The listing in the 1927 FDY also says that the Whittenton Theatre was open 7 days per week. Surprisingly, not all movie theaters back in those days were open on a daily basis, especially in smaller towns.
I think that the theater was located at about the 100-block of Ocean Street, which is a very long street in Marshfield. (The MGM Report calls that section “Ocean Avenue). I have seen an old colored postcard of the Brant Rock business district from about 1930?, and what looks like a movie theater is there on the street. I have also seen the cover of a 1920s program for the theater which features what I think was a live play, and not a movie. Was the 1940 theater a renovated and rebuilt version of the 1920s theater? Or was it a new theater built on the site of the old theater, or very close to the site??
I was a junior-size movie goer in 1948, and the admission prices that dgidez quotes above are correct for a second-run movie theater like the Bowdoin. I usually paid from 15 cents – 25 cents for tickets at that time.
The text which mentions the 1973 fire refers to a “bowling alley/movie theater”. This implies that there was a bowling alley in the building along with the theater, but it could also mean that at some point the theater was converted into a bowling alley.
The Google streetview and the Google map at the top of this page are incorrect; the theater was located right down near the seafront on a main street there.
The theater is listed under East Weymouth, Mass. in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as “Opera hall” with 600 seats, open 2 days per week (probably Fri-Sat). I know that as the Roosevelt Theatre around 1932, it was open week-nights as well as weekends. Today, the building is occupied by MacDonald Audio Services and Engineering. There is an audio and video recording studio there. I think that MacDonald may own the building.
The comedian Fred Allen, who was a prominent star in network radio in the 1930s-40s, got his start in show business in small-time vaudeville in the Greater Boston area. He says in his auto-biog that one of the engagements he had, circa-1914, was performing in a vaudeville bill at the Odd Fellows Opera House in East Weymouth on a Saturday night. The building was, and is, very near the East Weymouth rail station (today a MBTA stop). The Odd Fellows Opera House was also included on a long list of theaters and halls in Massachusetts receiving state licences during the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 1914.
CT member dwodeyla tells me that the Roosevelt Theatre is listed, with 400 seats, in the 1934 Film Daily Yearbook. I spoke yesterday with someone who grew up in Weymouth and attended movies here many times around the time he was in middle school/ junior high. This would have been roughly 1948-52. He says that it was located in the Odd Fellows Building on Cottage Street and that it was called the Jason Theatre. He has a very vague memory that it was renamed to Victor Theatre sometime later. Last week, I spoke with a younger man who grew up in Jackson Square area who remembers it as the Victor Theatre, and who thought that it lasted in operation past 1960.
The theater entrance was on Cottage St. and they did have a poster case there in movie days. Around 1962, the second floor and attic were removed. The walk-in basement on Commercial Street housed a model hobby shop for many years, until recently.
Joe- The Weymouth chronology for 1946 is correct: there were 3 movie theaters in Weymouth, plus one Drive-in. But everyone I have talked with refers to this theater as the Victor Theatre. I know that it was called the “Roosevelt Theatre” in the 1930s; perhaps the line of name-changes was: Odd Fellows Opera House to Roosevelt Theatre to Jason (or Jason’s) Theatre to Victor Theatre. I never went to it; never even heard of it until recent years.
People who grew up in the Jackson Square neighborhood in the 1940s and 1950s have very pleasant memories of the Victor Theatre (their association holds a reunion every 2 years). The Victor served East Weymouth as well as a section of Hingham which abuts Jackson Square.
The Odd Fellows fraternal organization constructed the building in 1889. It had a function hall/auditorium in the rear with an entrance on Cottage Street. At some point, the auditorium became known as the Odd Fellows Opera House featuring live shows (later, movies). Later the name was changed to Jason’s Theatre, a cinema. By the early 1930s, the name was changed to Roosevelt Theatre, and in the 1940s to Victor Theatre. It remained open showing films into the 1950s (some say past 1960). The top floor was removed in 1962, but that was not part of the theater.
I looked at the photo of the Playhouse on the MGM Report, supposedly taken in 1946. The modern extension on the front of the building which shows in the 1943 photo from the Markham Group website is not there! So, I’m guessing that the MGM photo dates from 1941, not 1946. It was a very interesting and nice-looking building.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Park is listed under Paramount Theatres – Mullin & Pinanski circuit. The Strand in Taunton was also a M&P house at that time.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Brockton Theatre is listed under Paramount Theaters – Mullin & Pinanski. Also listed as a M&P house is the Rialto in Brockton which later became E.M. Loew’s Center Theater.
