To Dennis Obrien. Just to let you know that when the RKO switched to Cinerama in Dec 1953 it had 3 booths not one booth for 3 projectors. The sound man sat in front of the Center booth and the booth for the sound was down on the right hand of the theatre. The balcony was huge with aboutn 1400 seats. I sat in the front row of the balcony for How The West Was won. Sat in the floor seats for many other presentations. When Windjamer played it was not in Cinemiracle it was presented in 3 strip and was converted into Cinerama by Cinerama when they aquired the process. There were ony a half a dozen or so Cinemiracle equipped theatres. 1 in N.Y. 1 in Chicago and I believe 1 in Philly. A few others maybe. Boston was not one of them. Boston did not go to a single booth until 70mm and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad world. Boston was one of the only Major Cities that had only one real Cinerama theatres from beginning to end. When they Re-released This Is Cinerama in 1973 it played lousily at the Beacon Hill theatre on a Flat or almost Flat screen. More people walked out than the line coming in. The Beacon Hill was NOT a Cinerama theatre or even a facsimile of one.
To Mondo Justin. Isaw 2001 on its first run at the cinerama theatre in San Francisco and then a short time later at the Cinerama in Seattle. Seattle had the best presentation. San Fran was ok but there was too much GREEN smoke in the Auditorime(Pot). I never saw it here in my hometown of Boston because I was in the Navy. After coming back East to Wash. D.C. I saw it at the Uptown. What a great theatre. I have never seen it after its first runs escept on Video.
Brad Smith. The picture with the Paramount in the distance doe not show the Boston Cinerama. It is across from the Paramount and at the bend on Washington, St.
We do have small theatres like this. They are called Multi union Cinemas in every Mall across the country but they don’t book like the Orson Welles. The Brattle., The Janus or the Cinema 733 did.
The Exeter was a wonderful theatre. Played mostly Art and off the wall films. Even played The House of Wax in 3D around New Years Eve in 1972. King of Hearts played forever. They even had great success with the 1st Muppetts movie because no one else wanted it so the management took a chance and it played well. They had a wonderful Stereo Sound system back in the 70’s. The only thing wrong with the Exeter were the seats. Old and uncomfrotable. A great movie experience though.
No one seems to know who the famous Bostonian was that ushered at the Charles. If i.m not mistaken it was Jay Leno while he was at Emerson. Another Emerson student, although not a Bostonian who may have worked there was “THE FONZ” Henry Winkler. I’m just guessing at this. I know he was an alumni speaker at Emerson colleges graduation back about 17 years ago when my son graduated. The Charles was a great movie house not a Palace like the Metropolitan(Music Hall-Wang ctr- Citi Wang ctr). Saw many films there especially the big ones like Deliverance, Pete and Tillie, The Wrath of God(Robert Mitchum, Star Wars(35 & 70mm) and Ryans Daughter in 70mm. Just to keep people informed I do believe that Ted Turners Gettysburg in 70 mm opened at the Coolidge Corner 1st because Sack did not want it because it was too long. Another movie that Sack didn;t want was the 1st Muppetts Movie, it went to the Exeter and played to packed houses for many weeks.
Never been to the AMC cinema 10. Went to the old South Shore cinema several times. Saw Star Wars 5-6 there. Also saw Midway and Rollercoaster in Sensurround there. One of the few Boston areas to run Sensurround. Shoppers World was 1st and then the Saxon Downtown later. Living in Scituate most of my movie going was at the Scituate Playhouse under Lockwood and Gordon. Scituate was a beautiful 1930’s theatre which was kept up and always clean until L&G sold to Sonderling who the triplexed it which was not bad and then they made it a quad and let it deterioate. Then Hoyts took over and made it worse. Richard Smith(General Cinema boss)was the manager when I moved there and the wonderful Bud King replaced him and was there till it closed the 1st time. The theatre is gone and has been replaced by a very comfortable twin under South Shore Cinemas along with the Cameo in S. Weymouth. Also gone are the Marshfield Drive In, thee Marshfield twin. The Pembroke 4 and the Avon drive in.
