Art Theatre
1878 Purchase Street,
New Bedford,
MA
02740
1878 Purchase Street,
New Bedford,
MA
02740
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The Nickel Theater is mentioned in the October 10, 1908 issue of Moving Picture World. The management had just secured a lease on the World Theatre down the street, which had been closed for several months, and planned to reopen it with motion pictures that week.
The theater at this address is listed as “The Nickle” in the 1908 and 1909 city directories, and listed as the Casino from 1910 onward, so it most likely opened in 1908.
“The Art Theatre, New Bedford, operated by Irving Conn the last few years, has been taken back by owner Henry Tobin, who will continue its art policy.” —notice in Boxoffice Magazine, December 30, 1950.
As the Casino, this theater is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook, with 600 seats open daily.
Sometimes the google maps will tell you what is at that address now,but of course it does not in this case.And a SiliconSam states sometimes the address change anyway.
About all I do in that case Ron, is find a business or two in the immediate area, Google them to get their exact address, and go from there. Occasionally addresses change. An old theater may be 431 Main St, but the new business in the same old building may use 433 Main St, as an example.
I’ve never been able to tell from Google Maps whether I’m pointing at the even or odd side of a street, though.
Looks like a garage next to a residence. You can use Google Maps, type in the address, take it to street level, swivel, and see images of all that is around. Can’t pinpoint where the theatre was.
What is now at this location?
An article in the New Bedford paper described the October 7, 2007 opening of the Orpheum theatre for a “rope light tour.” In it some of the history of the ownership of the Casino is referred to.
READ HERE
There is a MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the Casino Theatre at 1878 Purchase St. in New Bedford, with a facade photo dated May 1941. It had a very fancy facade with a canopy over the sidewalk and a vertical sign above. To its right were 3 large old wood-frame houses. The Report states that the Casino was not a MGM customer, that it was over 15 years old, that it was in Poor condition, and had 700 seats, all on one floor.
Here are some of the films shown in the Art Theatre’s heyday during the 1949-1951 period. Note the emphasis on many movies with a classical music or operatic connection: Shoe Shine, To Live in Peace, Mad About Opera, La Traviata, The Red Shoes, The Stone Flower, Volpone, Saraband, To Live in Peace, The Mikado, Passionelle & Torment, Hamlet, Specter of the Rose, The Walls of Malapaga, Rigoletto, Don Quixote, Symphonie Pastorale, Die Fledermaus, Lucia di Lamermoor, Tight Little Island, Animal Crackers & The Informer, Spring in Park Lane, Quartet, The Astonished Heart, Eternal Melodies-The Life of Mozart (advertised as “our contribution to the Salzburg Music Festival”) & a short with Ezio Pinza called “Rehearsal”, Rembrandt, The Ghost Goes West, Devil in the Flesh, Grand Illusion, This Happy Breed, Devil’s Cargo & Elephant Boy, Il Trovatore, Monsieur Vincent, The Fallen Idol, Henry V, Loves of a Clown (Pagliacci), Five Men and a Woman & Alien for a Night, Intermezzo & Since You Went Away, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill & Miranda, The Glass Mountain, The Hidden Room, Passport to Pimlico, The Affair Blum, Salt to the Devil (a.k.a. Christ in Concrete), Faust and the Devil, Kind Hearts and Coronets.