The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook lists 2 movie venues for Scituate MA. One is the Idle Hour Theater with 400 seats and the other is the Satuit Playhouse with 600 seats, open for movies 2 days per week. I think that the Satuit Playhouse and the Scituate Playhouse are one in the same.
The description at the top says that this theater was located in the city’s Opera House. There is a Winfield Grand Opera House listed under Winfield KS in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Unfortunately, the listings in this Guide do not include street addresses. The opera house was located on the ground floor; the proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 20 feet high, and the stage was 30 feet deep. Gas illumination was used, and the Mgr. was T.B. Myers. It supposedly had 1,000 seats. The 1897 population of Winfield was 7,000. I don’t know if this is the theater which later became the Regent.
Both photos posted by Lost Memory show the same front of the building which was also photographed in the 1941 MGM Report when it was the Walden Theater.
LuisV – there is a similar situation in downtown Boston. During the spring, the Modern/ Mayflower Theater was totally demolished after being derelict for many years. The facade was dismantled and set aside. A new building is being constructed on the site by Suffolk University. The facade will be re-erected to front this new building which will have a small performing-arts auditorium inside to be called the “Modern Theater”. The Status of the old Modern here in Cinema Treasures is “Closed/Demolished”. When the new theater opens, will we be able to say that it is “Open” again? (same situation with the Henry Miller). My gut feeling is to vote “No”.
This exhibit also includes photos of theaters outside of New England. The exhibit flyer has a nice color night study of the Bruin Theater in L.A., and a black & white of the Tru-Vu Drive-in Theater in Delta, CO.
Re: ken mc’s photo of May 1 — note the name on the marquee “Milton Cinema”, NOT “East Milton Cinema”. My memory is that this theater was called the State for many years, then the Milton Cinema.
Thanks for posting the link, Phantom. The print version of the article which I read last Nov. was not as long as the on-line version, and did not actually name the Strand as being the theater which burned down. So this means the Strand lasted until Sept. 1956; I wonder if it was actually still open at that point.
In the 1942-43 edition of the Motion Picture Almanac, the Strand Theatre and the Premier Theatre in Newburyport MA are listed as operated by Warner Brothers Circuit Management of New York. So this theater was a Warner house at that time.
The MGM Theatre Report for the Garden Theatre in Greenfield, written in May 1941, lists this theater, the Victoria, as competition to the Garden, along with the Lawler Theatre.
I forgot about the Strand in Scollay Square (site of the plaza today in front of Boston City Hall). By 1950 it was a show bar which showcased the “talents” of one Sally Keith and associated show girls. But movies were featured at both the Casino and Old Howard, especially in the morning when sometimes there were 2 films before the 12 Noon stage show began. One could attend the movies and skip the stage show. My point above was to state that there were many movie theaters within the space of a one-mile walk downtown.
I went to Google and looked at the Street View, comparing it to the photo take March 1941 on the MGM Theater Report. The light gray building in the center with the 2 windows is, indeed, the Orient Palace entrance. The red-brick building to the right, next to it, was there in 1941, complete with the little peak on the facade. To the left of the theater entrance in 1941 was a vacant lot, which is still there today. In my post above on 3-12-08 I mention that I was recently told that the theater was intact and in good condition inside, as of a few years ago. So, it is “Closed” but not “Demolished”.
The 1968 photo shows the Washington Street entrance. The theater was called the Aquarius then. I.J Fox to the right was a furrier which had been in that location for many years. (What a Politically-INcorrect business that is today!) Gilchrist’s dept. store occupied the corner location; its rear was in the bottom level of the old Boston Music Hall. Today, Gilchrist’s is The Corner mall.
In Lost’s 1986 photo, the Suffolk Th. looks the same as in the photo taken in March 1941 for the MGM Theatre Report. Even the marquee appears to be the same.
Lost- I guess this is the same; note the street number “35” at the entrance. It looks different from its appearance in the May 1941 photo on the MGM Theatre Report. At that time the front part of the building, in brick, was only one story high. There was a 2-story-plus building behind it. So it appears that the front has been enlarged and altered since 1941.
Boston actually has a small downtown – you can walk from one end(the Boston City Hall), to the other end (the Wang Theatre) in about 15 or 20 minutes. What is notable about the movie theaters which Alvin has listed above is that there were so many of them in this small area. Starting from the north in 1950 there were the Bowdoin, Casino, Scollay, Old Howard, Rialto, Strand, Beacon, Old South, Loew’s Orpheum, Modern, RKO Keith Memorial, Laffmovie, Paramount, RKO Boston, TransLux, Pilgrim, Publix, Center, Stuart, Astor, Majestic, and Metropolitan. In addition to these 22, there were other movie theaters nearby in the West End, South End and Back Bay. Today, there is the AMC Boston Common (partially on the site of the Astor) downtown, plus the Regal Fenway uptown, and that’s it.
