Bijou Theatre
318 Main Street,
Holyoke,
MA
01040
318 Main Street,
Holyoke,
MA
01040
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The Bijou Theatre is one of several now-departed movie houses that once adorned Holyoke’s main streets in its heyday. It was opened by 1913.
Today, only the boarded-up Victory Theatre remains of the six original downtown movie theaters.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The Bijou Theatre, Holyoke MA was one of three theatres owned by Western Massachusetts Theatres Inc. (Samuel & Nathan Goldstein); the other two being the Victory Theatre and the Strand Theater.
While the Victory and Strand were first-run houses, the Bijou (located in lower Holyoke) was a neighborhood theatre which was second-run.
The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the Bijou in Holyoke has a facade photo taken in May 1941. It’s definitely the same theatre as shown in the photo above. The attractions are “Tall Dark and Handsome” and “Night Train”. The address is “Main St.” The Report states that the theatre has been a MGM customer for 10 years; that it was built about 1915; that it’s in Fair condition; and has 1020 seats on the main floor and 238 in the balcony; total: 1,258 seats.
The Bijou is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook as having 1300 seats and open only 1 day per week (I wonder if that’s a typo).
The Bijou Theatre was in operation by 1913, the year in which it was taken over by Frank Rainault, according to his biography in the Encyclopedia of Massachusetts published in 1916. Shortly before the Encyclopedia was published, Rainault had the Bijou remodeled and expanded. According to items in The American Contractor that year, plans for the project were drawn by Holyoke architect Oscar Beauchemin.
Western Mass. Theaters Inc. was an operating partner of Paramount-Publix Theaters Corporation!!