Medford Square 1-2-3

Nice to see a post of this theatre. My dad and the former owner are cousins…I’d love to connect with anyone who is related!

In the Street View photo above, the Medford Theatre’s marquee and lobby entrance were in the center of the building facade. As of 1941 at least, there apparently also was a verticle sign above the marquee.

Steve, I’m trying to remember you, how long ago was this? That’s funny though my Grampa was always afraid of bats indeed lol, and we had many occassion when a bat would make it’s way inside since they all came from the steeple of the church that was next door. I’m sorry to hear of Bob’s passing, I had no idea. Frank as far as I know is still with us my mom saw him and his wife Norma a couple of years ago at the Meadow Glen Mall. I would certainly love to share more memories and stories please do post either here or email me at

Oh! I also wanted to add that in the photo there was a Karate place in the storefront to the right of the Cinema Entrance, but for the longest time that spot was the home on “Heritage Florist”. And Murray Shoes was always there as long as I can remember anyway, I got my prom shoes there every year lol.

ken mc’s 1983 photo is definitely the same theater as the April 1941 photo on the MGM Report. In 1941, the store to the left of the theater entrance was a drug store, and to the right was the Bryan Music Co. And to Debbie the Candy Girl, nice to read your memories!

My name is Debbie, and I truly wish I found this site earlier! I can tell you just about anything you want to know about the “Medford Cinema” cause I grew up there, my grandfather John Stivers managed, operated, and ran the place for 43 years! My mom and I worked there too. I have been a part of the Cinema and it a part of me since I was an embryo until the day it closed in 1984!! I still have old photos of me in the lobby and at the “Ticket Box” with my Grampa. I too remember Bob the projectionist and often wonder how he is, my Grampa John sadly passed away in 1995. Wow! what memories come flowing back lol, I still remeber too when I was a real little girl during the day when no movies were playing, being in there and putting on a show on the stage of Cinema One for my grandfather, my mother, and the owner Frank to the musical numbers from “Funny Girl” lol. I have since gotten married and moved an hour’s drive away south of Boston, but still once in a while go to Medford to visit friends and it breaks my heart to drive by what was once such a huge part of my life, it’s where I grew up, and now it’s like that part of my childhood no longer exhists but the memories. I would love to chat with others about the Cinema, as I can still remember every nook and cranny of that old building. Yes dark and dank as it seemed to others, it was deffinately a bright spot to me.

My grandfather was the projectionist there for many years I believe from the early late 60’s early 70’s until it closed in the 80’s. I also worked there for several years as usher and assistant projectionist. In regards to the first comment on the layout of teh interior. Once you entered the glass doors in front large florr to ceiling mirrors were on both the right and left sides about 12 feet in. The small box office was located on the right with a pedestal style white ticket box in the center. To the left of the ticket box was the snmall storage room for mops, buckets, ushers jackets & flashlights. The water fountain as well as the entrance to the long narrow box office was also located here. The pay phone also located there could not be used when someone called in to hear the list of movies playing. Why I never knew. Anyway, just passed the ticket box on the left was the concession stand, Soda fountain on the far left, then the glass candy display and to the right was a small freezer for that disturbing “ice cream” that when melted could be picked up off the floor like cooled melted wax. Yes, many nights cleaning the theater as well. The popcorn machine (which only heated the popcorn) was behind the candy display on a built in counter top area with storage underneath. The candy storage room was located to the right of the freezer. Additional ice cream was stored in a bigger freezer located beneath the stage of Cinema 1. Back to the tour: About 20 feet away from the ticket box was the entrance to Cinema 1 mostly done in a dark baby powder blue with gray floors. The two theater boxes on either side of the stage were not used to view movies but we did use the left one for the recreation of the Lincoln assination during the run of Sun Films “The Lincoln Conspiracy”. My grandfather also constructed that. Back to the lobby, taking a right at the ticket box walk up the steps, (about 25) to the left and 3 more steps up was the glass doors leading to Cinema 2. View a few ½ wall mirrors and poor looking plastic plants and up 5 more steps enter Cinema 2 with black walls an oak stained floor and large red curtains hiding the movie screen. Taking a right at the top of the steps go up 2 steps, Mens room on the right, through the sold red doors, small ladies room on the right. Up 10-12 steps and enter Cinema 3, the former balcony of Cinema 1. This was done up with red & white cloth in stripes reminded us of the former Grossmans only in red. the projection booth for Cinema 1 was below the Cinema 3 screen. The back wall of Cinema 3 was the projection booth. If anyone is interested in further details of the booths & ballroom I will be more than happy to post. I came across this site just the other day and wish I had found it sooner.

The 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac lists the Medford Theatre as being operated by the Middlesex Amusement Co. (Ramsdell Brothers), which ran most of the theatres in Malden. The Medford Theatre is also listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 1800 seats and being open 6 days per week. That seating figure appears to be incorrect.

The owner of the Medford Cinema was realtor Frank Andre, who also operated a real estate office diagonally across the street from the Cinema. I took and passed my Dept. of Public Safety projectionist’s test in the Cinema 1 booth in the mid-1970s.

I visited this theater many times during my years as a student at Tufts University, in the late 70s & early 80s. Sorry to hear the auditorium part was demolished, glad the rest of the building is being put to good use.

A Boston Globe article about cheap movie theatres, published on September 16, 1982, calls it the “Medford Square 1-2-3”. So it apparently was triplexed at some point before it died.

From the December 9, 1989 Globe: “A workman was injured yesterday when the rear of the three-story Medford Cinema building in Medford collapsed during renovation work.”

Wow; thanks, Ian. Studying the exterior of the building in January of ‘03 (seeing the aluminum siding on the rear exterior and thinking nothing of it), speaking with one of the proprietors of the furniture store in the space to the right of the former lobby, and looking at the Stormship office space photos on their web site, I was under the impression that the auditorium space had only been gutted (and it killed me to think that that even happened since the Cinema 1 & 2 had been my childhood theatre and where I imagine I saw my first movie as well). Do you know approximately when the auditorium space was demolished or do you have any other details on the theatre and its history, etc.?

Many thanks for your appraisal of the recent history of the former Medford Theater. I have an exterior photo and an auditorium shot taken in about 1924. There was very little decoration inside the auditorium and what stood out were two boxes on each splay wall beside the proscenium opening, which must have given a dreadful view of the screen (if they were ever used). The balcony had a seating capacity of 450. There was a ballroom located over the lobby and shop units which extended across the entire front of the building.