Federico Fellini’s then-scandalous La Dolce Vita had its first R.I. showings here starting in September of 1961. It seems to have done very well, and the booking of a foreign-film in its original language version with subtitles was unusual for the place (although there was some history of the theatre occasionally presenting Italian-language films on slow nights for the Italian-speaking community.) Another Mastroianni film, Casanova ‘70, also later played here in a subtitled version sometime in 1965.
Actually, the theatre lingered on until the very end of the month with The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima and a double bill of The Mummy and The Mummy’s Curse. Peter Pan was announced for a return visit, but no ads appeared beginning around May 1st. The theatre had closed for good.
In The Saturday Evening Post of June 23, 1945 there was a long and fascinating article that discussed vaudeville at the Park and its owner/impresario Arthur Darman, dubbed “little Napoleon.” The article is entitled “Book me at Woonsocket,” by T. E. Murphy. It was subtitled “One man’s curious passion for making pets of vaudevillians has transformed yesterday’s ‘stinkeroo’ into a paradise for performers.”
The piece paints a picture of Mr. Darman as a generous, strong-willed, civic minded person, who had spent great sums ($150,000) to beautify the Park and the backstage areas used by performers. He would wine and dine then, do all he could to get them to like the Park and want to return, despite the fact that vaudeville at this time, the mid-‘40s, was not a real passion for citizens of Woonsocket.
Among the man’s eccentricities: he built an expensive vent system to drive the smell of popcorn away from the seating area, and he kept a cooled downstairs vault for chocolate so that it wouldn’t melt. Several color photos appear in the article, but mostly of performers and one of Mr. Darman at. There are no shots of the auditorum or theatre exterior.
Clarification. In an earlier entry I note that this had been called the “Bomes Theatre” at one time. I no longer believe so. The “Bomes Theatre” inscription above the theatre front refers to the original builder/owner Samuel Bomes. Like his Liberty on Broad Street in Providence, this was simply a Bomes Theatre. As far as I have been able to determine, it had always been called the Hollywood up to its 1959 closing. A January 1996 article in the Providence newspaper talks about how the empty house had been deteriorating for 15 years. It continues to remain closed, minus the marquee that had stayed attached for a time. It used to be used as a furniture warehouse by the owner, Henry Rose, owner of Rose Furniture Company in East Providence.
No, the Star under Mr. Allen’s tutelage was a place in Hoyle Square, Providence, at Westminster and Dean Streets. It had a fire in 1899, and had nothing to do with movies, not yet arrived. Besides the Star in Cranston and the one in Providence, there were theatres of that name in Natick and Pascoag and Pawtucket.
The Liberty Theatre opened on March 7, 1921 according to a Providence Journal article published the day before. The theatre had been under construction for about a year at the cost of $300,000. It was designed by Samuel Bomes, who was also the owner. It had a brick and terra cotta exterior.
The opening program for the liberty was The Great Redeemer, directed by Maurice Tourneur and featuring House Peters and Marjorie Daw. The second feature was Buster Keaton in The Saphead. There was also an unspecified Harold Lloyd comedy short.
It should be noted that the theatre was never known as “Bomes Theatre” even though the name appears above the façade and was included as an alternate name in the description. Bomes designed and owned the theatre as he had with other R.I. theatres (such as the Hollywood in East Providence), but while it was a Bomes Theatre, the theatre itself was never named that. It went under only two names:
1921-1958: Liberty Theatre.
1958-1975: Art Cinema.
In 1976 newspaper ads show still another name for this 561 Smithfield Avenue venue. It is listed as the Starcase Pawtucket, along with ads for the Starcase Middletown near Newport.
The Opera House installed sound at the end of the 1920s, and in January of 1929 they were showing Erin’s Isle, “Ireland’s greatest story…motion picture with sound…music…melody…mirth."
Adult prices 50¢ to $1.00. In little more than two years the venerable theatre woould be closed and razed. Note: in 1921 they had shown the film Ireland in Revolt about the uprising against British rule. Irish topics were apparently popular here and in the heavily-Irish city.
According to the Providence Journal 1980 Almanac, the two-screened theatre had the following seating capacities: I (340) and II (403). Owner-manager at the time was John Sellers.
