Yes, Jack’s was a popular place and moved to the central bus. district after Scollay Sq. was demolished. Everything in that photo is gone today with the exception of the skyline beyond the Central Artery overhead structure in the distance. The Casino’s vertical sign was already old when that photo was taken.
Yes, Chuck Schoen pointed out above that the street numbering was complicated in this block. We know from the city directory that there was a Superb Theatre at this address in 1918, but if there was no theater there prior to 1915, then where was the Superb Theatre in Roxbury where Fred Allen performed around 1913?? Was it somewhere else, and if so, what became of it? The people who could give us quick answers to these questions aren’t around anymore, alas.
The Plimoth Cinema opened at 5AM last Friday morning for a live TV feed on its big screen of the Royal Wedding in London. I think that breakfast refreshments were also available. From coverage on local TV news it appeared that they had a good house there.
The Court Square Theatre was one of 9 downtown Springfield theaters on a long list of theaters and halls in MA which received state licenses during the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 1914. The others were the Bijou, Broadway, Gilmore, Globe, Hudson, Nelson, Plaza, and Poli-Palace.
The photo above was taken during the Casino’s final years when they had a semi-permanent sign on the marquee which read “Follies” in multi-colored letters. You can see what a high-class area this was.
I forgot all about this book; the photos are in Chapter 5. Arcadia published it in 1998: author is Anthony Sammarco. It has 2 shots of the Columbia Theatre also; plus another shot which shows just a little of the Hub Theatre’s sign when it was the New Grand, and the el was under construction (page 82).
The captions in the Arcadia book mentioned above point out that cigar-making was a Boston industry in those days and that there were cigar factories in the area of the Hub Theatre. Indeed, after the theater closed, the premises was occupied by the Hub Cigar Co. Also in one of the photos, directly across Washington St. from the Hub Theatre there was a branch store of the Henry Siegel Co. This is the same retailer which went into the RKO Boston Theatre building when it opened downtown, further north on Washington Street.
The Adams was not the first theater in Quincy to be constructed in a remodeled skating rink. In 1906, the Scenic Temple was built in the old Quincy Coliseum, a skating rink and dance hall on what is now Upland Road near Quincy Square. The Scenic Temple presented both early movies and live small-time vaudeville acts on stage.
On pages 102-103 of the Arcadia Publishing book “When Boston Rode the El” by Cheney & Sammarco, 2000, there are photos in which the Hub Theatre facade can be seen. The photos date from Sept and Dec. 1912 and were taken on behalf of the transit company which ran the elevated railway on Washington Street. In mid-1912, the platform arrangement was changed at the Dover Street Station, from a center platform to two side platforms with the 2 tracks in the middle. People on the trains and platforms could easily see the upper half of the Hub Theatre. It was about 4 stories high and had a heavy cornice at the edge of the roof. There were 3 tall arched windows in the facade, with a small circular window over the center one.
The business news in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of April 26 has an article “Film Buffs – Hanover Couple Seek to Keep Local Community Theaters Thriving” about Bret and Michelle Hardy who started South Shore Cinemas to operate the Cameo, and the Mill Wharf in Scituate. Bret Hardy operated the old Scituate Playhouse in 1999. He continues to work a day job, but his wife works full-time at the theaters and they have a staff of 13 part-timers. They still do not advertise in the Patriot Ledger, but keep the Cameo’s marquee current.
MarkB- I assume that you are looking at one of those fire-insurance maps, such as Sanborn. The MGM Report had 125 Dudley St. as the address, but Bill’s memory was that it was around the corner on Washington St., just south of the Dudley area. Someone told me that when he attended Boy Scout meetings at the Dudley St. Baptist Church in the 1950s that he could see the the Rivoli structure from the church property.
Yes, it was a big theater with over 2100 seats. Thanks for the clarification about the street address. I was suspicious that the “263” number was not correct.
MarkB- yes, in that era some halls, such as fraternal halls, were leased out to a movie operator and became inexpensive neighborhood silient film cinemas. Sometimes these operations didn’t last too long, especially if new “real” theaters were being built nearby.
Fred Allen never performed in this theater but he went into it, apparently more than once. He said that the interior of the theater was about as classy as the inside of a packing case.
Mike L. of Abington worked briefly as an usher at this theater circa-1950. He said that to access the auditorium after buying a ticket, you walked up a staircase with 7 or 8 steps which took you to the rear of the sloping orchestra floor. There was also a small balcony, but it was closed and never used.
Mike L. from Abington MA knew this theater as the Warren Theatre in the 1950s. He worked as an usher at the Strand in Rockland and says that the man who ran the Strand, first name “Lloyd”, took over the operation of the Warren in Whitman. This is probably the “Lloyd Patrican” mentioned in the intro above. Mike doesn’t know if it was ever called the Empire.
The large building which contains the RKO Boston predates the theater by some 20 years or so. There is a photo of the building under construction on page 122 of the Arcadia Press book “Boston in Motion” by Cheney and Sammarco, 1999. The photo looks north on Washington Street and was taken June 26, 1905. The 600 Washington Street building was well along in the photo, but not yet completed. There is a huge temporary sign on it advertising the Henry Siegel Company department store which went into the building.