The Colonial is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 724 seats and open 6 days per week. That seat count may have been for the main floor only.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in Illinois has the MGM Theatre Report for the Brockton Theatre. It was at 184 Main Street. It had 1,305 orchestra seats, 285 balcony seats and 102 seats in the loges; total: 1,692 seats. There is an exterior photo taken in July 1950, 9 years after most of the other Report photos were made. The theater entrance was at the left end of a large, long, 4-story commercial building with a rather ornate facade. There was a nice 1940s-style marquee with a vertical sign above. Looking at the Google streetviews of this area today, I don’t see that building. I suspect that “Brockton” was a new name for an existing older theater. The Brockton Theatre is not listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in IL has the MGM Theatre Report for the Modern in Brockton. It was at 21 East Main St., had 700 seats, was in Good condition, was not showing MGM film product, and was opened about 1935. There is a note written in pen on the Report: “Renovated inside and out in 1944.” There is an exterior photo made in May 1941. It was a stand-alone building with a vacant lot to the left.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in Illinois has the MGM Theatre Report for the Colonial in Brockton. It was on Main Street, was in Fair condition, was not showing MGM films, and was over 15 years old (as of 1941). There were 700 seats on the main floor plus 400 balcony seats, total: 1,100. There was an exterior photo taken in May 1941. The entrance was at the left end of a brick commercial building.
I googled 866 Main St. in Brockton and what I guess is # 866 is a 2-story white building; it has a multi-door center entrance with “… Tabernacle” posted above it. Yes, it sure does look like the entrance to a typical neighborhood movie theater.
The Opera House in McConnelsville is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Managed by Wiseman & Watson, 655 seats, electric illuminaiton, located on ground floor. The proscenium opening was 28' wide X 30' high, and the stage was 34 feet deep. Tickets: 25 cents to 50 cents. 8 musicians in the house orchestra. Newspapers, Herald, Democrat. Hotels for show folk: Franklin, Kennebec, Valley. The 1897 population was 3,500.
I wish I could help you out, Don. I know that 866 Main Street is well away from downtown, but I’m really not familiar with Brockton. There’s a lot about Brockton theaters that I don’t know.
One of the “Now Hiring” messages posted on the Circle’s marquee last month was for “Davio’s Cucina”.According to today’s Boston Herald, Davio’s Cucina opened yesterday in Chestnut Hill. It’s a 250-seat upscale eatery and is located right next to the new National Amusement’s Showcase SuperLux theater, and was opened in partnership with National Amusements. So, Davio’s is Not located in the Circle building.
The listing in the 1927 FDY also says that the Whittenton Theatre was open 7 days per week. Surprisingly, not all movie theaters back in those days were open on a daily basis, especially in smaller towns.
I think that the theater was located at about the 100-block of Ocean Street, which is a very long street in Marshfield. (The MGM Report calls that section “Ocean Avenue). I have seen an old colored postcard of the Brant Rock business district from about 1930?, and what looks like a movie theater is there on the street. I have also seen the cover of a 1920s program for the theater which features what I think was a live play, and not a movie. Was the 1940 theater a renovated and rebuilt version of the 1920s theater? Or was it a new theater built on the site of the old theater, or very close to the site??
I was a junior-size movie goer in 1948, and the admission prices that dgidez quotes above are correct for a second-run movie theater like the Bowdoin. I usually paid from 15 cents – 25 cents for tickets at that time.
The text which mentions the 1973 fire refers to a “bowling alley/movie theater”. This implies that there was a bowling alley in the building along with the theater, but it could also mean that at some point the theater was converted into a bowling alley.
The Google streetview and the Google map at the top of this page are incorrect; the theater was located right down near the seafront on a main street there.
The theater is listed under East Weymouth, Mass. in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as “Opera hall” with 600 seats, open 2 days per week (probably Fri-Sat). I know that as the Roosevelt Theatre around 1932, it was open week-nights as well as weekends. Today, the building is occupied by MacDonald Audio Services and Engineering. There is an audio and video recording studio there. I think that MacDonald may own the building.
The comedian Fred Allen, who was a prominent star in network radio in the 1930s-40s, got his start in show business in small-time vaudeville in the Greater Boston area. He says in his auto-biog that one of the engagements he had, circa-1914, was performing in a vaudeville bill at the Odd Fellows Opera House in East Weymouth on a Saturday night. The building was, and is, very near the East Weymouth rail station (today a MBTA stop). The Odd Fellows Opera House was also included on a long list of theaters and halls in Massachusetts receiving state licences during the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 1914.
CT member dwodeyla tells me that the Roosevelt Theatre is listed, with 400 seats, in the 1934 Film Daily Yearbook. I spoke yesterday with someone who grew up in Weymouth and attended movies here many times around the time he was in middle school/ junior high. This would have been roughly 1948-52. He says that it was located in the Odd Fellows Building on Cottage Street and that it was called the Jason Theatre. He has a very vague memory that it was renamed to Victor Theatre sometime later. Last week, I spoke with a younger man who grew up in Jackson Square area who remembers it as the Victor Theatre, and who thought that it lasted in operation past 1960.
