Roland L.,
Would love to see your photos of local R.I. area theatres. Why not host them on?: http://www.photobucket.com/
Free and easy. I did it. Once you’ve got the photo to Photobucket, simply copy the URL and paste on the appropriate Cinema Treasures page.
Re: Legion of “Decency.” In high school (LaSalle Academy in Providence) we had to take a solemn oath in 1956 not to see “Baby Doll” which was then playing at the Majestic. Lists of films not to see were also read off from the pulpit at Sunday mass in the early 1950s, and we had to take a pledge to avoid them, while standing with our right hand raised! I don’t remember all the titles, but one was the 1951 version of “M”.
Great masterpieces and other significant classics of the cinema on the Legion of Decency no-no condemned list included, among others:
“Breathless"
"Contempt"
"Jules and Jim"
"Knife in the Water"
"L'Avventura"
"La Notte"
"The Silence"
"Viridiana"
"The Balcony"
"Boccaccio ‘70"
"Bell'Antonio"
"Kiss Me, Stupid"
"Never on Sunday"
"Ways of Love” with Rossellini’s “The Miracle”
When “Never on Sunday” was to be shown on the University of R.I. campus, the Catholic chaplain protested vociferously and tried to get it banned.
According to a Providence Journal article on old theatres on October 20, 1996, this silent-era theatre was closed on July 3, 1925. Another later Bijou, formerly called the Westminster, was further up Westminster St. at Snow Street.
After the initial porno stint, the theatre went back to regular films for a time….possibly because of an anti-porno campaign by the town of Johnston. It was then known as the Cinema 6 Twin, because it is located on Route 6. So it was twinned (not noted above.) A newspaper ad from August 1978 lists it with a group of cinemas under the heading “Econo-Cinema Guide.” Other cinemas in that group were Four Seasons, Apple Valley, Meadowbrook, Park. Cinema 6 Twin was showing “The End” and “Coma” on that date.
Porno movies are not shown today (only in private booths.) It is primarily an adult retail emporium and there are no more auditoriums with seating.
This and the Kent were the two movie theatres of East Greenwich for many decades. The Kent has been demolished. Here is a photo I took of the Greenwich. View link
You should be able to find that article on Pawtucket Times microfilm at the city library. I’m not from Pawtucket but from Johnston. I never saw the Bellevue but went to the Strand in the 1950s.
No, I really don’t, and I am not into that kind of music. It should be easy enough to check, though. I walk by there often, past the ghosts of lost theatres.
Yep, true. This is just a cry of anguish, unrelated to the Sutton except in a general way: Boston now has only two commercial movie theatres. Providence has three. Boston-proper has no art houses left. None, zero. Providence has two. But then Providence doesn’t have a Cambridge.
Some movies I saw here were “The Madwoman of Chaillot,” “Fantasia” (badly cropped), “The Conformist,” “The Learning Tree,” Peter Brook’s “King Lear,” and, I think, Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys.” The programming became very haphazard until the place, always sloppily run, switched to gay and straight porno. When they closed, they were replaced as a porno house by the nearby VIP Luxury Cinema on Westminster Mall (q.v.) That one, a video projection house, didn’t last long.
I’m curious about the “Paris Cinema” name. A number of places here and there were called “Paris Cinema” and featured the same exterior design resembling, heaven help us, the truly classy Paris in New York. Many were or became porno houses. There is one in Worcester, Massachusetts still operating with screening rooms and a porno retail shop…built into a former movie palace. Can anyone illuminate?
Ron,
Forgive any trivia here, but this sort of thing intrigues me. In that terrific photo of 1947, linked above, the film might most likely have been the 1941 “Mr. Dynamite” rather than “Dynamite” (1929…unlikely) or the 1949 “Dynamite” (not yet made.) “Call of the Jungle” hails from 1944. So this was probably a revival B-film double-bill culled from a Boston exchange. Notice that the word “Dynamite” is to the right of the Victory marquee. A sign obscures the left side which would have provided enough space for “Mr.”
Regarding the issue brought up a couple of times about the Publix never advertising in The Boston Globe in the 1970s and earlier, I think they advertised in the Boston Record American, a tabloid-type paper like the N.Y. Daily News. The idea must have been that tabloid-readers were their real audience. I came upon this ad in the Boston Record American for July 21, 1969. I don’t know if they continued advertising there in the 1970s, but in the 1960s they did. View link
I’m from Johnston and managed to get to the Lafayette/Holiday only a few times over the years, but I liked it, and have a great findness for all “village cinemas.” Here is a relatively recent photo I took: View link
Roland L.,
Would love to see your photos of local R.I. area theatres. Why not host them on?:
http://www.photobucket.com/
Free and easy. I did it. Once you’ve got the photo to Photobucket, simply copy the URL and paste on the appropriate Cinema Treasures page.
Shade,
Here it is:
/theaters/6498/
Re: Legion of “Decency.” In high school (LaSalle Academy in Providence) we had to take a solemn oath in 1956 not to see “Baby Doll” which was then playing at the Majestic. Lists of films not to see were also read off from the pulpit at Sunday mass in the early 1950s, and we had to take a pledge to avoid them, while standing with our right hand raised! I don’t remember all the titles, but one was the 1951 version of “M”.