Ed- you can see the problem with having 2 theaters so close together with similar names: patrons with tickets in hand rushing in to make the start of the show, only coming into the wrong theater!
Ron- I don’t know if the Grand Opera House ever showed movies; if I can find that out, I can easily create a page for it here.
One reason that Stair & Wilbur changed the name of the Grand Theatre to the Hub Theatre in 1903 was probably because of the confusion of having 2 theaters so close to one another with very similar names: Grand Theatre and Grand Opera House. (Wilbur is the same person as in today’s Wilbur Theatre on Tremont St.)
The Grand Opera House ended its days as a wrestling venue (probably had boxing, too) in the 1930s. Neither the Grand Opera House or the Hub Theatre was listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
The big Grand Opera House, mentioned above, was at 1176 Washington St., while the Hub Theatre was at 1134-40. In the 1918 Boston street directory, the Grand Opera House was still there, but the Hub Theatre’s address was occupied by the “Hub Cigar Company”.
The earlier of the 2 maps which Ed Findlay has linked to shows the outline of the Hub Theatre, with a horseshoe balcony. In his autobiography, the comedian Fred Allen writes that he linked up with one Sam Cohen who organized Amateur Night performances at Greater Boston theaters. The first of these shows was at the Hub Theatre. He and his fellow performers met Sam Cohen at a pre-arranged point, then Cohen escorted them to the Hub Theatre. He led them down the Dover Street side of the building to the alley which ran in back. Then they went through the stage door in the rear wall. A movie was underway, with the piano playing. They walked across the stage behind the movie screen to a group dressing room at the far side of the stage. He never mentions that they had to climb stairs after entering the stage door, which bolsters the claim that the Hub had been rebuilt to occupy the entire building.
Ed, the Grand Opera House was a seperate theater. It was about 5 or 6 doors to the south of the Hub Theatre, on the same side (east) of Washington St. It shows on the earlier of the 2 maps you have linked to above. It was a large theater with a big stage. Also, in that very interesting article about the Grand Opera House from the Back Bay Historical Soc. website, if you scroll about half-way down, it talks about the Grand Opera House’s neighbor, the Dime Museum or Hub Theatre. (Before it was the Hub, it was the Grand, and before that the Grand Museum also called the Grand Dime Museum). They mention that there were girl swimmers in a tank on stage at the Hub.
Yes, Jack’s was a popular place and moved to the central bus. district after Scollay Sq. was demolished. Everything in that photo is gone today with the exception of the skyline beyond the Central Artery overhead structure in the distance. The Casino’s vertical sign was already old when that photo was taken.
The Puritan looks good in that photo. Too bad they have the approx. time it was taken, but not the year— Just an estimate, 1954-59.
Yes, Chuck Schoen pointed out above that the street numbering was complicated in this block. We know from the city directory that there was a Superb Theatre at this address in 1918, but if there was no theater there prior to 1915, then where was the Superb Theatre in Roxbury where Fred Allen performed around 1913?? Was it somewhere else, and if so, what became of it? The people who could give us quick answers to these questions aren’t around anymore, alas.
The Plimoth Cinema opened at 5AM last Friday morning for a live TV feed on its big screen of the Royal Wedding in London. I think that breakfast refreshments were also available. From coverage on local TV news it appeared that they had a good house there.
The Court Square Theatre was one of 9 downtown Springfield theaters on a long list of theaters and halls in MA which received state licenses during the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 1914. The others were the Bijou, Broadway, Gilmore, Globe, Hudson, Nelson, Plaza, and Poli-Palace.
The photo above was taken during the Casino’s final years when they had a semi-permanent sign on the marquee which read “Follies” in multi-colored letters. You can see what a high-class area this was.
I forgot all about this book; the photos are in Chapter 5. Arcadia published it in 1998: author is Anthony Sammarco. It has 2 shots of the Columbia Theatre also; plus another shot which shows just a little of the Hub Theatre’s sign when it was the New Grand, and the el was under construction (page 82).
The captions in the Arcadia book mentioned above point out that cigar-making was a Boston industry in those days and that there were cigar factories in the area of the Hub Theatre. Indeed, after the theater closed, the premises was occupied by the Hub Cigar Co. Also in one of the photos, directly across Washington St. from the Hub Theatre there was a branch store of the Henry Siegel Co. This is the same retailer which went into the RKO Boston Theatre building when it opened downtown, further north on Washington Street.
The Adams was not the first theater in Quincy to be constructed in a remodeled skating rink. In 1906, the Scenic Temple was built in the old Quincy Coliseum, a skating rink and dance hall on what is now Upland Road near Quincy Square. The Scenic Temple presented both early movies and live small-time vaudeville acts on stage.
On pages 102-103 of the Arcadia Publishing book “When Boston Rode the El” by Cheney & Sammarco, 2000, there are photos in which the Hub Theatre facade can be seen. The photos date from Sept and Dec. 1912 and were taken on behalf of the transit company which ran the elevated railway on Washington Street. In mid-1912, the platform arrangement was changed at the Dover Street Station, from a center platform to two side platforms with the 2 tracks in the middle. People on the trains and platforms could easily see the upper half of the Hub Theatre. It was about 4 stories high and had a heavy cornice at the edge of the roof. There were 3 tall arched windows in the facade, with a small circular window over the center one.