The theater entrance was on Cottage St. and they did have a poster case there in movie days. Around 1962, the second floor and attic were removed. The walk-in basement on Commercial Street housed a model hobby shop for many years, until recently.
Joe- The Weymouth chronology for 1946 is correct: there were 3 movie theaters in Weymouth, plus one Drive-in. But everyone I have talked with refers to this theater as the Victor Theatre. I know that it was called the “Roosevelt Theatre” in the 1930s; perhaps the line of name-changes was: Odd Fellows Opera House to Roosevelt Theatre to Jason (or Jason’s) Theatre to Victor Theatre. I never went to it; never even heard of it until recent years.
Bob- What relation does this theater have to the General Hodges Theatre at Fort Devens ? (CT # 41578)
People who grew up in the Jackson Square neighborhood in the 1940s and 1950s have very pleasant memories of the Victor Theatre (their association holds a reunion every 2 years). The Victor served East Weymouth as well as a section of Hingham which abuts Jackson Square.
The Odd Fellows fraternal organization constructed the building in 1889. It had a function hall/auditorium in the rear with an entrance on Cottage Street. At some point, the auditorium became known as the Odd Fellows Opera House featuring live shows (later, movies). Later the name was changed to Jason’s Theatre, a cinema. By the early 1930s, the name was changed to Roosevelt Theatre, and in the 1940s to Victor Theatre. It remained open showing films into the 1950s (some say past 1960). The top floor was removed in 1962, but that was not part of the theater.
I looked at the photo of the Playhouse on the MGM Report, supposedly taken in 1946. The modern extension on the front of the building which shows in the 1943 photo from the Markham Group website is not there! So, I’m guessing that the MGM photo dates from 1941, not 1946. It was a very interesting and nice-looking building.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Colonial is listed as part of Interstate Theatres of Boston.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Orpheum in Danvers is listed under Graphic Theatres of Boston.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Park is listed under Paramount Theatres – Mullin & Pinanski circuit. The Strand in Taunton was also a M&P house at that time.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Brockton Theatre is listed under Paramount Theaters – Mullin & Pinanski. Also listed as a M&P house is the Rialto in Brockton which later became E.M. Loew’s Center Theater.
The Colonial is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 724 seats and open 6 days per week. That seat count may have been for the main floor only.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in Illinois has the MGM Theatre Report for the Brockton Theatre. It was at 184 Main Street. It had 1,305 orchestra seats, 285 balcony seats and 102 seats in the loges; total: 1,692 seats. There is an exterior photo taken in July 1950, 9 years after most of the other Report photos were made. The theater entrance was at the left end of a large, long, 4-story commercial building with a rather ornate facade. There was a nice 1940s-style marquee with a vertical sign above. Looking at the Google streetviews of this area today, I don’t see that building. I suspect that “Brockton” was a new name for an existing older theater. The Brockton Theatre is not listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in IL has the MGM Theatre Report for the Modern in Brockton. It was at 21 East Main St., had 700 seats, was in Good condition, was not showing MGM film product, and was opened about 1935. There is a note written in pen on the Report: “Renovated inside and out in 1944.” There is an exterior photo made in May 1941. It was a stand-alone building with a vacant lot to the left.
The Theatre Historical Society archive in Illinois has the MGM Theatre Report for the Colonial in Brockton. It was on Main Street, was in Fair condition, was not showing MGM films, and was over 15 years old (as of 1941). There were 700 seats on the main floor plus 400 balcony seats, total: 1,100. There was an exterior photo taken in May 1941. The entrance was at the left end of a brick commercial building.
I googled 866 Main St. in Brockton and what I guess is # 866 is a 2-story white building; it has a multi-door center entrance with “… Tabernacle” posted above it. Yes, it sure does look like the entrance to a typical neighborhood movie theater.
The Opera House in McConnelsville is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Managed by Wiseman & Watson, 655 seats, electric illuminaiton, located on ground floor. The proscenium opening was 28' wide X 30' high, and the stage was 34 feet deep. Tickets: 25 cents to 50 cents. 8 musicians in the house orchestra. Newspapers, Herald, Democrat. Hotels for show folk: Franklin, Kennebec, Valley. The 1897 population was 3,500.
I wish I could help you out, Don. I know that 866 Main Street is well away from downtown, but I’m really not familiar with Brockton. There’s a lot about Brockton theaters that I don’t know.
One of the “Now Hiring” messages posted on the Circle’s marquee last month was for “Davio’s Cucina”.According to today’s Boston Herald, Davio’s Cucina opened yesterday in Chestnut Hill. It’s a 250-seat upscale eatery and is located right next to the new National Amusement’s Showcase SuperLux theater, and was opened in partnership with National Amusements. So, Davio’s is Not located in the Circle building.