AMC Loews Harvard Square 5

I went to the Harvard Sq. at least once a week during the 10 years I lived in Boston in the 1970s. I saw most of my very favorite film there, and the theater has a very special place in my heart. It was a one screen theater then, I cannot imagine it as a 5 screen cinema now.

There is a MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the University Theatre in Cambridge. It has a facade photo taken in April 1941. The entrance at that time was on Mass. Ave. There was a rectangular 1920s-style multi-bulbed marquee but the photo quality is poor and I can’t read the names of the attractions. The Report states that the University has been a MGM customer for over 10 years, that it was built about 1925, that it’s in Good condition, and has the following seating: Orchestra floor: 1129; Balcony: 495; Loges: 235; total: 1,859 seats.

I have never heard that about the bums – all the roof access used to be locked, even the fire escapes (exit only situation). Watch out for the guy with the one fake leg – we used to call him the “Mad Crapper” for obvious reasons. In the summers he used to sleep on the church steps across the street. There is also a middle-aged african american guy, quite tall, who is known to most theater managers in the area, who crawls around the floors of the theaters while movies are playing and tries to steal purses, wallets, etc. He can be dangerous, and once threw a trash barrel clear across the lobby of the Harvard Square Theatre. Coolidge Corner managers and my managers at Davis Square are all aware of this guys shenanigans. He likes to sneak in exit doors primarily.

What fun this business can be sometimes, eh?

The dressing rooms at Harvard Sq. are cool too – we used to have a great punching bag down there for when staff needed stress relief!

I did indeed manage Boston Common – opened the place. What a monster. But working at Loews was a good learning experience – I learned what I liked and didn’t like about their operations and priorities, and continue to value the many personal and professional connections I made working for them. I also managed Assembly Square for a while… scary in its own way!

Glad the new management likes Trish. She is a doll, and has some incredible stories, especially about the music scene in Boston in the 70’s.

Good luck with the theater. I’m up the road at the independent Somerville Theatre if you are ever in the area; stop in sometime.
-Ian

Hi Mike,

I’ve not found very many photos from the old days. You can get a feel for what it looked like by poking your head above the ceiling tiles in theaters 1,2, or 3. All the old decor is still up there. You’ll need a tall ladder, a flashlight, and a long pole to see above the tiles in #1!

Up on the roof, you can climb into the old fly-loft through a door to the stagehouse (you’ll find yourself above the ceiling of number 5.

When I managed the place, I spent many hours poking around everywhere I could. It is an interesting building!

Take good care of Trish, who has worked in various Boston theaters since she was 15, and also Linda, the lady who runs the little jewelry shop that rents from the theater!

-Ian

The things you can find on the Internet these days! I was searching for something else altogether and came across Bill White mentioning a string of familiar names, and a ton of nostalgic information. I hope you’re doing well these days, Bill.

Something missing from the picture here is a regular customer, Bobby Panis, who used to go in just about every day for a period of years. He had a gag that worked every time—he’d go up to an employee when no one else was around, start doing something silly like jumping up and down with his eyes bulging and his mouth distorted, somehow get the employee doing it too, then when someone else inevitably came along, Bobby would be standing there, shaking his head and pointing at the employee, and saying “He’s not alright.”

i dont know of any postingson the internet, but i remeber quite a few of them, as i helped program them for a time.

harold and maude was the standard co-feature with king of hearts, although “paths of glory” played with it in may of either 82 or 83.

Picture from 2000 of the exterior here:–

View link

I went two nights ago… If Harvard ever needed more presentation space, I can’t imagine a better theater to restore.

-John

The difficult job of being a good usher at the University Theatre in 1937, according to a Harvard Crimson article. Favorite bit: “…whether from Sargent or Radcliffe, any group of girls is bound to mean trouble for an usher.”

The Boston Film Festival, which was held for many years at the late unlamented Copley Place Cinemas, will be split this year between the Harvard Square and Loews Boston Common.

It will be shorter than last year’s, just seven days instead of ten, September 9-15. Last week’s Somerville Journal had an article about the festival:

Diamond’s not forever: Robin Dawson takes over the Boston Film Festival

I remember this theater with great affection from my undergraduate days at Tufts, 1977-1981, before they (tragically) chopped the place up into little boxes. The film schedule was printed up some three months in advance, and you could get it from street hawkers or the Phoenix. Many was the time I cut classes, smuggled in a soda and a great sandwich from Elsie’s (another landmark sadly gone) and spend an afternoon happily ensconced in that big gritty old auditorium watching a matinee double bill for $2.50 in the company of fellow college slackers and various marginal types. Ah, memories.

Bill, be sure to check out the Capitol, Somerville, and Orson Welles pages while you’re here. I’d love to read your stories from each place.

Bill,

I know a few of those names for sure. Bill Templeton works for BL&S and services our booth at Somerville quite a bit. Great guy. Also Susan Cassidy, oddly enough, I became friends with her only a few years ago and discovered she worked there too, back in the day. It is like going to a high school reunion sometimes on this website! We’ve all ‘graduated’ from the same theaters…