The business news in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of April 26 has an article “Film Buffs – Hanover Couple Seek to Keep Local Community Theaters Thriving” about Bret and Michelle Hardy who started South Shore Cinemas to operate the Cameo, and the Mill Wharf in Scituate. Bret Hardy operated the old Scituate Playhouse in 1999. He continues to work a day job, but his wife works full-time at the theaters and they have a staff of 13 part-timers. They still do not advertise in the Patriot Ledger, but keep the Cameo’s marquee current.
Yes, it was a distance away from Dudley Square; in the intro above I should have written that it was “to the east” of the Dudley area.
MarkB- I assume that you are looking at one of those fire-insurance maps, such as Sanborn. The MGM Report had 125 Dudley St. as the address, but Bill’s memory was that it was around the corner on Washington St., just south of the Dudley area. Someone told me that when he attended Boy Scout meetings at the Dudley St. Baptist Church in the 1950s that he could see the the Rivoli structure from the church property.
Yes, it was a big theater with over 2100 seats. Thanks for the clarification about the street address. I was suspicious that the “263” number was not correct.
MarkB- yes, in that era some halls, such as fraternal halls, were leased out to a movie operator and became inexpensive neighborhood silient film cinemas. Sometimes these operations didn’t last too long, especially if new “real” theaters were being built nearby.
Fred Allen never performed in this theater but he went into it, apparently more than once. He said that the interior of the theater was about as classy as the inside of a packing case.
Mike L. of Abington worked briefly as an usher at this theater circa-1950. He said that to access the auditorium after buying a ticket, you walked up a staircase with 7 or 8 steps which took you to the rear of the sloping orchestra floor. There was also a small balcony, but it was closed and never used.
Mike L. from Abington worked as a usher at the Strand in 1949-50. He says that after the fire in 1956, the burned-out theater was demolished.
Mike L. from Abington MA knew this theater as the Warren Theatre in the 1950s. He worked as an usher at the Strand in Rockland and says that the man who ran the Strand, first name “Lloyd”, took over the operation of the Warren in Whitman. This is probably the “Lloyd Patrican” mentioned in the intro above. Mike doesn’t know if it was ever called the Empire.
The large building which contains the RKO Boston predates the theater by some 20 years or so. There is a photo of the building under construction on page 122 of the Arcadia Press book “Boston in Motion” by Cheney and Sammarco, 1999. The photo looks north on Washington Street and was taken June 26, 1905. The 600 Washington Street building was well along in the photo, but not yet completed. There is a huge temporary sign on it advertising the Henry Siegel Company department store which went into the building.
Ed- you can see the problem with having 2 theaters so close together with similar names: patrons with tickets in hand rushing in to make the start of the show, only coming into the wrong theater!
Ron- I don’t know if the Grand Opera House ever showed movies; if I can find that out, I can easily create a page for it here.
One reason that Stair & Wilbur changed the name of the Grand Theatre to the Hub Theatre in 1903 was probably because of the confusion of having 2 theaters so close to one another with very similar names: Grand Theatre and Grand Opera House. (Wilbur is the same person as in today’s Wilbur Theatre on Tremont St.)
The Grand Opera House ended its days as a wrestling venue (probably had boxing, too) in the 1930s. Neither the Grand Opera House or the Hub Theatre was listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
The big Grand Opera House, mentioned above, was at 1176 Washington St., while the Hub Theatre was at 1134-40. In the 1918 Boston street directory, the Grand Opera House was still there, but the Hub Theatre’s address was occupied by the “Hub Cigar Company”.
The earlier of the 2 maps which Ed Findlay has linked to shows the outline of the Hub Theatre, with a horseshoe balcony. In his autobiography, the comedian Fred Allen writes that he linked up with one Sam Cohen who organized Amateur Night performances at Greater Boston theaters. The first of these shows was at the Hub Theatre. He and his fellow performers met Sam Cohen at a pre-arranged point, then Cohen escorted them to the Hub Theatre. He led them down the Dover Street side of the building to the alley which ran in back. Then they went through the stage door in the rear wall. A movie was underway, with the piano playing. They walked across the stage behind the movie screen to a group dressing room at the far side of the stage. He never mentions that they had to climb stairs after entering the stage door, which bolsters the claim that the Hub had been rebuilt to occupy the entire building.
Ed, the Grand Opera House was a seperate theater. It was about 5 or 6 doors to the south of the Hub Theatre, on the same side (east) of Washington St. It shows on the earlier of the 2 maps you have linked to above. It was a large theater with a big stage. Also, in that very interesting article about the Grand Opera House from the Back Bay Historical Soc. website, if you scroll about half-way down, it talks about the Grand Opera House’s neighbor, the Dime Museum or Hub Theatre. (Before it was the Hub, it was the Grand, and before that the Grand Museum also called the Grand Dime Museum). They mention that there were girl swimmers in a tank on stage at the Hub.