Somerville Theatre

Did the Somerville Th. in 1976 have signage at the right end of the building which overlooked the Boston & Maine RR line thru Davis Square? There is a nice photo, taken in 1976, in the new 3rd edition of the book “Lost Railroads of New England” by Ronald Dale Karr (Branch Line Press, Pepperall MA) which seems to show the edge of a theater marquee. The photo caption merely says “Davis Square, Somerville, 1976” and illustrates the B&M freight line which was obliterated by the extension of the MBTA Red Line. I can’t tell if the photographer was facing east or west (probably east). The track crosses the street, protected by gates and flashers; the “SOM—” sign is up on the extreme right- there is space for 6 lines of lettering. Across the street is a 2-story brick RR signal tower and beyond it is another grade crossing. Where was the Somerville Theatre is relation to this track back then?

Tonight, the Somerville Theatre main theater sold out the midnight opening of the new ‘Harry Potter’ film, the first time a commercial release (as opposed to special events like film festivals, etc.) has done this since the 1960’s as far as we can tell. To see the theater so full of excited, enthusiastic people was truly amazing.

David Guss’s article “Lost Theatres of Somerville”, from the First Quarter 2006 issue of Marquee, the journal of the Theatre Historical Society of America, is now online at View link .

Besides an extensive history, the article also contains many old photos of and advertisements for the various theatres in Somerville.

(This is a 17-page scanned-image PDF, so unfortunately you cannot search or copy the text.)

Those errors make me wonder about the factual accuracy of other MGM theatre reports.

Thanks for the heads up on the Jeff Bridges series, and more future classic and specialty film programming, Ian M. Judge.

:)

Here is a night shot:
http://tinyurl.com/ycgdg2r

Nobody here has yet mentioned the new 31-seat video-only screening room in the basement, next to the Museum of Bad Art. It opened some time last year and is available for private rental. I enjoyed attending two small private parties there last week and this week.

Well, I finally made it back to Somerville on vacation in May. By brother Bob (who still lives in the area) and I met with Ian Judge on May 19th for a tour of the theatres and building. I had not seen the theatre since 1975. Wow! What a difference.

We visited for almost 2 ½ hours, me telling Ian how it was back in the 50’s and early 60’s when I worked there and Ian showing us all the updates that have been made since then. I thought I knew where every door was in and around the main theatre. Ian showed us places I never knew existed. The stage and back stage area have been completely updated with a new screen, curtains, lights, dressing rooms etc. Maynardina60 left a post a while back asking about the piano in the orchestra pit. I can assure you that it is still there and will probably remain there forever. I thought the floor tile in the loby was the original. Ian told us that it was replaced and they had found tile that matched the original tile.
It looks great.

I’m glad that the original Men’s Room is no longer in use. When I worked as a usher I spent a lot of time down there with mop and bucket in hand when the toilet or urinals overflowed.

On Sundays when the show was continuous from 1PM to 11PM, the manager would go home for dinner around 5PM for about 1 hour. One of the ushers would take tickets during that time. Ian and I had a few laughs about that duty.

I thought the small theatre (used for rental purposes) is a great idea. We also visited the “Museum of Bad Art” Very interesting indeed.

After we left the thratre we visited Davis Square, the old bowling alley and had lunch at the RoseBud. It brought back many good memories.

Thanks Ian for a great day. I appreciate the time you spent with us and look forward to the 100 year celebration in 2014. I certainly plan to be back again before then. I still have many questions that I did not ask while with you. I thought about them after I left. Can’t wait to see the new projection booth in the main theatre when it is completed.

Ken MacLeod
Kingwood, TX

As part of renovations this summer, we will be totally renovating the projection booth in the main theater, returning it to its original location within/behind the back wall of the balcony (the current booth from 1990 is in front of this back wall.)

We will be reseating the balcony for the first time since 1914! New seats!

We will be installing Dolby Digital sound, and surround sound speakers in the entire auditorium.

We have arranged with Boston Light & Sound to install two beautiful Norelco AA-II projectors that were recently removed from the home screening room of noted film restorer Robert Harris. This will enable us to show archival prints and ultimately 70mm film as well. We will have a much more flexible booth when all is said and done.

Ian/Somerville Theatre

Thanks Ron Salters – it was tough!

maaynardian60 – the piano is still in the orchestra pit (holding up the floor that was built directly on top of it) but no voting boxes. The actual dressing rooms were extensively rebuilt in 2005. Very little of the original dressing rooms existed when we began renovations.

The huge crowd shown in that photo was for a ‘secret’ hour-long U2 concert on Wednesday, March 11. No tickets were sold. The only people admitted to the theatre were winners of radio station giveaways, and they were all bused into Davis Square from elsewhere.

Great Picture!
I look forward to visiting the theatre in May when we visit family in the area.
Ken MacLeod
Kingwood, TX