Jane Pickens Theatre
49 Touro Street,
Newport,
RI
02840
49 Touro Street,
Newport,
RI
02840
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Showing 51 - 59 of 59 comments
Before it became the Strand and later the Jane Pickens, this theatre’s name was the Lafayette. A Newport Daily News 1929 article I just read, pertaining to the opening of the Paramount on Broadway, gave the background of David J. Dugan, first manager of the Paramount. Mr. Dugan had taken over the old Lafayette Theatre in 1919. He had put on one season of stock with a company known as the Lafayette Players, which included later (N.Y.) Broadway notables like Paul Donner, Charles Bickford, and Albert Hickey. After the engagement Mr. Dugan leased the Lafayette to Louis M. Boas of Fall River, who made improvements and renamed it the Strand, which it was called for many decades. Mr. Dugan supervised the work and Mr. Boas later made Mr. Dugan the manager of the Strand. In 1922 Mr. Dugan bought the lease of the Strand and operated the house until 1925. He then sold the lease to Publix Theatre Corporation and was kept on as manager. When Publix built the larger and more elegant nearby Paramount in 1929, they gave him the position of manager of the prestigious new theatre.
Great stuff!! I’m really missing going to Newport before the traffic season starts! Now that I live in Conn. I’m longing to visit some favorite spots back in RI, and when I do get to Newport, I will check out these sites “in person.” ML
President Dwight D. Eisenhower is seen in this 1960 photo of the dedication of Eisenhower Park, directly across Touro Street from the Strand (now the Jane Pickens.) The president liked Newport as a retreat and for golfing. This photo was taken on September 26 of that year.
Here is a photo of the Jane Pickens I just took. Notice that to the right, between the two white buildings, can be seen the rear scenery tower of the old Colonial Theatre on Thames Street. In all my years of visiting Newport, I never paid any attention to that. The Colonial, Jane Pickens (Strand) and Opera House are less than 200 feet from each other.
Correction on above reference to the Paramount: it is not “long demolished”—-just gutted to form an apartment building at 76 Broadway. More photos shall appear on the Paramount, Opera House, and Colonial sites.
I doubt it was the Paramount, which I assume would have featured Paramount films. The Pawtucket Strand and the Woonsocket Stadium showed mainly MGM films. At least the Strand where I worked as a teenager did not show Paramount films — they were shown at the Leroy, along with 20th Century Fox, etc.
It might have been, but in addition to the Strand (now Jane Pickens)and the Opera House, both still in existence, there was the Paramount (q.v.)—-long demolished. No one seems to know anything about it.
I’m thinking this must be the theater that was owned by the same people who owned the Strand in Pawtucket and the Stadium in Woonsocket. The manager of the Pawtucket Strand, a Mr. Lancaster, had previously managed a theater in Newport and was transferred to Pawtucket. I had no idea it was the wonderful Jane Pickens, which is flourishing!
I found this cool photo of the theater in the snow:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/63372735IUkZzC
Doesn’t anyone else have any comments on this wonderful old theatre? There were certainly plenty of people in this packed house where I saw Michael Moore’s devastating “Fahrenheit 9/11” last Saturday!