The Park Theatre, built by Nathan Yamins, opened on December 13, 1920 and supplied the residents of Globe Corners with a movie house of their own. The first film shown was the tear-jerker Everybody’s Sweetheart, with Olive Thomas. South End postmaster James Arkinson addressed the first audience at the Park. The Park was completely renovated in the fall of 1942 and was said to be one of the most modern theatres in southern New England. The Park had push-back seats so that patrons would not have to get up to let someone pass.
In later years manager Joseph Gosciminski drew larger crowds through promotional ideas such as “Ladies' Dish Night” on Wednesdays. For 35c admission, women would see the show and receive a dish to add to a set.
It was not uncommon to have up to 1800 children in the audience watching Shirley Temple or a western on Saturday afternoons. For 10 cents kids would get an admission and a free five-cent ice cream. The theatre was like a baby-sitter for parents. Their kids could be safely sent off to a matinee at 1 P.M., with a bag lunch, and remain at the movies until 8 P.M. through two complete shows.
During the showing of All Quiet on the Western Front, manager Gosciminski rented a shotgun, which he would fire into a barrel, making a sound like a cannon…and creating holes in the floor!
Joe also would let a child in for free if the kid approached him and said he had no money to buy a ticket.
(Information synthesized from various articles in the clippings file on Fall River theatres at the Fall River Library.)
The Center Theatre opened on Friday , October 16, 1940. The feature presentation was The Howards of Virginia starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott. The style and structure of the theatre was like that of the Cinema de la Cour in Paris. Its front facade was meant to give the appearance of a pipe organ. It had the widest aisles between rows of any theatre in the city. The scenic decorations in the theatre were the work of the Spanish artrist Juan y Alonzo. The theatre’s three-week engagement of Gone With the Wind was the longest running movie in Fall River up to that time. There were two staircases leading to the mezzanine and balcony. The murals on either side of the auditorium were 14 feet wide and 30 feet tall. One depicted War and the other Peace. Screen star Diana Lynn, who appeared on the Center stage, said that the Center was the ideal motion picture theatre.
The theatre was renovated in 1968 with a new facade, marquee, and refurbished lobby and a relocated boxoffice. Projection was upgraded and permitted the showing of 70MM prints.
In 1970 the theatre was converted to a twin facility and became Center Cinema I & II. The inaugural films for the twinned Center were Goodbye, Mr. Chips for Cinema I and M.A.S.H. for Cinema II.
The Center closed in May, 1977. The last films were shown on Sunday, May 1st and were Freaky Friday and Black Sunday. Edward Lider, president of the Allston-based Fall River Theatre Corporation that ran the theatre, cited the doubling of taxes in the previous five years after renovations. Surrounding businesses had either closed of been torn down and the theatre had been left all alone, according to Lider.
City Councillor Roderick led a fight to save and re-open the Center Twin Cinema. “The closing deprives the city of its only family theater. A city with only two X rated movie houses and nothing else doesn’t set a good precedent.”
The Center never re-opened.
(Information synthesized from various newspaper reports found in the “Theatres” Fall River file in the Fall River Library.)
The Bijou’s seating capacity was 1400. It opened in 1904, closed in 1929, and was sold and converted to other uses in 1933. The year that it closed saw the opening of the Durfee Theatre, further down the street.
The Harbour Mall 6 opened on February 16, 1984. House manager was Dewey Mitchell. The venue was owned by Lockwood-Friedman Theatres, the same company that ran Cinema 40 in New Bedford and other areas.
In a 1990 Fall River Herald article on the city’s theatres, John McAvoy wrote, “The Royal Theatre (capacity 500) was located on the south side of Brightman Street near the railway tracks. I was only in the Royal once, but I remember when a train passed by you could feel the vibrations in the theatre.”
The actual date that Lillian Gish appeared at the Durfee to show some of her films was November 5, 1969. The Fall River Herald had an ad that day which said:
ON STAGE
Tonight at 8:30 P.M. LILLIAN GISH &
THE MOVIES
with Miss Gish in person and in a program of rare early films.
A dramatic and exciting performance.
See Way Down East, Blood and Sand, Broken Blossoms, Keystone Cops and a Host of Others. You’ll Roar at Chaplin and Keaton. You’ll Thrill to Valentino —– An Evening of Unsurpased Fun and Delight.
(Note that the Fall River Library clippings-file has an abundant amount of material on the Durfee in its “Theatres” folder.)
