You should have numbers less than 5 minutes in the poll. For instance, at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, I’m willing to put up with a single Turner Classic Movies ad that they run before their features — but that’s only 1 minute or so.
And just to show that this isn’t a new problem, check out this 1983 letter found on the tobaccodocuments.org web site. An attorney complains that the Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton MA showed a commercial for KOOL cigarettes before a 1:50 pm Saturday matinee of the the G-rated movie Snow White.
He was also unhappy that the theatre preceded this Disney film with a trailer for the James Bond film Octopussy, which he felt was totally inappropriate for children under 6.
Brentano’s is really Waldenbooks with a different sign out front. They replaced Lauriat’s Books, a century-old local chain that went bankrupt and out of business a few years ago.
It’s not clear to me that the bookstore will survive the construction period and the lack of cinema traffic, especially now that there’s a huge Barnes & Noble next door in the Prudential Center. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see this Legal Sea Foods location close, at least for a while. (They’ve got another one in the Pru.)
Opened in 1986, the Billerica Flick at Billerica Mall has closed its doors, due mostly to competition from Lowell’s new Showcase Cinemas, according to officials of Marble Rock Cinema Corp., based in Lexington.
Marble Rock also operates the Brewhouse Cinema Pub, formerly the Lowell Flick, and theaters in Lexington, Littleton, Salem and Mad River, Vt.
[end of article]
Littleton is no more — its two screens closed in early 2000, according to another Globe article. The Lowell cinema pub isn’t operating any more, either. I think Salem is now Patriot Cinema’s Museum Place triplex.
At one time there was a small local chain of Flick theatres – Billerica Flick, Lowell Flick, Littleton Flick, Natick Flick, Lexington Flick, and perhaps others that I’ve forgotten. Lexington is the only one still operating (and the only one I’ve been to).
Has the Billerica theatre been demolished, or converted to some other use?
A Boston Globe article about cheap movie theatres, published on September 16, 1982, calls it the “Medford Square 1-2-3”. So it apparently was triplexed at some point before it died.
From the December 9, 1989 Globe: “A workman was injured yesterday when the rear of the three-story Medford Cinema building in Medford collapsed during renovation work.”
A different Globe article, published on July 27, 1986, says that the building was constructed in 1921 as a recreation facility for Babson College, then became a movie house in 1924. I don’t know which article is correct.
The Community Playhouse ran its last movies on Saturday, February 28, 1987. The last day’s films were a matinee of Lady and the Tramp and an evening show of Children of a Lesser God.
According to a Boston Globe article published that day, the Playhouse opened in a former schoolhouse in 1921.
The theatre’s official web site is http://www.newartcinemas.com/ .
New Art 1 & 2 are closed during the winter off-season, but New Art 3 is open all year round.
The theatre’s official web site is http://www.newartcinemas.com/ .
New Art 1 & 2 are closed during the winter off-season, but New Art 3 is open all year round.
I took a walk through the Copley Place mall this evening. Most of the side corridor leading to the cinemas has now been boarded up and blocked off. Two narrow passages remain, one leading to Chili’s restaurant, the other to Brentano’s bookstore and the restrooms. Two of the four escalators in this corridor have also been closed.
Upstairs, the entire former food court is also closed and blocked off; only Au Bon Pain and a very lonely Legal Sea Foods remain open. So it looks like the new Barneys New York store will take up both floors.
I did find a side door that someone had left unlocked, so I briefly wandered into the former cinema lobby and opened the door to theatre #5. All the seats were still there, but the screen had been ripped. Since I wasn’t sure how long I could stay there before getting caught (and possibly arrested), I didn’t open the doors to any of the other cinemas.
Here’s a story that is NOT characteristic of the audience that the (first) Nickelodeon normally attracted. From the Boston Globe, December 25, 1981:
PUNK FILM CLOSES AFTER VANDALISM
Theater seats were slashed, fabric was torn off walls, a window was smashed, and so “D.O.A,” a documentary film featuring the Sex Pistols and other 1977-78 era punk rock bands, closed at the Nickelodeon Theater.
The highly regarded film, based on the English band’s brief 1978 US tour, opened Dec. 16 and played for just six days.
“It was too much aggravation,” said Nickelodeon manager Bruce Bartoo, in a telephone interview. “It’s unfortunate. The classic line is a few people spoil it for everybody, but it’s getting to be standard.”
The theater suffered vandalism every day.
Bartoo said the film had been selling “all right, not great.”
The Nickelodeon previously booked “The Decline of Western Civilisation,” a documentary on the Los Angeles hardcore punk rock scene.
