with a technical question about Dolby. He must have talked to me for twenty minutes with all sorts of information. We’d chat from time to time, and had lunch at Legal Seafood nearby. Through him, I became a theater checker. I might have been the checker during your last year at the Braintree GC at the original Plaza site. Anyway, they changed the checker program, and I was dropped. Later, I got bogged down with family matters and lost touch with John. He was very knowledgable, and I truly enjoyed learning technical aspects of cinema with him. He chose HPS-4000 speaker systems for several auditoriums in the GC chain. They have superb clarity, particularly in the mid-range. I think the current AMC Braintree Cinema still has them in one auditorium (at least they looked like the same configuration—cinema 3 on the left in the SE corner). When I asked the current AMC manager, he didn’t know. The THX designations for the two, big auditoriums are gone, as well as the Kodak image quality designations. John Norton had the highest professional standards. I’m sure he was the key reason why GC had such high presentation quality. I wish him all the best in his current endeavors. tn
Ron: Exellent article. Thanks!! I’m glad to be proven wrong. t
While I could be wrong, this article on the Glass Slipper seems to run longer than anything the Phoenix did on the Gaiety/Publix.
dwodeyla: when I find the slides, I’ll be glad to scan them and send them. DaVia: The design of the first Braintree General Cinema your Dad did was quite handsome, a rather classic modernist theater building of the day. The lobby was about two stories high and had floor to ceiling windows on the west elevation which was the front of the building. In the late afternoon, the sun streamed into the lobby. Please give your Dad my best. Perhaps he knew John Norton at GCC headquarters. That theater was a real part of my youth, myself being one of the first mall rats at So.Shore Plaza, and I saw many films there. tn
Ron: thanks for the update. The articles on collusion in the Gaiety’s demise make it clear why the theater never had a chance. What a sorry tale.
dwodeyla: Yes, the listings should be made. Somewhere, in my piles of architecture stuff, I have some slides I took of the GCC Braintree theater, the one that’s a Circuit City now. I know some people at the Braintree Historical Society who might have a photo of the Braintree Theater in Braintree Square. bigred: I noticed when AMC took over the Braintree GCC that the quality of the place declined.
I think you’ve listed them all. I forgot that the Cameo in South Weymouth had been twinned, as well as the theater in Scituate Harbor. The Loring is a wonderful, local theater with a loyal following. They now have Dolby. I’ve never visited Stoughton. I live in hope that the Wollaston will revive, but I guess it’s beyond the pale. I had the same hope for the East Milton theater. I see the Norwood theater has been twinned. I haven’t been there in years. Anyway, in my note to Richard I said “HAD” some single venues, which is, alas, mostly the case.
Richard: <<If you think the matinee was bad you should have seen Friday nights. >> Yikes! Glad I missed those. I’m trying to remember, did the theater have a balcony? My recollection is that it did not. Do you recall the “Art” theater in Quincy Square? My memory of it is fading, though positive. I think it might have had a Deco style exterior and possibly interior. The South Shore had a number of decent, single-screen venues (some of which remain) before the ‘plexes took over. tom
Richard: The Braintree Theater was purchased by the owner of the then nearby Barile Plumbing company and converted into a commercial building in the early sixties. It may still be called the Barile Building. Barile Plumbing is gone, I believe. The building has professional offices on the second floor and a mix of retail and offices on the first floor. I recall friends of my parents saying the Braintree Theater was popular, drawing people from surrounding towns. I attended a few matinees there when I was very young, just before it closed. Kids matinees then were extremely noisy and rowdy. Such behavior would NEVER be tolerated today.
Has the wrecking ball finished its work on the Publix?
Since this is a forum for the appreciation and preservation of theaters, the more we study and understand the demise of the Publix, the better equipped we are to save theaters in the future. The irony is that that the theater might well have been saved in conjunction with new development that would generate tax revenue. The sad fact is that this was a building in a district with historic and architectural significance, and one which could have could have lived on, contributing to the cultural life of Boston. You can plop a condominium tower just about anywhere.
William: Kind thanks for this interesting description. Could it handle VistVision in the horizontal format? Did Ampex provide the speakers and amps or just the magnetic reproducer electronics? Altec—of the some era—did a fair amount of work for movie theaters, both speakers and electronics. Both provided expensive, top-of-the-line equipment. A church I attended had an Altec monophonic amp (to drive headsets for the hearing impaired!!),an early solid state unit. It weighed a ton, was rack mounted, and cost a bundle. t.
What is a “D-150” screen?
I always wondered if they had reverse slope seating because they thought it was cool, or because they had to do it for structural reasons. T.
John: Thanks for this update, sad as it is. Like yourself, I really liked the McClurg Court. In the seventies when I was just out of school, I had a studio apartment nearby and could walk there—a real luxury. As you say, yet another health club. :–( When I lived there, the McClurg Building had club and pool near the second level deck, possibly.
Eric… <<King’s book also states that the Pi Alley was twinned “soon” after opening in 1969.>> Hmmm, well, if his theater history begins around 1620 (venues for Pilgrim morality plays), I suppose, to the author, the nine year span to 1978 could be considered “soon.”
dwodeyla: I think AMC mainly just wants to get big. They just announced they were buying Loew’s. So, Boston is now a one company movie theater town again, I think, if you don’t count the Kendall in Cambridge, which is a a Landmark and or Samuel Goldwyn theater. I’m sure AMC figures obsessive attention to soap dispensers does little for the bottom line. I pay attention to such things. During the eighties and early nineties, I was a theater checker for the Braintree Cinemas. They figured out who I was, and I got moved down to the Hanover Cinema, a less glamourous assignment. They removed the Dolby equipment when I was there. That theater is open again under different ownership. I drove by about a month ago around nine in the evening. It was packed. Anyway, regarding the Braintree Ten—no more THX and no more Kodan screen certification either.
Ron: Thanks for the book reference, revised description and updates. What’s amazing is the number of movie “firsts” in Boston, like the “double feature” and the Westrex sound system mentioned above. Louis Mayer started in the business somewhere in Massachusetts, a first for him anyway. MIT grad Herbert Kalmus invented the flickerless shutter and the Technicolor film process. Kalmus, who shunned publicity, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His former home on Cape Cod is now a bed & breakfast. One of the parlors there has a library of his technical journals.