Barton, that was the American Film Theatre series, funded in part by American Express, in which various directors were commissioned to make films of important plays. Among the others were Brecht’s “Galileo” directed by Joseph Losey, Harold Pinter’s “Butley” directed by the playwright, Maxwell Anderson’s “Lost in the Stars” directed by Daniel Mann, Pinter’s “The Homecoming” directed by Peter Hall, John Osborne’s “Luther” directed by Guy Green, Jean Genet’s “The Maids” directed by Christopher Miles, Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” directed by Tom O'Horgan, and “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” directed by Denis Heroux. The series did not go into wide release but usually played one theatre in the larger metropolitan areas. The two you mentioned, Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” and O'Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” were directed respectively by Tony Richardson and John Frankenheimer. They were among the best of the bunch.
Jim, that is an utterly hilarious story. It could be part of a movie. If you have other stories and recollections of Fall River movie theatres, please post them. That’s what this site is all about.
The Nickelodeon had several screens. It was a premiere art house for the Boston area especially in the 1980s and 1990s and replaced an earlier incarnation down the corner of Cummington Street and another street that leads to Huntington Avenue. The place was one Green-Line stop or a short walk from Kenmore Square. After the Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge was built, there was some day/dating in the programming. I used to go to the Nickelodeon often. The programming was great. The projection was usually first rate, and they served terrific ice cream by the scoop. The last time I went there was when I brought some Italian club students to see Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena” on February 10, 2001. One week later the Nickelodeon was closed!
Roger, regarding Hartford, you are correct. But those two are in neighborhoods away from the center and I knew about them. What I was thinking was DOWNTOWN Hartford. There are no more there.
I have a note that at the Cine Orleans, built in the Strand stagehouse, I saw Robert Aldrich’s “The Legend of Lylah Clare” in 1968. It starred Kim Novak, Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine and had (gasp! horrors! egads! amend the Constitution!) a lesbian theme.
One of the many regrets of my life was that I never visited the Durfee, although I lived in nearby Providence. That’s why I submitted this theatre to begin with. I knew about and could have gone to see Lillian Gish in her 1970s nostalgic appearance/film presentation. I don’t feel like looking up the details right now, but I chose to see something else in Providence that night, at Brown University (thanks, W.C. Fields.) I did see Gish in the audience at Radio City Music Hall in a restoration/revival of “A Star is Born” several years later, but never the Durfee, though I drove by it many times. Why have ALL the old theatres of Fall River been closed or destroyed? ALL OF THEM! Just like Hartford. Surely one could have been used today as a theatre and concert venue like Providence’s Performing Arts Center (Loew’s State) or New Bedford’s Zeiterion. Jim Isadore, you seem to be familiar with the Durfee. Do you know of any surviving photos?
This is all very interesting to me. I live on the east coast. I too took a picture of the exterior some time in the 1980s when I went into my marquee-photographing mode. Being Italian, loving Italian films and operas, I thought “La Tosca” was a fabulous name for a movie theatre. Keep us informed.
At the end of the 1996 film “Celluloid,” an Italian movie about the making of Rossellini’s “Open City,” the scrolled narrative mentions the World Theatre by name as being instrumental in the beginning recognition of the film’s worth. Still virtually unseen and unappreciated in Italy, “Open City” began a 21-month run at the World with showings from 9 A.M. to 11 P.M., beginning in February, 1946. International acclaim for the revolutionary movie followed, augmented by its subsequent success in France later that year. So the history of Italian neo-realism owes a debt to Rod Geiger (the American G.I. who negotiated the importation of “Open City”), to its then-distributor Mayer-Burstyn, and to the World Theatre which showcased it in the middle of Manhattan.
Nothing to forgive, David S. It’s just that I was utterly certain about that and checked the New York Times microfilm to confirm. You may note that the Playboy was a theatre that I submitted and have had great times there over the decades.
I recently saw “Before Sunset” on a special mid-week matinee scheduled because of cloudy weather! The movie playing in the other of the two auditoriums (and packed to the gills!) was Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
I remember visiting this marvelous theatre a number of times in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was used as one of the venues for Serge Losique’s Montreal World Film Festival.