“There were a few problems during Decline',” Bartoo said, “and it escalated with ( D.O.A.‘)
According to Boston Globe articles published at the time, the Sack Copley Place opened to the public on Monday, February 13, 1984 with a four-day festival of classic films, with admissions going to the non-profit Fund for the Arts. The 18 films were chosen by a poll of Sack Theatres patrons.
On Feburary 13 and 15, they showed Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Singin' in the Rain, Dr. Zhivago, The Philadelphia Story, The Wizard of Oz, Ben-Hur, and The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
On February 14 and 16, it was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Man for All Seasons, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Chariots of Fire, A Clockwork Orange, Rebel Without a Cause, The Godfather, and Godfather II.
The theatre opened for regular programming on Friday, February 17 with The Dresser, Entre Nous, And the Ship Sails On, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, Strange Invaders, The Good Fight (on the ICA Cinema’s screen) and a Russian version of King Lear (on a screen designated for Peter Sellars' Boston Shakespeare Company). Yes, that’s only seven films on nine screens, but that’s what the Globe articles said.
Starting on February 29, Sellars and the Boston Shakespeare Company presented a program of American musicals made between 1929 and 1933. He intended to show 50 films, but the series ended prematurely on April 12, after only 21 films, due to poor ticket sales. The BSC’s screen then reverted back to Sack for regular commercial use.
Youths throwing rocks and bottles injured three policemen and damaged theaters in Malden and Danvers last night at midnight showings of “The Song Remains the Same,” a movie featuring the rock group Led Zeppelin.
The problem first erupted at about 11:20 p.m. outside the Sack Theater on Rte. 128 in Danvers. Hundreds of youngsters were waiting for a previous movie to end so they could enter the theater. According to police, some of the teenagers and young adults were drinking. Police said there was some “pushing and shoving,” and then beer bottles were thrown.
Officers said additional help was sought from State Police, Hamilton, Wenham and Topsfield as police were bombarded with beer bottles and rocks. Several theater windows were also smashed. Three police officers were taken to the Hunt Memorial Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries and later released.
Police said a dozen young people were arrested on charges, including assault and battery on police officers, disturbing the peace, and being idle and disorderly. Those arrested will be arraigned Monday in Salem District Court.
At the Granada Theater in Malden, youths caused some $5000 damage as they slashed theater seats and the movie screen and tore radiators out of the floor. Police Sgt. John McCallan said: “They just went wacky. They wanted to raise some hell, and they sure did."
…
Earlier Friday, it was announced that the Led Zeppelin band was breaking up because of the death of the group’s drummer, John Bonham. Sgt. McCallan said it was unclear whether the news had prompted the rioting, but pointed out that similar disturbances have erupted in other towns which have held midnight showings of rock movies.
According to a Boston Globe article published on April 26, 1981, the Abbey Cinema opened in 1968 in part of what had been a warehouse. Abbey II opened the following year.
According to a Boston Globe article published on May 22, 1988, the Majestic showed the silent film Birth of a Nation in 1915. This showing was the first time a movie was ever presented on a reserved-seat basis and in a “legitimate” theatre.
Other silent films played there as well, with a full orchestra accompanying them. From the same article:
“In one case, a silent version of All Quiet On The Western Front, there were scores not just for the musicians in the pit, but stagehands offstage as well. They supplied the groans and moans, on cue, and operated the machine- gun-effects machine, a kind of big ratchet affair.”
Famous performers who appeared on the Majestic’s stage include Burns and Allen, Fred Allen, John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, John McCormack, Ruth Gordon, W. C. Fields, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Ethel Merman, Ed Wynn, and the Marx Brothers. The Moscow Art Theater performed Chekhov plays in 1923, and the Yiddish Theater of New York offered several productions in the late ‘30s.
Columbus used to have so many drive-ins that they took up a whole separate section of the Dispatch daily movie listings. Besides this one, there was the Eastside, the 40 East, the Kingman, Miles East Main, Miles North High, and others whose names I no longer remember. (There’s a longer list here.)
I’m interpreting the question as “not including previews”. The polltaker may want to clarify.
You should have numbers less than 5 minutes in the poll. For instance, at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, I’m willing to put up with a single Turner Classic Movies ad that they run before their features — but that’s only 1 minute or so.
And just to show that this isn’t a new problem, check out this 1983 letter found on the tobaccodocuments.org web site. An attorney complains that the Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton MA showed a commercial for KOOL cigarettes before a 1:50 pm Saturday matinee of the the G-rated movie Snow White.