The Imperial Theatre opened on February 21, 1916, according to the Providence Journal. “New Theatre Pawtucket,” said the paper the day before the opening. The theatre was located on the site of the old passenger train station on Broad Street and was under the direction of Walter G. Hartford. He had been for some time identified with the Casino Theatre in Providence. The house opened with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation , which had been a hit at the Providence Opera House the previous August and September.
When I was 11 in 1953, my sister took me to see Walt Disney’s Peter Pan playing with the Disney featurette Bear Country. This was the beginning of April. In a matter of weeks, on April 23, the theatre was to shut down after its last show.
The Westminster (renamed Bijou) was demolished in early 1950. A Providence Journal editorial published on December 30, 1949 reminisced about the glorious/inglorious past of the theatre that was nicknamed “The Sink.” Excerpts from the editorial follow:
“So the Westminster, familiarly and affectionately known as "The Sink,” is coming down. There for many years variegated audiences looked upon that theatrical phenomenon called burlesque, neither musical comedy nor vaudeville, neither comic opera nor revue. It was considered disgraceful in certain circles to be seen in attendance at the old Westminster, but more than one worthy citizen braved public opinion—or tried to sneak in unnoticed… Brown freshmen…considered that they had been initiated into what was known as “the life” when they trooped, with their caps boldly on their heads, into the hallowed precincts of “The Sink.”…
“As one glances back upon Westminster burlesque, there come before the eyes the fully-blown chorines…throwing mocking smiles at the so-called "bald-headed row.” (It was amazing how the ticket seller managed to seat the hairless down in front.)…
“But the real joy…were the comedians: Snuffy the Cabman, Boob McManus, Billy Watson—-artists in their way, some of whom managed to hit the biggest time, like W.C. Fields…Their humor was not of the kind found in refined drawing rooms…They were the Falstaffs of the modern legitimate stage…. Many a staid resident of Providence will wipe away a furtive tear, before his wife catches it, as he recalls the Westminster of old as a Providence institution.”
Note: this theatre is not to be confused with the Westminster Playhouse (the Modern) further up Westminster Street at 440. In its final incarnation as the Bijou, this theatre showed second-run movies.
In November of 1969 the film Fanny Hill, Rated X, was running simultaneously at the at Loew’s State (now Providence Performing Arts Center) and the Shipyard Drive-In on Allens Avenue.
In November of 1969 the R.K.O. Albee was showing Russ Meyer’s Vixen while Loew’s State a block away had Fanny Hill. Both were non-pornographic “adult films.” The Strand would in its last years move to hard-core, the only downtown movie palace ever to do so, but clearly it was all signalling the end for regular film programs in the city’s old theatres.
A Providence Journal article from April 27, 1958, documents the history of the Center Theatre in an article headed Final Curtain Descends. Here is a capsule summary:
The annals of the theatre depict a place that saw vaudeville, silent movie, the coming of sound, burlesque, and even a church used for pre-Lenten services. At the end of each vaudeville season a special feature was the Pawtucket Follies, which relied on local talent. During the theatre’s burlesque or “burleycue” shows, as many locals called it, the advice was “to catch the first show. It’s liable to be closed up.” After vaudeville began to wane in the late ‘30s, the Center became a full-time movie house, pretty much. By the end of summer of 1958, the theatre would be leveled to create a parking lot for Park and Shop Pawtucket, Inc.
The theatre was built in 1919 on the site of the old Wakefield Opera House before being rebuilt as the Community. According to an article the Providence Journal, the theatre suffered a fire in February 1968. Water and smoke did damage to draperies and several of the seats. Because of the effects of combatting the blaze, three firemen had to be treated for smoke inhalation. The fire chief said that film and $25,000 worth of projection equipment were saved. The theatre had been renovated and re-opened the previous July. The Campus had a single screen and 300 seats at the time.
An interesting fact about this drive-in is that although the entrance and much of the parking/viewing area were in Providence, the screen itself was located over the city line in Cranston! This raised an issue in November of 1969 when, according to a Providence Journal article, a Cranston councilman by the name of Anthony L. Dibiasio, voted no at a meeting to a renewal of the license for the drive-in. He was outvoted. The theatre had been showing movies like the X-rated Fanny Hill. Cranston Council President Paul J. Pisano, an attorney, remarked that because the theater is half in Cranston and half in Providence, it is a legal question as to which city would have jurisdiction in the matter of an objectionable film. He asked, “Is the obscenity on the screen or is it in the projector?"
