RKO Boston Theatre

Charles, these photo’s were on the <cinerama.topcities.com> site.
I was also able to get some good shots of the Cinerama (Colonial)
in Hartford,CT. which are on the same site.

The “Boston Theatre,” as a newspaper ad for March, 1962 called it, was showing the Cinerama feature SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE at that time.
One evening show daily. Matinees Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, and holidays at 2:30.

“But I don’t remember 2001 being at that theater, I thought it opened at the Pilgim, same block of the street.”
—-It did in fact open at the Boston Cinerama. I saw it there in 1968. The Pilgrim was 2nd run at the time. You can consult the Globe microfilm to verify.

This theater is still hidden inside the Office Bldg known as 600 Washington St, occupied primarily by the State Welfare Dept. I worked in this building at one time. It was known as the jewelers' bldg. since many wholesale and retail jewelers had spaces there.
I remember going to the various Cinerama pictures there, including a revival of the 1953 ‘This is Cinerama’ the famous roller coaster scene. The earlier Cineramas had 3 projectors (tho' you could always see a line in the screen). The curtains, carpets and seats were all covered in very hot pink, the walls, etc. mostly ivory. We always got cheap seats in the balcony and sneaked down and sat in the front row, so as to be totally surrounded. I remember being disappointed when they ‘downgraded’ to a single projector in releases like ‘Windjammer’. ‘Mad, Mad, World’ and ‘How the West Was Won’ were other Cinerama features I saw there. But I don’t remember 2001 being at that theater, I thought it opened at the Pilgim, same block of the street.

The Keith Memorial/Savoy/Opera House had a corridor on the other side of Mason Street leading to a second entrance (and marquee) on Tremont Street. This was demolished in the 1980s or early 90s to make way for the Parkside condominium building on Tremont.

Today’s Loews Boston Common multiplex cinema now stands on the former site of the Tremont/Astor Theatre.

There were 2 similiar theatre names close to one another:
The RKO KEITH’S MEMORIAL at 539 Washington St. which became the SAVOY, then the OPERA HOUSE now under renovation.
The RKO BOSTON ( which may have been the RKO KEITH’S BOSTON for a while) is at 614 Washington St. I had initially the wrong address listed as 617 Washington when I added this Theatre early this year which now puts it on the right side of Washington St.

The RKO BOSTON (CINERAMA) still exists enclosed in the large office
building bordered by ESSEX/HAYWARD PLACE/and HARRISON. The former
Theatre entrance is now the MBTA ORANGE LINE CHINATOWN entrance. On the Hayward Place side you can see the large blocked parts of the building where the backstage exists.

The only Theatres to be torn down in this area in the last 20 years were the PILGRIM (OLYMPIA) one block south and the STATE(TRANS LUX/PARK)directly across the street from the RKO BOSTON. Both these went down within the last decade.The ASTOR (TREMONT)auditorium was on Avery St. and went down over 20 years ago.

The entire building still exists. I was able to get inside the theatre several years and photograph it, especially the sealed off balcony.The cement floor goes about 10 feet under the proscienium arch all the way to the backstage wall. The Cinerama curtain supports still existed on both sides of the arch.At the balcony rear there were 2 separate projection booths -side by side- each with 2 sets of portholes. One of them, probably the original,still had 2 projector bases with the old Peerless Condenser carbon arcs lamp houses. The other booth still had an empty sound rack which probably contained the amps for the Cinerama sound head and where the intro projector was for the early 3-strip traveloges. When 70mm single projection came in 1964 they expanded downstairs Baker booth.