Broadway Theatre
514 Broadway,
Pawtucket,
RI
02860
514 Broadway,
Pawtucket,
RI
02860
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The photos above in my May 25, 2015 posts seem to have been taken in 1946, after the theatre was refurbished, though the report and grading was from 1941.
Gerry- Yes, the entire series of MGM Theatre Report cards, over 600 of them from MA,ME, NH, RI and VT, are now on the THS website, historictheatres.org. They are in the “New England Special Collection”.
Ron, I didn’t realize you were working from their website. I was able to find that image of the Broadway and others.
Ron Salters, Can’t you scan and post a photo of this theatre (and a few others) from these M.G.M. cards? It’s really frustrating hearing there is a photo of this place and not being able to see it. This would be very helpful especially in the case of places like this where no other known photos seem to survive.
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Reports for the Broadway. Card # 531 has no info, with an exterior photo with no date. Card # 537 has a similar exterior photo dated Sept. 1946. The street address is obscured. There were 550 seats. It was over 15 years old, and was not showing MGM films. Someone wrote on the report that the theater was in Poor condition, but it was renovated in the fall of 1944, and is now in Good condition.
Report on a concert held in 1928 at the Circle Theatre, as the Broadway was then known:
CLICK HERE
Operators of various theatres in the Pawtucket-Lincoln-Valley Falls area in 1951, gave their opinions on ways to combat the effects of TV on their theatres. Written as a report for the Pawtucket Times, the results were also reported in Boxoffice magazine in the issue of January 27, 1951:
View link
Item in Boxoffice magazine, June 7, 1941, page 75. Hardly earth-shattering, but it gives us the name of the manager at the time:
“Al Ward of the Broadway in Pawtucket has had new lamps installed at the house.”
A 1929 city directory lists a theatre at this address under the name of Circle Theatre. That must have been the Broadway’s earlier name.
I have an aunt looking for photos of this theater. I am working diligently trying to obtained photos of every theater where I’ve made comment.
Those who are younger might recall A&S Wheel and Brake Service which occupied the building until it was razed to put in the small strip of stores. I never knew this building was a theater and I remember when the building was razed somewhere around 1978.
For those familiar with Pawtucket and Broadway, the theater was indeed to the right of Risho’s Market in the big parking lot.
Gerald, I did do some research on this theater while I was at the library.
It was called the Circle Theater from 1928-1934 and in 1935 it became the Broadway until it no longer operated in 1959. It was listed as vacant from that time on.
Roland, perhaps Gerald could answer this for you. I wasn’t familiar enough with the area to answer your question, as the Broadway Theater was across town and I visited it only on rare occasions.
The Fairlawn was the place I spent much of my growing-up years. I remember vividly every inch of it!
Boy, I am having this picture stick in my head concerning this theater. I use to hang around Broadway in my later teens and knew a LOT of Broadway people including the owner of Broadway Pizza and Risho’s Market.
Anyway, directly across from Broadway Pizza at 511 Broadway was this building to the right of the older Risho’s Market. I recall the building was brickfaced and painted white but there were these trim bricks that were painted red, kind of like they were attempting some castle or armory effect. I also recall the “Year Built” badge close to the top of the building. It was not a big building, single story but fairly deep. It was not operational when I knew this building which was mid 70’s.
It would be located in the parking lot of the NEW Risho’s Market. That’s if Risho’s is still there.
Was this the Broadway Theater?
I remember as a child being driven by there. Never visited. Perhaps a photo will turn up.
Yes Gerald, I do indeed remember the Broadway. My best girlfriend moved into that area from my neighborhood on Lonsdale Avenue, and it was a big excursion for me to cross the city by 2 busses and join her for Saturday afternoon at the Broadway and then an overnight at her house! I’d love to see a photo of the place which I could e-mail to her (she now lives in Maine). I think I saw movies at the Broadway after I was married and living on Armistice Blvd. too. Before we had a TV, we went the movies several times a week and probably went to the Broadway when we had seen everything else in town!