A propos of nothing in particular: I have a New York Times ad here showing that in 1948 the Technicolor film “The Swordsman”, starring Larry Parks and Ellen Drew, played here. It was directed by auteurist cult-favorite Joseph H. Lewis. I wish I could have gone to this theatre.
I visited this cinema for the first time on Sunday after a concert at Tanglewood. The considerable little audience in the little auditorium responded favorably to the Franco-Georgian found-treasure called “Since Otar Left.” Applause followed. It’s reassuring that venues like this can exist and attract good audiences for international films of merit. Good place. Fine projection and sound.
Warren, David S, look it up? I did just that an hour ago! “Cria!” opened at the Plaza on East 58th Street and was reviewed in the New York Times on May 19, 1977. Subsequently it expanded to the Paramount at Broadway and 61st Street, and by the time I saw it at the Paramount on June 22, 1977, it was playing at BOTH theatres. Must have done good business because of the rave reviews. David, if you don’t believe me, check the New York Times for June 22, 1977 and you will see a “Cria!” ad shared by both theatres.
Now, with regard to that bank teller, I hope you restored the money. If not, perhaps you could send it to me instead.
Davids, I do not confuse. “Cria!” played at the Paramount, not at the Studio, and I noted it in my log and journal. Art films may have been unusual for this venue, but “Cria!” did have a run there.
I meant to add that the Bleecker, in some of its publicity, used to mention the house cat. The feline was named “Breathless” after Jean-Luc Godard’s first feature.
I remember reading that French director François Truffaut said this was his favorite New York cinema. Truffaut’s 1961 film “Tire au flanc,” made in collaboration with Claude de Givray, was given its New York premiere at the Bleecker in 1963, and I don’t believe it actually received much, if any, U.S. distribution after that. Perhaps it was screened by special arrangement with Truffaut.
This medium-sized theatre, which looks like a New England country church from the outside, is one of the joys of Cape Cod. I just attended a Wednesday evening showing of the delightful film set in Mongolia, “The Story of the Weeping Camel.” The audience was large and appreciative of this unusual work, and suggested a clientele that was highly attuned to movies of artistic merit. The previously programmed feature had been “Fahrenheit 9/11” which had played only its allotted two weeks (to smash business!) so that it would not occupy the cinema’s single screen the whole summer and so the cinema could provide a variety of programs for the season. A notice was posted at the entrance and boxoffice to remind people who may have come for the Moore film that it was no longer playing.
The seats here are not regular theatre seats but rather wide padded comfy-chairs with metal arm-rests. They do not have a flip-up seat. The chairs are all covered with clean white fitted coverings. The justly famous ceiling mural mentioned in the Ross Melnick description is a stunning vision and makes you feel that you are in a special place.
The laudable Center Stage Cafe'/Restaurant is steps away in this beautiful complex of separate buildings that includes the Cape Playhouse, a museum, and the cinema. One could spend an entire day here enjoying the cultural/theatrical/cinematic offerings as well as the good food. And one should!
Tremendous! The theatre is now being listed as the World, rather than the Embassy 49th Street. If one were to write a history of Manhattan’s greatest first-run art houses of the past and present, then the World would have be enrolled in that pantheon of the Little Carnegie, Fifth Avenue Playhouse, Baronet, Paris, Carnegie Hall Cinema, Fine Arts, Beekman, Plaza, Lincoln Plaza…and a lengthy list of remembered and unremembered others.
The legendary French classic “Pepe le Moko” with Jean Gabin opened at this theater when it was called the World, in March of 1941, almost five years after its French release and AFTER the remake with Charles Boyer, “Algiers,” had been made. The pre-war and post-war years of glory for this place were when it was named the World. There were no real years of glory when it was named the Embassy 49th Street. It really should be listed as the World.
