Yes, the Copley/Capri was nowhere near Dartmouth Street. You walked in from Huntington Ave, to an inner foyer, and then turned right to enter the back of the auditorium. The left side of the auditorium and stage were on Stuart St. The original Toy Theater on Dartmouth Street was apparently jacked up and turned around and then reused for the Copley/Capri. I have never really understood what exactly was done to reuse the Toy Theatre. By the way, there was a real landmark building at the corner of Dartmouth Street and Huntington Avenue, the S.S. Pierce building. It was a handsome old heap and housed an upscale grocery and food shop. That building lasted at least as long as the Capri Theatre lasted.
There is another theater in Nelsonville, also on Public Square. Stuart’s Opera House opened in 1879 and operated until 1924, then was closed for decades. It was reopened in the 1970s. It’s not listed here in Cinema Treasures which is a hint that it never showed movies. The 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide says it had 1,042 seats and that it was an “upstairs house” on the second floor. Today, it’s a performing arts house, still using its original name.
I recently noticed a new listing in the Boston Herald movie theater directory: the LPF Studio Cinema in Beverly. Located at 296A Cabot Street, which is very near the Cabot Street Cinema (at 286 Cabot St.) Anyone know anything about it?
telliot- yes, the theater ran north-south at the back of the building. From Washington Street you walked down a long lobby to a foyer at the back of the auditorium. Then you turned left to enter the back rows of the theater. The recessed steps on Essex Street lead to the foyer. This is at the south side of the building at the rear. At the opposite, north side, is the rear stage wall. Most of the exits on the east side wall have been covered up, and the fire escapes there have been removed. So it’s hard to tell where the theater is now from the outside.
The photo which MarkB posted shows the Toy Theatre on Dartmouth St., more or less across from the side of the Copley Plaza Hotel. This was before the house was reconstructed with its main entrance on Huntington Avenue, which was where, later, the entrance and marquee for the Capri were located. Sweetmel posts above that he wishes he could see a photo of the Capri before it “got seedy”. It never got seedy ! Right up until it was demolished, it was still in good condition. The entrance was directly across from the side of the Boston Public Library. dickneeds111 mentions the State Theatre on Washington St. (former T Trans Lux) I was inside it in July 1983 and it was not twinned, still a single-screen. Closed in 1985.
Tinseltoes- Yes, E.M. Loew had no blood relation to Marcus Loew, who was a generation older. His theaters almost always had “E.M. Loew” in the heading rather than just “Loew” in order to avoid confusion.
I saw a production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” on stage here at a Saturday matinee sometime in the 1980s. It was a short walk from the Tube station. If my memory is correct, the foyer was at the level of the first balcony, and one had to walk downstairs to the stalls/ main floor. It was a nice, attractive theater. The scenery loading door for the stage was located down the right side of the building. In the 1980s there was an organization which produced vintage British musicals there.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger of June 13 has an article “Proposal calls for replacing building in Weymouth Landing” by Fred Hanson which reports that the owners of the building containing The Landing Pub and Ultimate Pizza have plans to demolish the structure and put up a new commercial building. The article says that the Bates Opera House was erected on this site in the mid-19th Century, and that the present building was constructed in the 1930s on the foundations of the Bates Opera House.
Reebok held a sales meeting in the theater very recently. It was mentioned in today’s Boston Herald which states that the meeting took place in “Theatre 1”, this theater’s new name.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger of June 5th has an article about the renovation work which began last December. It’s hoped to complete the work in Sept. The cinema has remained open while the work is in progress. The former Jo-Ann Fabric location, 16,000 sq. ft., has been taken over for the cinema’s “Premium Experience” theater. All auditoriums have been/ will be renovated, and some of them have new higher ceilings. Regal hopes to hold the line on ticket prices when the work is completed. The screen count will remain at 14.
This is a wonderful theater- glad to see it listed in CT. I remember “West Side Story” here in mid-1959; and I saw a performance of the same here in the mid-1980s. The Theatre Royal Haymarket is just across the street, and up the street to the north, and on the same side, there was a prominent cinema.
