Beacon Hill Theatre
1 Beacon Street,
Boston,
MA
02108
1 Beacon Street,
Boston,
MA
02108
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Showing 51 - 75 of 113 comments
Did “Valley Of The Dolls” ever play here?
The Italian neo-realist film masterpiece The Bicycle Thief opened here in 1950. Revenge with Anna Magnani had played in 1949 as had the “scandalous” Devil in the Flesh from France. Bitter Rice opened in 1951, Miracle in Milan and The Mill on the Po in 1952.
King implies that the second iteration of the Beacon Hill opened as a triplex (“Ben Sack moved his Beacon Hill theatre into the new Beacon Hill Theatres 1-2-3…”). As noted above, the Beacon Hill wasn’t subdivided until the early 1980s.
Ron: I agree. The book offers considerable detail as to the history of Boston theaters until the 1960s or thereabouts. Subsequent decades are given a comparatively cursory review. If the author left the Boston area in the 1970s or 1980s, that would help account for the less-detailed treatment and the errors and omissions. When I have the chance, I will review those final chapters again for factual glitches.
Erik, I think the author moved out of the Boston area in the 1970s or 80s and therefore his coverage of events after that is pretty spotty. Among the things he doesn’t mention, but are familiar to me:
Since I’ve posted many notes from his book on this site over the past week, I’d appreciate any corrections that you can add.
I am not entirely sure which date is correct, but after briefly reviewing King’s book I would not conclusively rely on the date he provided. The book appears in many ways to be an impressive feat of research, particularly with respect to theaters of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s (the primary focus of the book). I reviewed the final chapters focusing on the 1950s onward and that quick review revealed a number of factual errors, such as a reference to the twinning of the 57 (it was always a two screen complex), the Paris being demolished “around 2000,” etc.
King’s book also says the second Beacon Hill Theatre opened in 1973, while the Herald article I quoted above says 1971. Anyone know for sure, or will I have to revisit the Boston Public Library’s microfilm room and look at old ads?
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.
Donald C. King’s new book, The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, says that Jacob Lourie opened the Beacon in Feburary 1910 (not 1913 as earlier stated here) and was “architect Blackall’s first film house and joined Boston’s thriving multitude of dime movie enterprises. It played films and vaudeville for ten cents.” It had 800 seats. Lourie went on to open the Modern on June 25, 1914.
The book also says that “on November 10, 1948, a refurbished Beacon became the Beacon Hill Theatre, subsisting on foreign first runs and films moved over from the Astor.”
Ron, very nice consolidation of facts. I just checked on the first time I went to the Beacon Hill Theatre by consulting a diary entry from May 9, 1963. I was a student at Providence College and drove up to Boston to see the Italian film “The Four Days of Naples,” about the citizen uprising against the Nazi occupation of the city. I noted the place as “the comfortable and pleasant Beacon Hill Theatre.”
Based on everyone’s comments, I sent in a Correction with the new summary that you see above. I hope everyone likes it. If not, feel free to send in another correction.
If we were starting over, I’d create two separate entries, but this at least clarifies the history.
If the Beacon Hill listing isn’t split into two entries, then I would suggest expanding the initial summary, which doesn’t apply to the second version of the theater. The Beacon Hill wasn’t much of an art house during the 1970s; it primarily exhibited first run Hollywood product. The Exeter and Orson Welles were probably the top art houses in the Boston area during that decade.
Ron, either Pinanski or Sack renamed it – I’m thinking Pinanski, since he renamed the MODERN the MAYFLOWER about the same time. Perhaps, it does make since to combine the histories. We have certainly pointed out the difference between the two “names”
The address of the second Beacon Hill (and later of the Copy Cop that replaced it) was One Beacon Street, but the entrance was on Tremont Street, just north of Beacon. The two streets meet at right angles.
Excellent point, John. I’d think creating an entry for the original Beacon Hill Theatre, based on the information provided on this page, would be simple enough and best for clarification’s sake, as this particular Beacon Hill Theatre and the one constructed originally on or near the same location were two separate structures with, their geographical connection notwithstanding, unique histories. A quick glance of the initial summarized history at the top of the page (alternative name for the later, original single-screen Beacon Hill Theatre demolished in ‘69 included) would be a dead giveaway as to what theatre was being discussed, as would the screen counts under the general listing on the page prior.
The sequence of events was:
– Beacon Theatre opened in 1913
– Beacon Theatre was renamed to Beacon Hill Theatre in the 1950s (maybe by Ben Sack?)
– First Beacon Hill Theatre was torn down in 1969. (You could consider it the very last of the Scollay Square theatres to be demolished.)
– Second Beacon Hill Theatre opened in 1971. It was a single screen, underground, in approximately the same location as the first theatre.
– Second Beacon Hill Theatre was triplexed some time in the early 1980s
– Second Beacon Hill Theatre closed in 1992
It’s hard to separate this into two different entries because the first theatre was renamed part way through, then the second theatre was given the same name as the first.
In reality the BEACON THEATRE and the BEACON HILL should be separate entries since they are different theatres. Back in the day runners would go between the BEACON and MODERN carrying the film so they could switch showings between the two sister theatres.
Actually, the subterranean cinema was built as a single screen, then much later subdivided into three.
The photo TC provided a link to is of the original Beacon Hill Theatre, which was demolished in 1969 to make way for the One Beacon Street office tower; to the facing right of the tower’s frontage, the subterranean three-screen Beacon Hill Cinemas were built.
Copy Cop has closed at this location. The former theatre entrance now has “Retail Space For Lease” signs in the windows.
Interior photo: http://www.esteyorgan.com/Opus1463.html
Interior photo:http://www.esteyorgan.com/Opus1463.html
Ron: I think just above “Noel Coward’s” it says “J Arthur Rank Film.” The style of the “Beacon Hill” lettering is classic fifties. Great photo.
A 1953 photo, described here. In this photo, the marquee says “Beacon Hill” and advertises a “New England premiere” of Noel Coward’s “Tonight at 8:30”.