AFTER READING ALL COMMENTS about Sound Of Music and the Gary I must add mine. Saw Sound Of Music the 1st time at I believe The Ontario in Wash D.C. beautiful 70mm presentation then I saw it at the Gary which was also beautiful and great sound. I saw it for a 3rd time at the Capri in San Diego. This was the best picture and sound of all. Also saw West Side Story there and I believe also at the Ontario in D.C. all in 70mm. Saw WSS and SOM several times at othe theatres in reg 35 mm release. The best ToddAO presentations in Boston I believe were at the Astor and the Metropolitan(Music Hall and especially for sound it had to be the Walter Reade Charles even after Sack(USA) took over.
to Roger A. Sorry roger but you are wrong about Sack theatres also had the Gary, Saxon, Music Hall, Cinema 57',Beacon Hill and the Capri and one cinema in Copley Place that was equipped with 70m. These theatres may have not been open at the time you are talking about. The largest screen in Boston was the Music Hall and the Charles was 2nd followed by the Astor. The Orpheum also had a large screen and ran 70mm. The Boston premiere of Gettysburg I believe was at Coolidge Corner and in 70mm. Boston had plenty of 70mm theatres but Sack controlled downtown and let all these theatres fall apart. When they became USA cinemas it got worse. I wish that READE had never sold to Sack/USA. Reade ran nice theatres.
The Century Drive-in WAS NOT the 1st Drive-In to install 3 strip Cinerama. It had been done 2 years earlier in Drive-Ins in Cinncinnatti, Ohio and Albany, N.Y.
After looking at a picture of the Lowes Tek in its Cinerama days it looks like to me that it must have been a horrible place to see 3-strip cinerama. The Aud looks too narrow up front and to spread ot at the rear. At least in Boston, Providence, San Diego and Washington(Uptown) these theatres had both width and length. Maybe I’m wrong but like I say I have never been there and am only guessing from a picture.
Fox Films and theatres were part of the same co in the US until the Govt. made all motion picture companies divest of there theatres. This included Paramount, Fox, MGM and RKO. This was done in the 60’s. This sdid noy affect overseas territories at that time. They all built and operated there own theatres to display there studio product overseas. Fox sold to NGC. Paramount , MGM and RKO to local theatre operators.
Please remove this theatre from your list of Cinerama theatres. It never was one. It did play a re-release of the 70mm version of This Is Cinerama in the 70’s. It was awful. Not a very big 70mm screen(flat) poor sound because you could hear the subway trains running underneath. This was typical of Sack(USA) theatres who let there theatres fall apart and become dumps. Boston had only one real CINERAMA Theatre and that was the (RKO) Boston Cinerama on Washington St.
Here in New England Hoyt’s cinemas only became a name change to Regal Cinemas. All Hoyt’s cinemas barring a few that were sold to Entertainment and Neighborhood cinemas switched to Regal which I believe is just another entity of Hoyt’s so this cinema probably operated under both names at one time. Very similar as when Sack became USA and then was taken over by Lowes and when AMC became Lowes and some AMCS became Regal.
Having lived in Fields Corner and about 4 blocks from the theatre the theatre was up and running until the early 60’s. Spent every Sun. there until the nuns came knocking on my mothers door wondering why I hadn’t been attending Sun school. !pm was a terrible starting Sun School because the 1st movie was starting then. What a beautiful ols theatre this was.
Don’t know when the Magnet closed. I lived in Fields Corner until 1952 on ADAMS sT. and don’t ever remember this theatre. Only the Dot, Adams and Fields corner in our area.
