Here is a history of the the creation of the Majestic Theatre and Majestic Block after the original building had burned down in 1900. It is from the book Trumpets in Jericho, 1961, by Mathias P. Harpin. The book is a history of “Jericho,” a name given to Arctic and adjacent neighborhoods in Pawtuxet Valley and was before the town of West Warwick was created in 1913 after the division of Warwick into two parts. The name Jericho is no longer in usage, as far as I know. The center of West Warwick is now named Arctic.
From Trumpets in Jericho:
It was the night of Nov. 3, 1900 —– a night that Jericho would never forget. A fire started in the show shine parlor of Joseph Archambault’s block on Jericho Square. It waws the middle of the night. By the time it was discovered the fire had made such gains that even the Warwick and Coventry fire department could not halt the mounting flame.
By dawn Archambault’s block was reduced to ashes. A virtual miracle had saved all of Jericho from destruction as the wind fanned the flames and flung the sparks over the entire business district. Archambault estimated his loss at $17,000. All western Rhode Island wondered what he would do. Would he sell the land or rebuild? Archambault soon answered the question.
For a long time there had been talk of setting of all the valley of the Pawtuxet into a city with Jericho as the municipal center. Many of the merchants felt convinced that this step was inevitable, including Joseph Archambault. One morning as Archambault directed the removal of the remains of his block, one of the merchants asked him what his plans were for the future.
“I’m gonna build the biggest building in western Rhode Island, ” Archambault said. “One that fire will never again destroy. It’s gonna be a skyscraper.” (…) He began construction of a building that was all brick and concrete. He called it the Majestic Hotel. It was seventy-five feet in height and five stories high. In the heart of the building he built a movie theatre. [Note: If it opened in 1901, it must have been used for stage productions, with movies coming at the end of the decade.] All around it were rooms. There was a bowling alley in the basement and a bar and drug store on the street floor. (…)
Archambault leased the theater to Coit and Drew Carson, owners of a livery stable in Coventry. Later these two men opened the Gem Theater in the St. Onge block. Among the first movies shown were the classics “Ten Nights in a Barroom” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” [Around 1911 or so?]
Joseph Archambault died as Jericho became a town. His death occurred in Warwick June 30, 1913. His age was 55; his occupation, foreman. Mrs. Archambault retained title to the Majestic until July 15, 1920 when she sold to Helen R. Duckworth who on Nov. 12, 1921 sold to the Carson brothers, according to town records.
The deed to Helen R. Duckworth stipulated the following: “together with all personal property in the Majestic Theater consisting of drop curtain, asbestos curtains, chairs, pictures, picture machine, picture screens, piano, scenery and electric fixtures…curtains and awnings in the drug store on said premises.” (…)
Mr. and Mrs. Archambault had two sons, Paul G. who settled in Falmouth and Fulda who settled in New Bedford. Both became attorneys. Fulda became mayor of New Bedford.
Roland, I will check out the Conley book. That picture appears in several places including Roger Brett’s volume. I have a picture of Music Hall…don’t know if it is the same. Sure, I’d like to see it. I’ve been going from library to library across the state, spending time looking at local histories for stuff on local theatre history. I’ve found out lots of things, and wherever I go there is often material pertaining to other places in the state. I found a whole history of the construction of the Majestic in Arctic, which I will post later today.
The Gem Theatre was opened by the brothers Coit and Drew Carson, who had run the nearby Majestic Theatre on lease from that theatre’s owner Joseph Archambault.
I should add that I once saw Jean Renoir speak at Harvard. It was March 5, 1965, and I don’t remember too much of the lecture except his statement that The Golden Coach had been inspired by the music of Vivaldi.
Please do go on. Nice comment. I’d like to know the exact dates or years of existence of this theatre, whether you were equipped for both 35mm/16mm, perhaps have links to ads or photos, read some more anecdotes, etc.
In this photo, we see a variety show put on at Patsy’s Hall by the Peacedale Fire Department in 1959. David Pelton, Herbert Rice, and Bruce Slader do their own version of the “Kingstown Trio.” (from the volume Peace Dale, by Betty J. Cotter, in the “Images of America” series.)
Note the screen behind the singers. I wonder how late movies continued to be shown at the Peacedale Theatre.
I managed to see Richard Burton as Hamlet at the Lunt-Fontanne on July 15, 1964. I remember that after the performance there was quite a commotion out front on 46th Street as Liz Taylor arrived by limo to retrieve Burton. I didn’t see and haven’t yet seen the Elecronovision version, but I used to own an LP recording of the play, with Burton.
Here are two old photos of the Woonsocket Opera House.
ONE: On the left is the entrance to the Opera House Pharmacy. The central entrance leads to the offices upstairs. The right arch is the theatre entrance.
TWO: Monument Square, with the Opera House in the center with the vertical “Opera House” marquee.
A note on the building from Statewide Historical Preservation Report – North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 1979:
“Former Beacon Lodge Number Thirty-Eight, I.O.O.F. (1884). An impressive 2-story, end gable, shingled building built as a meeting hall for several fraternal organizations.”
