Lostmemory, this drive-in was also called the Cranston Drive-In late in its career but Cranston Auto Theatre earlier on. I have a newspaper ad in front of me from August, 1978, when it was showing Corvette Summer & Coma. The ad says Cranston Drive-In, Rte. 5, Cranston. It was to close about 15 months later.
A July 1, 1947 article in the Westerly Sun reported:
“Removal of a three-foot brass bar regulating an emergency exit in the balcony of the Central Theatre is being viewed by Stonington police and theatre officials as a serious matter…”
The article went on to say that the vandalism by unknown perpetrators was subsequently corrected. For me, the important fact here is the reference to Stonington police. This clearly shows that the Central was in Pawcatuck, in the town of Stonington, Connecticut, and not in Westerly, RI. Westerly and Pawcatuck are essentially one village, separated by a state border.
Roger, the article didn’t mention them by name but they must have been the Lyric and the Central. But that’s just my educated guess. What else was there? The Central was definitely on the Pawcatuck side of the Pawcatuck River, placing it in Stonington, Connecticut and not in Westerly, RI. And the Lyric, “on the bridge,” but with a “West Broad” address also must have also been in Pawcatuck. I walked the area yesterday but could not see even a smidgen of evidence that suggested the two former theatres.
There is no West Broad Street in Westerly. At the bridge Broad Street in Westerly becomes West Broad in Pawcatuck, with numbers ascending in opposite directions. When the Bliven burned, I believe it was the only theatre in Westerly proper. I am having the listings for the Lyric and the Central corrected to read “Pawcatuck, Stonington, CT” from “Westerly, RI.” So I am giving Connecticut two theatres! The confusion arises from the fact that Pawcatuck and Westerly are essentially one village, and newspaper ads never specified whether a theatre was actually in Westerly or Pawcatuck. The Westerly Library has a card file with references under “Theatres” that refer you to articles in the Westerly Sun.
As for the Bliven location today, there is a long building with a stone that reads 1926 (a year after the fire) with the name Morrone. It looks like it may have been a car garage at the outset. Today it houses shops and a liquor store. Main Street runs parallel to the Pawcatuck River, on the Westerly side. All three theatres were only a couple of minutes' walk from each other.
The United Theater, erected by Samuel Nardone, opened on Monday, January 18, 1926, a little more than a year after the tragic fire that had leveled the Bliven Opera House, over on Main Street. The program included five big acts of Paramount vaudeville plus the movie Tessie with Many McAvoy. After opening night, prices would range from 15 cents to 75 cents. In addition to the orchestra, there was mezzanine and loge seating. The total capacity was 1100. The stage is said to have been the largest of any city or town between Providence and New London. The theatre was initially part of the chain United Theatres of America. The building block that was constructed along with the theatre had room for several shops.
Ironically, and without my previous knowledge, the above posting about a January 2, 1925 program had another sad reality. In the early morning hours of January 3, 1925, after the final presentation of North of ‘36 and 4 acts of vaudeville, the historic Bliven Opera House burned to the ground! It was one of the most spectacular blazes in the history of Westerly and it destroyed not only the theatre but two tenement houses and gutted a third. No lives were reported lost.
The Westerly Sun wrote on January 4, 1925:
“David Novogrod, owner of a chain of three theaters in Westerly and Pawcatuck, including the Bliven Opera House…was in New York when the fire broke out, on a trip to book engagements for the theater…
“The Bliven Opera House was constructed in 1884 for C.B. Bliven, and for many years was the only place in Westerly used for theatrical performances, fairs, and indoor sports. In 1904 the C. B. Bliven Opera House company was formed and took over the house, making extensive improvements. David Novogrod purchased the theater last September and it was closed for some time while extensive alterations were made…”
The house was never rebuilt, although the following year saw the opening of a new theatre, the United, over a couple of blocks on Canal Street.
In his 1964 My Autobiography Charles Chaplin wrote of having performed at the Empress circa 1910:
“We played at the Empress, owned by Sid Grauman and his father, friendly, gregarious people. It was the first time I was featured alone on a poster with no mention of Karno. And the audience—-what a delight! In spite pf The Wow-wows being a dull show, there were packed houses every performance and screams of laughter. Grauman said enthusiastically, ‘Any time you’re through with the Karno outfit, come back here and we’ll put on shows together.’ This enthusiasm was new to me. In San Francisco one felt the spirit of optimism and enterprise.”