The Strand Theatre opened on Tuesday evening, March 13, 1918 and was Fall River’s first neighborhood movie house. The opening film was The Turn of a Card, starring J. Waarren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson. The reporter who covered the Strand premiere was so impressed by the excellence of projection that he commented, “…a great deal of eye strain was saved by the absence of the exhausting quiver whjich accompanies most motion pictures.” Guest speaker at the opening was William C. Gray, president of the Board of Aldermen.
The Strand was remodeled during the summer of 1922. In 1948 the Strand was completely remodeled and redecorated and furnished with new equipment. The modernistic lobby with marble and formica terrazzo floor had reputedly the largest mirrored wall in Southern New England. New push-back seats were installed in the auditorium. The new theatre was entirely on one floor. Six solid glass doors were installed. The first program for the “new” Strand on September 4, 1948 was Fighting Father Dunne and The Noose Hangs High The Strand was then a Nathan Yamins theatre under the supervision of Norman Zalkind as director and Herman Duquette as house manager. Israel T. Almy of Fall River was the architect, and William Riseman Associates of Wrentham the designer and decorator. (Information gleaned from articles in the Fall River Public Library “Theatres” folder.)
Ritch, And God Created Woman played at the Paris on 58th Street for over a year, not at the Little Carnegie. The review of the film the day after it opened at the Paris appeared in the New York Times on October 22, 1957. Reviewer Bosley Crowther mentions the Paris by name. You can Google that review as I just did.
For the record, Street of Shadows was actually Salonique, nid d'espions, also called Mademoiselle Docteur, 1937, a French film by the acclaimed German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. HERE’S THE FRENCH POSTER.
This FIRST PHOTO shows the Bijou around the year 1906 as the Westminster Theatre, a vaudeville-burlesque house commonly called “The Sink."
ThisSECOND PHOTO shows the Bijou, after being named the Empire for the second time, in preparations for demolition in 1950. The fire curtain carries promotions for local businesses including the renowned Harry’s Lunch/Deli.
Without any real certainty I might surmise that that Lyric/Princess Theatre located “on the bridge” between Pawcatuck, Connecticut and Westerly, RI, was this building on the left in the postcard photo. (Expand for better resolution.) Perhaps the second floor was used as the theatre. That was certainly true of similar small early movie theatres in the region. If true, then the theatre was not demolished but closed and converted. Does anyone know???
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). In the distance you can see the twin towers of Bullock’s Theatre at the corner of Pine and Richmond Streets. In the foreground, circled in red, are the Casino Theatre and on the right the Scenic Temple, later known as the Rialto.
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). Circled on the right is part of the entrance to the Scenic Temple, which became the Rialto in 1919 with an added façade which still remains. Circled on the left, behind the dentist and lunch signs, you can make out part of the vertical marquee of the Casino Theatre. As of today, this is the only known photo of the Casino Theatre! The Casino was converted to the Shepard’s Tea Room after the theatre closed sometime around or soon after 1919. In the distance you can see the twin towers of Bullock’s Theatre, a former church that became an early movie theatre at the corner of Pine and Richmond Street. The Casino and the Scenic/Rialto were two of the only three movie theatres on Mathewson Street. The third one was the Emery, built in 1914, which became the Carlton, ceased operations in 1953 and was demolished in early 1954.
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). Circled on the left, behind the dentist and lunch signs, you can make out part of the vertical marquee of the Casino Theatre. As of today, this is the only known photo of the Casino Theatre! The Casino was converted to the Shepard’s Tea Room after the theatre closed sometime around or soon after 1919. Across the street, to the right, is circled the sign of the theatre called Scenic Temple, which later became known as the Rialto Theatre.
This World War I era photo shows the Dreyfus Hotel at the corner of Washington and Mathewson Streets. Next to the Dreyfus can be seen the Emery Theatre, behind the lamp-post.
There was no Carlton on Weybosset Street, ever. Period. The only Carlton was on Mathewson Street, number 79, built in 1914 as the Emery Theatre, closed in 1953, demolished in 1954. Period.
We can both thank user jmed, whose collection this is, posted earlier on the Durfee page and the links page. Mr. Bentley, I hope you keep us updated on progress at the Capitol. It would be thrilling if this theatre could eventually become another Zeiterion or PPAC.
The Park Theatre, built by Nathan Yamins, opened on December 13, 1920 and supplied the residents of Globe Corners with a movie house of their own. The first film shown was the tear-jerker Everybody’s Sweetheart, with Olive Thomas. South End postmaster James Arkinson addressed the first audience at the Park. The Park was completely renovated in the fall of 1942 and was said to be one of the most modern theatres in southern New England. The Park had push-back seats so that patrons would not have to get up to let someone pass.
