David- the Wollaston Th. auditorium does run sideways. From the street you enter the lobby and walk straight ahead to the foyer at the rear of the orchestra floor, then you turn right to face the stage and screen. There is no balcony, but there is a fairly high ceiling. There is also an elevated brick stage-house; it’s down to the right of the photo.
R. Noyes- glad that you had such a productive visit. If you think that the Orpheum still looks beautiful today, you should have seen it when it was a Loew house, up until the mid-1960s. It was kept in very good condition inside, and even had carpeting. There was, of course, a seperate entrance downstairs on Washington Street. One difference between the Opera House and the Orpheum- Live Nation owns and operates the Opera House, but they only manage the Orpheum; as far as I know it is owned by a large realty company.
Under Chester PA in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide there is a Grand Opera House, managed by Thomas Hargreaves. It had 1,200 seats and was located on the ground floor. There are no street addresses in this Guide. But it seems likely that it is the Hargreaves Opera House/Washburn Theatre/(old) State Theatre.
One of the Arcadia Press books about Roxbury has a photo taken in 1948 in Roxbury Crossing. On the left is the Plaza Theater which had a typical post-war movie marquee. I can’t say for certain, but what can be seen of the facade appears to be similar to the Criterion’s facade. The caption says that the Plaza was at the corner of Texas Street, and also says that the photo is of Tremont Street (but the Criterion was on Columbus Avenue).
The Orpheum continues to host a variety of entertainments. During Christmas week there will be 2 different children’s shows on stage, and from Dec. 26 – 28 will run the annual Three Stooges film festival.
Steve was born into the movie theater business in San Fran in the 1940s (?). He had a superior knowledge of the movie distribution business, and was also very knowledgeable about movie theater history with a strong interest in theater architects and architecture. He knew a great deal about the various chains or circuits. He ably served for years as the editor of Marquee Magazine (THSA). Never a loud braggart like some people in the various hobbies, he was rather a shy, quiet man. I am sorry indeed to learn that he has “gone west”.
Jean Vankin- if you moved to Williamstown 46 years ago in 1962 and the theater was called the Walden at that time, then I say that we can ignore the fact that the name Walden was crossed out on the 1941 MGM Report and something unreadable was hen-scratched next to it. The MGM Reports are full of errors and this appears to be another one of them. It’s good to know that renovations are taking place there now.
Loring Hall is presenting the “Nutcracker” ballet in high-def as performed by the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. There will be 6 performances during the Christmas season at $10 kids, $15 adults.
I have heard that the upper marquee at the Wang, which is really sort of a short, wide vertical sign, has been converted to one of those electronic animated signs. And that there is a similar sign on the Shubert across the street. Anyone know for sure?
Lost – here’s where a local person would be helpful. It seems likely that the Empire/Warren was this theater. Perhaps it was never called the “Whitman Theatre” at all, or was renamed after 1955.
MarkB – I don’t scan the MGM Report photos here in CT because my copies are xeroxes of xeroxes and are very poor. Also, I am wary that someone may hold a copyright on these reports. Someone did scan one of these photos for a theater in Fall River or New Bedford and you can hardly see it.
Gerry- yes, the area is something like a mini-upper West Side. When I used to attend performances at Lincoln Center at night I would dash rapidly thru the dark creepy streets back to my hotel. After performances at Symphony Hall you and Ron can walk all around the Fenway, Roxbury Crossing, the South End, but you won’t find me there.It may be wonderfully peaceful today, but back in the 1960s and 1970s it was a menacing dark zone full of creeps.
ken mc – but it’s not closed, it’s open. You can go there any Sunday morning and look the place over. By your logic, other former movie theaters here in CT which now present stage works should be listed as “Closed” – theaters like the Wang and Opera House in Boston, the New Amsterdam and Palace in NY, the Oriental and Chicago Theatre in Chicago, and so on. Perhaps if a movie theater has ceased operating and been drastically converted inside into, say, a bowling alley, then maybe one could list it in CT as “Closed”.