I remember the Oriental well even though I never went inside. My Father worked directly across the St. for 30 almost 30 years. He worked at Karens Buttercup Donuts and Restaurant. He made all the Donuts which were the best in all of Boston. He was there from about 1951 until it closed in the early 70’s because of financial concerns with the owners. Plus the area had really gone down hill from the middle 60’s to now. He was brassed knuckled twice that I remember when going to work at 10pm. We lived in Fields Corner so I went to the smaller Fields Corner theatre for the same entertainment. It had the same owners. I remember when it closed the moving ceiling was removed and I believe it was installed in a theatre in either Stoughton or Canton. I don’t know where it is now.
The Lexington Venue is mostly a FIRST RUN theatre. It runs day and date with Landmark in Cambridge,Lowes Harvard Square, Landmark Waltham, Hollywood, Danvers and some of the other Art/Independant theatres in the area. It does not book first run blockbusters like Avatar and the like. We have many independant single or twin theatres in the Boston area. Some new and some old 1930’s houses like the Cameo in S. Weymouth(1st run) The Loring in Hingham(Art/Independant) house, The West Newton in W. Newton. The Milkl Wharf cinema in Scituate, The Capitol in Arlington and the Somerville in Somerville plus many more in other areas. This may not be the case by the end of 2013 because of the demise of film and complete advent of Digital. This is a shame because not too many independant operators can afford the 50 -75 thouand dollars to convert each screen to digital. What a pity. The movie companies are forcing thousands of small operators to wave a white flag and abandon there operations. I don’t know what can be done to stop this. Any one have any solutions or ideas?
The photo of the dillapitated Capitol theatre from 1983 has a record store called Satellite records next door. This was the home of Stax records before they became Stax. They started out as Satelite records. Gee Whiz by Carla Thomas was the 4th record and there 1st major hit and was sold to Atlantic. There next big hit was Last Night by the Mar-Keys. They then became Stax in 1961 and the rest was Memphis Soul history.
To Dennis Obrien. Just to let you know that when the RKO switched to Cinerama in Dec 1953 it had 3 booths not one booth for 3 projectors. The sound man sat in front of the Center booth and the booth for the sound was down on the right hand of the theatre. The balcony was huge with aboutn 1400 seats. I sat in the front row of the balcony for How The West Was won. Sat in the floor seats for many other presentations. When Windjamer played it was not in Cinemiracle it was presented in 3 strip and was converted into Cinerama by Cinerama when they aquired the process. There were ony a half a dozen or so Cinemiracle equipped theatres. 1 in N.Y. 1 in Chicago and I believe 1 in Philly. A few others maybe. Boston was not one of them. Boston did not go to a single booth until 70mm and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad world. Boston was one of the only Major Cities that had only one real Cinerama theatres from beginning to end. When they Re-released This Is Cinerama in 1973 it played lousily at the Beacon Hill theatre on a Flat or almost Flat screen. More people walked out than the line coming in. The Beacon Hill was NOT a Cinerama theatre or even a facsimile of one.
To Mondo Justin. Isaw 2001 on its first run at the cinerama theatre in San Francisco and then a short time later at the Cinerama in Seattle. Seattle had the best presentation. San Fran was ok but there was too much GREEN smoke in the Auditorime(Pot). I never saw it here in my hometown of Boston because I was in the Navy. After coming back East to Wash. D.C. I saw it at the Uptown. What a great theatre. I have never seen it after its first runs escept on Video.
Brad Smith. The picture with the Paramount in the distance doe not show the Boston Cinerama. It is across from the Paramount and at the bend on Washington, St.
We do have small theatres like this. They are called Multi union Cinemas in every Mall across the country but they don’t book like the Orson Welles. The Brattle., The Janus or the Cinema 733 did.
The Exeter was a wonderful theatre. Played mostly Art and off the wall films. Even played The House of Wax in 3D around New Years Eve in 1972. King of Hearts played forever. They even had great success with the 1st Muppetts movie because no one else wanted it so the management took a chance and it played well. They had a wonderful Stereo Sound system back in the 70’s. The only thing wrong with the Exeter were the seats. Old and uncomfrotable. A great movie experience though.
