Theatre 1 & Space 57

Wow… I wanna cry, I just saw the “golf school” complete with its own projection portal…lol.

I used to run the 57s booth for the Union for almost a decade. Both houses were 35/70mm houses. Every Summer and Christmas Blockbuster were almost guaranteed to be 70mm flicks… lugging around those huge 70mm reels was certainly something to “prepare for”.

Not very comments on the ‘haunting" of the 57. Site of the old Coconut Grove disaster. Lots of crazy stuff went on in that building. Although maybe the best show was outside the backdoor at the transvestite bar. Everynight the creatures of the night would show up… craziest thing this midwestern boy ever saw…lol.

It was the Largest and Third Largest houses in the Boston theater line up…(the Cheri had the 2nd largest) I had an amazing time at that theater… Aliens was the movie that was the biggest flick for that theater. Its was there forever… in 70mm… we had to get replacement reels after all the magnetic sound had finally wore off the film. The theaters weren’t anything to be all that proud of… pretty rundown and un-comfortable, but it sure packed em in. I remember when Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pheiffer were all secretly escorted in to see Aliens once the lights went down. (if only the patrons knew they were screening with Hollywood Royalty. They were “in Town” to film “the Witches of Eastwick”) It was funny to see it remarked about in the Boston Phoenix or maybe it was the Boston Herald. So, I guess somebody looked away from the movie screen for a second.

Ron, were you a projectionist?, you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge of my old Union “stomping ground” You have brought back a lot of memories for me. Thanks a lot.. Great stuff, Great website… my first exposure to it.

Yes, the back-ends of the two auditorums were on opposite ends of the lobby, as I recall. They were not contiguous.

According to Donald C. King’s new book The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History, the Cinema 57 opened in 1972.

I went to Boston University in the 1970s and saw many, many first-run films at this theater. It had great screens and terrific stereo sound, especially for “Grease” and “A Star is Born”. The theater showed the reserved performance engagement in 70mm of “Apocalypse Now” and I still have the program the usher handed me for the extra dollar the ticket cost! Great theaters for films in those days – “Superman”, “The Wiz”, “New York, New York”, “The Shining”, many happy hours spent at the 57s!

Carver Street no longer exists as such. Several decades of redevelopment (including construction of the 57 Hotel) have rearranged the street pattern in Park Square and the South Cove. What remains of Carver Street is now called ‘Charles Street South’.

The Cinema 57 showed its last movies (Original Gangstas and The Great White Hype) on Thursday, May 30, 1996.

A Boston Globe article published two days later said: “The Cinema 57 is primarily known as an exhibitor of action, adventure and horror films, and particularly those targeted at black audiences…. The Cinema 57 has been an object of controversy in recent years. Neighbors in Bay Village have complained that the theater’s programming attracted rowdy audiences that stimulated street violence in the area.”

Less than four months later, it reopened as the “57 Theatre” stage house. Its first production was “Definitely Doris”, a revue of Doris Day songs, which opened on September 24. The venue’s name was later changed to “Stuart Street Playhouse”, which it remains today.

When they opened these two theatres, the four Norelco 70mm machines
were moved over from the Saxon and Gary Theatres respectivley.They
may have even moved most of the stereo sound equipment. The Saxon and Gary still ran for several years on 35mm replacement mono.

The hotel that contains this theatre was built as a Howard Johnson’s, but it’s now a Radisson.

That was it—I knew it had something to do with the restaurant! Thanks Ian :)

I believe it had something to do with the hotel building the theater was housed in, though I’m not sure exactly what. Maybe the hotel restaurant?

The Sack Cinema 57 offered many films on an exclusive basis in the 1970s. “A Clockwork Orange” played the 57 exclusively for months. Other exclusives included “What’s Up, Doc?,” “The Exorcist,” “That’s Entertainment” and “Close Encounters.” The 57 also hosted the world premiere of the 1980 bomb “Raise the Titanic.” Speaking of premieres at the 57, I thought the premiere of “Frenzy” was the world premiere and not just the Boston premiere?

Despite the positioning of the 57 during the 1970s as one of the top theaters in the Sack chain, I never liked it much. The screen in the large auditorium (which I think had at least 800 seats) was far too small for a theater of that size. The Pi Alley, another Sack theater that I believe opened a few years before the 57, was more impressive (prior to twinning).

The Cinema 57 shut down in May of 1996; its final two offerings were “The Great White Hype” and “Original Gangstas”. The property currently houses, in addition to the Stuart Street Playhouse, as noted above by Gerald, an indoor golf driving range in one of the former cinema auditoriums.

The street number is probably correct, but it is a far stretch to refer to it as Chinatown, which is a good number of blocks away. Nothing Chinese is there. The theatre is close to Park Square.