Cinema I, II and III
Northshore Shopping Center,
Routes 128 and 114,
Peabody,
MA
01960
Northshore Shopping Center,
Routes 128 and 114,
Peabody,
MA
01960
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 28 comments
Closed in 1997.
Opened on cinema 1 with “The birds” and on cinema 2 with “Miracle of the white stallions”.
This in the first twin for General Cinema.
Man I remember going here to see Psycho Anthony Perkins what a movie that was and sneaking back in to see it again.
This opened on May 29th, 1963. Its grand opening ad has been uploaded here.
dave-Bronx,Behind the screen stuff must have went on even in Georgia,Took home a ton of one-sheets thanks to guys like you.
Renewing link.
You can get the old GC Trailer and many others on YouTube – it’s been a goldmine of stuff i’ve saved and snipped into bumpers and ID’s for our podcast…look for “General Cinema Policy trailer” or something similar
re:
“Steve Pritzker has a digital copy of the old GC trailer. ”
..so..ummmm..how can I get a copy?
Jim P
Steve Pritzker has a digital copy of the old GC trailer.
Yup – that’s her…
I checked with Steve Pritzker who keeps in touch with Pike, and they don’t have any copies. Wish someone could find one, maybe a reader here saved some. (Joe DiCarlo would make sure old scratched ones got thrown away, so they wouldn’t get mixed up with new ones.)
hmmm, Gert Trigger, now that’s a name from long ago!! Was she Sy Evan’s secretary?
Weren’t those made up by Pike Productions out of Chicago? I remember when we needed new ones, Gert Triger would send a letter to someone in Chicago, I think it was Pike… I wonder if they are still in business – and if they are if we could get some from them (even on video)– if they still have the negative.
We used to keep a box of old butter pumps that had been dropped, and wouldn’t work anymore, just in case. Sometimes a gear would spin on one, but not another. When we switched from automaticket to computer, we put the old ticket machines and cans in the storage areas, I think just in case the computers went down, or maybe just because they were on the “physical inventory”. I wish I could go back to some of those theatres and search the booths for an old GCC snipe from the 1970’s!
The key word here was “new” – we already had an old beat-up Royal typewriter – it worked but I wanted an electric. The one they sent was older than the one we already had, plus they had just thrown it in a big box, no packing material, not even old rolled-up newspaper, and when it arrived the carriage was bent. I knew Saunders was a cheapskate and I didn’t really expect to get what I asked for but decided to give it a try. So I went out and bought my own IBM Selectric, and still have it.
For some reason, in theatres it is sacreligious to throw anything away. Look in back of the screen or in the cellar of any theatre – you will find old lamphouses, old office furniture, old posters, old paperwork, old buttermats and jet-sprays. Even if something was broken, it wasn’t thrown out, the manager would say to the usher, “After you set up the new one, put the old one behind the screen”. When we became the manager, we did the same thing.
Yes, they used the bowling alley as a warehouse. I was wondering what you used to type your invoice and petty cash reports after throwing away the typewriter? Those were certainly valuable pieces of company property in those days! (I hope Joe Saunders isn’t rolling in his grave after learning of this!)
Wasn’t the Holiday Lanes, after it closed, the place they used as a warehouse for all the old theatre and office equipment? I remember I had once requisioned a new typewriter, Saunders sent out a purchase order to some bowling alley in the Boston. A week later I received an old broken-down Royal typewriter, damaged in transit, that was promptly dispatched to the dumpster behind the theatre.
Exact opening date was May 28, 1963. First Managaer was named Sullivan, followed by Izzy Strier, followed by Ed Frizzel.
The Peabody Cinema was originally slated to be one theatre, a Holiday Lanes, and an attached nightclub. When Phil Smith, owner of Smith Management, passed away, his son Richard took over the operations of General Drive-In, (then the name for General Cinema). Richard Smith was very conservative, unlike his father, and didn’t agree with the concept of a bar with liquor being a part of the business. Thus, the space became a theatre auditorium. The theatre actually opened in 1963.
I worked as an usher in this theater for a short time in 1968 and it was beautifully maintained (at least then.I dated one of the candy counter girls, her name was Liz Wright. The Cinema always attracted a large well dressed (seems funny now) crowd, especially on the weekends and the management was very strict back then that we wear a clean uniform (they checked) and have our hair combed off our faces (I had a crew cut) and did not permit long hair on male ushers. If a movie was playing and there was nothing to do inbetween shows then we swept the carpets or cleaned the glass. The manager at that time was a Mr. Frissell and he kept a watchful eye on things. We also lugged the movies up to the projection booths when they came in on Tuesday nights for the following weeks. I remember that I thought it was funny that they came by armored car and were in big metal cases with handles and they weighed a ton! I only worked there for about 8 months until I got a job at Stop & Shop which paid better. I remember that one of the movies that played there was “Shalako” starring Sean Connery and a re-release of “Gone With The Wind” in the large theater and they packed it on weekends!
I seem to remember, too, the Northshore Cinema being mostly a move-over house in its later years, bespeaking what you made note of, dwodeyla.
Liberty Tree Mall was one of the competitors. The Northshore Cinema, (it’s actual name in GCC records) was one of the companies slowest theatres, in the ‘70s, 80’s until it closed. That was probably why it suffered from a small capital repair budget. The theatre housed the Division Office, with Bill Romanoff as District Manager, until he passed away and the New England Division was realigned.
When the Cinema I, II, and III closed, where did most of its business go – to the Loews/eventual Hollywood Hits Theatres in Danvers?
Yes GCC did own the bowling alley next door. There was also a miniature golf course outside in front of the alleys. This was taken out leaving a large flat area covered in crushed gravel in front of the alleys,
The alleys were not maintained well and the theatre itself was not really kept up. But for years it was the only place locally to see first run films.
Not sure when the alleys were torn down.
This theatre closed in early May 1997…I think “Grosse Point Blank” and “Chasing Amy” were the other two bookings. Many good memories of films here and can still feel the spirit of the cinema in today’s Barnes and Noble. :P