Yes, I saw Night Games there in January of 1967. Starring Ingrid Thulin and directed by Mai Zetterling, the Swedish movie is generally described as a strange, moody film. Which it certainly is.
I also found ads for stage shows and movies in 1911 & 1912. The span of verifiable activity expands. The theatre had boxes as well as a balcony, according to an ad. When I happened to get into this place a few years ago and it was being used by some local arts group, I did so by walking up a stairway from the Washington Street side to the second floor, where the theatre was. The floor was flat. This all leads me to believe that after the original Majestic closed, perhaps in the 1930s when the ads stopped, perhaps later, the flat floor was added over the first floor orchestra to form a theatre out of what had been the balcony. The original orchestra of the theatre, I theorize, was converted to commercial usage. The entrance to the theatre, I again theorize, had been on the Main Street side, where the “Majestic” sign is evident in photos. At the time I was in the place, there was no balcony. I believe now I was actually in the former balcony, because there was stadium seating rising up above the flat floor. Anyway, all theory.
Some mouth-watering films. The only one I went to was Ashes and Diamonds, but I have seen almost all of these movies at one time or another in various places.
Some early managers of the Lyric, based on East Providence city directories: 1941-42, Mrs. Fabiola Goff; 1944-1951, Charles S. Tobey (manager or treasurer); 1953, Herbert McGuire.
In 1912 one John F. Roach was the manager of this first Lyric.
Brow Street used to run from 38 Warren Avenue to 31 Waterman Avenue. Now the portion between Warren Avenue and Taunton Avenue no longer exists because of Rte. 195 and a group of criss-crossing highway ramps near the end of Washington Bridge at what was Watchemoket Square at one time.
Birth of the Majestic
Here is a history of the the creation of the Majestic Theatre and Majestic Block after the original building had burned down in 1900. It is from the book Trumpets in Jericho, 1961, by Mathias P. Harpin. The book is a history of “Jericho,” a name given to Arctic and adjacent neighborhoods in Pawtuxet Valley and was before the town of West Warwick was created in 1913 after the division of Warwick into two parts. The name Jericho is no longer in usage, as far as I know. The center of West Warwick is now named Arctic.
From Trumpets in Jericho:
It was the night of Nov. 3, 1900 —– a night that Jericho would never forget. A fire started in the show shine parlor of Joseph Archambault’s block on Jericho Square. It waws the middle of the night. By the time it was discovered the fire had made such gains that even the Warwick and Coventry fire department could not halt the mounting flame.
By dawn Archambault’s block was reduced to ashes. A virtual miracle had saved all of Jericho from destruction as the wind fanned the flames and flung the sparks over the entire business district. Archambault estimated his loss at $17,000. All western Rhode Island wondered what he would do. Would he sell the land or rebuild? Archambault soon answered the question.
For a long time there had been talk of setting of all the valley of the Pawtuxet into a city with Jericho as the municipal center. Many of the merchants felt convinced that this step was inevitable, including Joseph Archambault. One morning as Archambault directed the removal of the remains of his block, one of the merchants asked him what his plans were for the future.
“I’m gonna build the biggest building in western Rhode Island, ” Archambault said. “One that fire will never again destroy. It’s gonna be a skyscraper.” (…) He began construction of a building that was all brick and concrete. He called it the Majestic Hotel. It was seventy-five feet in height and five stories high. In the heart of the building he built a movie theatre. [Note: If it opened in 1901, it must have been used for stage productions, with movies coming at the end of the decade.] All around it were rooms. There was a bowling alley in the basement and a bar and drug store on the street floor. (…)
Archambault leased the theater to Coit and Drew Carson, owners of a livery stable in Coventry. Later these two men opened the Gem Theater in the St. Onge block. Among the first movies shown were the classics “Ten Nights in a Barroom” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” [Around 1911 or so?]
Joseph Archambault died as Jericho became a town. His death occurred in Warwick June 30, 1913. His age was 55; his occupation, foreman. Mrs. Archambault retained title to the Majestic until July 15, 1920 when she sold to Helen R. Duckworth who on Nov. 12, 1921 sold to the Carson brothers, according to town records.
The deed to Helen R. Duckworth stipulated the following: “together with all personal property in the Majestic Theater consisting of drop curtain, asbestos curtains, chairs, pictures, picture machine, picture screens, piano, scenery and electric fixtures…curtains and awnings in the drug store on said premises.” (…)
Mr. and Mrs. Archambault had two sons, Paul G. who settled in Falmouth and Fulda who settled in New Bedford. Both became attorneys. Fulda became mayor of New Bedford.
Sheik.
Roland, I will check out the Conley book. That picture appears in several places including Roger Brett’s volume. I have a picture of Music Hall…don’t know if it is the same. Sure, I’d like to see it. I’ve been going from library to library across the state, spending time looking at local histories for stuff on local theatre history. I’ve found out lots of things, and wherever I go there is often material pertaining to other places in the state. I found a whole history of the construction of the Majestic in Arctic, which I will post later today.
