I saw several movies at The Stanley / Stanton. “The Lone Ranger”, “Old Yeller”, “West Side Story”, “The Music Man”, “55 Days At Peking” and “The Carpetbaggers”, which I’d completely forgotten about until another note, on this page, jogged my memory. Earlier, when I was a young boy in the 50s, I remember seeing at least two “Westerns” there, whose titles I can no longer recall. One starred Randolph Scott and another (I think) featured Rory Calhoun. There may have been a few others, as well…if so they’ve been completely erased my memory.
I grew up downtown, and only remember going to this theater once. It was around 1959, for a showing of “Shane”, which had originally had a 1953 release.
The Howard was downtown’s “neighborhood” theater, in my day, showing films that had already had their first run in the months or years before. I saw many films at The Howard in the 50s and 60s.
The first James Bond film (“Dr. No”) opened at The New, sometime in the spring of 1963. While I was watching the film (it was a matinee showing) there was a problem, either with the projector or film, and the theater had to refund our money as it couldn’t be immediately fixed. I had to return, another day, to see the complete film.
The Little was not at the corner of Howard & Franklin Streets….it was in the middle of that block, between Franklin and Centre Streets. The photograph that was posted clearly shows it not to be on the corner. I saw a handful of movies there…“Sink the Bismarck”, “C.O.D.” (with Peter Cushing) are the only ones I can recall, off the top of my head.
The biographical info, on the theater, states that it closed “during the 1950’s”. Actually, it survived until the end of 1959, or early 1960, at least. I saw at least three films there in 1959, which I was able to verify at a movie database website, which gave release dates for the films (“The Bat” with Vincent Price, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” with Peter Cushing ; also “The Mummy” with Peter Cushing, again). The last film, I can remember seeing there, was “Journey To The Center Of The Earth” (with Pat Boone) which had it’s NYC premiere in December, 1959. This implies that the Baltimore release would have either been the same month, or in early 1960. The block in which the theater stood was razed, in 1962, for the “Charles Center”, Baltimore’s first urban renewal project during my lifetime. So far, I’ve not been able to find any info on exactly when the theater closed. My educated guess is for a 1960 closing, since I can’t recall seeing any later films there.
I saw several movies at The Stanley / Stanton. “The Lone Ranger”, “Old Yeller”, “West Side Story”, “The Music Man”, “55 Days At Peking” and “The Carpetbaggers”, which I’d completely forgotten about until another note, on this page, jogged my memory. Earlier, when I was a young boy in the 50s, I remember seeing at least two “Westerns” there, whose titles I can no longer recall. One starred Randolph Scott and another (I think) featured Rory Calhoun. There may have been a few others, as well…if so they’ve been completely erased my memory.
I grew up downtown, and only remember going to this theater once. It was around 1959, for a showing of “Shane”, which had originally had a 1953 release.
The Howard was downtown’s “neighborhood” theater, in my day, showing films that had already had their first run in the months or years before. I saw many films at The Howard in the 50s and 60s.
The first James Bond film (“Dr. No”) opened at The New, sometime in the spring of 1963. While I was watching the film (it was a matinee showing) there was a problem, either with the projector or film, and the theater had to refund our money as it couldn’t be immediately fixed. I had to return, another day, to see the complete film.
The Little was not at the corner of Howard & Franklin Streets….it was in the middle of that block, between Franklin and Centre Streets. The photograph that was posted clearly shows it not to be on the corner. I saw a handful of movies there…“Sink the Bismarck”, “C.O.D.” (with Peter Cushing) are the only ones I can recall, off the top of my head.
The biographical info, on the theater, states that it closed “during the 1950’s”. Actually, it survived until the end of 1959, or early 1960, at least. I saw at least three films there in 1959, which I was able to verify at a movie database website, which gave release dates for the films (“The Bat” with Vincent Price, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” with Peter Cushing ; also “The Mummy” with Peter Cushing, again). The last film, I can remember seeing there, was “Journey To The Center Of The Earth” (with Pat Boone) which had it’s NYC premiere in December, 1959. This implies that the Baltimore release would have either been the same month, or in early 1960. The block in which the theater stood was razed, in 1962, for the “Charles Center”, Baltimore’s first urban renewal project during my lifetime. So far, I’ve not been able to find any info on exactly when the theater closed. My educated guess is for a 1960 closing, since I can’t recall seeing any later films there.