Great masterpieces and other significant classics of the cinema on the Legion of Decency no-no condemned list included, among others:
“Breathless"
"Contempt"
"Jules and Jim"
"Knife in the Water"
"L'Avventura"
"La Notte"
"The Silence"
"Viridiana"
"The Balcony"
"Boccaccio ‘70"
"Bell'Antonio"
"Kiss Me, Stupid"
"Never on Sunday"
"Ways of Love” with Rossellini’s “The Miracle”
When “Never on Sunday” was to be shown on the University of R.I. campus, the Catholic chaplain protested vociferously and tried to get it banned.
Such stupidity!
My list above included several films by Akira Kurosawa, who seemed to love black-and-white wide films (Tohoscope.)
We can add his 1965 “Red Beard.”
According to a Providence Journal article on old theatres on October 20, 1996, this silent-era theatre was closed on July 3, 1925. Another later Bijou, formerly called the Westminster, was further up Westminster St. at Snow Street.
After the initial porno stint, the theatre went back to regular films for a time….possibly because of an anti-porno campaign by the town of Johnston. It was then known as the Cinema 6 Twin, because it is located on Route 6. So it was twinned (not noted above.) A newspaper ad from August 1978 lists it with a group of cinemas under the heading “Econo-Cinema Guide.” Other cinemas in that group were Four Seasons, Apple Valley, Meadowbrook, Park. Cinema 6 Twin was showing “The End” and “Coma” on that date.
Porno movies are not shown today (only in private booths.) It is primarily an adult retail emporium and there are no more auditoriums with seating.
I just noticed an error in “also known as.” This was NOT also known as the Kent. The Kent was about a half-mile down the street.
/theaters/6441/
This and the Kent were the two movie theatres of East Greenwich for many decades. The Kent has been demolished. Here is a photo I took of the Greenwich.
View link
A direct link to my photo of La Tosca.
View link
You should be able to find that article on Pawtucket Times microfilm at the city library. I’m not from Pawtucket but from Johnston. I never saw the Bellevue but went to the Strand in the 1950s.
Marialivia,
Interesting to read this comment and your one on the Strand in Pawtucket. Do you know of any photos of the place?
Here’s a photo of the former Peacedale Theatre.
View link
No, I really don’t, and I am not into that kind of music. It should be easy enough to check, though. I walk by there often, past the ghosts of lost theatres.
Yep, true. This is just a cry of anguish, unrelated to the Sutton except in a general way: Boston now has only two commercial movie theatres. Providence has three. Boston-proper has no art houses left. None, zero. Providence has two. But then Providence doesn’t have a Cambridge.
Yes, I believe the move to the Strand was rather recent.
re: “They occasionally do revivals."
They did a revival of "Cinema Paradiso” a few years ago in the uncut version, but I don’t think it did very well.
Here is a photo of the Campus Cinema (post-closing.)
View link
Some movies I saw here were “The Madwoman of Chaillot,” “Fantasia” (badly cropped), “The Conformist,” “The Learning Tree,” Peter Brook’s “King Lear,” and, I think, Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys.” The programming became very haphazard until the place, always sloppily run, switched to gay and straight porno. When they closed, they were replaced as a porno house by the nearby VIP Luxury Cinema on Westminster Mall (q.v.) That one, a video projection house, didn’t last long.
I’m curious about the “Paris Cinema” name. A number of places here and there were called “Paris Cinema” and featured the same exterior design resembling, heaven help us, the truly classy Paris in New York. Many were or became porno houses. There is one in Worcester, Massachusetts still operating with screening rooms and a porno retail shop…built into a former movie palace. Can anyone illuminate?
The Strand is now the venue for Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, a rock club/theatre, tonight presenting the band “The Presidents of the United States.”
Ron,
Forgive any trivia here, but this sort of thing intrigues me. In that terrific photo of 1947, linked above, the film might most likely have been the 1941 “Mr. Dynamite” rather than “Dynamite” (1929…unlikely) or the 1949 “Dynamite” (not yet made.) “Call of the Jungle” hails from 1944. So this was probably a revival B-film double-bill culled from a Boston exchange. Notice that the word “Dynamite” is to the right of the Victory marquee. A sign obscures the left side which would have provided enough space for “Mr.”
But hardly earth-shattering!
Regarding the issue brought up a couple of times about the Publix never advertising in The Boston Globe in the 1970s and earlier, I think they advertised in the Boston Record American, a tabloid-type paper like the N.Y. Daily News. The idea must have been that tabloid-readers were their real audience. I came upon this ad in the Boston Record American for July 21, 1969. I don’t know if they continued advertising there in the 1970s, but in the 1960s they did.
View link
Here is a photo of the Darlton from 1975.
View link
I’m from Johnston and managed to get to the Lafayette/Holiday only a few times over the years, but I liked it, and have a great findness for all “village cinemas.” Here is a relatively recent photo I took:
View link
Here is a photo I took of the Royal when driving through Archer City in 1973.
View link
And more historic photos of the plain and modest Johnston Theatre where I grew up watching movies in the 1940s-1950s.
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link