In later years manager Joseph Gosciminski drew larger crowds through promotional ideas such as “Ladies' Dish Night” on Wednesdays. For 35c admission, women would see the show and receive a dish to add to a set.
It was not uncommon to have up to 1800 children in the audience watching Shirley Temple or a western on Saturday afternoons. For 10 cents kids would get an admission and a free five-cent ice cream. The theatre was like a baby-sitter for parents. Their kids could be safely sent off to a matinee at 1 P.M., with a bag lunch, and remain at the movies until 8 P.M. through two complete shows.
During the showing of All Quiet on the Western Front, manager Gosciminski rented a shotgun, which he would fire into a barrel, making a sound like a cannon…and creating holes in the floor!
Joe also would let a child in for free if the kid approached him and said he had no money to buy a ticket.
(Information synthesized from various articles in the clippings file on Fall River theatres at the Fall River Library.)
A capsule history of the Center Theatre:
The Center Theatre opened on Friday , October 16, 1940. The feature presentation was The Howards of Virginia starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott. The style and structure of the theatre was like that of the Cinema de la Cour in Paris. Its front facade was meant to give the appearance of a pipe organ. It had the widest aisles between rows of any theatre in the city. The scenic decorations in the theatre were the work of the Spanish artrist Juan y Alonzo. The theatre’s three-week engagement of Gone With the Wind was the longest running movie in Fall River up to that time. There were two staircases leading to the mezzanine and balcony. The murals on either side of the auditorium were 14 feet wide and 30 feet tall. One depicted War and the other Peace. Screen star Diana Lynn, who appeared on the Center stage, said that the Center was the ideal motion picture theatre.
The theatre was renovated in 1968 with a new facade, marquee, and refurbished lobby and a relocated boxoffice. Projection was upgraded and permitted the showing of 70MM prints.
In 1970 the theatre was converted to a twin facility and became Center Cinema I & II. The inaugural films for the twinned Center were Goodbye, Mr. Chips for Cinema I and M.A.S.H. for Cinema II.
The Center closed in May, 1977. The last films were shown on Sunday, May 1st and were Freaky Friday and Black Sunday. Edward Lider, president of the Allston-based Fall River Theatre Corporation that ran the theatre, cited the doubling of taxes in the previous five years after renovations. Surrounding businesses had either closed of been torn down and the theatre had been left all alone, according to Lider.
City Councillor Roderick led a fight to save and re-open the Center Twin Cinema. “The closing deprives the city of its only family theater. A city with only two X rated movie houses and nothing else doesn’t set a good precedent.”
The Center never re-opened.
(Information synthesized from various newspaper reports found in the “Theatres” Fall River file in the Fall River Library.)
The Bijou’s seating capacity was 1400. It opened in 1904, closed in 1929, and was sold and converted to other uses in 1933. The year that it closed saw the opening of the Durfee Theatre, further down the street.
The Harbour Mall 6 opened on February 16, 1984. House manager was Dewey Mitchell. The venue was owned by Lockwood-Friedman Theatres, the same company that ran Cinema 40 in New Bedford and other areas.
The Broadway was built where the Açoreana Club would later be located.
In a 1990 Fall River Herald article on the city’s theatres, John McAvoy wrote, “The Royal Theatre (capacity 500) was located on the south side of Brightman Street near the railway tracks. I was only in the Royal once, but I remember when a train passed by you could feel the vibrations in the theatre.”
The actual date that Lillian Gish appeared at the Durfee to show some of her films was November 5, 1969. The Fall River Herald had an ad that day which said:
ON STAGE
Tonight at 8:30 P.M.
LILLIAN GISH &
THE MOVIES
with Miss Gish in person and in a program of rare early films.
A dramatic and exciting performance.
See Way Down East, Blood and Sand, Broken Blossoms, Keystone Cops and a Host of Others. You’ll Roar at Chaplin and Keaton. You’ll Thrill to Valentino —– An Evening of Unsurpased Fun and Delight.
(Note that the Fall River Library clippings-file has an abundant amount of material on the Durfee in its “Theatres” folder.)
The Strand Theatre opened on Tuesday evening, March 13, 1918 and was Fall River’s first neighborhood movie house. The opening film was The Turn of a Card, starring J. Waarren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson. The reporter who covered the Strand premiere was so impressed by the excellence of projection that he commented, “…a great deal of eye strain was saved by the absence of the exhausting quiver whjich accompanies most motion pictures.” Guest speaker at the opening was William C. Gray, president of the Board of Aldermen.
