I have just found out that the nice marquee mentioned above is out for restoration, that the United is undergoing extensive revamping and reconstruction and will be re-opened as a three-screen art house for the area. A consultant to the project is Mr. Joe Masher, general manager of Bow-Tie Cinemas, who informed me himself. I consider this extremely good news for the Westerly/Stonington area.
A February 24, 1933 Fall River Herald article (replete with extensive detail not included here) reported that the Bijou had been sold at auction the day before at $7,000 to Nathan Yamins, who announced the the theatre entrance at 162 North Main Street would be remodeled for business purposes and that the auditorium itself on Durfee Street would be razed for a public garage and a gasoline station.
For the previous thirty years the theatre had been used for theatrical productions as well as sporting events. The Bijou had been constructed as a modification of the original Casino which had been there and had been the sports center of the community. The Casino had been built in 1895 and had a polo-rink/skating-rink (47 x 100 feet), pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, banquet and assembly rooms. Ephraim E. Wood of Boston, builder of the Casino, had been a big polo enthusiast. Polo matches with teams from area cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, New Bedford and Salem were presented. The Casino was used too for indoor baseball games. In 1903 the Casino was restructured and rebuilt so that it became the Bijou. Interestingly, the bowling alleys remained.
The Bijou finally opened in 1904, with an incomplete stage roof. Actors had to wait in the wings with umbrellas before going on! In a show with Eph Thompson’s elephants, the animals had to make their entrance to the stage by entering the lobby and parading down the aisles of the theatre. Vaudeville shows became part and parcel of the Bijou presentations. The theatre seated 1,800 people. There was for a time a vaudeville war between the Bijou and the Savoy (down North Main Street a bit). In 1915 and 1916 the Bijou was the home of Loew’s Vaudeville with Louis Boas as manager. The best movie attractions came here and to the nearby Savoy. The Bijou was the second theatre in New England to be wired for the showing of sound movies (the first may have been the Majestic in Providence). The end of the Bijou can be attributed to the end of the Savoy in the fire that raged two blocks away in 1928 and destroyed that theatre, for out of the ashes of the Savoy would emerge the grand Durfee, which would overshadow the Bijou and precipitate its demise after the elegant new showplace opened in 1929.
A man on horseback and dressed like a cowboy would ride through the city’s main streets promoting the films playing at the various nickel theatres of the city during the early silent era.
Lost Memory, that sounds very likely. I discovered Rich’s Theatre was originally built in 1882 and operated by A.A. Spitz of Providence, who in 1917 turned the property over to the Nathan Yamins interests. So Daniel Nugent was about 16 when Rich’s Theatre was built. The theatre was then demolished or incorporated into the new Empire Theatre which opened in 1918 on that same site but with a front on South Main Street. I found this info in a September 29, 1962 article in the Fall River Herald relating to the demolition of the Empire. It spoke of the connection between the Empire and Rich’s.
The Durfee Theatre opened on August 31, 1929 and was termed a “showpiece” among New England theatres and was said, perhaps hyperbolically, to be unrivaled east of Chicago. It is certain that no other Fall River Theatre surpassed it in beauty, and its loss is one of the saddest that ever befell the city. The first film attraction presented was The Coconuts with the Marx Brothers. The Spanish-Moorish decor was modeled after the Alhambra Palace in Spain, including the ceilings, wall-hangings and drapes. The lobby was lavish, had a beautiful staircase, a marble pool for fish on the ground level and an elaborate chandelier. A great deal of information on and many memories about this magnificent lost theatre have been found in the clippings file at the Fall River Public Library and will appear in these pages over the coming weeks.
In a 1983 article in the Fall River Herald (August 20), the manager wrote of this theatre.
“At the Somerset Playhouse, the boiler room was located under the stage. The boiler room itself was built over a spring, which necessitated a pump working all the time. When the pump would go into action, it would make a noisy click quite audible to the performers on stage. One week we had a star whose image was angelic and demure, just sugary sweetness itself. Off stage she was just the opposite, a tough cookie from the word go, who possessed a colorful vocabulary laced with four-letter words.
“One night during a performance, the pump clicked into operation. Its noise took Miss Goody Two Shoes by surprise. She let out with a loud, ‘What the…was that?’ A vulgarism completely out of character with her projected pose of innocence. The expression stunned the audience into silence. They didn’t even laugh, it took them so much by surprise. That outburst ruined the evening’s proceedings. The audience just wouldn’t buy her brand of goodness after that gaffe.
“The lavatories at the Somerset were located almost on the stage. Actors had to be warned not to use them during a performance, because the flush could be heard in the audience. This situation prompted one star to comment, ‘This is the only theatre in the United States where the bathrooms are on the stage.’ Only she expressed it in more pungent terms.
“The air conditioning at Somerset could not be used during a performance as the cooling unit was also in the boiler room, and when operating, the actors could not hear each other talk. And the boiler room did not have an inside entrance, just an outside one.”
In a 1976 Fall River Herald feature, Women’s Page editor Jean Judge wrote:
“The old Premier on Rock Street was typical of the movie houses here in those early days. At least one movie patron of old remembers going to that theatre, also owned by W. J. Dunn, and getting a box of bonbons with his ticket to the silent movie, all for the price of a dime.”
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gaves the seating capacity as 1,257.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Olympia as 875.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 879. I was told by someone who used to vist the theatre that it had a balcony.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 265.
