The south elevation of the building was ruined about 1940 with the construction of a one-story commercial addition. This addition obliterated the series of Romanesque arches at ground level, as well as the driveway there. At that time, many more windows were punched into the walls. I believe that this is when the theater was deconstructed upstairs.
TonyPan- very interesting comments. I never went into the Lincoln. Can you clarify the point that Cy Berman made above- he implies that the bowling alley was at street level, and that you had to go up a flight of stairs to get to the main floor of the theater. In other words, the theater was up on the second floor. That doesn’t seem right to me, especially in view of the fact that it had a balcony, but it was only 2 stories tall.
A friend told me that when she moved to East Braintree around 1960 she had a neighbor who told her that one of the fun things that she did in the 1920s was to walk to Weymouth Landing with her siblings on Sunday evenings to attend a show at the Bates Opera House. The show consisted of a feature movie preceeded by several acts of vaudeville.
In old Film Daily Yearbooks it’s sometimes listed as “Fogg’s Opera House” or “Fogg Hall”, but I don’t believe such names are correct. For example, it was listed as “Fogg Hall” on a long list of theaters in Massachusetts which received state licenses for the period ending Oct. 31, 1914. Its condition was described as “Good” on that list.
With regard to the seating capacity, I looked at the Julius Cahn guide for 1898 on line and there is a change from the 1897 edition. Instead of 900 seats, he listed the capacity as 1,543. The proscenium opening was given as 38 feet square, and the stage depth as 36 feet. Eugene Rook was still listed as Mgr
There is an “Oper House” (without the “Grand”) listed under Youngstown OH in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Eugene Rook was Mgr. Seating capacity was 900; the house was on the ground floor and had gas illumination. There were 8 in the house orchestra, led by Professor Leibman. Ticket prices were 25 cents to 75 cents. The proscenium opening was 36 feet wide X 33 feet high, and the stage was 26 feet deep. There were 4 newspapers, and 3 hotels for show folk. The 1897 population of Youngstown was 35,000.
This theater had the distinction of being operated by both of the Loew theater circuits. As the Globe in the 1920s it was operated by Marcus Loew of NY. After WW II it became the flagship of the E.M. Loew circuit and the name was changed to Center Theatre.
I have heard that the booking of attractions at the Colonial will be handled by the Wang Center; I don’t know how accurate that is. And further to the comments above of May 10: notwithstanding what was listed in the Julius Cahn guide, I believe that the Colonial’s stage is 55 feet deep, not 45.
The link worked this time (the first time I just got Bill Noonan’s home page), but the photo (#26 of 209 in the Real Old Days collection) is the same one: a great shot, taken before the el was constructed, of a fire dept. ladder wagon in front of the Grand Opera House. The building to the left is not the Hub Theatre, which was a few buildings up to the north. The two theaters were not side-by-side.
The link didn’t work for me, so I went to the website and found on page 3 of the “Real Old Days” collection a nice shot of the Grand Opera House on Washington St. with a horse-drawn fire engine passing in front of it. This big theater was a few buildings to the south of the Hub Theatre.
The Mass. Historical Commission is about to submit a nomination application for Stetson Hall to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. If accepted by the National Park Service, the designation will take effect later this year.
Oddly, in the same 1942-43 edition of the Motion Picture Almanac, the Olympia and the Colonial in Portsmouth are also listed as being run by John Ford Theatres of Maine, a Paramount affiliate. I suspect that one circuit must have sold them to the other in 1942.
The Olympia in Portsmouth is listed in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac as part of the Maine & New Hampshire Theatres Co. of Boston. They also ran the Colonial in Portsmouth at that time.
Thus theater in Newport does not appear on a list of Latchis theaters as of 1942-43. At that time Peter Latchis ran theaters in Claremont, Keene (2) and Milford NH (2); plus 6 in Vermont and 3 in Massachusetts.
I read a brief history of the old Brockton Airport, which existed from the 1920s into the 1950s and it said that the Skyview Drive-in movie theater was built over the southwest corner of the airport property.
