Showplace Theatre
25 Chapman Street,
Greenfield,
MA
01301
25 Chapman Street,
Greenfield,
MA
01301
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I seem to recall a room that was wider than it was deep. After the movie was over, my neck hurt for hours from looking sideways at the screen.
Jeannettes – Do you know if Louis Rosenzweig sold it to a family named Brown. Seems I remember in high school in late 50s it was owned by someone named brown
My great uncle’s father-in-law (Louis Rosenzweig) owned this place from 1918 to the 1950’s.
I recall as a teenager in the mid 1950’s attending stage shows at the Victoria theater. Saw an R&R show there with the r&b group “The Cadillacs” . Also saw the great bluegrass performer Bill Monroe there. Spent many enjoyable nights attending movies and various stage shows during my teenage years in the 50’s
As the Victoria Theater, this theater is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 832 seats, and open 7 days per week.
The original name of the Showplace was the “Victoria”, and it was built and opened in 1913. The first name change came about in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s when it was renamed to “Showcase”. This was shortly changed to “Showplace”, as Showcase cinemas threatened a lawsuit against the owners at the time.
The MGM Theatre Report for the Garden Theatre in Greenfield, written in May 1941, lists this theater, the Victoria, as competition to the Garden, along with the Lawler Theatre.
The showplace appeared to have been built in the early 1920s. I went in one time – you’d walk straight back and turn right to enter the auditorium – fairly straightforward classical architecture, kind of like a smaller simplified version of the Calvin in Northampton. Greenfield’s downtown theatres survived doing first run right up into the mid 80s' due to the lack of any competition. Finally the Greenfield Cinemas opened in a strip mall off Route 2. Soon the Showplace closed and the Garden Cinema was split into seven screens. Then the Greenfield Cinemas closed. One rare case of the old palace (albeit multiplexed) driving the modern strip mall venue out of business!