Cutler Majestic Theatre
219 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
219 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 65 comments
There were a number of roadshow presentations of feature films at the Majestic in the period 1915-20, although supposedly a projection booth was not constructed until 1921. Possibly they used a make-shift booth of some kind. In the 1950s and later, the projection booth was located at the center-rear of the first balcony.
As of December 1921, the Majestic was being used as the Boston outlet for Shubert Vaudeville. The Shuberts did not stay in the Vaudeville business for very long.
Exterior picture here:–
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This was a really magnificent place to see a movie in the 1960’s. In fact, it was one of the first downtown cinemas that I ever visited with my parents. In 1957 or early 1958 we saw “Around the World in 80 Days.” I was only six at the time, but I can still remember being impressed with the sweep of the film on the wide screen. In 1962 we had reserved seats here for Marlon Brando’s version of “Mutiny on the Bounty.” In 1966 we saw “Doctor Zhivago,” which was a 70mm blow-up from the 35mm original negative. The cinematography and sound in that film were superb in this theater. I remember noting that “Midnight Cowboy” opened here in 1969. For an X-rated film, it was not showing in a porn theater on Lower Washington, but in a very respectable venue indeed. I’m glad that the theater has been saved by Emerson College.
The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the Majestic has an exterior photo dated May 1941. There is an elaborate 3-sided marquee on the north half of the facade advertising Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”. The theatre’s name is not on this marquee. The Report states that the Majestic is a “Road Show House”, that it is not showing MGM product, that it is in Poor condition (hard to believe of a Shubert-owned house), and that it has the following seating: Orchestra- 597, Balcony- 439, Gallery- 440, Boxes- 112, total: 1,588 seats.
What a mess. The place WAS rather scary during that period. I’m glad Emerson kept the place from being reduced to rubble like the Gary and the Publix (among others!)! I’m sad I’ll never see movies in that theater or the Wang again, but at least I have the Saxon and Music Hall memories.
I’m curious to see what’s going on with the Modern!
The rats weren’t just running around on stage in this period of decline for the Saxon (up to 1983). I seem to recall that 2 rats got into a fight outside the lower-level men’s room and one stabbed the other. Emerson College really saved the place.
The Saxon pretty much became a grindhouse from 77 until it’s closing. At one point during a “Boston Celebration” (maybe 1980-81?) they showed movies for a dollar. I remember one day being “Peter Guber” day. They showed “Jaws” and “The Deep” on a double bill. I also caught “Midnight Express” during that celebration. The trailers that were shown during that time were for the original “Friday the 13th” and “Gorp” among others, so that should give you and idea of when the celebration was going on.
I remember seeing rats running around on the stage during a viewing of Bad Boys with Sean Penn. And guys drinking beer out of brown bags during “10 to Midnight”. Fond memories indeed.
Near the top right of this 1928 map you can see the Majestic Theatre, as well as its neighbor, the Plymouth (later renamed Gary).
The Majestic is on the west side of Tremont Street, just north of Eliot Street.
There is a streaming video of a seminar given by David Lynch in this theater at this link:
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Whether or not you are interested in hearing David Lynch talk about transcendental meditation, there are many shots of the audience and the interior of the theater.
The Majestic would have had a distinguished neighbor if certain plans had come to fruition. Someone with good contacts in the film distribution business in Boston told me that years ago he had heard that in the 1920s Fox had tentative plans to build a huge Fox Theatre on lots directly across Tremont Street from the Majestic. Does anyone know anything about this??
In the Boston Post for Wednesday, February 25, 1931, the Majestic has ads in two places: it is listed in the Shubert Theatres directory along with the Shubert, Plymouth and Wilbur. Of those 4 theatres, the Majestic is the only one presenting films instead of stage fare. The movie is D.W. Griffith’s “Way Down East” in a “synchronised version”. The movie is Continuous from 11 AM, with admissions of 35 cents to 75 cents. There is a second larger ad for the coming attraction, MGM’s “Trader Horn”, to be shown twice daily at 230PM and 830PM, all seats reserved.
I have some vague memory that Sack closed the Saxon in the late 1970s (maybe 1977) in order to lease or sell it to some other non-profit. The transaction fell through, and Sack then reopened the theatre to show movies for a few more years, until Emerson bought it. Perhaps someone else here can provide more details.