…and as the Ocean State in the 1970s.
Here is a 1941 photo of Loew’s State when it was showing Shadow of the Thin Man and Miss Polly.
Was this cinema named after Jean Renoir the film director, or his father Pierre-Auguste the painter?
Here is a 2004 photo of the Oceanwest Theatre.
The Gem Theatre was opened by the brothers Coit and Drew Carson, who had run the nearby Majestic Theatre on lease from that theatre’s owner Joseph Archambault.
Here are two photos of the Metropolitan from the 1930s.
EXTERIOR – 1936 The marquee reads “New York Grand Opera."
INTERIOR – 1939
The building on the far right in this photo, circa 1927, is the Peacedale Opera House. Here is a link to the other Peacedale theatre, variously known as Patsy’s Hall, Peacedale Theatre, State Theatre.
There was an earlier-built theatre in Peacedale called the Peacedale Opera House, not far from Patsy’s Hall in this tiniest of villages.
I should add that I once saw Jean Renoir speak at Harvard. It was March 5, 1965, and I don’t remember too much of the lecture except his statement that The Golden Coach had been inspired by the music of Vivaldi.
Please do go on. Nice comment. I’d like to know the exact dates or years of existence of this theatre, whether you were equipped for both 35mm/16mm, perhaps have links to ads or photos, read some more anecdotes, etc.
In this photo, we see a variety show put on at Patsy’s Hall by the Peacedale Fire Department in 1959. David Pelton, Herbert Rice, and Bruce Slader do their own version of the “Kingstown Trio.” (from the volume Peace Dale, by Betty J. Cotter, in the “Images of America” series.)
Note the screen behind the singers. I wonder how late movies continued to be shown at the Peacedale Theatre.
Here is a photo of said liquor store, formerly the Cumberland Cinemas.
I managed to see Richard Burton as Hamlet at the Lunt-Fontanne on July 15, 1964. I remember that after the performance there was quite a commotion out front on 46th Street as Liz Taylor arrived by limo to retrieve Burton. I didn’t see and haven’t yet seen the Elecronovision version, but I used to own an LP recording of the play, with Burton.
Earlier in the day I had gone to the Art in Greenwich Village to see Rex Harrison in the film Major Barbara, then to the 55th Street Playhouse for a Marcel Carné double bill: Bizarre, Bizarre and The Devil’s Envoy. A rewarding day.
Here are two old photos of the Woonsocket Opera House.
ONE: On the left is the entrance to the Opera House Pharmacy. The central entrance leads to the offices upstairs. The right arch is the theatre entrance.
TWO: Monument Square, with the Opera House in the center with the vertical “Opera House” marquee.
A note on the building from Statewide Historical Preservation Report – North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 1979:
“Former Beacon Lodge Number Thirty-Eight, I.O.O.F. (1884). An impressive 2-story, end gable, shingled building built as a meeting hall for several fraternal organizations.”
Yes, I saw Night Games there in January of 1967. Starring Ingrid Thulin and directed by Mai Zetterling, the Swedish movie is generally described as a strange, moody film. Which it certainly is.
I also found ads for stage shows and movies in 1911 & 1912. The span of verifiable activity expands. The theatre had boxes as well as a balcony, according to an ad. When I happened to get into this place a few years ago and it was being used by some local arts group, I did so by walking up a stairway from the Washington Street side to the second floor, where the theatre was. The floor was flat. This all leads me to believe that after the original Majestic closed, perhaps in the 1930s when the ads stopped, perhaps later, the flat floor was added over the first floor orchestra to form a theatre out of what had been the balcony. The original orchestra of the theatre, I theorize, was converted to commercial usage. The entrance to the theatre, I again theorize, had been on the Main Street side, where the “Majestic” sign is evident in photos. At the time I was in the place, there was no balcony. I believe now I was actually in the former balcony, because there was stadium seating rising up above the flat floor. Anyway, all theory.
And here is a photo of the Odeon.
Here is a 1963 Brattle Theatre “Summer Film Festival” program flyer. Because it is tall, I had to reproduce it in two parts. Here they are:
TOP HALF
BOTTOM HALF
Some mouth-watering films. The only one I went to was Ashes and Diamonds, but I have seen almost all of these movies at one time or another in various places.
In 1941-42 Mr. Samuel Bomes was listed as owner in the city directory, in 1955 it was Milton M. Bomes (his son?).
Some early managers of the Lyric, based on East Providence city directories: 1941-42, Mrs. Fabiola Goff; 1944-1951, Charles S. Tobey (manager or treasurer); 1953, Herbert McGuire.
In 1912 one John F. Roach was the manager of this first Lyric.
Brow Street used to run from 38 Warren Avenue to 31 Waterman Avenue. Now the portion between Warren Avenue and Taunton Avenue no longer exists because of Rte. 195 and a group of criss-crossing highway ramps near the end of Washington Bridge at what was Watchemoket Square at one time.