State Theatre

The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the State in Webster has an exterior photo dated May 1941. The theatre had a narrow entrance in a brick commercial building at least 3 stories high. There was a small marquee and a small verticle above. The Report states that the State Theatre has been playing MGM films for over 10 years; that it’s over 15 years old and in Good condition. It has 987 seats. The 1940 population of Webster was 13,100. The theatre, along with its nearby mate, the Liberty, were run by E.M. Loew in the early 1940s. The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook lists 3 movie theatres in Webster, 2 with over 900 seats, but none was named “State” or “Liberty”.

The September 3, 1915 issue of Variety had this item about the Steinberg Theatre Company: “The Steinberg theatre (seating about 1,000), at Webster. Mass., controlled by the Steinberg Theatre Co., opens about the middle of September with ‘Twin Beds.’ Bookings via the Aarons' New York offices. The Steinberg Co. has also taken over the Auditorium, Concord, Mass., and Athol theatre, Athol, Mass., playing all attractions.”

Items in The American Contractor of July 1, 1916 said that architect E. L. Hunt of Torrington, Connecticut, was preparing plans for alterations to a theater at Webster for the Steinberg Theatre Company. A Webster and Dudley history page at Facebook says that the Steinberg Theatre was a 1915 addition to a 1912 office and retail building called the Larcher-Branch Building. I’ve been unable to discover if Hunt was the architect for the 1915 project or not.

The page also says the State Theater was closed for about a year in 1954 before being reopened with CinemaScope, and then adds quite ambiguously that “…the Theatre was closed in 1967 after being empty for years.” The Larcher-Branch Building is still standing, but has no theater in it.