I have just found out that the nice marquee mentioned above is out for restoration, that the United is undergoing extensive revamping and reconstruction and will be re-opened as a three-screen art house for the area. A consultant to the project is Mr. Joe Masher, general manager of Bow-Tie Cinemas, who informed me himself. I consider this extremely good news for the Westerly/Stonington area.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 300.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 1,011.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 1,704.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 278.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity of the Olympia as 1383.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity of the Lyric as 430.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating capacity as 950.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 800.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 626.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 600.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 600.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook listed the seating capacity as 500.
The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook lists the seating as 1,000.
A February 24, 1933 Fall River Herald article (replete with extensive detail not included here) reported that the Bijou had been sold at auction the day before at $7,000 to Nathan Yamins, who announced the the theatre entrance at 162 North Main Street would be remodeled for business purposes and that the auditorium itself on Durfee Street would be razed for a public garage and a gasoline station.
For the previous thirty years the theatre had been used for theatrical productions as well as sporting events. The Bijou had been constructed as a modification of the original Casino which had been there and had been the sports center of the community. The Casino had been built in 1895 and had a polo-rink/skating-rink (47 x 100 feet), pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, banquet and assembly rooms. Ephraim E. Wood of Boston, builder of the Casino, had been a big polo enthusiast. Polo matches with teams from area cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, New Bedford and Salem were presented. The Casino was used too for indoor baseball games. In 1903 the Casino was restructured and rebuilt so that it became the Bijou. Interestingly, the bowling alleys remained.
The Bijou finally opened in 1904, with an incomplete stage roof. Actors had to wait in the wings with umbrellas before going on! In a show with Eph Thompson’s elephants, the animals had to make their entrance to the stage by entering the lobby and parading down the aisles of the theatre. Vaudeville shows became part and parcel of the Bijou presentations. The theatre seated 1,800 people. There was for a time a vaudeville war between the Bijou and the Savoy (down North Main Street a bit). In 1915 and 1916 the Bijou was the home of Loew’s Vaudeville with Louis Boas as manager. The best movie attractions came here and to the nearby Savoy. The Bijou was the second theatre in New England to be wired for the showing of sound movies (the first may have been the Majestic in Providence). The end of the Bijou can be attributed to the end of the Savoy in the fire that raged two blocks away in 1928 and destroyed that theatre, for out of the ashes of the Savoy would emerge the grand Durfee, which would overshadow the Bijou and precipitate its demise after the elegant new showplace opened in 1929.
A man on horseback and dressed like a cowboy would ride through the city’s main streets promoting the films playing at the various nickel theatres of the city during the early silent era.
Lost Memory, that sounds very likely. I discovered Rich’s Theatre was originally built in 1882 and operated by A.A. Spitz of Providence, who in 1917 turned the property over to the Nathan Yamins interests. So Daniel Nugent was about 16 when Rich’s Theatre was built. The theatre was then demolished or incorporated into the new Empire Theatre which opened in 1918 on that same site but with a front on South Main Street. I found this info in a September 29, 1962 article in the Fall River Herald relating to the demolition of the Empire. It spoke of the connection between the Empire and Rich’s.
Here is a photo of the Savoy Theatre.
The Durfee Theatre opened on August 31, 1929 and was termed a “showpiece” among New England theatres and was said, perhaps hyperbolically, to be unrivaled east of Chicago. It is certain that no other Fall River Theatre surpassed it in beauty, and its loss is one of the saddest that ever befell the city. The first film attraction presented was The Coconuts with the Marx Brothers. The Spanish-Moorish decor was modeled after the Alhambra Palace in Spain, including the ceilings, wall-hangings and drapes. The lobby was lavish, had a beautiful staircase, a marble pool for fish on the ground level and an elaborate chandelier. A great deal of information on and many memories about this magnificent lost theatre have been found in the clippings file at the Fall River Public Library and will appear in these pages over the coming weeks.
Somerset Playhouse anecdotes:
In a 1983 article in the Fall River Herald (August 20), the manager wrote of this theatre.
“At the Somerset Playhouse, the boiler room was located under the stage. The boiler room itself was built over a spring, which necessitated a pump working all the time. When the pump would go into action, it would make a noisy click quite audible to the performers on stage. One week we had a star whose image was angelic and demure, just sugary sweetness itself. Off stage she was just the opposite, a tough cookie from the word go, who possessed a colorful vocabulary laced with four-letter words.
“One night during a performance, the pump clicked into operation. Its noise took Miss Goody Two Shoes by surprise. She let out with a loud, ‘What the…was that?’ A vulgarism completely out of character with her projected pose of innocence. The expression stunned the audience into silence. They didn’t even laugh, it took them so much by surprise. That outburst ruined the evening’s proceedings. The audience just wouldn’t buy her brand of goodness after that gaffe.
“The lavatories at the Somerset were located almost on the stage. Actors had to be warned not to use them during a performance, because the flush could be heard in the audience. This situation prompted one star to comment, ‘This is the only theatre in the United States where the bathrooms are on the stage.’ Only she expressed it in more pungent terms.
“The air conditioning at Somerset could not be used during a performance as the cooling unit was also in the boiler room, and when operating, the actors could not hear each other talk. And the boiler room did not have an inside entrance, just an outside one.”
In a 1976 Fall River Herald feature, Women’s Page editor Jean Judge wrote:
“The old Premier on Rock Street was typical of the movie houses here in those early days. At least one movie patron of old remembers going to that theatre, also owned by W. J. Dunn, and getting a box of bonbons with his ticket to the silent movie, all for the price of a dime.”