The film was running simultaneously at the Shipyard and at Loew’s State (now Providence Performing Arts Center) in downtown Providence.
History of the Modern-Playhouse-Victory-“Westminster” Playhouse.
The Modern Theatre was erected in 1916 by two wealthy Providence Brothers, B. Thomas and Charles Potter. For nine years it showed movies before being converted to a live theatre, offering the city its only winter stock company at the time from September to March. Most of those productions were second-string in character. At various times over the decades it alternated between being a home to live theatre and being a movie theatre.
Mr. Edward Fay, of Fays Theatre fame, took over the theatre for a time and brought in name Broadway performers, without arousing real public enthusiasm. In 1929 he turned to burlesque and it was then that performers like Abbott and Costello were seen on its stage. In 1933 it returned to stock. Around 1937 the place was refurbished and renamed the Playhouse. Cornelus Otis Skinner, Maurice Evans, and Beatrice Lillie were among the luminaries who graced the stage. Art house type films became the policy for a time, and as I noted in an earlier entry, some Yiddish-language films and films of operatic interest like Giuseppe Verdi with Fosco Giachetti played here during that period.
There were some world premieres of stage works, one of which was Providence-native’s George M. Cohan’s melodrama The Return of the Vagabond. During the war a Mr. Edward Gould presented summer stock. After the war the theatre was renamed the Victory and became a movie house again. Mr. Gould returned to put on theatrical productions and was arrested in 1953 for putting on Tobacco Road without a city license. He was acquitted of any wrongdoing. He was to leave Providence permanently. The theatre reverted to its earlier name, the Playhouse, (Westminster Playhouse in some ads and in a surviving photo of the entrance) and became an art cinema once more for a brief time.
In January of 1955 the sensationally successful Italian movie Bread, Love and Dreams with Gina Lollobrigida moved over for a short continued run. The following month there was the first Providence showing of Giuseppe De Santis' Italian film, the dramatic and star-studded Rome, 11 O'Clock. In April of that same year there was a revival double bill of Anna and Bitter Rice, two more Italian imports, with Silvana Mangano, dubbed in English. Four Ways Out, a Pietro Germi film, and Freda’s Theodora, Slave Empress also played in what looked like a film festival concocted by I.F.E., an outfit that specialized in generally dubbed Italian imports. Other films of that type were shown at that time but never really caught on or made the theatre popular.
The Playhouse eventually shuttered within a year, if that, and was torn down in November of 1957 to be replaced by a parking lot and then later by building complex along the walkway and steps and plaza that replaced Westminster Street between Empire and Franklin.
Federico Fellini’s then-scandalous La Dolce Vita had its first R.I. showings here starting in September of 1961. It seems to have done very well, and the booking of a foreign-film in its original language version with subtitles was unusual for the place (although there was some history of the theatre occasionally presenting Italian-language films on slow nights for the Italian-speaking community.) Another Mastroianni film, Casanova ‘70, also later played here in a subtitled version sometime in 1965.
Actually, the theatre lingered on until the very end of the month with The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima and a double bill of The Mummy and The Mummy’s Curse. Peter Pan was announced for a return visit, but no ads appeared beginning around May 1st. The theatre had closed for good.
In The Saturday Evening Post of June 23, 1945 there was a long and fascinating article that discussed vaudeville at the Park and its owner/impresario Arthur Darman, dubbed “little Napoleon.” The article is entitled “Book me at Woonsocket,” by T. E. Murphy. It was subtitled “One man’s curious passion for making pets of vaudevillians has transformed yesterday’s ‘stinkeroo’ into a paradise for performers.”
The piece paints a picture of Mr. Darman as a generous, strong-willed, civic minded person, who had spent great sums ($150,000) to beautify the Park and the backstage areas used by performers. He would wine and dine then, do all he could to get them to like the Park and want to return, despite the fact that vaudeville at this time, the mid-‘40s, was not a real passion for citizens of Woonsocket.