Westerly, Rhode Island and Pawcatuck, Connecticut (part of Stonington) border on each other, separated by the Pawcatuck River. I’m coming to the conclusion that the Lyric, at West Broad Street (“on the bridge,” as directories indicate) places it…and the Central as well, geographically on the Connecticut side. Westerly has Broad Street, no West Broad Street. When you cross to Pawcatuck, it becomes West Broad. “Westerly” is generic rather than true geographical reality. The Westerly city directories of the time add the symbol “PA,” which means Pawcatuck, in referring to these theatres. This might have implications for the listing information.
Westerly, Rhode Island and Pawcatuck, Connecticut (part of Stonington) border on each other, separated by the Pawcatuck River. I’m coming to the conclusion that the Central, at 41 West Broad Street, places it…and the Lyric as well, geographically on the Connecticut side. Westerly has Broad Street, no West Broad Street. When you cross to Pawcatuck, it becomes West Broad. “Westerly” is generic rather than true geographical reality. The Westerly city directories of the time add the symbol “PA,” which means Pawcatuck, in referring to these theatres. This might have implications for the listing information.
Excerpts on the background on the Strand Theatre from Roger Brett’s 1976 Temples of Illusion:
“The Strand Theater…was built by businessmen rather than showmen…The National Realty Corporation headed by Isaac Rose and Archibald and Charles Silverman, had a complex structure designed to cover the block bounded by Washington, Union, Worcester and Clemence Streets. The Strand itself occupies the northwest two-thirds of the National Building, while street level stores front on Washington and Union Streets and two floors of office space rise above them.. Their rent has saved the theater from the wrecking ball….
“The theater is of ‘shoe-box’ shape, as opposed to wide, shallow, and almost square size favored by designers of the era’s legitimate and vaudeville houses. It was fashoned primarily for motion pictures…. An original capacity of 2500 was later reduced to 2200 by the installation of newer wider seats.
“Through the World War I years, the Strand presented Sunday afternoon and evening concerts of classical and ‘middlebrow’ music… They performed in front of the curtain, the footlights and concert border lights being the only installed stage lighting, and were accompaned by the Strand Theater Orchestra playing in the pit. With the exception of these concerts, live performance has never taken place on the stage of the Strand.
“The new Strand’s major features were its then unparalleled size and comfort of its lobbies and lounges, and the music of its Wurlitzer theater organ, the first organ to be heard in a Providence theater…. The Strand’s architecture followed that of the New York City Strand, one of the very earliest movie palaces, after which it was named.
(…)
"The opening [June 12, 1915] was not a big social event…. The feature film that opened this house was The Shooting of Dan McGrew (in five acts). A two-reeler, The House of a Thousand Relations, was the second feature; there were two shorts…and a…cartoon. In all, ten reels. Admission was ten cents in the balcony at all times, fifteen cents in the main part of the orchestra during afternoon hours, and up to a quarter for the best orchestra seats after six o'clock.”
In July of 1931, not only was there a film on the bill, Annabelle’s Affairs with Jeanette MacDonald and Victor McLaglen, but also five acts of Keith-Albee vaudeville.
In December of 1935 one of the Gem’s programs was the Astaire-Rogers musical Top Hat with a John Wayne oater Desert Trail and a Tom Mix serial. They were showing films in 1945, according to what I found on microfilm in the Pawtuxet Valley Times. By 1952 the ads had disappeared, but I have no proof about the last year of operation.
City directories from the 1970s and early 1980s also list a Cinema 1—2-3 at 1500 Diamond Hill Road and a Cinema 4 at 2000 Diamond Hill Road. Go figure. I am trying to sort it all out, as well as learn about a “Walnut Hill Cinema” that I know I went to, and whether some of these places were identical, underwent name changes, etc. C'mon, Woonsocketonians, help.
The Warwick City Times for August 17, 1932 shows an ad for the Scenic Theatre bill of Girl Crazy and Gloria Swanson in Tonight or Never…plus kiddie shows. I have been unable to determine whether the Scenic became the Midway, only that it was an Oakland Beach theatre that existed before the Midway and, like it, was located on Oakland Beach Avenue. It may well have been a seasonal theatre, open only in the summer months.
The Lyric and the Central had to have been different theatres. On New Year’s Day in 1925 the Central was showing Little Robinson Crusoe while on the screen at the Lyric one could see Flaming Hearts. The Central was a pre-World War I theatre. In July of 1917 we note a program of Freckles with Louise Huff and Jack Pickford.