I believe that the Chevalier Theatre in Medford MA is actually the auditorium in the old Medford High School. It was turned into a concert venue and renamed some years ago. The Wurlitzer from Dayton will make a nice addition to the venue.
The Strand in Newburyport was the subject of a lengthy article in a newspaper or magazine some 10 years or so ago, with nice color photos of the restored exterior and photos and explanation of how the interior had been converted to commercial space. It’s right downtown, but I don’t know anything about it. But it looks great.
Alvin has the Modern Theater out of order— it was located beyond the RKO Keith Memorial. Otherwise, his description of where the theaters were located on the west side of Washington Street is almost correct: the Laffmovie was beyond the Paramount. The Old South Theatre was also on Washington Street, north of the Loews Orpheum, and not on Tremont Street. The Esquire Theatre, across from Symphony Hall, was taken over by Boston University around 1954 and did not become a Sack Theatres house. The descriptions of the Rialto and Keith’s in Brockton here in Cinema Treasures were made by someone (me) totally unfamiliar with Brockton, so Alvin should post his insider information, and also add the other theaters in Brockton which are not listed in CT.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger had an article about Stetson Hall yesterday. The article mentions that there was an Easter concert on stage there, and there is an art exhibit currently. The auditorium has been restored to its appearance circa-1925, and they hope to add two reproduction chandeliers to the auditorium ceiling.
Key Brand Entertainment, which I think is a British company, has purchased the operating contract for the Colonial from Live Nation. Key Brand also took over the Charles Playhouse from LN.
The Boston Herald today says that Druker will spend about $1M this summer for repairs at the Orpheum which will include the washrooms, carpets, painting, and some of the seats. “Next Fall, I think the Orpheum will look much better” Don Law was quoted as saying in the article written by Donna Goodison. The deal for Don Law’s organization to take over Live Nation’s management contract for the theater should close sometime in the July-Sept quarter.
The Bates Opera House in Attleboro is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 1000 seats and being open 6 days per week.
The Regent is listed under Arlington MA in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook. It’s listed as having 800 seats and open 7 days per week.
The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook lists 2 movie venues for Scituate MA. One is the Idle Hour Theater with 400 seats and the other is the Satuit Playhouse with 600 seats, open for movies 2 days per week. I think that the Satuit Playhouse and the Scituate Playhouse are one in the same.
The description at the top says that this theater was located in the city’s Opera House. There is a Winfield Grand Opera House listed under Winfield KS in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Unfortunately, the listings in this Guide do not include street addresses. The opera house was located on the ground floor; the proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 20 feet high, and the stage was 30 feet deep. Gas illumination was used, and the Mgr. was T.B. Myers. It supposedly had 1,000 seats. The 1897 population of Winfield was 7,000. I don’t know if this is the theater which later became the Regent.
Both photos posted by Lost Memory show the same front of the building which was also photographed in the 1941 MGM Report when it was the Walden Theater.
LuisV – there is a similar situation in downtown Boston. During the spring, the Modern/ Mayflower Theater was totally demolished after being derelict for many years. The facade was dismantled and set aside. A new building is being constructed on the site by Suffolk University. The facade will be re-erected to front this new building which will have a small performing-arts auditorium inside to be called the “Modern Theater”. The Status of the old Modern here in Cinema Treasures is “Closed/Demolished”. When the new theater opens, will we be able to say that it is “Open” again? (same situation with the Henry Miller). My gut feeling is to vote “No”.
This exhibit also includes photos of theaters outside of New England. The exhibit flyer has a nice color night study of the Bruin Theater in L.A., and a black & white of the Tru-Vu Drive-in Theater in Delta, CO.
Re: ken mc’s photo of May 1 — note the name on the marquee “Milton Cinema”, NOT “East Milton Cinema”. My memory is that this theater was called the State for many years, then the Milton Cinema.
In ken mc’s August 1983 photo, the Cameo was still a single-screen house. Note how they put on matinees on rainy days in the summer.
Thanks for posting the link, Phantom. The print version of the article which I read last Nov. was not as long as the on-line version, and did not actually name the Strand as being the theater which burned down. So this means the Strand lasted until Sept. 1956; I wonder if it was actually still open at that point.
In the 1942-43 edition of the Motion Picture Almanac, the Strand Theatre and the Premier Theatre in Newburyport MA are listed as operated by Warner Brothers Circuit Management of New York. So this theater was a Warner house at that time.