The caption on the photo posted above by ken mc on Jan 23 2008 states that the Winthrop Th. opened in 1914. Since the Kincade Th. was 56 years old in 1982 it seems likely that the Kincade was a new name for the old State Th. on Shirley Street.
I’m guess that it probably is, but the “Kincade” could have been a renaming of the other theater in Winthrop. Too bad that the 1982 article did not have a street address.
The building in the photo posted above by acme401 is definitely the same building in the 1941 MGM Report photo. Only the big Winthrop Theatre marquee is missing. Plus the exit doors near each end of the facade have now been bricked-up. So the theater is not “demolished” after all.
Some people I know attended the show on Sunday and report that there was only about $500 in gross revenue there, but the performance, which was not live, went off perfectly and the theater employees stated that in the future there would be more than one day’s notice prior to the shows. There will be several more operas from Italy this season.
R. Noyes – while you’re there backstage at the Orpheum, go out to the alleys in back. Stand back and look at the rear stage wall – it’s the original wall from the 1852 Boston Music Hall. Note the old cornice high up, and also the 3 bricked-up semi-circle windows. All original. Go around to the pedestrian alley off Winter St. and you can see the south wall composed of dull-orange brick. It’s also orignal from 1852. So both the north (stage) and south walls are 1852 originals on the exterior. The wings at stage-right and the tall loading door there date from the 1916 reconstruction. You should keep in mind that in the Boston Music Hall the concert platform was at the south end of the building; the stage was constructed in the north end of the building in 1900 when the place was converted into a vaudeville theater.
Loring Hall has gotten into the net of cinemas showing opera performances from theaters in Italy. I’m not sure if these are live simulcasts, or on “delay”. On Sunday, Dec. 7th, they will present at 1 PM “The Barber of Seville” from la Fenice theater in Venice.
As the Grand Opera House, this theater is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide under Ogden Utah. Joseph Clark was the Mgr., the seating capacity was 1,700, and the theater was on the ground floor. The proscenium opening was 37 feet wide X 30 feet high, and the stage was 45 feet deep. Ogden newspapers were the Standard and the Press, both daily, plus 3 weeklies. Hotels for show folk were the Reed, Broom, Central and Chapman. Railroads were the UP, SP, Rio Grande Western and the Oregon Short Line. The 1897 population of Ogden was 18,000.
I recently talked with a gal from Jamaica Plain who told me that she had attended a performance at the Orpheum of a folkloric dance troupe from Brazil and that she was shocked at the condition of the Orpheum’s interior. “I had a mind to report the place to the Board of Health”, she said, adding “I would rather go to the bathroom in the street outside than to use the ladies washrooms in the Orpheum.” We both wondered what well-known entertainers such as Robin Williams and Jackie Mason must think when they first see the trashy dump which they have been booked into.
MarkB – thanks for posting the link to this map. I didn’t realize that the Egleston Th. was on the west side of Washington St., somehow I was given the impression that it was on the east side of the street right near Egleston Sq. No wonder I couldn’t seem to spot it from the el train overhead – I was looking on the wrong side! Well, Duh !
Does anyone know if this theater now has a new or renovated marquee out front? Last Thurs. or Friday evening, the local TV news on one of the Boston stations covered some sort of event in front of the theater and, although I wasn’t paying attention, I thought they made reference to the marquee being “new”.
Mark-not-Whitey – enjoyed your blog, the theater ads and the little site maps are very helpful. I will be going back there to read more of the trains and trolleys info. Please see if you can locate the “Eggie” on a map; it was right below the El structure somewhere in Egleston Square.
The most notorious incident involving Fanne Foxe at the Pilgrim happened at a Saturday evening performance when she enticed her admirer, Congressman Wilbur Mills, to come up onto the stage and dance with her. He was a short, late-middle-age, dorky-looking doofus in a business suit who had had too much to drink. During their performance, he somehow managed to stumble off the apron of the stage into the orchestra pit. This caused a scandal back in his home state of Arkansas. I have a vague memory that he and Ms. Foxe also waded together one night in a decorative fountain somewhere in downtown Washington. Fanne Foxe’s dressing room backstage at the Pilgrim where Bill O'Reilly interviewed her was probably located down in the basement.
