Beacon Hill Theatre

The original BEACON THEATRE at 53 Tremont was the sister theatre to the MODERN THEATRE on Washington St. This theatre was opened in 1913 by Boston movie theatre pioneer Jacob Lourie and his partners. It had, along with the MODERN, the first Western Electric sound projection equipment installed in the country. It premiered along with its sister theatre, the Boston showing of the “Jazz Singer”. It was build exclusively for the showing of moving pictures and along with the MODERN was the first deluxe movie-only theatre in New England. The policy of “Double Feature” was conceived and implemented by Jacob Lourie. This was done out of necessity because his competitors (ie Mr. Loew, etc) were starting to show a Feature with Vaudeville. Lourie’s stages were too small at the Beacon and Modern. Hollywood responded to Lourie’s innovation by producing “B” films. It was opened by New England Theatres Operating Company (NETOCO) and later was part of the M&P and ATC chains.

A 1958 photo of the first Beacon Hill Theatre. The photo is described here.

The marquee advertises

NEVER ANYTHING LIKE IT
BRIGITTE BARDOT
AND GOD CREATED WOMAN

with Bardot’s name in much, much larger letters than the other two lines.

Above the marquee, a banner advertises an upcoming World Premiere of “The Goddess” with Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges.

Beacon Hill.

Yes it was veyoung, see my comment on the boxoffice lines on my Jan 5 posting.

From a Boston Herald article published on July 7, 1992:

“The Beacon Hill was the first movie house in the Boston-based Sack Theaters chain. According to legend, scrap metal magnate Benjamin Sack won the Beacon Hill in a poker game in the 1950s, launching what would become the region’s largest theater chain. Sack’s own version of the story was that he returned to the gin rummy table to retrieve a gold pencil and fell into a conversation with another player, a film exhibitor. Sack said he lent the man $10,000, which later expanded into a $200,000 investment in three theaters, including the Beacon Hill.

The original Beacon Hill theater was demolished in 1969 to make way for the 1 Beacon St. office tower, but the underground Beacon Hill theater opened below the original site in 1971."

The article also says that the theatre was 41 steps below ground, with no elevator or other handicapped access.

Interesting to read the above posts about the booking policy for the Beacon Hill.

The summary for the Beacon Hill should probably be revised to point out—-as other posters have done—-that there were two separate theaters with this name, presumably at the same address. The original may have had a consistent arthouse policy but the replacement (the underground bunker version that opened in the late 60/early 70s) never established a clear identity, as it went from a first run showcase to grindhouse with a brief stint as an arthouse in between.

In the early l970s, the Beacon Hill exhibited major first run releases such as “The Towering Inferno” (in an unusual move, “Inferno” was shown simultaneously at another Sack theater in Boston; I think it was the Cinema 57) and “Papillon.” I remember seeing Fellini’s “Casanova” at the Beacon Hill in the mid-70s, which was shown on a reserved seat basis. After the conversion to a triplex, the theater mostly showed move-over runs or first runs of Grade B films (apart from a brief detour as an arthouse as noted above) and eventually became known—-as the 57 was in its final years—-of showing exploitation films that attracted unruly crowds.

According to a Boston Globe article published on May 21, 1982, Sack Theatres (re)instituted an art and foreign film booking policy at the Beacon Hill on February 26, 1982, starting with Das Boot, followed by Garde a Vue and Christiane F.. On the day the article was published, the theatre was showing The Atomic Cafe, Smash Palace, and Roommates.

I believe this policy lasted until Sack opened the Copley Place in February 1984.

I meant to type…

When the events of January 17, 1992 – which Ron made reference to in his post earlier today – occurred, the Beacon Hill was part of the Loews chain.

ian and veyou
Sack tidbits
Ben Sack used to do personalized ‘trailers’ for up-coming features, where he would sit at a desk and tell you how special this was. He also had one of him shaking hands w/ some moguls and announced his ‘bit part’ in ???? (He got some bit part in either the 10 commandments, or Ben Hur, or more likely the Cardinal.)
He was reportedly so shocked that no one came to the movie ‘Darling’ w/ Julie Christie, that he granted free admission to ‘up’ the word-of-mouth. I went. It played the Keith Memorial (Opera House).

On Friday, January 17, 1992, fistfights broke out and at least six gunshots were fired inside the Beacon Hill Theatre during a 10 pm screening of ‘'Juice,’‘ a movie about New York City street gangs.

You have to wonder if that was a factor in Sack’s decision to close this theatre a few months later.

I applied for a job as an usher at the old Beacon Hill, but I was only 15, and too young. ‘And God Created Woman’ with Brigitte Bardot was the feature. I was interviewed by the then unknown Ben Sack himself. This was before he took over the Plymouth which he renamed the Gary, and the Majestic, which he renamed the Saxon. The old Beacon Hill was completely demolished whn they built the high rise ‘One Beacon’; however, they did put in the theater complex in part of the parking garage. It was a descent into the underworld, and in one auditorium, you could hear the trolly cars screeching by on their way from Park st to Govt. center.

veyoung,

that theater is the Wang Theatre, now part of Boston’s Wang Center for the Performing Arts. It opened as the Metropolitan, was affiliated with Paramount, and was renamed by Sack’s as the Music Hall, a name that stuck until it became a performing arts center.