Great nostalgia there! Wouldn’t it be spooky if after you printed out the form, filled it, and mailed it in with a check, the tickets arrived in a few days!? You would go and there would be a magic Rivoli showing Oklahoma in Todd-AO.
…Trouble is, you would then wake up.
I walked into this place a couple of times to peek around at the facilities but never watched anything here. Essentially it is a bar-lounge with video/DVD type projection onto a pull-down screen. The programs, as displayed on a poster, are often quite interesting and well-selected, with a good variety of movies and, as its name implies, some revivals of classics. It would be nice, however, to have back in Westerly a movie theatre with 35mm capability and theatre seating in a non-socializing-and-non-drinking ambiance. At the moment Westerly has none. This is not to put down this establishment. Indeed having one like it in every community everywhere would be an asset, and I wish the place well, but I would like to see what I underlined above also. To my way of thinking, that is what real movie theatres are about. I should add that I do not live in Westerly, but in Johnston, about 35 miles away.
On January 20, 1906, according to an ad in the Pawtuxet Valley Times, this place was known as Thornton’s Opera House and promoted showings of “Belmont’s Moving Pictures and Illustrated Songs.” At the end of May of 1906, a movie San Francisco After the Earthquake was advertised. No other movie theatres or theatres of any kind were listed in the local paper at that same time.
And on October 11 & 12 of 1950, they had shown Rossellini’s Open City. Those two programs, exactly one year apart, coincided with Columbus Day and were meant to be cultural presentations for the R.I. Italian-American community. Perhaps the drive-in should have been renamed “Neorealist Auto Theatre.”
In going through microfilm of the Westerly Sun I jotted down a program of the Bliven Opera House from July, 1918: William F. Hart in Wolf Lowry and one from January of 1925 as the New Opera House: North of ‘36 with 4 acts of vaudeville.
A 1936 directory lists a Luna Hall Theatre at 233 Main Avenue. Must have been the same as the Rainbo, with a typo in the address number for one of the listings.
Lostmemory, this drive-in was also called the Cranston Drive-In late in its career but Cranston Auto Theatre earlier on. I have a newspaper ad in front of me from August, 1978, when it was showing Corvette Summer & Coma. The ad says Cranston Drive-In, Rte. 5, Cranston. It was to close about 15 months later.
A July 1, 1947 article in the Westerly Sun reported:
“Removal of a three-foot brass bar regulating an emergency exit in the balcony of the Central Theatre is being viewed by Stonington police and theatre officials as a serious matter…”
The article went on to say that the vandalism by unknown perpetrators was subsequently corrected. For me, the important fact here is the reference to Stonington police. This clearly shows that the Central was in Pawcatuck, in the town of Stonington, Connecticut, and not in Westerly, RI. Westerly and Pawcatuck are essentially one village, separated by a state border.
Roger, the article didn’t mention them by name but they must have been the Lyric and the Central. But that’s just my educated guess. What else was there? The Central was definitely on the Pawcatuck side of the Pawcatuck River, placing it in Stonington, Connecticut and not in Westerly, RI. And the Lyric, “on the bridge,” but with a “West Broad” address also must have also been in Pawcatuck. I walked the area yesterday but could not see even a smidgen of evidence that suggested the two former theatres.
There is no West Broad Street in Westerly. At the bridge Broad Street in Westerly becomes West Broad in Pawcatuck, with numbers ascending in opposite directions. When the Bliven burned, I believe it was the only theatre in Westerly proper. I am having the listings for the Lyric and the Central corrected to read “Pawcatuck, Stonington, CT” from “Westerly, RI.” So I am giving Connecticut two theatres! The confusion arises from the fact that Pawcatuck and Westerly are essentially one village, and newspaper ads never specified whether a theatre was actually in Westerly or Pawcatuck. The Westerly Library has a card file with references under “Theatres” that refer you to articles in the Westerly Sun.
As for the Bliven location today, there is a long building with a stone that reads 1926 (a year after the fire) with the name Morrone. It looks like it may have been a car garage at the outset. Today it houses shops and a liquor store. Main Street runs parallel to the Pawcatuck River, on the Westerly side. All three theatres were only a couple of minutes' walk from each other.
