Premier Theatre
20 Rock Street,
Fall River,
MA
02720
20 Rock Street,
Fall River,
MA
02720
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The Premier Theatre was located on Rock Street, across from District Court. It was opened prior to 1912. It was badly damaged by a fire December 2, 1912. It was reopened and continued until 1920 when it was closed. It remained shuttered until 1926, when it was rebuilt. Writer John McAvoy reported in the Fall River Herald that he had seen a Jackie Coogan movie from the theatre’s balcony and that the theatre was destroyed in the great fire of 1928.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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“The Premier Theatre (capacity 800) was located on Rock Street, right across from District Court. However, I have just a very vague memory of its front and watching a Jackie Coogan movie in its balcony. It was destroyed in the great fire of 1928, when I was eight.
“The Rialto Theatre was located in the spot where the Durfee Theatre later stood. I have only one memory of the Rialto – of seeing a Rin Tin Tin movie there. The Rialto was also destroyed in the 1928 fire."
~~~John McAvoy, "Under the Marquee,” Fall River Herald, February 11, 1990.
In a 1976 Fall River Herald feature, Women’s Page editor Jean Judge wrote:
“The old Premier on Rock Street was typical of the movie houses here in those early days. At least one movie patron of old remembers going to that theatre, also owned by W. J. Dunn, and getting a box of bonbons with his ticket to the silent movie, all for the price of a dime.”
address was 20 Rock St.
The Premier Theatre in Fall River was in operation in 1912, when the December 6 issue of The Player reported that it had been badly damaged by a fire on December 2.
In the 1913-1914 Cahn guide, the Premier Theatre is listed as a 933-seat, ground floor house playing Loew’s vaudeville.
Originally, the Premier began as a church located on the northwest corner of Bedford and Rock Street. When that property was purchased by the Metacomet Bank, the church building was moved to the Rock Street location and converted to a theatre. Oddly enough, both the bank and the theatre suffered the same fate when they were destroyed in the conflagration of February 2, 1928. I will further research the name of the church and when the Premier originally opened.
In 1926, the May 2 issue of The Moving Picture World reported the rebuilding of the long-closed Premier Theatre:
Charles Baxter and Archibald Hall took on the Odd Fellows Building for entertainment programming in 1887. As the renamed Puritan Hall, it relaunched on December 11, 1889. Under new operators, it became Wonderland Musee & Theatre, a family entertainment center, opening in the Puritan Hall Block on May 18, 1891. It was shortened to the Wonderland Theatre. After a refresh, it reopened as the Casto Thetre with vaudeville on September 27, 1897.
The Casto became the short-lived Boston Theatre in 1907 and then became the 700-seat Premier Theatre in October of 1907 also playing only motion pictures. In 1915 and into the 1920s, the venue went in and out of business fairly regularly. The Premier came back for consistent operation beginning on April 11, 1925 with “Charley’s Aunt” on the big screen.
The Premier’s final shows were on February 2, 1928 with “Legionnaires in Paris” and “Your Wife and Mine” with Phyllis Haver and Stuart Holmes. Both the Rialto and the Premier burned down on February 3, 1928. The remaining sliver of the building was torn down later that week. This entry or the Premier entry should be combined as the Premier Theatre formerly the Puritan Hall, Wonderland Theatre, Wonderland Musee and Theatre, Casto Theatre, and Boston Theatre.