The MGM Theatre Report for the Garden Theatre in Greenfield, written in May 1941, lists this theater, the Victoria, as competition to the Garden, along with the Lawler Theatre.
I forgot about the Strand in Scollay Square (site of the plaza today in front of Boston City Hall). By 1950 it was a show bar which showcased the “talents” of one Sally Keith and associated show girls. But movies were featured at both the Casino and Old Howard, especially in the morning when sometimes there were 2 films before the 12 Noon stage show began. One could attend the movies and skip the stage show. My point above was to state that there were many movie theaters within the space of a one-mile walk downtown.
I went to Google and looked at the Street View, comparing it to the photo take March 1941 on the MGM Theater Report. The light gray building in the center with the 2 windows is, indeed, the Orient Palace entrance. The red-brick building to the right, next to it, was there in 1941, complete with the little peak on the facade. To the left of the theater entrance in 1941 was a vacant lot, which is still there today. In my post above on 3-12-08 I mention that I was recently told that the theater was intact and in good condition inside, as of a few years ago. So, it is “Closed” but not “Demolished”.
Thanks to Father Nature for setting up his on-line display. Lots of interesting stuff, especially the old ads.
The 1968 photo shows the Washington Street entrance. The theater was called the Aquarius then. I.J Fox to the right was a furrier which had been in that location for many years. (What a Politically-INcorrect business that is today!) Gilchrist’s dept. store occupied the corner location; its rear was in the bottom level of the old Boston Music Hall. Today, Gilchrist’s is The Corner mall.
In Lost’s 1986 photo, the Suffolk Th. looks the same as in the photo taken in March 1941 for the MGM Theatre Report. Even the marquee appears to be the same.
Lost- I guess this is the same; note the street number “35” at the entrance. It looks different from its appearance in the May 1941 photo on the MGM Theatre Report. At that time the front part of the building, in brick, was only one story high. There was a 2-story-plus building behind it. So it appears that the front has been enlarged and altered since 1941.
Boston actually has a small downtown – you can walk from one end(the Boston City Hall), to the other end (the Wang Theatre) in about 15 or 20 minutes. What is notable about the movie theaters which Alvin has listed above is that there were so many of them in this small area. Starting from the north in 1950 there were the Bowdoin, Casino, Scollay, Old Howard, Rialto, Strand, Beacon, Old South, Loew’s Orpheum, Modern, RKO Keith Memorial, Laffmovie, Paramount, RKO Boston, TransLux, Pilgrim, Publix, Center, Stuart, Astor, Majestic, and Metropolitan. In addition to these 22, there were other movie theaters nearby in the West End, South End and Back Bay. Today, there is the AMC Boston Common (partially on the site of the Astor) downtown, plus the Regal Fenway uptown, and that’s it.
I believe that the Chevalier Theatre in Medford MA is actually the auditorium in the old Medford High School. It was turned into a concert venue and renamed some years ago. The Wurlitzer from Dayton will make a nice addition to the venue.
The Strand in Newburyport was the subject of a lengthy article in a newspaper or magazine some 10 years or so ago, with nice color photos of the restored exterior and photos and explanation of how the interior had been converted to commercial space. It’s right downtown, but I don’t know anything about it. But it looks great.
Alvin has the Modern Theater out of order— it was located beyond the RKO Keith Memorial. Otherwise, his description of where the theaters were located on the west side of Washington Street is almost correct: the Laffmovie was beyond the Paramount. The Old South Theatre was also on Washington Street, north of the Loews Orpheum, and not on Tremont Street. The Esquire Theatre, across from Symphony Hall, was taken over by Boston University around 1954 and did not become a Sack Theatres house. The descriptions of the Rialto and Keith’s in Brockton here in Cinema Treasures were made by someone (me) totally unfamiliar with Brockton, so Alvin should post his insider information, and also add the other theaters in Brockton which are not listed in CT.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger had an article about Stetson Hall yesterday. The article mentions that there was an Easter concert on stage there, and there is an art exhibit currently. The auditorium has been restored to its appearance circa-1925, and they hope to add two reproduction chandeliers to the auditorium ceiling.
Key Brand Entertainment, which I think is a British company, has purchased the operating contract for the Colonial from Live Nation. Key Brand also took over the Charles Playhouse from LN.
The Boston Herald today says that Druker will spend about $1M this summer for repairs at the Orpheum which will include the washrooms, carpets, painting, and some of the seats. “Next Fall, I think the Orpheum will look much better” Don Law was quoted as saying in the article written by Donna Goodison. The deal for Don Law’s organization to take over Live Nation’s management contract for the theater should close sometime in the July-Sept quarter.