The United Theater, erected by Samuel Nardone, opened on Monday, January 18, 1926, a little more than a year after the tragic fire that had leveled the Bliven Opera House, over on Main Street. The program included five big acts of Paramount vaudeville plus the movie Tessie with Many McAvoy. After opening night, prices would range from 15 cents to 75 cents. In addition to the orchestra, there was mezzanine and loge seating. The total capacity was 1100. The stage is said to have been the largest of any city or town between Providence and New London. The theatre was initially part of the chain United Theatres of America. The building block that was constructed along with the theatre had room for several shops.
Ironically, and without my previous knowledge, the above posting about a January 2, 1925 program had another sad reality. In the early morning hours of January 3, 1925, after the final presentation of North of ‘36 and 4 acts of vaudeville, the historic Bliven Opera House burned to the ground! It was one of the most spectacular blazes in the history of Westerly and it destroyed not only the theatre but two tenement houses and gutted a third. No lives were reported lost.
The Westerly Sun wrote on January 4, 1925:
“David Novogrod, owner of a chain of three theaters in Westerly and Pawcatuck, including the Bliven Opera House…was in New York when the fire broke out, on a trip to book engagements for the theater…
“The Bliven Opera House was constructed in 1884 for C.B. Bliven, and for many years was the only place in Westerly used for theatrical performances, fairs, and indoor sports. In 1904 the C. B. Bliven Opera House company was formed and took over the house, making extensive improvements. David Novogrod purchased the theater last September and it was closed for some time while extensive alterations were made…”
The house was never rebuilt, although the following year saw the opening of a new theatre, the United, over a couple of blocks on Canal Street.
Here is a drawing of the Bliven Opera House in its early days.
There is an article with color photos in today’s New York Times.
In his 1964 My Autobiography Charles Chaplin wrote of having performed at the Empress circa 1910:
“We played at the Empress, owned by Sid Grauman and his father, friendly, gregarious people. It was the first time I was featured alone on a poster with no mention of Karno. And the audience—-what a delight! In spite pf The Wow-wows being a dull show, there were packed houses every performance and screams of laughter. Grauman said enthusiastically, ‘Any time you’re through with the Karno outfit, come back here and we’ll put on shows together.’ This enthusiasm was new to me. In San Francisco one felt the spirit of optimism and enterprise.”
Westerly, Rhode Island and Pawcatuck, Connecticut (part of Stonington) border on each other, separated by the Pawcatuck River. I’m coming to the conclusion that the Lyric, at West Broad Street (“on the bridge,” as directories indicate) places it…and the Central as well, geographically on the Connecticut side. Westerly has Broad Street, no West Broad Street. When you cross to Pawcatuck, it becomes West Broad. “Westerly” is generic rather than true geographical reality. The Westerly city directories of the time add the symbol “PA,” which means Pawcatuck, in referring to these theatres. This might have implications for the listing information.
Westerly, Rhode Island and Pawcatuck, Connecticut (part of Stonington) border on each other, separated by the Pawcatuck River. I’m coming to the conclusion that the Central, at 41 West Broad Street, places it…and the Lyric as well, geographically on the Connecticut side. Westerly has Broad Street, no West Broad Street. When you cross to Pawcatuck, it becomes West Broad. “Westerly” is generic rather than true geographical reality. The Westerly city directories of the time add the symbol “PA,” which means Pawcatuck, in referring to these theatres. This might have implications for the listing information.
This nice 1940s photo of the theatre when it was known as the Empire was just brought to my attention.
The Strand Theatre in Providence was completed a year after this New York Strand, was named after it, and imitated its architecture and decor.
Excerpts on the background on the Strand Theatre from Roger Brett’s 1976 Temples of Illusion:
“The Strand Theater…was built by businessmen rather than showmen…The National Realty Corporation headed by Isaac Rose and Archibald and Charles Silverman, had a complex structure designed to cover the block bounded by Washington, Union, Worcester and Clemence Streets. The Strand itself occupies the northwest two-thirds of the National Building, while street level stores front on Washington and Union Streets and two floors of office space rise above them.. Their rent has saved the theater from the wrecking ball….
“The theater is of ‘shoe-box’ shape, as opposed to wide, shallow, and almost square size favored by designers of the era’s legitimate and vaudeville houses. It was fashoned primarily for motion pictures…. An original capacity of 2500 was later reduced to 2200 by the installation of newer wider seats.
“Through the World War I years, the Strand presented Sunday afternoon and evening concerts of classical and ‘middlebrow’ music… They performed in front of the curtain, the footlights and concert border lights being the only installed stage lighting, and were accompaned by the Strand Theater Orchestra playing in the pit. With the exception of these concerts, live performance has never taken place on the stage of the Strand.
