An old interior photo of the Warren Theatre was printed in the souvenir booklet for the 1983 Theatre Historical Society convention in Boston. The photo appears to have been made when the Warren was new and was taken from the rear of the orchestra floor looking towards the stage. It had a flat ceiling with a row of fancy small chandeliers above each side. The rectangular proscenium was dressed with drapes and curtain. On each side of the stage, above an exit door, was a fancy organ grill. On each side of each grill there is some sort of fancy wall hanging or banner. A portion of the left side wall can be seen and it appears to have a large window, but this might be a faux window with curtains and back-lighting. It was a very attractive auditorium.
The Boston Herald ran an article today “New Venture hoping to reel in Indie fans” which says that the Stuart Street will reopen on Friday Oct. 23 with the Cedric Klapisch film “Paris”. It says that the “one-screen” venue has 435 seats and will keep its current name. The new operator, David Bramante, was asked about turning it back into a 2-screener and said “There’s some space available. I don’t know right now, but I wouldn’t rule it out”. Ed Symkus wrote the article.
The marquee on the Wakefield Theatre in the old 1920s photo posted above by DanH was still on the building when the MGM Report photo was taken in March 1941.
to danpetitpas- thanks for posting the links to the 2 photos of the structure on Tremont Street and its rear on Mason Street. Note that it is right next to the south wall of the Tremont-oin-the-Common condo building. It is on the exact footprint of the old 1890s Keith structure which provided a Tremont Street entrance for the old Keith’s Theatre (later, Normandie and Laffmovie). I think that it is perhaps slightly narrower than the original. It is not the original in a preserved state, however. The original structure was demolished totally about circa-1990. This new structure was built about 7 or so years ago. I suspect that the developer was required to build it, but it no longer serves any purpose, because patrons cannot get into the Opera House from Mason Street they way they used to. See posts above which discuss the demolition of the arcade alongside the south wall of the Opera House at the time that the major renovations took place in the early 2000’s. When the west end of the arcade was demolished, it was replaced by stage space at stage-right. There no longer is a thru doorway for patrons to go out onto Mason Street and then walk thru to Tremont inside the new structure. Or vice-versa.
In the CT page for the Meadow Glen Drive-In in Medford MA it is stated in a posting dated May 28, 2009 that in Sept. 1953, the manager of the Quintree Drive-In in Braintree was transfered by Rifkin theaters to work as manager at the Meadow Glen which Rifkin had taken over.
I have heard that there was a screening room in the Met with some 90 seats in it for showing new movies to “the trade”. It was located upstairs somewhere at the front of the house. The space is still there, but the mini-cinema is long gone.
I think the old-time actor who made a career out of playing Rip Van Winkle for many years on either side of 1900 was Joseph Jefferson. He appeared in that play on road tours for a long time. Road companies like his did a lot of one-night stands and split weeks, so they would have played smaller towns like Fitchburg. I don’t know if Joseph Jefferson ever appeared in any silient films – he could have.
There was a short item on the biz page of the Quincy Patriot Ledger 2 or 3 days ago stating that the sale of the Opera House from Live Nation to its new owners was about to be finalized.
S.B. – Earle Stanley Stewart was the elderly owner of the Charles Stewart Theatrical supply company in Somerville. He had a life-long collection of “paper” relating to theater buildings in general, and Boston-area theaters in particular. When he died in the 1990s, I was told by the late Donald King, a theater historian and writer who was a close friend of Stewart’s, that the entire collection had been willed to the library system at Tufts University. He also told me that the library had learned that 4 additional boxes of material had been loaned by Stewart to another collector prior to his death so they successfully worked to have the boxes returned. I heard this circa-1998 or so. I have never actually been in a Tufts library and do not know what the status of this collection is today.
I went to the Google Street View as per Phantom Screen’s experience above. Very interesting how it takes you around back to Athens Street. The stage house appears to be down at the left end of the building, with rows of little dressing room windows on the second, third, fourth floor; a scene loading door below on the street, and various plywooded exit doors. If you look at 424 Broadway, you can see the front, but you have to know what to look for. It probably is a mess inside; the plan was to renovate it and turn it into condos.
I just looked at the Google Street View for 336 Belgrade Ave., (338 doesn’t work). The one story building with the arched tops was right next to the theater entrance. (to its left). The theater entrance is gone; the auditorium was in back where the large 3-story apartment building is now. So the Bellevue is demolished.
As Taylor’s Opera House, the Capitol in Trenton is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Ormond Butler was the Mgr. The seating capacity was 1,765 and ticket prices ranged from 25 cents to $1. The theater was on the ground floor and there were 8 musicians in the house orchestra. It had both gas and electric illumination. The proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 39 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep, 35 feet of which was behind the curtain line. There were 3 daily newspapers and 2 weeklies, and 4 hotels for show folk. The 1897 poopulation of Trenton was 90,000.
