Amherst Cinema Arts Center

For some time, a second cinema operated in Amherst – the auditorium in Town Hall was known as the Town Hall Cinema and operated as a cinema through 1949. A large room with fairly simple décor and an arched proscenium – seated probably 600. The auditorium was mostly gutted when it was converted into additional offices back in the mid 1950s. The beamed ceiling remained above the shell created for the offices and during a more recent renovation (I believe in the late 1990s) a third floor was put in and I believe at least some of the ceiling were incorporated into that plan. The Jones Library across the street from the Amherst Cinema also had an auditorium approx. 250 seats which I was told showed movies from time to time. In the 1960s, the stagehouse was converted into stacks, and a floor divided the auditorium horizontally creating two new rooms. A more recent renovation removed that division, restoring the original auditorium space; the barrel-arch ceiling is still there but considerably modernized.

I was in Screen 1 tonight, and it has 171 seats, plus several more movable seats/spaces for wheel chairs. This puts the current total at 286 seats—the 871 seat total must be from before the renovation. (I attended one or two movies there in the 1990s—prior to the furnace breakdown—and the balcony Ron Slaters mentions was nowhere to be found.)

The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report for the Amherst Theatre. There is an exterior photo taken in May 1941 on Main St. The theater was in Good condition, and had been showing MGM product for over 10 years. There were 844 orchestra seats and 300 balcony seats, total: 1,144 seats.

The new Amherst Cinema is great. They show decent movies, the staff is polite, and the space is clean. I like that the theater is in downtown Amherst, not out in the malls. The hand dryers work really well.

Harold Pomeroy

I was a concessionaire at Amherst Cinema in the late 70’s. I made and sold the popcorn. Also the candy and soda. We would run weeklong reviews of old film legends. The Reagan week was playing while the guv was visiting his son at Amherst.
There was indeed a near riot when we went from hard core to soft core porn. Lots of requests for extra butter on the popcorn back then.
If the evening was slow, I would trade a big bag of popcorn for a Whole Wheat Pizza, delivered. We both got a good deal.
I miss the old cinema. The Drake, too. Nothing but a bunch of yuppies now. And The Drake is now The Perry.

The Kuhn-Riddle page has a nice photo of the main auditorium. Sleek modern decor, black walls with horitontal silver lines and stylish square white lights across the walls. Bright blue stadium-style seating. Large screen, with great sound and projection. Seats about 175 (the other cinemas are around 80 and 45 seats.) Even the smallest one is stadium seating.) The other two screens have the same style decor. Film fare is first run, primarily of the art and foreign film genres.

The architects for the renovation, Khun-Riddle Architects, describe the project thusly:

“A multi-use conversion of an unoccupied, 1920s town-center cinema to include a new 3-screen cinema addition, retail, restaurant and office space.”

In the 1980s, the Amherst Cinema showed 2nd run films and occasionally oldie double features. Once they had a science fiction movie festival there which became an assignment for one of my UMass classes.

The auditorium was long and narrow with plaster columns running down the sides with ornate corinthian tops and light coves with alternating blue and green lights. I always remember the glowing clock to the left of the screen saying “amherst savings bank” long after the bank was bought out. It was renovated in the early 1980s with new curtains hung on the walls between the pillers. The ceiling had been molded ornate tin like many of the older stores downtown, but in early 1970s a modern dropped ceiling was installed.

In the renovation the main building was gutted and converted into stores and the new cinema center is in the backmost part of the old building extending into a new extension. Haven’t been into the new cinemas yet but the lobby looks well done. I imagine they did a good job with the auditoriums as well. they are different sizes, I believe the largest holds around 400. The retail portion is fully occupied now. I miss the old cinema but, being so long and narrow, there was no practical way to convert it to modern uses.

The Amherst Cinema Arts Center, Inc. a nonprofit group is building a new three screen movie theater adjacent to the newly renovated Amherst Cinema Building. A local developer remodeled the existing building into shops, offices and restaurant spaces. There is already a coffee house open and the local chamber of commerce moved into the building March 1. The other businesses will be opening and moving in over the few months. The Amherst Cinema Arts Center is hoping to open in Fall 2006. The theater will have 35mm projectors, dolby digital sound and stadium seating, there will also be small stages in each theater for live performances.

I knew someone who, in the mid-1970s, began grad school studies at UMASS, fresh out of the Army. He rented an apartment above the Amherst Theatre on Amity St. He was approached to work part-time in the theatre as a projectionist. He had no background at all, but he was mechanically-inclined. He took the job and loved it! Certainly, the commute was easy ! He quickly learned how to aid flairs of showmanship to his screenings. As a union member, he also got assignments to help mount professional live shows when they came into the area. One memorable night at the Amherst Theatre occured at a Friday midnight show. Ordinarily, hard-core XXX features were shown, but the management must have taken some flack about it, because it was decided to switch to soft-core X. When the rowdy, boisterious audience realized that the change had been made, they got most indignant! For a moment, he feared for his safety and comtemplated leaving the booth and running for his apartment! He worked there for about 2 years. It was an example of how someone with no showbiz background or inclinations at all can sometimes fall into a job in the field.

Yes, you are correct! I haven’t got a clue why I wrote Hampshire mall theaters (now Cinemark theaters). I must have been sleeping or something.

They are now renovating. The theater is gutted and most of the seats were sold off to raise money. I bought 2 rows of 4 seats for $20 per row. By the way, the Hampshire Mall was also renovated, not demolished, but the theaters are still vacant and up for lease.