Graphic Theatres of Boston ran the Regal as of 1942, according to a listing in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac. Graphic also ran the Capitol and the Pastime theaters in Franklin at that time.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Capitol in Franklin is listed as part of Graphic Theatres Circuit of Boston. Graphic Theatres also ran the Regal and the Pastime theaters in Franklin. As of 1942, those 3 houses in Franklin were Graphic’s only theaters in New Hampshire.
The June 2 1987 article also pointed out that within the past decade (1977-87) drive-in cinemas had also closed in Marshfield, Kingston, Dedham, Canton, Brockton, Avon and Boston.
The “Ledger Archives” column of today’s Quincy Patriot Ledger mentions an item from June 2, 1987. It reports that General Cinemas has said that the South Shore Plaza Twin Drive-In is closed and will not reopen. Closing drive-in cinemas is a “trend” the article says, which also mentions that the cinema was more than 25 years old.
I went here many times for performances while visiting England. Every time I went the place was sold out. Years ago the ticket office was located, not in the foyer, but in a storefront across from the right side of the theater. At least once I got a last-minute ticket there in the “side-slips” of the top balcony for only one pound. The top balcony was called the “amphitheater” and there was a seperate entrance for it on the right side of the building. It was a very long climb up to the top. I believe that the 1948 movie “The Red Shoes” has some scenes filmed inside the ROH ?? Not sure of that. I toured the theater, including the stage and wings, in August 1989 with a group of Theatre Historical Society (USA) members.
For the past week Channel 5, the ABC-TV outlet in Boston has been carrying an ad for a touring company of “Mary Poppins” which is to appear at the Hanover Theatre. The graphics in the ad give the theater name and location correctly. But the voice-over says the show is coming into “the Shubert Theatre in Worcester!” How do mistakes like this happen? There is no Shubert in Worcester, although there may have been a Shubert-affiliated theater there years ago.
I walked by the site of the Charles Cinema twice last week while going to a clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital, which is very close by. The address above is correct; the Map and the Google Street View are both incorrect.
The Drake Opera House in Elizabeth is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Col. W. Morton was Mgr. There were 1,425 seats. The theater was on the ground floor. The prosceniuim opening was 34 feet square and the stage was 47 feet deep. The 1897 population of Elizabeth was 55,000.
The Lyceum Theatre in Elizabeth is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. A.H. Simonds was Mgr. Seating is listed as 1,250. The theater was on the ground floor, had both gas and electric illumination, and had 8 musicians in the pit band. Ticket prices, 25 cents to $1. The proscenium opening was 30 feet square, and the stage was 40 feet deep.
David- the contractor was Richard R. Jancaterino, age 34 in 1962, of South Weymouth, married to Elaine. He was self-employed and got 140 tons of granite from the demolition site.
The “Patriot Ledger Archives” section of the May 7th Quincy Patriot Ledger has a summary of an article with photo from the Q-PL of May 10, 1962. It seems that a local contractor from Weymouth purchased the granite rubble from the demolition of the Old Howard which was then underway. In a cornerstone, which he claims weighed 9 tons, he found a sealed lead box. There were a number of items in the box including a copy, in good condition, of the Boston Daily Atlas newspaper from 1846. There is no mention of the other items in the box.
The Hyperion Theatre in New Haven was the leading legit theater there circa-1900. It was a popular house for pre-Broadway tryouts. I don’t know if it was later named “Bunnell’s New Haven Theatre”; however, according to its entry in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide, the Manager in 1897 was one G.B. Bunnell. Unfortunately, there are no street addresses in this Guide. The Hyperion was on the ground floor and its seating capacity was 2,128. It had a large stage 65 feet deep. At the time there was also a Grand Opera House in New Haven, with 2,332 seats.
The Shubert opened on January 24, 1910. It has 1,696 seats; I believe the architect was one Thomas James. It’s kept in very nice condition. Has two balconies. But I don’t think it has any movie-exhibition history. It’s a live “legit” theater.
