I remember going to this cinema when I was a kid in the mid-1970s. My grandparents lived at the Park Colony apartment complex next door to the cinema and it was an easy way to get me out of the house during vacation periods. Lots of kids lived at the Park Colony and Saturday and Sunday matinees were really popular.
It was a second-run house but I remember it being well run and reasonable (Grandmother would give me $3.00 and that was enough for a ticket, popcorn and a drink).
Used to play a lot of the Sun International Movies - In search of Noah’s Ark; In search of Historic Jesus; Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, etc. Remember seeing Jaws there months after it was playing at first run theatres. Also remember my Grandmother going with me to see “Tommy” and leaving 5 minutes into the film.
Last film I saw there was in 1982 when we went to see “On Golden Pond” in the upstairs “Screening Room” - very small and the screen was as large as my TV at home is now.
In 1983 I started working for General Cinema Theatres as an usher, worked my way up through the organization and wound up managing several of their locations at the Burlington Mall and Northshore Mall in Peabody.
I started working at this Cinema back in January 1983 – I was a great job and was promoted to Chief of Staff and then Assistant Manager before being transferred around the division to work at Northshore, Chestnut Hill, Shoppers World as well as helping out when others took vacations at Saugus and Waltham.
I was promoted to Manager of Northshore I-III in 1986 and then manager of Burlington Mall I-IV in 1987 before leaving the company in October of 1988.
It performed well if we had popular movies but we often got scraps because of the large Showcase Cinema in Woburn and the entire Cinema only had 991 seats – Cinema I and II were interlocked (we could play the same print on 2 screens) as well as Cinema III and IV if we had a very popular film. The lobby was very small and could only hold around 40 people before spilling out into the exterior boxoffice area and on very busy nights, out into the street.
Ah, what a trip down memory lane. I was assistant manager at Chestnut Hill for around six months in the mid-eightys before moving onto Framingham and eventually becoming manager of Peabody and Burlington Mall. It seems like an entirely different pace these days when I go to the Lowes Theatre on the Boston Common or the AMC Fenway 13. When Mr. Wodeyla and I were managers we were expected to have the 1:00, 3:15, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:30 (maybe 9:45) schedule which left you about 5 minutes to clean the theatre and then get the crowd in to find seats. Now it seems like there is a bit more time to prep the house the way it should be.
If I remember the folklore correctly, the Waltham Cinema I and II was originally a bowling alley, part of the Holiday Lanes chain that General Cinema owned, and was converted into a cinema when the company decided to get out of that business line. I belive that the Stoneham Cinema I and II had the same history.
When I was an assistant manager, sometimes I would be asked to cover some of the manager’s time off – it was an easy theatre to run, but very tired.
The two best lines that I remember from Izzy were “go get me a cup of poison” from Dunkin Donuts and the unforgettable “how can I make you happy?” when a patron wasn’t happy about something. I can’t imagine anyone being more dedicated to the job than he.
I remember going to this cinema when I was a kid in the mid-1970s. My grandparents lived at the Park Colony apartment complex next door to the cinema and it was an easy way to get me out of the house during vacation periods. Lots of kids lived at the Park Colony and Saturday and Sunday matinees were really popular.
It was a second-run house but I remember it being well run and reasonable (Grandmother would give me $3.00 and that was enough for a ticket, popcorn and a drink).
Used to play a lot of the Sun International Movies - In search of Noah’s Ark; In search of Historic Jesus; Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, etc. Remember seeing Jaws there months after it was playing at first run theatres. Also remember my Grandmother going with me to see “Tommy” and leaving 5 minutes into the film.
Last film I saw there was in 1982 when we went to see “On Golden Pond” in the upstairs “Screening Room” - very small and the screen was as large as my TV at home is now.
In 1983 I started working for General Cinema Theatres as an usher, worked my way up through the organization and wound up managing several of their locations at the Burlington Mall and Northshore Mall in Peabody.
I started working at this Cinema back in January 1983 – I was a great job and was promoted to Chief of Staff and then Assistant Manager before being transferred around the division to work at Northshore, Chestnut Hill, Shoppers World as well as helping out when others took vacations at Saugus and Waltham.
I was promoted to Manager of Northshore I-III in 1986 and then manager of Burlington Mall I-IV in 1987 before leaving the company in October of 1988.
It performed well if we had popular movies but we often got scraps because of the large Showcase Cinema in Woburn and the entire Cinema only had 991 seats – Cinema I and II were interlocked (we could play the same print on 2 screens) as well as Cinema III and IV if we had a very popular film. The lobby was very small and could only hold around 40 people before spilling out into the exterior boxoffice area and on very busy nights, out into the street.
Ah, what a trip down memory lane. I was assistant manager at Chestnut Hill for around six months in the mid-eightys before moving onto Framingham and eventually becoming manager of Peabody and Burlington Mall. It seems like an entirely different pace these days when I go to the Lowes Theatre on the Boston Common or the AMC Fenway 13. When Mr. Wodeyla and I were managers we were expected to have the 1:00, 3:15, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:30 (maybe 9:45) schedule which left you about 5 minutes to clean the theatre and then get the crowd in to find seats. Now it seems like there is a bit more time to prep the house the way it should be.
If I remember the folklore correctly, the Waltham Cinema I and II was originally a bowling alley, part of the Holiday Lanes chain that General Cinema owned, and was converted into a cinema when the company decided to get out of that business line. I belive that the Stoneham Cinema I and II had the same history.
When I was an assistant manager, sometimes I would be asked to cover some of the manager’s time off – it was an easy theatre to run, but very tired.
The two best lines that I remember from Izzy were “go get me a cup of poison” from Dunkin Donuts and the unforgettable “how can I make you happy?” when a patron wasn’t happy about something. I can’t imagine anyone being more dedicated to the job than he.