Strand Theatre
4 E. Main Street,
Mystic,
CT
06355
4 E. Main Street,
Mystic,
CT
06355
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The Strand opened on April 29, 1922 booked by Morris Pouzzner and managed by George Grinnell. State Senator C.C. Costello addressed the sold out audience. Sound was added to keep the venue viable. Boys shooting coins and hard candy during a March 14, 1960 matinee of “Sink the Mismarck” mentioned abov led to the manager of the venue, James R. Fox, admonishing the behavior and ended the long-standing weekend matinee policy.
On December 12, 1960, the theatre burned down taking nine downtown businesses with it. Pictures of the fire are impressive for the catastrophic damage that erased much of downtown. Reports said that flying theater debris landed in the Mystic River. The final date is December 11, 1960 with Elvis in “G.I. Blues.”
They were screening Sink The Bismarck 2 weeks before it burned down
This theatre may have been known as the Mystic in the 1910s. Newspaper ad found.
from Boxoffice Magazine, April 23, 1938:
Four Westerly and Mystic Houses Will Be Renovated
WESTERLY, R.I. – Jack Findlay, owner and operator of the Central, United and Lyric Theatres here and the Strand, Mystic, Conn., is renovating all four houses. Work on the Central, which will double its present seating capacity, is in progress. At the same time two new rectifiers and two lamps are being installed in the United and new carpet laid. The 400-seat Lyric, closed for many years, will soon begin complete renovation, while next in line the Strand will be entirely modernized. Findlay plans to operate the three Westerly houses full time first-run."
The Strand can be seen in this 1949 photo. It burned to the ground on December 2, 1960.
http://tinyurl.com/37mlly
I’m wondering if the Lyric in nearby Pawcatuck/Westerly hovered over water also, since city directories gave its address as West Broad and added “on the bridge.”
I think I heard that this theatre was literally built above the water. It hung out over it. Supposedly there were wharf rats underneath.
In June of 1940 Hitchcock’s Rebecca with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier played here. There, isn’t that an earth-shaking fact?