Actually, I’ve finally jogged loose those old memory cells, and remember that the owners' last name was Hoagland, Ralph and Molly Hoagland. I’ve even found a picture of them taken by Elsa Dorfman, circa 1973, which can be seen here: View link
In response to br91975’s questions, I can no longer remember the owners' last name, but their first names were Ralph and Molly, a married couple. Your best bet for further info on this might be to try to contact Larry Jackson, who was the Director/Film Programmer for the Orson Welles at that time. He is now President of the Amherst Center for Stage and Screen, and you might try to reach him at
As I mentioned in my post above, I believe the owners opened a restaurant in Harvard Square, which I think was called Molly’s, or Molly’s at 33 Dunster Street, or maybe just 33 Dunster Street, I’m not certain of the history of names prior to the current brew pub at that address. Whether they continued to be involved with the Orson Welles Cinemas or not I am not sure, but Larry may well know the story if you are able to reach him in Amherst.
I moved to the west coast in 1980, so I have little information regarding the fire and its' aftermath, and I don’t know if Ralph and Molly were still involved with the theatres at that time.
More random memories from my time at the Orson Welles Cinemas:
I remember that we had Jean Pierre Leaud and the director Jean Eustache visit us briefly when we opened “The Mother and the Whore”, I think it was 1973.
At some point between 1972 and 1973, we expanded to three cinemas, and parked “The Harder They Come” in Cinema 3 for the duration.
The restaurant served killer Baklava I remember, and hi to Jerry behind the bar …
Toward the end of this period, we were selling firewood out of the parking lot just to try to make ends meet …
For one summer or so we tried an additional little cinema called Toad Hollow, I think it was in Lenox …
I was a Box Office Manager there in the early 70’s and we World-Premiered Neil Young’s “Journey Through The Past” … Neil and Carrie Snodgrass and Zeke, as well as David Crosby and Graham Nash, were around a lot at that time since the sound system had to be revamped to present the film in Cinema One, and needed their approval. Neil gave a terrific, impromptu acoustic set to the staff over in the restaurant one night, and already at that early stage was apologizing for not being able to hit all the high notes any more. The film bombed, but it was a blast having all those interesting people around, and Carrie played a mean game of Pong.
There was a lot of labor union activity around the popcorn sellers, and I believe the owners eventually opened a restaurant in Harvard Square called “Molly’s”, or something like that.
Hello to Ralph, Molly, Marty, Mary and the whole crew.
In response to Ron’s post, just copying in my comment from my previous post, re adding Cinema 3:
“At some point between 1972 and 1973, we expanded to three cinemas, and parked "The Harder They Come” in Cinema 3 for the duration."
Cinema 2 was already there when I got there.
Following up on the interest in Ralph Hoagland since his days with the Orson Welles Cinema, here is a more current link/picture:
http://hbshealth.org/docuploads/hbspa12a.htm
Yes Ron, you can see both Ralph and Molly referenced in this local Boston article about their son’s business success: View link
Actually, I’ve finally jogged loose those old memory cells, and remember that the owners' last name was Hoagland, Ralph and Molly Hoagland. I’ve even found a picture of them taken by Elsa Dorfman, circa 1973, which can be seen here: View link
In response to br91975’s questions, I can no longer remember the owners' last name, but their first names were Ralph and Molly, a married couple. Your best bet for further info on this might be to try to contact Larry Jackson, who was the Director/Film Programmer for the Orson Welles at that time. He is now President of the Amherst Center for Stage and Screen, and you might try to reach him at
As I mentioned in my post above, I believe the owners opened a restaurant in Harvard Square, which I think was called Molly’s, or Molly’s at 33 Dunster Street, or maybe just 33 Dunster Street, I’m not certain of the history of names prior to the current brew pub at that address. Whether they continued to be involved with the Orson Welles Cinemas or not I am not sure, but Larry may well know the story if you are able to reach him in Amherst.
I moved to the west coast in 1980, so I have little information regarding the fire and its' aftermath, and I don’t know if Ralph and Molly were still involved with the theatres at that time.
Hope this helps.
More random memories from my time at the Orson Welles Cinemas:
I remember that we had Jean Pierre Leaud and the director Jean Eustache visit us briefly when we opened “The Mother and the Whore”, I think it was 1973.
At some point between 1972 and 1973, we expanded to three cinemas, and parked “The Harder They Come” in Cinema 3 for the duration.
The restaurant served killer Baklava I remember, and hi to Jerry behind the bar …
Toward the end of this period, we were selling firewood out of the parking lot just to try to make ends meet …
For one summer or so we tried an additional little cinema called Toad Hollow, I think it was in Lenox …
I was a Box Office Manager there in the early 70’s and we World-Premiered Neil Young’s “Journey Through The Past” … Neil and Carrie Snodgrass and Zeke, as well as David Crosby and Graham Nash, were around a lot at that time since the sound system had to be revamped to present the film in Cinema One, and needed their approval. Neil gave a terrific, impromptu acoustic set to the staff over in the restaurant one night, and already at that early stage was apologizing for not being able to hit all the high notes any more. The film bombed, but it was a blast having all those interesting people around, and Carrie played a mean game of Pong.
There was a lot of labor union activity around the popcorn sellers, and I believe the owners eventually opened a restaurant in Harvard Square called “Molly’s”, or something like that.
Hello to Ralph, Molly, Marty, Mary and the whole crew.