Gary Theatre
131 Stuart Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
131 Stuart Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
7 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Sack Theatres
Architects: Clarence H. Blackall, Louis Chiaramonte
Previous Names: Plymouth Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Dec 9, 2012 — Happy 50th, “Lawrence of Arabia”
- Oct 18, 2011 — Happy 50th, "West Side Story"
- Oct 24, 2010 — "The Alamo"...Happy 50th!
- Mar 2, 2010 — Happy 45th, "The Sound Of Music"
- Oct 30, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Sleeping Beauty"
- Jan 26, 2009 — Remembering Cinerama (Part 19: Boston)
This sizable theatre was formerly the Plymouth Theatre which opened in 1911. It was located on Stuart Steet near Tremont Street and right around the corner from what is now the Emerson Majestic Theatre.
It became the Gary Cinema in 1958. It was demolished in 1978 for construction of the State Transportation Building.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 91 comments)
“The Sound of Music” premiered at the Gary 50 years ago today. With a reserved-seat run of 83 weeks, do you think it is the long-run record holder for this venue?
Also, on a related note, I would like to mention my new 50th anniversary retrospective for “The Sound of Music” can be read here.
The Theatre had such a short distance between the front and back walls that the screen was located almost at the rear of the back stage wall leaving just enough room for the 5 stereo speakers. The projection booth at the rear of the first balcony was very small making it a very cramped booth for the operators. They had about the biggest equipment at the time; Norelco 70mm machines and Peerless condenser arcs.
1958 photo added, photo credit Tremont & Stuart.
@FlamingoMom: Boy do I remember Helene’s Costume Shop. I was doing a promotion for “Carry On Henry VIII” at the Astor and needed to have someone dress up as the fractious regent for a street ballyhoo. Naturally, I visited Helene. What an experience. I could have sewn a costume from scratch in the time it took her to talk and look through racks and talk and lay out fittings and talk and talk. I suspect the poor dear was lonely, or maybe she was fading, but I never went back there again (except to return the costume).
1955 photo and corresponding Playbill page added, as the Plymouth Theatre.
Unconfirmed story told to me by a manager who worked the Gary. He said part of the heating system involved steam that would be sent along the floor of the theater. Joke was that folks would leave the theater with their pants pressed.
The book “Movie Roadshow” by Kim R. Holston mentions the first attraction after the theater was refurbished and renamed The Gary was The Bridge On The River Kwai.
Sorry, read the paragraph wrong, the first film they got as an East Coast Premiere was Bridge, not the first film after it was renamed.
The Gary’s roadshow engagements are noted in this new article on Boston’s large format and roadshow history
Louis Chiaramonte was responsible for the 1957 remodeling and its transformation as the “new” Gray Cinema in 1957.