The State theatre was a real theatre not a peep show. As a single it had plenty of seats and when they twinned it it still had plenty of PORNO seats.
No one seems to know who the famous Bostonian was that ushered at the Charles. If i.m not mistaken it was Jay Leno while he was at Emerson. Another Emerson student, although not a Bostonian who may have worked there was “THE FONZ” Henry Winkler. I’m just guessing at this. I know he was an alumni speaker at Emerson colleges graduation back about 17 years ago when my son graduated. The Charles was a great movie house not a Palace like the Metropolitan(Music Hall-Wang ctr- Citi Wang ctr). Saw many films there especially the big ones like Deliverance, Pete and Tillie, The Wrath of God(Robert Mitchum, Star Wars(35 & 70mm) and Ryans Daughter in 70mm. Just to keep people informed I do believe that Ted Turners Gettysburg in 70 mm opened at the Coolidge Corner 1st because Sack did not want it because it was too long. Another movie that Sack didn;t want was the 1st Muppetts Movie, it went to the Exeter and played to packed houses for many weeks.
Never been to the AMC cinema 10. Went to the old South Shore cinema several times. Saw Star Wars 5-6 there. Also saw Midway and Rollercoaster in Sensurround there. One of the few Boston areas to run Sensurround. Shoppers World was 1st and then the Saxon Downtown later. Living in Scituate most of my movie going was at the Scituate Playhouse under Lockwood and Gordon. Scituate was a beautiful 1930’s theatre which was kept up and always clean until L&G sold to Sonderling who the triplexed it which was not bad and then they made it a quad and let it deterioate. Then Hoyts took over and made it worse. Richard Smith(General Cinema boss)was the manager when I moved there and the wonderful Bud King replaced him and was there till it closed the 1st time. The theatre is gone and has been replaced by a very comfortable twin under South Shore Cinemas along with the Cameo in S. Weymouth. Also gone are the Marshfield Drive In, thee Marshfield twin. The Pembroke 4 and the Avon drive in.
AFTER READING ALL COMMENTS about Sound Of Music and the Gary I must add mine. Saw Sound Of Music the 1st time at I believe The Ontario in Wash D.C. beautiful 70mm presentation then I saw it at the Gary which was also beautiful and great sound. I saw it for a 3rd time at the Capri in San Diego. This was the best picture and sound of all. Also saw West Side Story there and I believe also at the Ontario in D.C. all in 70mm. Saw WSS and SOM several times at othe theatres in reg 35 mm release. The best ToddAO presentations in Boston I believe were at the Astor and the Metropolitan(Music Hall and especially for sound it had to be the Walter Reade Charles even after Sack(USA) took over.
to Roger A. Sorry roger but you are wrong about Sack theatres also had the Gary, Saxon, Music Hall, Cinema 57',Beacon Hill and the Capri and one cinema in Copley Place that was equipped with 70m. These theatres may have not been open at the time you are talking about. The largest screen in Boston was the Music Hall and the Charles was 2nd followed by the Astor. The Orpheum also had a large screen and ran 70mm. The Boston premiere of Gettysburg I believe was at Coolidge Corner and in 70mm. Boston had plenty of 70mm theatres but Sack controlled downtown and let all these theatres fall apart. When they became USA cinemas it got worse. I wish that READE had never sold to Sack/USA. Reade ran nice theatres.
The Century Drive-in WAS NOT the 1st Drive-In to install 3 strip Cinerama. It had been done 2 years earlier in Drive-Ins in Cinncinnatti, Ohio and Albany, N.Y.
After looking at a picture of the Lowes Tek in its Cinerama days it looks like to me that it must have been a horrible place to see 3-strip cinerama. The Aud looks too narrow up front and to spread ot at the rear. At least in Boston, Providence, San Diego and Washington(Uptown) these theatres had both width and length. Maybe I’m wrong but like I say I have never been there and am only guessing from a picture.
Did Boise have any theatres equipped for 70mm and if so which theatres?