The website for San Toy, OH says that the musical show “San Toy” was a “flop”, but it was a huge hit in London, and then opened in New York at the New York Theater (which was part of the Hammerstein complex on the east side of Times Square, and later renovated into a Loews movie theater, demolished circa-mid-1920s). James T. “Jimmy” Powers was the star, and the show played for 168 performances, which was not a bad run in those days. It opened in NY on Oct. 1, 1900. It probably toured for 2 or 3 seasons afterward. Source: “American Musical Theatre” by Gerald Bordman, Oxford, 2001.
Further to my comments above, I should point out that the date “Feb. 17, 1972” stamped on Elmo Benedetto’s article on Lynn theaters at the Lynn Public Library could have been placed there at the time the article was taken into the library’s collection which may have happened long after he actually wrote it. Who knows, today? It would have been helpful if he had actually typed the current date on the last page of the article when he finished it.
There was also a San Toy Theater in Lonaconing MD; it’s CT # 20934. Around 1900, there was a hit musical show “San Toy” which played in both London and New York.
So the Metropolitan was closed around the mid-1960s and then demolished in early-1977. I assume that the last owner, John Latchis of Keene NH, was a member of the theater-owning Latchis family.
I hope it succeeds, too. Two recent examples of other single-screen cinemas opening in eastern-MA are the Plimoth Cinema in Plymouth and the Cape Ann Community Cinema in Gloucester. The latter is run by a film society and the former is run by a museum. Both are “art houses”.
Lost- I entered “1428 seats” because that’s what was on the MGM report. As I stated above on the posting of 1-28-07, I was suspicious because the number of seats for both orchestra and balcony was “714” each, or 1428 for both. It appears that “714” was actually the total for the entire theater.
The State Th. in Plant City is the subject of a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, measuring 18" x 24" when finished. It’s a beautiful painting by Robert West showing the State’s facade on the left, at twilight, with vintage cars parked in front, and an Atlantic Coast Line passenger train coming at you on the right. Date: 1950s.
An old interior photo of the Warren Theatre was printed in the souvenir booklet for the 1983 Theatre Historical Society convention in Boston. The photo appears to have been made when the Warren was new and was taken from the rear of the orchestra floor looking towards the stage. It had a flat ceiling with a row of fancy small chandeliers above each side. The rectangular proscenium was dressed with drapes and curtain. On each side of the stage, above an exit door, was a fancy organ grill. On each side of each grill there is some sort of fancy wall hanging or banner. A portion of the left side wall can be seen and it appears to have a large window, but this might be a faux window with curtains and back-lighting. It was a very attractive auditorium.
The Hall celebrated its 100th birthday last month. There were concerts and a banquet during the period Sept. 25,26,27.
The Boston Herald ran an article today “New Venture hoping to reel in Indie fans” which says that the Stuart Street will reopen on Friday Oct. 23 with the Cedric Klapisch film “Paris”. It says that the “one-screen” venue has 435 seats and will keep its current name. The new operator, David Bramante, was asked about turning it back into a 2-screener and said “There’s some space available. I don’t know right now, but I wouldn’t rule it out”. Ed Symkus wrote the article.
The marquee on the Wakefield Theatre in the old 1920s photo posted above by DanH was still on the building when the MGM Report photo was taken in March 1941.
Note the movie playing “Criminals Within” – that sums up what one would have found circa-1946 among the patronage inside this dumpy movie house.
to danpetitpas- thanks for posting the links to the 2 photos of the structure on Tremont Street and its rear on Mason Street. Note that it is right next to the south wall of the Tremont-oin-the-Common condo building. It is on the exact footprint of the old 1890s Keith structure which provided a Tremont Street entrance for the old Keith’s Theatre (later, Normandie and Laffmovie). I think that it is perhaps slightly narrower than the original. It is not the original in a preserved state, however. The original structure was demolished totally about circa-1990. This new structure was built about 7 or so years ago. I suspect that the developer was required to build it, but it no longer serves any purpose, because patrons cannot get into the Opera House from Mason Street they way they used to. See posts above which discuss the demolition of the arcade alongside the south wall of the Opera House at the time that the major renovations took place in the early 2000’s. When the west end of the arcade was demolished, it was replaced by stage space at stage-right. There no longer is a thru doorway for patrons to go out onto Mason Street and then walk thru to Tremont inside the new structure. Or vice-versa.
In the CT page for the Meadow Glen Drive-In in Medford MA it is stated in a posting dated May 28, 2009 that in Sept. 1953, the manager of the Quintree Drive-In in Braintree was transfered by Rifkin theaters to work as manager at the Meadow Glen which Rifkin had taken over.
I have heard that there was a screening room in the Met with some 90 seats in it for showing new movies to “the trade”. It was located upstairs somewhere at the front of the house. The space is still there, but the mini-cinema is long gone.