David- the Wollaston Th. auditorium does run sideways. From the street you enter the lobby and walk straight ahead to the foyer at the rear of the orchestra floor, then you turn right to face the stage and screen. There is no balcony, but there is a fairly high ceiling. There is also an elevated brick stage-house; it’s down to the right of the photo.
R. Noyes- glad that you had such a productive visit. If you think that the Orpheum still looks beautiful today, you should have seen it when it was a Loew house, up until the mid-1960s. It was kept in very good condition inside, and even had carpeting. There was, of course, a seperate entrance downstairs on Washington Street. One difference between the Opera House and the Orpheum- Live Nation owns and operates the Opera House, but they only manage the Orpheum; as far as I know it is owned by a large realty company.
Under Chester PA in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide there is a Grand Opera House, managed by Thomas Hargreaves. It had 1,200 seats and was located on the ground floor. There are no street addresses in this Guide. But it seems likely that it is the Hargreaves Opera House/Washburn Theatre/(old) State Theatre.
One of the Arcadia Press books about Roxbury has a photo taken in 1948 in Roxbury Crossing. On the left is the Plaza Theater which had a typical post-war movie marquee. I can’t say for certain, but what can be seen of the facade appears to be similar to the Criterion’s facade. The caption says that the Plaza was at the corner of Texas Street, and also says that the photo is of Tremont Street (but the Criterion was on Columbus Avenue).
The Orpheum continues to host a variety of entertainments. During Christmas week there will be 2 different children’s shows on stage, and from Dec. 26 – 28 will run the annual Three Stooges film festival.
Steve was born into the movie theater business in San Fran in the 1940s (?). He had a superior knowledge of the movie distribution business, and was also very knowledgeable about movie theater history with a strong interest in theater architects and architecture. He knew a great deal about the various chains or circuits. He ably served for years as the editor of Marquee Magazine (THSA). Never a loud braggart like some people in the various hobbies, he was rather a shy, quiet man. I am sorry indeed to learn that he has “gone west”.
Jean Vankin- if you moved to Williamstown 46 years ago in 1962 and the theater was called the Walden at that time, then I say that we can ignore the fact that the name Walden was crossed out on the 1941 MGM Report and something unreadable was hen-scratched next to it. The MGM Reports are full of errors and this appears to be another one of them. It’s good to know that renovations are taking place there now.
Loring Hall is presenting the “Nutcracker” ballet in high-def as performed by the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. There will be 6 performances during the Christmas season at $10 kids, $15 adults.
I have heard that the upper marquee at the Wang, which is really sort of a short, wide vertical sign, has been converted to one of those electronic animated signs. And that there is a similar sign on the Shubert across the street. Anyone know for sure?
Lost – here’s where a local person would be helpful. It seems likely that the Empire/Warren was this theater. Perhaps it was never called the “Whitman Theatre” at all, or was renamed after 1955.
MarkB – I don’t scan the MGM Report photos here in CT because my copies are xeroxes of xeroxes and are very poor. Also, I am wary that someone may hold a copyright on these reports. Someone did scan one of these photos for a theater in Fall River or New Bedford and you can hardly see it.
Gerry- yes, the area is something like a mini-upper West Side. When I used to attend performances at Lincoln Center at night I would dash rapidly thru the dark creepy streets back to my hotel. After performances at Symphony Hall you and Ron can walk all around the Fenway, Roxbury Crossing, the South End, but you won’t find me there.It may be wonderfully peaceful today, but back in the 1960s and 1970s it was a menacing dark zone full of creeps.
ken mc – but it’s not closed, it’s open. You can go there any Sunday morning and look the place over. By your logic, other former movie theaters here in CT which now present stage works should be listed as “Closed” – theaters like the Wang and Opera House in Boston, the New Amsterdam and Palace in NY, the Oriental and Chicago Theatre in Chicago, and so on. Perhaps if a movie theater has ceased operating and been drastically converted inside into, say, a bowling alley, then maybe one could list it in CT as “Closed”.