Brad. Please correct your Click Here. When you click on it it goes to the Loews Metropolitan in Brookly New York.
Fox Films and theatres were part of the same co in the US until the Govt. made all motion picture companies divest of there theatres. This included Paramount, Fox, MGM and RKO. This was done in the 60’s. This sdid noy affect overseas territories at that time. They all built and operated there own theatres to display there studio product overseas. Fox sold to NGC. Paramount , MGM and RKO to local theatre operators.
Please remove this theatre from your list of Cinerama theatres. It never was one. It did play a re-release of the 70mm version of This Is Cinerama in the 70’s. It was awful. Not a very big 70mm screen(flat) poor sound because you could hear the subway trains running underneath. This was typical of Sack(USA) theatres who let there theatres fall apart and become dumps. Boston had only one real CINERAMA Theatre and that was the (RKO) Boston Cinerama on Washington St.
Here in New England Hoyt’s cinemas only became a name change to Regal Cinemas. All Hoyt’s cinemas barring a few that were sold to Entertainment and Neighborhood cinemas switched to Regal which I believe is just another entity of Hoyt’s so this cinema probably operated under both names at one time. Very similar as when Sack became USA and then was taken over by Lowes and when AMC became Lowes and some AMCS became Regal.
Having lived in Fields Corner and about 4 blocks from the theatre the theatre was up and running until the early 60’s. Spent every Sun. there until the nuns came knocking on my mothers door wondering why I hadn’t been attending Sun school. !pm was a terrible starting Sun School because the 1st movie was starting then. What a beautiful ols theatre this was.
Don’t know when the Magnet closed. I lived in Fields Corner until 1952 on ADAMS sT. and don’t ever remember this theatre. Only the Dot, Adams and Fields corner in our area.
I remember the Oriental well even though I never went inside. My Father worked directly across the St. for 30 almost 30 years. He worked at Karens Buttercup Donuts and Restaurant. He made all the Donuts which were the best in all of Boston. He was there from about 1951 until it closed in the early 70’s because of financial concerns with the owners. Plus the area had really gone down hill from the middle 60’s to now. He was brassed knuckled twice that I remember when going to work at 10pm. We lived in Fields Corner so I went to the smaller Fields Corner theatre for the same entertainment. It had the same owners. I remember when it closed the moving ceiling was removed and I believe it was installed in a theatre in either Stoughton or Canton. I don’t know where it is now.
The Lexington Venue is mostly a FIRST RUN theatre. It runs day and date with Landmark in Cambridge,Lowes Harvard Square, Landmark Waltham, Hollywood, Danvers and some of the other Art/Independant theatres in the area. It does not book first run blockbusters like Avatar and the like. We have many independant single or twin theatres in the Boston area. Some new and some old 1930’s houses like the Cameo in S. Weymouth(1st run) The Loring in Hingham(Art/Independant) house, The West Newton in W. Newton. The Milkl Wharf cinema in Scituate, The Capitol in Arlington and the Somerville in Somerville plus many more in other areas. This may not be the case by the end of 2013 because of the demise of film and complete advent of Digital. This is a shame because not too many independant operators can afford the 50 -75 thouand dollars to convert each screen to digital. What a pity. The movie companies are forcing thousands of small operators to wave a white flag and abandon there operations. I don’t know what can be done to stop this. Any one have any solutions or ideas?
The photo of the dillapitated Capitol theatre from 1983 has a record store called Satellite records next door. This was the home of Stax records before they became Stax. They started out as Satelite records. Gee Whiz by Carla Thomas was the 4th record and there 1st major hit and was sold to Atlantic. There next big hit was Last Night by the Mar-Keys. They then became Stax in 1961 and the rest was Memphis Soul history.
The Weymouth Drive-in was never triplexed.
Would somenoe please put up information about the old E.M. Lowes Kingston Drive-in.
You are right. It was the Symphony not the Uptown. Sorry for my confusion.