Yes, the Copley/Capri was nowhere near Dartmouth Street. You walked in from Huntington Ave, to an inner foyer, and then turned right to enter the back of the auditorium. The left side of the auditorium and stage were on Stuart St. The original Toy Theater on Dartmouth Street was apparently jacked up and turned around and then reused for the Copley/Capri. I have never really understood what exactly was done to reuse the Toy Theatre. By the way, there was a real landmark building at the corner of Dartmouth Street and Huntington Avenue, the S.S. Pierce building. It was a handsome old heap and housed an upscale grocery and food shop. That building lasted at least as long as the Capri Theatre lasted.
There is another theater in Nelsonville, also on Public Square. Stuart’s Opera House opened in 1879 and operated until 1924, then was closed for decades. It was reopened in the 1970s. It’s not listed here in Cinema Treasures which is a hint that it never showed movies. The 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide says it had 1,042 seats and that it was an “upstairs house” on the second floor. Today, it’s a performing arts house, still using its original name.
I recently noticed a new listing in the Boston Herald movie theater directory: the LPF Studio Cinema in Beverly. Located at 296A Cabot Street, which is very near the Cabot Street Cinema (at 286 Cabot St.) Anyone know anything about it?
telliot- yes, the theater ran north-south at the back of the building. From Washington Street you walked down a long lobby to a foyer at the back of the auditorium. Then you turned left to enter the back rows of the theater. The recessed steps on Essex Street lead to the foyer. This is at the south side of the building at the rear. At the opposite, north side, is the rear stage wall. Most of the exits on the east side wall have been covered up, and the fire escapes there have been removed. So it’s hard to tell where the theater is now from the outside.
The photo which MarkB posted shows the Toy Theatre on Dartmouth St., more or less across from the side of the Copley Plaza Hotel. This was before the house was reconstructed with its main entrance on Huntington Avenue, which was where, later, the entrance and marquee for the Capri were located. Sweetmel posts above that he wishes he could see a photo of the Capri before it “got seedy”. It never got seedy ! Right up until it was demolished, it was still in good condition. The entrance was directly across from the side of the Boston Public Library. dickneeds111 mentions the State Theatre on Washington St. (former T Trans Lux) I was inside it in July 1983 and it was not twinned, still a single-screen. Closed in 1985.
Tinseltoes- Yes, E.M. Loew had no blood relation to Marcus Loew, who was a generation older. His theaters almost always had “E.M. Loew” in the heading rather than just “Loew” in order to avoid confusion.
I saw a production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” on stage here at a Saturday matinee sometime in the 1980s. It was a short walk from the Tube station. If my memory is correct, the foyer was at the level of the first balcony, and one had to walk downstairs to the stalls/ main floor. It was a nice, attractive theater. The scenery loading door for the stage was located down the right side of the building. In the 1980s there was an organization which produced vintage British musicals there.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger of June 13 has an article “Proposal calls for replacing building in Weymouth Landing” by Fred Hanson which reports that the owners of the building containing The Landing Pub and Ultimate Pizza have plans to demolish the structure and put up a new commercial building. The article says that the Bates Opera House was erected on this site in the mid-19th Century, and that the present building was constructed in the 1930s on the foundations of the Bates Opera House.
Reebok held a sales meeting in the theater very recently. It was mentioned in today’s Boston Herald which states that the meeting took place in “Theatre 1”, this theater’s new name.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger of June 5th has an article about the renovation work which began last December. It’s hoped to complete the work in Sept. The cinema has remained open while the work is in progress. The former Jo-Ann Fabric location, 16,000 sq. ft., has been taken over for the cinema’s “Premium Experience” theater. All auditoriums have been/ will be renovated, and some of them have new higher ceilings. Regal hopes to hold the line on ticket prices when the work is completed. The screen count will remain at 14.
This is a wonderful theater- glad to see it listed in CT. I remember “West Side Story” here in mid-1959; and I saw a performance of the same here in the mid-1980s. The Theatre Royal Haymarket is just across the street, and up the street to the north, and on the same side, there was a prominent cinema.
