Paris Cinema
291 Weybosset Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
291 Weybosset Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
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Additional Info
Previous Names: VIP Luxury Cinema
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This twin cinema with two very small auditoriums opened on November 26, 1969 with Katharine Hepburn in “The Madwoman of Chaillot. It showed occasional first run movies then went to art house revivals and gay porno flicks by 1976 and into the early-1980’s. On July 4, 1984 it reopened as the VIP Luxury Cinema screening gay male movies on one screen and mixed sex adult movies on the other screen. On July 7, 1986 it ‘closed for renovations’ and never reopened.
The theatre has since been razed and an expanding parking lot has replaced it. It was located across from historic Beneficent Church.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
The Paris Cinema opened as a single screen theatre on Wednesday, November 26, 1969. I went to the movie on opening day, The Madwoman of Chaillot with Katherine Hepburn, billed as an exclusive engagement. Screenings were continuous from 12 noon. The cinema was advertised as “The First New Theatre in Downtown Providence in Over 25 Years!” The place subsequently had two screens, but it was not the case of a large auditorium being twinned, just that the second of the side-by-side auditoriums was not ready yet or had not been added yet at the time of opening.
Although the cinema had two screens, the place was always known as the Paris Cinema (not “Cinemas”) throughout its life. Here is an ad announcing the opening day of the Paris Cinema in 1969. It includes a representation of the cinema front.
When it was a porno house, the Paris Cinema was managed by William Ikenberry, who was later to manage the relatively short-lived VIP Luxury Cinema on Westminster Mall across from Grace Church.
O C Smith sang a lovely tune called ‘Suddenly, It’s All Tomorrow'
for the Preminger film 'Such Good Friends’ composed by R. Brittan, R and Thomas Z. Shepard.
It anyone wants to hear on MP3 I’d gladly send it.
Newspaper ad for Esquire Theatres in Rhode Island on December 7, 1971.
For years this place ran a sleazy ad in the Journal showing a teenage boy naked from the waist up with the banner “Providence’s Gayest Place”.
A Providence Journal article of 6-2-07 wrote of Richard Rose, federal prosecutor in the case that sent major Vincent “Buddy” Cianci to prison on a racketeering conviction:
[i]When Rose was 16, he was a truant who spent a lot of time hanging out in downtown Providence, then a wasteland of dying department stores, adult bookshops and X-rated movie theaters. When the Paris Cinema, where Rose liked to watch kung fu movies and films like Superfly, also switched to porn movies, in the spring of 1975, Rose and a friend collected 1,500 signatures on a petition.
The dynamic new mayor, Buddy Cianci, who had visions of transforming downtown, was appearing on a television broadcast in Burnside Park, in front of the federal courthouse where Rose would prosecute Cianci years later. Rose went downtown, and tried to present the mayor with his petition, but was unable to.
The young Rose told a Providence Journal reporter at the time: “The mayor is trying to get people into the city. These movies aren’t helping.â€[/i]
Esquire Theaters of America was the original operator of the Paris Cinema, according to Boxoffice of January 26, 1970. The Paris Cinema 2 was under construction at that time, with a projected opening date of February 16.
It was one of three projects Esquire had underway, including an expansion of the chain’s multiplex in East Providence and the Garden Theatre in Boston. The Architect for the Garden Theatre was Burt W. Federman, so it seems likely Esquire would have had him design their other projects as well.
Opened on November 26th. 1969. Grand opening ad posted.
Reopened as the VIP Luxury Cinema as an adult cinema on July 4th, 1984, and “Closed for renovations” on July 7th, 1986. 1984 ad posted.