Among the man’s eccentricities: he built an expensive vent system to drive the smell of popcorn away from the seating area, and he kept a cooled downstairs vault for chocolate so that it wouldn’t melt. Several color photos appear in the article, but mostly of performers and one of Mr. Darman at. There are no shots of the auditorum or theatre exterior.
Clarification. In an earlier entry I note that this had been called the “Bomes Theatre” at one time. I no longer believe so. The “Bomes Theatre” inscription above the theatre front refers to the original builder/owner Samuel Bomes. Like his Liberty on Broad Street in Providence, this was simply a Bomes Theatre. As far as I have been able to determine, it had always been called the Hollywood up to its 1959 closing. A January 1996 article in the Providence newspaper talks about how the empty house had been deteriorating for 15 years. It continues to remain closed, minus the marquee that had stayed attached for a time. It used to be used as a furniture warehouse by the owner, Henry Rose, owner of Rose Furniture Company in East Providence.
Alas, I can’t yet ascertain whether this theatre, which came down in the 1910s to make way for a street extension, ever showed movies or not.
No, the Star under Mr. Allen’s tutelage was a place in Hoyle Square, Providence, at Westminster and Dean Streets. It had a fire in 1899, and had nothing to do with movies, not yet arrived. Besides the Star in Cranston and the one in Providence, there were theatres of that name in Natick and Pascoag and Pawtucket.
According to Roger Brett in Temples of Illusion, the first regular movie operation in Providence was the Nickel Theatre on Westminster Street, beginning on April 18, 1906. Before that only a few helter-skelter presentations of the Vitascope and Lumière Cinématographe had take place, including a notable presentation of The Great Train Robbery at Music Hall, another Westminster Street theatre around 1905. At the end of 1906 the Scenic Temple (later to be known as the Rialto) also began showing movies regularly. It was the second such place in the city.
The theatre bore the name Scenic Temple until 1919, when it became the Rialto until 1936.
According to Roger Brett in Temples of Illusion, the first regular movie operation in Providence was the Nickel Theatre, beginning on April 18, 1906, the day of the San Francisco earthquake, which distracted from the cinema history being made locally. Before that only a few helter-skelter presentations of the Vitascope and Lumière Cinématographe as a novelty had taken place, such as a notable presentation of The Great Train Robbery at Music Hall, another Westminster Street theatre around 1905 as well as in Olneyville. The Nickel’s opening film program that day was four short movies: The Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, The Country Straw Ride, The Kentucky Feud, The Devil’s Dice. Nine months later the Scenic Temple (later “Rialto”) on Mathewson Street became the second theatre in the city to show movies regularly.
Um, no. According to Roger Brett in Temples of Illusion, the first regular movie operation in Providence was the Nickel Theatre on Westminster Street, beginning on April 18, 1906. Before that only a few helter-skelter presentations of the Vitascope and Lumière Cinématographe had take place, incluidng a notable presentation of The Great Train Robbery at Music Hall, another Westminster Street Theatre around 1905.
The Liberty Theatre opened on March 7, 1921 according to a Providence Journal article published the day before. The theatre had been under construction for about a year at the cost of $300,000. It was designed by Samuel Bomes, who was also the owner. It had a brick and terra cotta exterior.
The paper described the interior as old rose and gold, with wall panels lighted to give a tone effect. Marble and limestone were used in the lobby. Seats were 21 inches wide and rows 30 inches apart. The single-floor interior was marked by an absence of columns and good sight lines. The stage was equipped for all kinds of entertainment from vaudeville to classical drama. A new Moeller organ was to be installed within two weeks of opening. Despite the stage facilities, the policy of the Liberty was to be the showing of “photoplays exclusively.” Program changes would occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There would be daily matinées and evening programs beginning at 6:30 and 8:45. The first manager was C.M. Eberstein.
The opening program for the liberty was The Great Redeemer, directed by Maurice Tourneur and featuring House Peters and Marjorie Daw. The second feature was Buster Keaton in The Saphead. There was also an unspecified Harold Lloyd comedy short.