Barton, that was the American Film Theatre series, funded in part by American Express, in which various directors were commissioned to make films of important plays. Among the others were Brecht’s “Galileo” directed by Joseph Losey, Harold Pinter’s “Butley” directed by the playwright, Maxwell Anderson’s “Lost in the Stars” directed by Daniel Mann, Pinter’s “The Homecoming” directed by Peter Hall, John Osborne’s “Luther” directed by Guy Green, Jean Genet’s “The Maids” directed by Christopher Miles, Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” directed by Tom O'Horgan, and “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” directed by Denis Heroux. The series did not go into wide release but usually played one theatre in the larger metropolitan areas. The two you mentioned, Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” and O'Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” were directed respectively by Tony Richardson and John Frankenheimer. They were among the best of the bunch.
Jim, that is an utterly hilarious story. It could be part of a movie. If you have other stories and recollections of Fall River movie theatres, please post them. That’s what this site is all about.
The Nickelodeon had several screens. It was a premiere art house for the Boston area especially in the 1980s and 1990s and replaced an earlier incarnation down the corner of Cummington Street and another street that leads to Huntington Avenue. The place was one Green-Line stop or a short walk from Kenmore Square. After the Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge was built, there was some day/dating in the programming. I used to go to the Nickelodeon often. The programming was great. The projection was usually first rate, and they served terrific ice cream by the scoop. The last time I went there was when I brought some Italian club students to see Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena” on February 10, 2001. One week later the Nickelodeon was closed!
I am curious about what the one in Manhattan near Union Square was called. Anyone know?
Roger, regarding Hartford, you are correct. But those two are in neighborhoods away from the center and I knew about them. What I was thinking was DOWNTOWN Hartford. There are no more there.
I have a note that at the Cine Orleans, built in the Strand stagehouse, I saw Robert Aldrich’s “The Legend of Lylah Clare” in 1968. It starred Kim Novak, Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine and had (gasp! horrors! egads! amend the Constitution!) a lesbian theme.
One of the many regrets of my life was that I never visited the Durfee, although I lived in nearby Providence. That’s why I submitted this theatre to begin with. I knew about and could have gone to see Lillian Gish in her 1970s nostalgic appearance/film presentation. I don’t feel like looking up the details right now, but I chose to see something else in Providence that night, at Brown University (thanks, W.C. Fields.) I did see Gish in the audience at Radio City Music Hall in a restoration/revival of “A Star is Born” several years later, but never the Durfee, though I drove by it many times. Why have ALL the old theatres of Fall River been closed or destroyed? ALL OF THEM! Just like Hartford. Surely one could have been used today as a theatre and concert venue like Providence’s Performing Arts Center (Loew’s State) or New Bedford’s Zeiterion. Jim Isadore, you seem to be familiar with the Durfee. Do you know of any surviving photos?
This is all very interesting to me. I live on the east coast. I too took a picture of the exterior some time in the 1980s when I went into my marquee-photographing mode. Being Italian, loving Italian films and operas, I thought “La Tosca” was a fabulous name for a movie theatre. Keep us informed.
At the end of the 1996 film “Celluloid,” an Italian movie about the making of Rossellini’s “Open City,” the scrolled narrative mentions the World Theatre by name as being instrumental in the beginning recognition of the film’s worth. Still virtually unseen and unappreciated in Italy, “Open City” began a 21-month run at the World with showings from 9 A.M. to 11 P.M., beginning in February, 1946. International acclaim for the revolutionary movie followed, augmented by its subsequent success in France later that year. So the history of Italian neo-realism owes a debt to Rod Geiger (the American G.I. who negotiated the importation of “Open City”), to its then-distributor Mayer-Burstyn, and to the World Theatre which showcased it in the middle of Manhattan.
Nothing to forgive, David S. It’s just that I was utterly certain about that and checked the New York Times microfilm to confirm. You may note that the Playboy was a theatre that I submitted and have had great times there over the decades.
Sure is in western Massachusetts. My error, can someone change it?
I recently saw “Before Sunset” on a special mid-week matinee scheduled because of cloudy weather! The movie playing in the other of the two auditoriums (and packed to the gills!) was Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
I remember visiting this marvelous theatre a number of times in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was used as one of the venues for Serge Losique’s Montreal World Film Festival.
