Penobscot Theatre
131 Main Street,
Bangor,
ME
04401
131 Main Street,
Bangor,
ME
04401
2 people
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I found an old post card view of Main Street that looks like it was from the twenties. The Bangor Opera House is shown in the foreground. E-6824 is the card number. It appears that a blade sign for the Star is two buildings away. Perhaps the Adams-Pickering Block or the building closer to the opera house. Was there in July. It may be where Sleeper’s once was located.
This became the Bangor cinema on January 28th, 1966. Another ad posted.
This opened on May 31st, 1920. The grand opening ad posted. Ad above was for the old Opera House.
Opened on April 11th, 1882
Bangor Opera House Sat, Apr 1, 1882 – Page 2 · Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) · Newspapers.com
Circa 1960 photo as the Bangor Opera House added, courtesy of the AmeriCar The Beautiful Facebook page.
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre report for this theater when it was the Opera House; it’s Card # 335. Address is 127 Main St. There is an exterior photo taken April 1941. Condition is Good. The report says it was over 15 years old and was showing MGM films. There were 758 orchestra seats and 630 balcony, total 1,388.
Webpage mentions that restoration is underway; theatre is remaining open during restoration.
The original Bangor Opera House, which Joe Vogel mentions above, was listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. The seating was 1,100; the theater was on the ground floor (there are no street addresses in this Guide, unfortunately),Frank and David Owen ran it. The proscenium opening was 31 feet square, and the stage was 38 feet deep. The theater had gas illumination, and 5 musicians in the house orchestra. The 1897 population of Bangor was 25,000.
This article from a Bangor newspaper says that the Opera House was designed by architect Edward J. Bolen.
I don’t know if the opera house it replaced, which burned down in 1914, ever ran movies, but it had been built in 1881 and had been designed by architect Arthur H. Vinal.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Opera House in Bangor is listed as part of Mullins & Pinanski circuit of Boston, which was affiliated with Paramount. M&P also ran the Bijou and Park theaters in Bangor at that time. Regarding the info in the introduction above, it should be pointed out to younger CT members that all of these movie theaters were single-screen years ago. The concept of having two or more screens did not start until the 1960s and 1970s.
STYLE:
ART DECO/EGYPTIAN REVIAL.
AKA:
BANGOR OPERA HOUSE.
Your geography lesson for today. The name of the theater is the name of the river that runs through Bangor. “Join the Navy and see the world”.
Opened in 1920.
Saw something about it once being a church?
Some rough dates that need to checked out?
Opera House 1920-1964
Bangor Cinema 1969-1980
Owners:
1920 Alfred S. Black Circuit
1930-1945 Mullins and Pinanski Theaters (Publix)
1950-1964 New England Theaters Incorpated (Paramount) of Boston
1975-1980 Graphic Theater Circuit of Boston
1985 Cinema Centers Corporation