Rivoli Theatre

Does anyone remember Florio? He was the very distinguished gentleman who ran the Rivoli theatre in the fifties and the sixties. He was such a nice man. He was very kind and extremely generous to his patrons and the community, at-large. He was always well groomed and immaculately dressed except when he would replace his suit jacket with the work smock he would wear during box office duty or providing concessions. He was friends with my parents and grandparents. He “baby-sat” me and my siblings almost every Saturday by hosting us at his movie theatre. Mom would call him to let him know we were on our way. When we reached the theatre, he would get us “settled-in” with our goodies and whatnot. Then he’d start the “first” movie. Afterwhich, he’d call my mother and let her know that we were in his care. She’d then do her weekly chores, run errands, shop for groceries, etc., without the additional burden of having to maintain her rather large flock, in tow. Given that we got “More than our money’s worth” at the Rivoli she had about 4-5 hours free to get it all done! Then, after treating us with extra goodies or movie gifts like special movie posters or small movie toys to go home, he’d call my mother to let her know we were on our way home. The “Village” was in full swing in those days, when the community took care of its own. In the late sixties, we moved to the suburbs. Still, Florio would travel out to our home on occasion to visit with us. He was a lovely man to me and my sibling, my entire family. The Rivoli Theatre and more significantly, Florio were such an integral part of my wonder years. I miss him to this day! I felt so very close to him and I never even knew his last name. If anyone knows/remembers anything about him or his family and/or his relationship with the Rivoli and/or the community, please, please, share.

Cheers!

Hi there, I rember the Rivoli as being the “Plush” movie theatre in the early 1950’s. My siblings and I went there when we had the 25 cents admission price. They gave out prizes at the end of each show. They ripped your ticket in half, giving you one half back and the second half went into a bucket. At the end of the show, the master of ceremony would come on stage and pull a winning ticket out of the bucket and announce the winner and the prize. I once won a “Roy Roger’s watch” . I loved that theatre. That’s when you got more than you paid for when you attended the movies!

Linesides- no, it’s not my baby; it’s run by guys in Calif. There used to be more members making comments from eastern-MA; now there’s only a few. There are 3 theaters listed here for JP- the Egleston, the Madison and the Strand. The latter two were on Centre St. I don’t see anything around Perkins St. Problem is that some of the neighborhood theaters are listed here under just plain “Boston” while others are listed under their neighborhood, such as JP, Roxbury, Dorchester, East Boston, etc. Makes it hard to find all of them, sometimes.

Linesides- OK, it took me about 5 minutes of riding around, but I found the UPS truck, with 2 yellow backhoes working in the distance. That location is about where I thought the Rivoli entrance was. If you went to the movies at any of the Jamaica Plain movie theaters, please make comments. Most of them are listed here in Cinema Treasures, also.

Go to the view above put your cursor on the street and click the right arrow.> I believe it is a safer neighborhood than when you were in their. If you need to go back I would recomend day light hours only. I am 67 years old. Lived off of Washington street half way between Dudly street station and Egleston station on Galena street. Moved out in 1957. I wonderfull memories from these days.

It sat at the rear of that UPS truck is. The street to the right was not there during its time!

Yes, it is a hobby. Just look over this site and you will come to that conclusion. I did not live in the area, although I worked in the Dudley Sq. area in the late-1960s. I have been interested in theater buildings since I was 10 or 11 years old. The visitors to this website probably range in age from teens/college-age all the way to 70s and 80s. If you have memories of the Rivoli and other theaters in Roxbury and Dorchester, you can post them on this site.

Linesides- by all means, write about what you know of the Rivoli, and also any other neighborhood theaters in Roxbury/Boston. There are Pages like this one for most of them here in Cinema Treasures.

A Boston Globe article reports an armed robbery at the Rivoli 2/21/1960, so it was still open then.

Ron – did the Opera House become Hibernian Hall?

Ron – here’s the Rivoli in 1931. St James st is off the lower left side of the map, blocks away from the Rivoli. You can see that the theater was just across the street from the church, although the entrance was on Dudley st.

View link

Ron – your informant mis-remembers. The Rivoli was not at St James. The narrow entrance was at 125 Dudley. The building itself was set back from the Dudley buildings, and ran along Dana st, which came out opposite the trolly ramp of the Dudley station. A street runs through the site now. Across Dana was the Dudley st Batist Church, where the police station is now.

I have been told that the organ from the Rivoli went to the auditorium of the community center at the Dudley Street Baptist Church. The rear of the Rivoli could be seen from the Church property. The church was later demolished and there is now a police station on the site.