Our grandfather, Henry Walz, built the original Majestic in 1910 at 73 Cottage Street, at the site of the current building. Eventually it had six bowling lanes and a shuffleboard court in the basement. The theater itself had box seats, a balcony, a stage, and a capacity of over 800. The theater was run by William Friel, who paid Henry a rent of $75/week according to ledgers from the first half of 1912. In today’s dollars, that works out to $72,000 per year in rental fees, a hefty sum. In addition to movies, the Majestic featured vaudeville acts. Henry sold the Majestic in 1917 for $30,000 ($482K in today’s dollars), and it burned down on Feb. 4, 1922. We own a stage backdrop of one of the incarnations of this theatre, and it will be donated to the Easthampton (MA) Historical Society, which already has interior photographs donated by our father. We also have a postcard showing the 1910 Majestic; we will send a scan to this site when it becomes possible again.
Our grandfather, Henry Walz, built the original Majestic in 1910 at 73 Cottage Street, at the site of the current building. Eventually it had six bowling lanes and a shuffleboard court in the basement. The theater itself had box seats, a balcony, a stage, and a capacity of over 800. The theater was run by William Friel, who paid Henry a rent of $75/week according to ledgers from the first half of 1912. In today’s dollars, that works out to $72,000 per year in rental fees, a hefty sum. In addition to movies, the Majestic featured vaudeville acts. Henry sold the Majestic in 1917 for $30,000 ($482K in today’s dollars), and it burned down on Feb. 4, 1922. We own a stage backdrop of one of the incarnations of this theatre, and it will be donated to the Easthampton (MA) Historical Society, which already has interior photographs donated by our father. We also have a postcard showing the 1910 Majestic; we will send a scan to this site when it becomes possible again.