“The new Strand’s major features were its then unparalleled size and comfort of its lobbies and lounges, and the music of its Wurlitzer theater organ, the first organ to be heard in a Providence theater…. The Strand’s architecture followed that of the New York City Strand, one of the very earliest movie palaces, after which it was named.
(…)
"The opening [June 12, 1915] was not a big social event…. The feature film that opened this house was The Shooting of Dan McGrew (in five acts). A two-reeler, The House of a Thousand Relations, was the second feature; there were two shorts…and a…cartoon. In all, ten reels. Admission was ten cents in the balcony at all times, fifteen cents in the main part of the orchestra during afternoon hours, and up to a quarter for the best orchestra seats after six o'clock.”
In July of 1931, not only was there a film on the bill, Annabelle’s Affairs with Jeanette MacDonald and Victor McLaglen, but also five acts of Keith-Albee vaudeville.
In December of 1935 one of the Gem’s programs was the Astaire-Rogers musical Top Hat with a John Wayne oater Desert Trail and a Tom Mix serial. They were showing films in 1945, according to what I found on microfilm in the Pawtuxet Valley Times. By 1952 the ads had disappeared, but I have no proof about the last year of operation.
City directories from the 1970s and early 1980s also list a Cinema 1—2-3 at 1500 Diamond Hill Road and a Cinema 4 at 2000 Diamond Hill Road. Go figure. I am trying to sort it all out, as well as learn about a “Walnut Hill Cinema” that I know I went to, and whether some of these places were identical, underwent name changes, etc. C'mon, Woonsocketonians, help.
The Warwick City Times for August 17, 1932 shows an ad for the Scenic Theatre bill of Girl Crazy and Gloria Swanson in Tonight or Never…plus kiddie shows. I have been unable to determine whether the Scenic became the Midway, only that it was an Oakland Beach theatre that existed before the Midway and, like it, was located on Oakland Beach Avenue. It may well have been a seasonal theatre, open only in the summer months.
One of the films shown in July of 1917 was The Rainbow with Dorothy Bernard.
The Lyric and the Central had to have been different theatres. On New Year’s Day in 1925 the Central was showing Little Robinson Crusoe while on the screen at the Lyric one could see Flaming Hearts. The Central was a pre-World War I theatre. In July of 1917 we note a program of Freckles with Louise Huff and Jack Pickford.
Great nostalgia there! Wouldn’t it be spooky if after you printed out the form, filled it, and mailed it in with a check, the tickets arrived in a few days!? You would go and there would be a magic Rivoli showing Oklahoma in Todd-AO.
…Trouble is, you would then wake up.
I meant Odeon/Lyric, not “Globe/Lyric.”
I walked into this place a couple of times to peek around at the facilities but never watched anything here. Essentially it is a bar-lounge with video/DVD type projection onto a pull-down screen. The programs, as displayed on a poster, are often quite interesting and well-selected, with a good variety of movies and, as its name implies, some revivals of classics. It would be nice, however, to have back in Westerly a movie theatre with 35mm capability and theatre seating in a non-socializing-and-non-drinking ambiance. At the moment Westerly has none. This is not to put down this establishment. Indeed having one like it in every community everywhere would be an asset, and I wish the place well, but I would like to see what I underlined above also. To my way of thinking, that is what real movie theatres are about. I should add that I do not live in Westerly, but in Johnston, about 35 miles away.
On January 20, 1906, according to an ad in the Pawtuxet Valley Times, this place was known as Thornton’s Opera House and promoted showings of “Belmont’s Moving Pictures and Illustrated Songs.” At the end of May of 1906, a movie San Francisco After the Earthquake was advertised. No other movie theatres or theatres of any kind were listed in the local paper at that same time.
And on October 11 & 12 of 1950, they had shown Rossellini’s Open City. Those two programs, exactly one year apart, coincided with Columbus Day and were meant to be cultural presentations for the R.I. Italian-American community. Perhaps the drive-in should have been renamed “Neorealist Auto Theatre.”
In going through microfilm of the Westerly Sun I jotted down a program of the Bliven Opera House from July, 1918: William F. Hart in Wolf Lowry and one from January of 1925 as the New Opera House: North of ‘36 with 4 acts of vaudeville.
A 1936 directory lists a Luna Hall Theatre at 233 Main Avenue. Must have been the same as the Rainbo, with a typo in the address number for one of the listings.