Under South Norwalk in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide is listed Hoyt’s Theatre, I.M. Hoyt, Mgr. Seats: 1,160. Ticket prices 25 cents to $1. It had both gas and electric illumination. The proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 28 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep. The auditorium was on the ground floor; there were 5 members of the house orchestra. There were 3 newspapers and 3 hotels for show folk. The 1897 population of South Norwalk was 19,000.
The profile article about the Broadway in Moving Picture World magazine of 11/11/1911 states that the projection booth was 9 feet X 6 feet and that they had installed a new Powers 6 projector on Sept 1st. It was fitted with a Grundlach-Manhatten lens. Note- only one projector, not a pair. The auditorium had 7 exits.
TBA Theatres closed the Rialto in Lancaster for economic reasons in early-Sept 2011 according to an article in the Berlin Daily Sun as reported in the THSA Readerboard news line.
TBA Theatres closed the Princess for economic reasons in Sept 2011 according to an article in the Berlin Daily Sun which was referenced in the THSA Readerboard
news line.
There are 5 movie theaters listed for Everett MA in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook: the Capitol, Modern, Broadway, Rialto and the Strand (ex-Crown, later became the Park Theatre). Of these 5, all except the Modern have pages here in Cinema Treasures. The Broadway is listed as having 850 seats instead of the 610 it had as of 1911. This suggests that either it was enlarged, or the 1927 Broadway was a different theater than this one.
On a list of Massachusetts theaters and function halls receiving state licenses for the 12 months ending March 31, 1914, there are two theaters in Everett: the Crown Theatre (which later became the Park), and the Broadway Theatre. The condition was “Good” and the Manager was M.C. Brown. However, that may be a typo because the Manager as of 1911 was a N.(Nathan) Brown.
The south elevation of the building was ruined about 1940 with the construction of a one-story commercial addition. This addition obliterated the series of Romanesque arches at ground level, as well as the driveway there. At that time, many more windows were punched into the walls. I believe that this is when the theater was deconstructed upstairs.
TonyPan- very interesting comments. I never went into the Lincoln. Can you clarify the point that Cy Berman made above- he implies that the bowling alley was at street level, and that you had to go up a flight of stairs to get to the main floor of the theater. In other words, the theater was up on the second floor. That doesn’t seem right to me, especially in view of the fact that it had a balcony, but it was only 2 stories tall.
A friend told me that when she moved to East Braintree around 1960 she had a neighbor who told her that one of the fun things that she did in the 1920s was to walk to Weymouth Landing with her siblings on Sunday evenings to attend a show at the Bates Opera House. The show consisted of a feature movie preceeded by several acts of vaudeville.
In old Film Daily Yearbooks it’s sometimes listed as “Fogg’s Opera House” or “Fogg Hall”, but I don’t believe such names are correct. For example, it was listed as “Fogg Hall” on a long list of theaters in Massachusetts which received state licenses for the period ending Oct. 31, 1914. Its condition was described as “Good” on that list.
Janice- what is the date on your article? And in what publication did it appear?
With regard to the seating capacity, I looked at the Julius Cahn guide for 1898 on line and there is a change from the 1897 edition. Instead of 900 seats, he listed the capacity as 1,543. The proscenium opening was given as 38 feet square, and the stage depth as 36 feet. Eugene Rook was still listed as Mgr
There is an “Oper House” (without the “Grand”) listed under Youngstown OH in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Eugene Rook was Mgr. Seating capacity was 900; the house was on the ground floor and had gas illumination. There were 8 in the house orchestra, led by Professor Leibman. Ticket prices were 25 cents to 75 cents. The proscenium opening was 36 feet wide X 33 feet high, and the stage was 26 feet deep. There were 4 newspapers, and 3 hotels for show folk. The 1897 population of Youngstown was 35,000.
I have heard that the street address for the Strand was 207 Union Street. I don’t know how accurate that is.