I saw “The Red Shoes” there about 1948, a beautiful film in a beautiful theatre. It had a movie-style marquee with a lot of pink neon on it. I have a very vague memory of using the pedestrian subway which ran from the Boylston transit station under Boylston St., under the sidewalk along Tremont St., and then turned up Allen's
Alley alongside the Majestic. From this subway you could access the lobby of the Little Bldg, the north end of the Majestic’s lobby, and the rear of the Plymouth Theatre. In the late-1990’s when Emerson was getting ready to build their new Tufte Building on the site of the Plymouth/Gary Theatre, the opened up the subway alongside the Majestic – took the roof right off of it, and then filled it in. Otherwise, they could not safely bring heavy construction equipment up the alley to the construction site. After 1950, there was very little stage activity at the Majestic. Uta Hagen in “The Country Girl” played there. I saw “Goodnight Ladies”, a WW I-era farce comedy on stage at a Saturday matinee Nov. 1, 1952. I sat in the 1st balcony, as the 2nd balcony was closed and had been for some time. In addition to a very few stage shows, there were movies from time to time. When Sack took it over, they added a larger new marquee, and white brick across the ground floor of the facade, plus new attraction frames. The name was changed to Saxon Th., and I saw “Around the World in Eighty Days” there on screen at a Sunday matinee, April 21, 1957. Full house, reserved seats. We sat in the last row of the balcony next to the projection booth. The rear orchestra foyer of the Plymouth/ Gary Theatre was directly in back of the Majestic’s rear stage wall.
The Emerson College alumni magazine “Expression” devoted an entire special issue (Summer 2003) to the Majestic with lots of color photos and some vintage ones, as well. Plus a great deal of text. The chief error in the text is that it states that Sack closed the house to movies in 1977, so it was dark when Emerson acquired it in the Spring of 1983, but this is not true and it showed movies, albeit rather low-class ones, right up to the time of the sale. I attended a reception in the Majestic in July 1983 and I recall that the stage floor was badly warped due to rainwater leaking from the stage roof. Emerson wisely fixed the worst problems first ! Another point made in the magazine is that a projection booth was installed , apparently at the rear of the 1st balcony, in 1921. Visitors to the theatre today should note that the stepped stadium-style seating in the rear orchestra is not original. The theatre had an ordinary sloped floor which started at the rear head of each aisle at the back of the orchestra section.
Back in the Spring of 1964 I had seen “Becket” here (Saxon Theater), a 70MM Roadshow engagement. This film with Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton was a remarkable film and today it is almost forgotten. Norminated for 10 Academy Awards.
From the Boston Public Library photo collection:
Majestic Theatre exterior, “early 20th century”
Majestic Theatre interior, 1907
King’s book also says that Ben Sack took over the Majestic on September 13, 1957, renaming it the Saxon. It opened with Oklahoma! in 70mm Todd-AO, shown twice a day with reserved seating.
According to Donald C. King’s new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History,
“The gloom of the Great Depression hung over Boston, and every theatre advertised ‘Big Shows! Little Prices!’ and ‘1,000 seats for 25 cents!” The proud Tremont Theatre became the home of the 'proven pictures’. Old films and double features changing every few days were offered at 15 and 25 cents, and the policy caught on. The new proprietor, Frederick E. Lieberman, also leased the Majestic Theatre for ‘proven pictures’. His subsequent elimination of union stagehands and union projectionists brought about bombings of both houses, but fortunately no one was injured and little permanent damage was done."
Also from King’s book:
“The year 1941 opened with some excitement in Boston as a team of experts from RCA and Walt Disney’s film studios arrived to select a theatre to house Fantasia, a symphonic cartoon feature film which used stereophonic sound for the first time. The winning theatre had to have sufficient space to accommodate the great quantity of equipment required.
“Three soundtracks were carried on three reels for three lampless projectors, synchronized with a fourth one that showed the motion picture. The three dummy projectors connected with their own speakers behind the screen, creating stereophonic sound. One can imagine the size of the projection room that was needed.
“Supporters of the Boston Opera House, which had become something of a white elephant, campaigned desperately for the film, to ‘Save Our Opera House’. But the film opened January 28, 1941, at the refurbished Majestic Theatre, whose façade carried a huge marquee advertising Fantasia in attention-getting neon and bulbs, a show in itself. Disney’s trailblazing production enjoyed a long run in Boston because there were no other showings in New England.”
On the same day that the Cutler Majestic reopened in 2003, Emerson College also opened its first-ever new building, the 11-story Tufte Performance and Production Center.
This building is physically connected to the Majestic, contains two new live stages, and occupies at least some of the footprint of the demolished Gary (Plymouth) theatre.
Came close to seeing “Ben Hur” at the Saxon in 1959. As my date and I approached the ticket booth she realized that the Metropolitan (Music Hall, Wang) was running “Pillow Talk” with Doris Day and Rock Hudson. About face! It was Doris & Rock that evening and Ben a year later on a military base. That was my one and only failed chance of being able to contribute anything constructive here about the Saxon.
A 1930 night photo, described here, showing the Majestic’s marquee and the Metropolitan’s vertical sign.
From the Library of Congress online collection, an early photo of the Majestic):displayType=1:m856sd=det:m856sf=4a11363), taken some time between 1903 and 1906.
A picture postcard of the Majestic, from some time between 1907 and 1912, described here.
And in this 1943 photo (described here), the Majestic marquee advertises Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”, with “CONT SHOWS” and “POP PRICES”.
Banners are also strung over Tremont Street to advertise the movie. One of them says “ORIGINAL UNCUT VERSION”.