The caption on the photo posted above by ken mc on Jan 23 2008 states that the Winthrop Th. opened in 1914. Since the Kincade Th. was 56 years old in 1982 it seems likely that the Kincade was a new name for the old State Th. on Shirley Street.
I’m guess that it probably is, but the “Kincade” could have been a renaming of the other theater in Winthrop. Too bad that the 1982 article did not have a street address.
The building in the photo posted above by acme401 is definitely the same building in the 1941 MGM Report photo. Only the big Winthrop Theatre marquee is missing. Plus the exit doors near each end of the facade have now been bricked-up. So the theater is not “demolished” after all.
Some people I know attended the show on Sunday and report that there was only about $500 in gross revenue there, but the performance, which was not live, went off perfectly and the theater employees stated that in the future there would be more than one day’s notice prior to the shows. There will be several more operas from Italy this season.
R. Noyes – while you’re there backstage at the Orpheum, go out to the alleys in back. Stand back and look at the rear stage wall – it’s the original wall from the 1852 Boston Music Hall. Note the old cornice high up, and also the 3 bricked-up semi-circle windows. All original. Go around to the pedestrian alley off Winter St. and you can see the south wall composed of dull-orange brick. It’s also orignal from 1852. So both the north (stage) and south walls are 1852 originals on the exterior. The wings at stage-right and the tall loading door there date from the 1916 reconstruction. You should keep in mind that in the Boston Music Hall the concert platform was at the south end of the building; the stage was constructed in the north end of the building in 1900 when the place was converted into a vaudeville theater.
Loring Hall has gotten into the net of cinemas showing opera performances from theaters in Italy. I’m not sure if these are live simulcasts, or on “delay”. On Sunday, Dec. 7th, they will present at 1 PM “The Barber of Seville” from la Fenice theater in Venice.
As the Grand Opera House, this theater is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide under Ogden Utah. Joseph Clark was the Mgr., the seating capacity was 1,700, and the theater was on the ground floor. The proscenium opening was 37 feet wide X 30 feet high, and the stage was 45 feet deep. Ogden newspapers were the Standard and the Press, both daily, plus 3 weeklies. Hotels for show folk were the Reed, Broom, Central and Chapman. Railroads were the UP, SP, Rio Grande Western and the Oregon Short Line. The 1897 population of Ogden was 18,000.
I recently talked with a gal from Jamaica Plain who told me that she had attended a performance at the Orpheum of a folkloric dance troupe from Brazil and that she was shocked at the condition of the Orpheum’s interior. “I had a mind to report the place to the Board of Health”, she said, adding “I would rather go to the bathroom in the street outside than to use the ladies washrooms in the Orpheum.” We both wondered what well-known entertainers such as Robin Williams and Jackie Mason must think when they first see the trashy dump which they have been booked into.
MarkB – thanks for posting the link to this map. I didn’t realize that the Egleston Th. was on the west side of Washington St., somehow I was given the impression that it was on the east side of the street right near Egleston Sq. No wonder I couldn’t seem to spot it from the el train overhead – I was looking on the wrong side! Well, Duh !
Does anyone know if this theater now has a new or renovated marquee out front? Last Thurs. or Friday evening, the local TV news on one of the Boston stations covered some sort of event in front of the theater and, although I wasn’t paying attention, I thought they made reference to the marquee being “new”.
Mark-not-Whitey – enjoyed your blog, the theater ads and the little site maps are very helpful. I will be going back there to read more of the trains and trolleys info. Please see if you can locate the “Eggie” on a map; it was right below the El structure somewhere in Egleston Square.
The most notorious incident involving Fanne Foxe at the Pilgrim happened at a Saturday evening performance when she enticed her admirer, Congressman Wilbur Mills, to come up onto the stage and dance with her. He was a short, late-middle-age, dorky-looking doofus in a business suit who had had too much to drink. During their performance, he somehow managed to stumble off the apron of the stage into the orchestra pit. This caused a scandal back in his home state of Arkansas. I have a vague memory that he and Ms. Foxe also waded together one night in a decorative fountain somewhere in downtown Washington. Fanne Foxe’s dressing room backstage at the Pilgrim where Bill O'Reilly interviewed her was probably located down in the basement.