This theater had the distinction of being operated by both of the Loew theater circuits. As the Globe in the 1920s it was operated by Marcus Loew of NY. After WW II it became the flagship of the E.M. Loew circuit and the name was changed to Center Theatre.
I have heard that the booking of attractions at the Colonial will be handled by the Wang Center; I don’t know how accurate that is. And further to the comments above of May 10: notwithstanding what was listed in the Julius Cahn guide, I believe that the Colonial’s stage is 55 feet deep, not 45.
The link worked this time (the first time I just got Bill Noonan’s home page), but the photo (#26 of 209 in the Real Old Days collection) is the same one: a great shot, taken before the el was constructed, of a fire dept. ladder wagon in front of the Grand Opera House. The building to the left is not the Hub Theatre, which was a few buildings up to the north. The two theaters were not side-by-side.
The link didn’t work for me, so I went to the website and found on page 3 of the “Real Old Days” collection a nice shot of the Grand Opera House on Washington St. with a horse-drawn fire engine passing in front of it. This big theater was a few buildings to the south of the Hub Theatre.
For the past week, the Stuart Street Playhouse has served as the venue for the 2011 Boston Film Festival.
The Mass. Historical Commission is about to submit a nomination application for Stetson Hall to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. If accepted by the National Park Service, the designation will take effect later this year.
The more venues in this database, the better! – Even if the 44th St. Theatre exhibited only one movie on one day during its entire existence.
Oddly, in the same 1942-43 edition of the Motion Picture Almanac, the Olympia and the Colonial in Portsmouth are also listed as being run by John Ford Theatres of Maine, a Paramount affiliate. I suspect that one circuit must have sold them to the other in 1942.
The Olympia in Portsmouth is listed in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac as part of the Maine & New Hampshire Theatres Co. of Boston. They also ran the Colonial in Portsmouth at that time.
Thus theater in Newport does not appear on a list of Latchis theaters as of 1942-43. At that time Peter Latchis ran theaters in Claremont, Keene (2) and Milford NH (2); plus 6 in Vermont and 3 in Massachusetts.
I read a brief history of the old Brockton Airport, which existed from the 1920s into the 1950s and it said that the Skyview Drive-in movie theater was built over the southwest corner of the airport property.
Under South Norwalk in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide is listed Hoyt’s Theatre, I.M. Hoyt, Mgr. Seats: 1,160. Ticket prices 25 cents to $1. It had both gas and electric illumination. The proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 28 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep. The auditorium was on the ground floor; there were 5 members of the house orchestra. There were 3 newspapers and 3 hotels for show folk. The 1897 population of South Norwalk was 19,000.
The profile article about the Broadway in Moving Picture World magazine of 11/11/1911 states that the projection booth was 9 feet X 6 feet and that they had installed a new Powers 6 projector on Sept 1st. It was fitted with a Grundlach-Manhatten lens. Note- only one projector, not a pair. The auditorium had 7 exits.
TBA Theatres closed the Rialto in Lancaster for economic reasons in early-Sept 2011 according to an article in the Berlin Daily Sun as reported in the THSA Readerboard news line.
TBA Theatres closed the Princess for economic reasons in Sept 2011 according to an article in the Berlin Daily Sun which was referenced in the THSA Readerboard news line.
There are 5 movie theaters listed for Everett MA in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook: the Capitol, Modern, Broadway, Rialto and the Strand (ex-Crown, later became the Park Theatre). Of these 5, all except the Modern have pages here in Cinema Treasures. The Broadway is listed as having 850 seats instead of the 610 it had as of 1911. This suggests that either it was enlarged, or the 1927 Broadway was a different theater than this one.
On a list of Massachusetts theaters and function halls receiving state licenses for the 12 months ending March 31, 1914, there are two theaters in Everett: the Crown Theatre (which later became the Park), and the Broadway Theatre. The condition was “Good” and the Manager was M.C. Brown. However, that may be a typo because the Manager as of 1911 was a N.(Nathan) Brown.