It should be noted that the theatre was never known as “Bomes Theatre” even though the name appears above the façade and was included as an alternate name in the description. Bomes designed and owned the theatre as he had with other R.I. theatres (such as the Hollywood in East Providence), but while it was a Bomes Theatre, the theatre itself was never named that. It went under only two names:
1921-1958: Liberty Theatre.
1958-1975: Art Cinema.
In 1976 newspaper ads show still another name for this 561 Smithfield Avenue venue. It is listed as the Starcase Pawtucket, along with ads for the Starcase Middletown near Newport.
The Opera House installed sound at the end of the 1920s, and in January of 1929 they were showing Erin’s Isle, “Ireland’s greatest story…motion picture with sound…music…melody…mirth."
Adult prices 50¢ to $1.00. In little more than two years the venerable theatre woould be closed and razed. Note: in 1921 they had shown the film Ireland in Revolt about the uprising against British rule. Irish topics were apparently popular here and in the heavily-Irish city.
According to the Providence Journal 1980 Almanac, the two-screened theatre had the following seating capacities: I (340) and II (403). Owner-manager at the time was John Sellers.
On March 28, 1916 the great Irish tenor John McCormack gave a recital here.
In March of 1953 the Olympia instituted a policy of being open only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Not a good sign.
The Imperial Theatre opened on February 21, 1916, according to the Providence Journal. “New Theatre Pawtucket,” said the paper the day before the opening. The theatre was located on the site of the old passenger train station on Broad Street and was under the direction of Walter G. Hartford. He had been for some time identified with the Casino Theatre in Providence. The house opened with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation , which had been a hit at the Providence Opera House the previous August and September.
When I was 11 in 1953, my sister took me to see Walt Disney’s Peter Pan playing with the Disney featurette Bear Country. This was the beginning of April. In a matter of weeks, on April 23, the theatre was to shut down after its last show.
A Providence Journal Almanac from 1940 gives the seating capacity of the Empire (formerly Victory and Keith’s) as 1603.
The Westminster (renamed Bijou) was demolished in early 1950. A Providence Journal editorial published on December 30, 1949 reminisced about the glorious/inglorious past of the theatre that was nicknamed “The Sink.” Excerpts from the editorial follow:
“So the Westminster, familiarly and affectionately known as "The Sink,” is coming down. There for many years variegated audiences looked upon that theatrical phenomenon called burlesque, neither musical comedy nor vaudeville, neither comic opera nor revue. It was considered disgraceful in certain circles to be seen in attendance at the old Westminster, but more than one worthy citizen braved public opinion—or tried to sneak in unnoticed… Brown freshmen…considered that they had been initiated into what was known as “the life” when they trooped, with their caps boldly on their heads, into the hallowed precincts of “The Sink.”…
“As one glances back upon Westminster burlesque, there come before the eyes the fully-blown chorines…throwing mocking smiles at the so-called "bald-headed row.” (It was amazing how the ticket seller managed to seat the hairless down in front.)…
“But the real joy…were the comedians: Snuffy the Cabman, Boob McManus, Billy Watson—-artists in their way, some of whom managed to hit the biggest time, like W.C. Fields…Their humor was not of the kind found in refined drawing rooms…They were the Falstaffs of the modern legitimate stage…. Many a staid resident of Providence will wipe away a furtive tear, before his wife catches it, as he recalls the Westminster of old as a Providence institution.”
Note: this theatre is not to be confused with the Westminster Playhouse (the Modern) further up Westminster Street at 440. In its final incarnation as the Bijou, this theatre showed second-run movies.
In November of 1969 the film Fanny Hill, Rated X, was running simultaneously at the at Loew’s State (now Providence Performing Arts Center) and the Shipyard Drive-In on Allens Avenue.
In November of 1969 the R.K.O. Albee was showing Russ Meyer’s Vixen while Loew’s State a block away had Fanny Hill. Both were non-pornographic “adult films.” The Strand would in its last years move to hard-core, the only downtown movie palace ever to do so, but clearly it was all signalling the end for regular film programs in the city’s old theatres.