I have heard that Spinelli cinemas has suddenly gone out of business and that the Strand in Dover has closed. Can anyone confirm?
I think the old-time actor who made a career out of playing Rip Van Winkle for many years on either side of 1900 was Joseph Jefferson. He appeared in that play on road tours for a long time. Road companies like his did a lot of one-night stands and split weeks, so they would have played smaller towns like Fitchburg. I don’t know if Joseph Jefferson ever appeared in any silient films – he could have.
There was a short item on the biz page of the Quincy Patriot Ledger 2 or 3 days ago stating that the sale of the Opera House from Live Nation to its new owners was about to be finalized.
S.B. – Earle Stanley Stewart was the elderly owner of the Charles Stewart Theatrical supply company in Somerville. He had a life-long collection of “paper” relating to theater buildings in general, and Boston-area theaters in particular. When he died in the 1990s, I was told by the late Donald King, a theater historian and writer who was a close friend of Stewart’s, that the entire collection had been willed to the library system at Tufts University. He also told me that the library had learned that 4 additional boxes of material had been loaned by Stewart to another collector prior to his death so they successfully worked to have the boxes returned. I heard this circa-1998 or so. I have never actually been in a Tufts library and do not know what the status of this collection is today.
Yes, someone told me a long time ago that the Animal Rescue League facility sits on the approximate site of the Castle Square/Arlington Theatre.
I went to the Google Street View as per Phantom Screen’s experience above. Very interesting how it takes you around back to Athens Street. The stage house appears to be down at the left end of the building, with rows of little dressing room windows on the second, third, fourth floor; a scene loading door below on the street, and various plywooded exit doors. If you look at 424 Broadway, you can see the front, but you have to know what to look for. It probably is a mess inside; the plan was to renovate it and turn it into condos.
I just looked at the Google Street View for 336 Belgrade Ave., (338 doesn’t work). The one story building with the arched tops was right next to the theater entrance. (to its left). The theater entrance is gone; the auditorium was in back where the large 3-story apartment building is now. So the Bellevue is demolished.
As Taylor’s Opera House, the Capitol in Trenton is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Ormond Butler was the Mgr. The seating capacity was 1,765 and ticket prices ranged from 25 cents to $1. The theater was on the ground floor and there were 8 musicians in the house orchestra. It had both gas and electric illumination. The proscenium opening was 33 feet wide X 39 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep, 35 feet of which was behind the curtain line. There were 3 daily newspapers and 2 weeklies, and 4 hotels for show folk. The 1897 poopulation of Trenton was 90,000.
The website for San Toy, OH says that the musical show “San Toy” was a “flop”, but it was a huge hit in London, and then opened in New York at the New York Theater (which was part of the Hammerstein complex on the east side of Times Square, and later renovated into a Loews movie theater, demolished circa-mid-1920s). James T. “Jimmy” Powers was the star, and the show played for 168 performances, which was not a bad run in those days. It opened in NY on Oct. 1, 1900. It probably toured for 2 or 3 seasons afterward. Source: “American Musical Theatre” by Gerald Bordman, Oxford, 2001.
Further to my comments above, I should point out that the date “Feb. 17, 1972” stamped on Elmo Benedetto’s article on Lynn theaters at the Lynn Public Library could have been placed there at the time the article was taken into the library’s collection which may have happened long after he actually wrote it. Who knows, today? It would have been helpful if he had actually typed the current date on the last page of the article when he finished it.
There was also a San Toy Theater in Lonaconing MD; it’s CT # 20934. Around 1900, there was a hit musical show “San Toy” which played in both London and New York.
I looked at the Google Street View for this address and the closed-up Fabric Town store (ex-Reading Th.) is still there.
So the Metropolitan was closed around the mid-1960s and then demolished in early-1977. I assume that the last owner, John Latchis of Keene NH, was a member of the theater-owning Latchis family.
That’s for sure. It was very common to round up the numbers, so that 625 seats, for example, became 700. They never seemed to round down, however!
I hope it succeeds, too. Two recent examples of other single-screen cinemas opening in eastern-MA are the Plimoth Cinema in Plymouth and the Cape Ann Community Cinema in Gloucester. The latter is run by a film society and the former is run by a museum. Both are “art houses”.
Lost- I entered “1428 seats” because that’s what was on the MGM report. As I stated above on the posting of 1-28-07, I was suspicious because the number of seats for both orchestra and balcony was “714” each, or 1428 for both. It appears that “714” was actually the total for the entire theater.
The State Th. in Plant City is the subject of a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, measuring 18" x 24" when finished. It’s a beautiful painting by Robert West showing the State’s facade on the left, at twilight, with vintage cars parked in front, and an Atlantic Coast Line passenger train coming at you on the right. Date: 1950s.