He was also unhappy that the theatre preceded this Disney film with a trailer for the James Bond film Octopussy, which he felt was totally inappropriate for children under 6.
Brentano’s is really Waldenbooks with a different sign out front. They replaced Lauriat’s Books, a century-old local chain that went bankrupt and out of business a few years ago.
It’s not clear to me that the bookstore will survive the construction period and the lack of cinema traffic, especially now that there’s a huge Barnes & Noble next door in the Prudential Center. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see this Legal Sea Foods location close, at least for a while. (They’ve got another one in the Pru.)
From the Boston Globe, April 26, 1998:
Billerica Flick closes its doors
Opened in 1986, the Billerica Flick at Billerica Mall has closed its doors, due mostly to competition from Lowell’s new Showcase Cinemas, according to officials of Marble Rock Cinema Corp., based in Lexington.
Marble Rock also operates the Brewhouse Cinema Pub, formerly the Lowell Flick, and theaters in Lexington, Littleton, Salem and Mad River, Vt.
[end of article]
Littleton is no more — its two screens closed in early 2000, according to another Globe article. The Lowell cinema pub isn’t operating any more, either. I think Salem is now Patriot Cinema’s Museum Place triplex.
At one time there was a small local chain of Flick theatres – Billerica Flick, Lowell Flick, Littleton Flick, Natick Flick, Lexington Flick, and perhaps others that I’ve forgotten. Lexington is the only one still operating (and the only one I’ve been to).
Has the Billerica theatre been demolished, or converted to some other use?
A Boston Globe article about cheap movie theatres, published on September 16, 1982, calls it the “Medford Square 1-2-3”. So it apparently was triplexed at some point before it died.
From the December 9, 1989 Globe: “A workman was injured yesterday when the rear of the three-story Medford Cinema building in Medford collapsed during renovation work.”
A different Globe article, published on July 27, 1986, says that the building was constructed in 1921 as a recreation facility for Babson College, then became a movie house in 1924. I don’t know which article is correct.
The Community Playhouse ran its last movies on Saturday, February 28, 1987. The last day’s films were a matinee of Lady and the Tramp and an evening show of Children of a Lesser God.
According to a Boston Globe article published that day, the Playhouse opened in a former schoolhouse in 1921.
The theatre’s official web site is http://www.newartcinemas.com/ .
New Art 1 & 2 are closed during the winter off-season, but New Art 3 is open all year round.
The theatre’s official web site is http://www.newartcinemas.com/ .
New Art 1 & 2 are closed during the winter off-season, but New Art 3 is open all year round.
I took a walk through the Copley Place mall this evening. Most of the side corridor leading to the cinemas has now been boarded up and blocked off. Two narrow passages remain, one leading to Chili’s restaurant, the other to Brentano’s bookstore and the restrooms. Two of the four escalators in this corridor have also been closed.
Upstairs, the entire former food court is also closed and blocked off; only Au Bon Pain and a very lonely Legal Sea Foods remain open. So it looks like the new Barneys New York store will take up both floors.
I did find a side door that someone had left unlocked, so I briefly wandered into the former cinema lobby and opened the door to theatre #5. All the seats were still there, but the screen had been ripped. Since I wasn’t sure how long I could stay there before getting caught (and possibly arrested), I didn’t open the doors to any of the other cinemas.
By the time it closed and moved down the street, the first Nickelodeon had three screens.
Here’s a story that is NOT characteristic of the audience that the (first) Nickelodeon normally attracted. From the Boston Globe, December 25, 1981:
PUNK FILM CLOSES AFTER VANDALISM
Theater seats were slashed, fabric was torn off walls, a window was smashed, and so “D.O.A,” a documentary film featuring the Sex Pistols and other 1977-78 era punk rock bands, closed at the Nickelodeon Theater.
The highly regarded film, based on the English band’s brief 1978 US tour, opened Dec. 16 and played for just six days.
“It was too much aggravation,” said Nickelodeon manager Bruce Bartoo, in a telephone interview. “It’s unfortunate. The classic line is a few people spoil it for everybody, but it’s getting to be standard.”
The theater suffered vandalism every day.
Bartoo said the film had been selling “all right, not great.”
The Nickelodeon previously booked “The Decline of Western Civilisation,” a documentary on the Los Angeles hardcore punk rock scene.
“There were a few problems during Decline',” Bartoo said, “and it escalated with ( D.O.A.‘)
According to Boston Globe articles published at the time, the Sack Copley Place opened to the public on Monday, February 13, 1984 with a four-day festival of classic films, with admissions going to the non-profit Fund for the Arts. The 18 films were chosen by a poll of Sack Theatres patrons.