A Providence Journal article from April 27, 1958, documents the history of the Center Theatre in an article headed Final Curtain Descends. Here is a capsule summary:
The annals of the theatre depict a place that saw vaudeville, silent movie, the coming of sound, burlesque, and even a church used for pre-Lenten services. At the end of each vaudeville season a special feature was the Pawtucket Follies, which relied on local talent. During the theatre’s burlesque or “burleycue” shows, as many locals called it, the advice was “to catch the first show. It’s liable to be closed up.” After vaudeville began to wane in the late ‘30s, the Center became a full-time movie house, pretty much. By the end of summer of 1958, the theatre would be leveled to create a parking lot for Park and Shop Pawtucket, Inc.
The theatre was built in 1919 on the site of the old Wakefield Opera House before being rebuilt as the Community. According to an article the Providence Journal, the theatre suffered a fire in February 1968. Water and smoke did damage to draperies and several of the seats. Because of the effects of combatting the blaze, three firemen had to be treated for smoke inhalation. The fire chief said that film and $25,000 worth of projection equipment were saved. The theatre had been renovated and re-opened the previous July. The Campus had a single screen and 300 seats at the time.
An interesting fact about this drive-in is that although the entrance and much of the parking/viewing area were in Providence, the screen itself was located over the city line in Cranston! This raised an issue in November of 1969 when, according to a Providence Journal article, a Cranston councilman by the name of Anthony L. Dibiasio, voted no at a meeting to a renewal of the license for the drive-in. He was outvoted. The theatre had been showing movies like the X-rated Fanny Hill. Cranston Council President Paul J. Pisano, an attorney, remarked that because the theater is half in Cranston and half in Providence, it is a legal question as to which city would have jurisdiction in the matter of an objectionable film. He asked, “Is the obscenity on the screen or is it in the projector?"
The film was running simultaneously at the Shipyard and at Loew’s State (now Providence Performing Arts Center) in downtown Providence.
History of the Modern-Playhouse-Victory-“Westminster” Playhouse.
The Modern Theatre was erected in 1916 by two wealthy Providence Brothers, B. Thomas and Charles Potter. For nine years it showed movies before being converted to a live theatre, offering the city its only winter stock company at the time from September to March. Most of those productions were second-string in character. At various times over the decades it alternated between being a home to live theatre and being a movie theatre.
Mr. Edward Fay, of Fays Theatre fame, took over the theatre for a time and brought in name Broadway performers, without arousing real public enthusiasm. In 1929 he turned to burlesque and it was then that performers like Abbott and Costello were seen on its stage. In 1933 it returned to stock. Around 1937 the place was refurbished and renamed the Playhouse. Cornelus Otis Skinner, Maurice Evans, and Beatrice Lillie were among the luminaries who graced the stage. Art house type films became the policy for a time, and as I noted in an earlier entry, some Yiddish-language films and films of operatic interest like Giuseppe Verdi with Fosco Giachetti played here during that period.
There were some world premieres of stage works, one of which was Providence-native’s George M. Cohan’s melodrama The Return of the Vagabond. During the war a Mr. Edward Gould presented summer stock. After the war the theatre was renamed the Victory and became a movie house again. Mr. Gould returned to put on theatrical productions and was arrested in 1953 for putting on Tobacco Road without a city license. He was acquitted of any wrongdoing. He was to leave Providence permanently. The theatre reverted to its earlier name, the Playhouse, (Westminster Playhouse in some ads and in a surviving photo of the entrance) and became an art cinema once more for a brief time.
In January of 1955 the sensationally successful Italian movie Bread, Love and Dreams with Gina Lollobrigida moved over for a short continued run. The following month there was the first Providence showing of Giuseppe De Santis' Italian film, the dramatic and star-studded Rome, 11 O'Clock. In April of that same year there was a revival double bill of Anna and Bitter Rice, two more Italian imports, with Silvana Mangano, dubbed in English. Four Ways Out, a Pietro Germi film, and Freda’s Theodora, Slave Empress also played in what looked like a film festival concocted by I.F.E., an outfit that specialized in generally dubbed Italian imports. Other films of that type were shown at that time but never really caught on or made the theatre popular.
The Playhouse eventually shuttered within a year, if that, and was torn down in November of 1957 to be replaced by a parking lot and then later by building complex along the walkway and steps and plaza that replaced Westminster Street between Empire and Franklin.