A propos of nothing in particular: I have a New York Times ad here showing that in 1948 the Technicolor film “The Swordsman”, starring Larry Parks and Ellen Drew, played here. It was directed by auteurist cult-favorite Joseph H. Lewis. I wish I could have gone to this theatre.
I visited this cinema for the first time on Sunday after a concert at Tanglewood. The considerable little audience in the little auditorium responded favorably to the Franco-Georgian found-treasure called “Since Otar Left.” Applause followed. It’s reassuring that venues like this can exist and attract good audiences for international films of merit. Good place. Fine projection and sound.
Sorry, the bank teller comment was directed to Andy T, not David S.
Warren, David S, look it up? I did just that an hour ago! “Cria!” opened at the Plaza on East 58th Street and was reviewed in the New York Times on May 19, 1977. Subsequently it expanded to the Paramount at Broadway and 61st Street, and by the time I saw it at the Paramount on June 22, 1977, it was playing at BOTH theatres. Must have done good business because of the rave reviews. David, if you don’t believe me, check the New York Times for June 22, 1977 and you will see a “Cria!” ad shared by both theatres.
Now, with regard to that bank teller, I hope you restored the money. If not, perhaps you could send it to me instead.
Davids, I do not confuse. “Cria!” played at the Paramount, not at the Studio, and I noted it in my log and journal. Art films may have been unusual for this venue, but “Cria!” did have a run there.
I meant to add that the Bleecker, in some of its publicity, used to mention the house cat. The feline was named “Breathless” after Jean-Luc Godard’s first feature.
I remember reading that French director François Truffaut said this was his favorite New York cinema. Truffaut’s 1961 film “Tire au flanc,” made in collaboration with Claude de Givray, was given its New York premiere at the Bleecker in 1963, and I don’t believe it actually received much, if any, U.S. distribution after that. Perhaps it was screened by special arrangement with Truffaut.
It was reported in the Providence Journal that the theater owner is seeking permission to sell liquor at the theatre as a way of increasing revenues.
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This medium-sized theatre, which looks like a New England country church from the outside, is one of the joys of Cape Cod. I just attended a Wednesday evening showing of the delightful film set in Mongolia, “The Story of the Weeping Camel.” The audience was large and appreciative of this unusual work, and suggested a clientele that was highly attuned to movies of artistic merit. The previously programmed feature had been “Fahrenheit 9/11” which had played only its allotted two weeks (to smash business!) so that it would not occupy the cinema’s single screen the whole summer and so the cinema could provide a variety of programs for the season. A notice was posted at the entrance and boxoffice to remind people who may have come for the Moore film that it was no longer playing.
The seats here are not regular theatre seats but rather wide padded comfy-chairs with metal arm-rests. They do not have a flip-up seat. The chairs are all covered with clean white fitted coverings. The justly famous ceiling mural mentioned in the Ross Melnick description is a stunning vision and makes you feel that you are in a special place.
The laudable Center Stage Cafe'/Restaurant is steps away in this beautiful complex of separate buildings that includes the Cape Playhouse, a museum, and the cinema. One could spend an entire day here enjoying the cultural/theatrical/cinematic offerings as well as the good food. And one should!
Tremendous! The theatre is now being listed as the World, rather than the Embassy 49th Street. If one were to write a history of Manhattan’s greatest first-run art houses of the past and present, then the World would have be enrolled in that pantheon of the Little Carnegie, Fifth Avenue Playhouse, Baronet, Paris, Carnegie Hall Cinema, Fine Arts, Beekman, Plaza, Lincoln Plaza…and a lengthy list of remembered and unremembered others.
For you Moore bashers:
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The legendary French classic “Pepe le Moko” with Jean Gabin opened at this theater when it was called the World, in March of 1941, almost five years after its French release and AFTER the remake with Charles Boyer, “Algiers,” had been made. The pre-war and post-war years of glory for this place were when it was named the World. There were no real years of glory when it was named the Embassy 49th Street. It really should be listed as the World.