Graphic Theatres of Boston ran the Regal as of 1942, according to a listing in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac. Graphic also ran the Capitol and the Pastime theaters in Franklin at that time.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Capitol in Franklin is listed as part of Graphic Theatres Circuit of Boston. Graphic Theatres also ran the Regal and the Pastime theaters in Franklin. As of 1942, those 3 houses in Franklin were Graphic’s only theaters in New Hampshire.
The June 2 1987 article also pointed out that within the past decade (1977-87) drive-in cinemas had also closed in Marshfield, Kingston, Dedham, Canton, Brockton, Avon and Boston.
The “Ledger Archives” column of today’s Quincy Patriot Ledger mentions an item from June 2, 1987. It reports that General Cinemas has said that the South Shore Plaza Twin Drive-In is closed and will not reopen. Closing drive-in cinemas is a “trend” the article says, which also mentions that the cinema was more than 25 years old.
I went here many times for performances while visiting England. Every time I went the place was sold out. Years ago the ticket office was located, not in the foyer, but in a storefront across from the right side of the theater. At least once I got a last-minute ticket there in the “side-slips” of the top balcony for only one pound. The top balcony was called the “amphitheater” and there was a seperate entrance for it on the right side of the building. It was a very long climb up to the top. I believe that the 1948 movie “The Red Shoes” has some scenes filmed inside the ROH ?? Not sure of that. I toured the theater, including the stage and wings, in August 1989 with a group of Theatre Historical Society (USA) members.
For the past week Channel 5, the ABC-TV outlet in Boston has been carrying an ad for a touring company of “Mary Poppins” which is to appear at the Hanover Theatre. The graphics in the ad give the theater name and location correctly. But the voice-over says the show is coming into “the Shubert Theatre in Worcester!” How do mistakes like this happen? There is no Shubert in Worcester, although there may have been a Shubert-affiliated theater there years ago.
David- It’s always nice to hear that such artifacts have been preserved in good hands.
I walked by the site of the Charles Cinema twice last week while going to a clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital, which is very close by. The address above is correct; the Map and the Google Street View are both incorrect.
The Drake Opera House in Elizabeth is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Col. W. Morton was Mgr. There were 1,425 seats. The theater was on the ground floor. The prosceniuim opening was 34 feet square and the stage was 47 feet deep. The 1897 population of Elizabeth was 55,000.
The Lyceum Theatre in Elizabeth is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. A.H. Simonds was Mgr. Seating is listed as 1,250. The theater was on the ground floor, had both gas and electric illumination, and had 8 musicians in the pit band. Ticket prices, 25 cents to $1. The proscenium opening was 30 feet square, and the stage was 40 feet deep.
David- the contractor was Richard R. Jancaterino, age 34 in 1962, of South Weymouth, married to Elaine. He was self-employed and got 140 tons of granite from the demolition site.
The “Patriot Ledger Archives” section of the May 7th Quincy Patriot Ledger has a summary of an article with photo from the Q-PL of May 10, 1962. It seems that a local contractor from Weymouth purchased the granite rubble from the demolition of the Old Howard which was then underway. In a cornerstone, which he claims weighed 9 tons, he found a sealed lead box. There were a number of items in the box including a copy, in good condition, of the Boston Daily Atlas newspaper from 1846. There is no mention of the other items in the box.
The Hyperion Theatre in New Haven was the leading legit theater there circa-1900. It was a popular house for pre-Broadway tryouts. I don’t know if it was later named “Bunnell’s New Haven Theatre”; however, according to its entry in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide, the Manager in 1897 was one G.B. Bunnell. Unfortunately, there are no street addresses in this Guide. The Hyperion was on the ground floor and its seating capacity was 2,128. It had a large stage 65 feet deep. At the time there was also a Grand Opera House in New Haven, with 2,332 seats.
The Shubert opened on January 24, 1910. It has 1,696 seats; I believe the architect was one Thomas James. It’s kept in very nice condition. Has two balconies. But I don’t think it has any movie-exhibition history. It’s a live “legit” theater.