The Strand was remodeled during the summer of 1922. In 1948 the Strand was completely remodeled and redecorated and furnished with new equipment. The modernistic lobby with marble and formica terrazzo floor had reputedly the largest mirrored wall in Southern New England. New push-back seats were installed in the auditorium. The new theatre was entirely on one floor. Six solid glass doors were installed. The first program for the “new” Strand on September 4, 1948 was Fighting Father Dunne and The Noose Hangs High The Strand was then a Nathan Yamins theatre under the supervision of Norman Zalkind as director and Herman Duquette as house manager. Israel T. Almy of Fall River was the architect, and William Riseman Associates of Wrentham the designer and decorator. (Information gleaned from articles in the Fall River Public Library “Theatres” folder.)
Here is a nice old photo of the Lyric in Warren with a view of Miller Street, possibly from the 1930s.
Yes, Tess moved over to the Little Carnegie. Per my film log, I saw it there on December 26, 1980…I believe at a midnight showing.
Ritch, And God Created Woman played at the Paris on 58th Street for over a year, not at the Little Carnegie. The review of the film the day after it opened at the Paris appeared in the New York Times on October 22, 1957. Reviewer Bosley Crowther mentions the Paris by name. You can Google that review as I just did.
For the record, Street of Shadows was actually Salonique, nid d'espions, also called Mademoiselle Docteur, 1937, a French film by the acclaimed German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. HERE’S THE FRENCH POSTER.
No one seems to have mentioned yet that this is where, appropriately, the current Robert Altman movie A Prairie Home Companion was filmed.
This FIRST PHOTO shows the Bijou around the year 1906 as the Westminster Theatre, a vaudeville-burlesque house commonly called “The Sink."
ThisSECOND PHOTO shows the Bijou, after being named the Empire for the second time, in preparations for demolition in 1950. The fire curtain carries promotions for local businesses including the renowned Harry’s Lunch/Deli.
Without any real certainty I might surmise that that Lyric/Princess Theatre located “on the bridge” between Pawcatuck, Connecticut and Westerly, RI, was this building on the left in the postcard photo. (Expand for better resolution.) Perhaps the second floor was used as the theatre. That was certainly true of similar small early movie theatres in the region. If true, then the theatre was not demolished but closed and converted. Does anyone know???
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). In the distance you can see the twin towers of Bullock’s Theatre at the corner of Pine and Richmond Streets. In the foreground, circled in red, are the Casino Theatre and on the right the Scenic Temple, later known as the Rialto.
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). Circled on the right is part of the entrance to the Scenic Temple, which became the Rialto in 1919 with an added façade which still remains. Circled on the left, behind the dentist and lunch signs, you can make out part of the vertical marquee of the Casino Theatre. As of today, this is the only known photo of the Casino Theatre! The Casino was converted to the Shepard’s Tea Room after the theatre closed sometime around or soon after 1919. In the distance you can see the twin towers of Bullock’s Theatre, a former church that became an early movie theatre at the corner of Pine and Richmond Street. The Casino and the Scenic/Rialto were two of the only three movie theatres on Mathewson Street. The third one was the Emery, built in 1914, which became the Carlton, ceased operations in 1953 and was demolished in early 1954.
Excuse me, the correct link to the Scenic Temple (later Rialto Theatre) across the street from the Casino is this link.
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). Circled on the left, behind the dentist and lunch signs, you can make out part of the vertical marquee of the Casino Theatre. As of today, this is the only known photo of the Casino Theatre! The Casino was converted to the Shepard’s Tea Room after the theatre closed sometime around or soon after 1919. Across the street, to the right, is circled the sign of the theatre called Scenic Temple, which later became known as the Rialto Theatre.
This World War I era photo shows the Dreyfus Hotel at the corner of Washington and Mathewson Streets. Next to the Dreyfus can be seen the Emery Theatre, behind the lamp-post.
There was no Carlton on Weybosset Street, ever. Period. The only Carlton was on Mathewson Street, number 79, built in 1914 as the Emery Theatre, closed in 1953, demolished in 1954. Period.
The Rialto was closed in the period of 1935-36. Most of the building was torn down and the remaining front part was converted to shops and offices.
We can both thank user jmed, whose collection this is, posted earlier on the Durfee page and the links page. Mr. Bentley, I hope you keep us updated on progress at the Capitol. It would be thrilling if this theatre could eventually become another Zeiterion or PPAC.
An impressive collection of rare photos of historic Fall River theatres can be seen by clicking here.
An impressive collection of rare photos of historic Fall River theatres can be seen by clicking here.