On Feburary 13 and 15, they showed Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Singin' in the Rain, Dr. Zhivago, The Philadelphia Story, The Wizard of Oz, Ben-Hur, and The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
On February 14 and 16, it was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Man for All Seasons, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Chariots of Fire, A Clockwork Orange, Rebel Without a Cause, The Godfather, and Godfather II.
The theatre opened for regular programming on Friday, February 17 with The Dresser, Entre Nous, And the Ship Sails On, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, Strange Invaders, The Good Fight (on the ICA Cinema’s screen) and a Russian version of King Lear (on a screen designated for Peter Sellars' Boston Shakespeare Company). Yes, that’s only seven films on nine screens, but that’s what the Globe articles said.
Starting on February 29, Sellars and the Boston Shakespeare Company presented a program of American musicals made between 1929 and 1933. He intended to show 50 films, but the series ended prematurely on April 12, after only 21 films, due to poor ticket sales. The BSC’s screen then reverted back to Sack for regular commercial use.
From the Boston Globe archives, December 7, 1980:
Youths throwing rocks and bottles injured three policemen and damaged theaters in Malden and Danvers last night at midnight showings of “The Song Remains the Same,” a movie featuring the rock group Led Zeppelin.
The problem first erupted at about 11:20 p.m. outside the Sack Theater on Rte. 128 in Danvers. Hundreds of youngsters were waiting for a previous movie to end so they could enter the theater. According to police, some of the teenagers and young adults were drinking. Police said there was some “pushing and shoving,” and then beer bottles were thrown.
Officers said additional help was sought from State Police, Hamilton, Wenham and Topsfield as police were bombarded with beer bottles and rocks. Several theater windows were also smashed. Three police officers were taken to the Hunt Memorial Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries and later released.
Police said a dozen young people were arrested on charges, including assault and battery on police officers, disturbing the peace, and being idle and disorderly. Those arrested will be arraigned Monday in Salem District Court.
At the Granada Theater in Malden, youths caused some $5000 damage as they slashed theater seats and the movie screen and tore radiators out of the floor. Police Sgt. John McCallan said: “They just went wacky. They wanted to raise some hell, and they sure did."
…
Earlier Friday, it was announced that the Led Zeppelin band was breaking up because of the death of the group’s drummer, John Bonham. Sgt. McCallan said it was unclear whether the news had prompted the rioting, but pointed out that similar disturbances have erupted in other towns which have held midnight showings of rock movies.
According to a Boston Globe article published on April 26, 1981, the Abbey Cinema opened in 1968 in part of what had been a warehouse. Abbey II opened the following year.
According to a Boston Globe article published on May 22, 1988, the Majestic showed the silent film Birth of a Nation in 1915. This showing was the first time a movie was ever presented on a reserved-seat basis and in a “legitimate” theatre.
Other silent films played there as well, with a full orchestra accompanying them. From the same article:
“In one case, a silent version of All Quiet On The Western Front, there were scores not just for the musicians in the pit, but stagehands offstage as well. They supplied the groans and moans, on cue, and operated the machine- gun-effects machine, a kind of big ratchet affair.”
Famous performers who appeared on the Majestic’s stage include Burns and Allen, Fred Allen, John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, John McCormack, Ruth Gordon, W. C. Fields, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Ethel Merman, Ed Wynn, and the Marx Brothers. The Moscow Art Theater performed Chekhov plays in 1923, and the Yiddish Theater of New York offered several productions in the late ‘30s.
Across a major street from the mall, and up a hill as well. Walking there from the mall is an adventure not for the faint of heart.
The Cape Cinema, on Cape Cod, is seasonal. It is open only from mid-April through late October, according to their web site.
Also on Cape Cod, New Art Cinemas in Provincetown closes two of their three screens for the winter.
It wouldn’t surprise me to find such seasonal operations in other resort areas.
By the way, Forgotten Ohio’s page says it was a single-screen, not a triplex. Are they wrong?
Columbus used to have so many drive-ins that they took up a whole separate section of the Dispatch daily movie listings. Besides this one, there was the Eastside, the 40 East, the Kingman, Miles East Main, Miles North High, and others whose names I no longer remember. (There’s a longer list here.)
Forgotten Ohio has a whole page of photos of the Linden Air, long closed and overgrown with trees.
CinemaTour.com lists the Linden Air’s address as 3168 Westerville Rd.
Thanks. Did the Goldwyn estate object to the name, or did Landmark have some reason to stop using it?
Aren’t 9820 and 9899 on opposite sides of the street?
How exactly was the seating capacity reduced from 1160 to 300?