Bristol Theatre

Joe Vogel on October 2, 2012 at 4:31 am

That would certainly make mores sense, Roger, but Boxoffice said it was the Bristol (item two, left hand column under heading “New Britain”) and said the same a second time (first item, right had column) and then a third time (right hand column, second item from bottom). I’ve been unable to find the item from May, 1978. The magazine might have garbled the information, of course.

Joe Vogel on June 7, 2010 at 12:21 am

It turns out that the Bristol Theatre had a late aka, though it might have lasted only a year or so.

Stanley Warner operated the Bristol Theatre until some time in 1977 or 1978 (the last mention of it as an operating SW house I’ve found is in Boxoffice of January 17, 1977.) After they closed the house, it was taken over by a local physician and movie buff, Dr. Brian Hennessey, who remodeled and reopened it in late 1978 as a cinema dinner theater. Dr. Hennessey’s plans were noted in Boxoffice as early as May that year, but the opening was long delayed. Boxoffice of October 23 said that the Carberry Cinema Classics Dinner Theatre had finally been opened. Seating had been reduced to 298, and the first movie shown was the Marx Brothers' “A Day At the Races.”

Though a November 27 Boxoffice item indicated that the theater had gotten a positive public response, I don’t think the house remained open very long. The last mention of it in Boxoffice is from January 1, 1979, in an item saying that Hennesey had named Sean Sullivan manager of the operation.