Majestic Theatre
201 Washington Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
201 Washington Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
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The Majestic ended its days as a movie theatre on May 17, 1971. At least that was the last day a newspaper ad appeared. The last films shown were a double bill of Patton and Mash. After that the theatre, having been sold to Trinity Repertory Company, was gutted and restructured, leaving almost nothing of its original interior architectural magnificence.
Baby Doll ran a total of 11 days and grossed $18,000 for the entire run. That was described by the management as a “good average but not a boxoffice record.” The less controversial Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman, followed.
Told to Shun Baby Doll
In January of 1957, when Elia Kazan/Tennessee Williams Baby Doll was playing at the Majestic, the Most Rev. Russell J. McVinney, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, had told Rhode Island Catholics that they should not see the picture. I myself remember, as a student at LaSalle Academy at the time, that we were told by the principal in a P.A. announcement that the film was off-limits. A Providence Journal article from January 14 reported that Rev. Augustine F. Burns, pastor of Saint Mark’s Church in Jamestown, reminded his parishioners at services that they could not see the picture which was playing in Providence and also in Newport. Here is an ad for the film.
In January, 1965 a newspaper ad for the Majestic promoted a film called Guess What and the Single Girl. I think the Providence Journal might not have been accepting film titles containing the word “sex.”
The world premiere of the wartime film about an aircraft carrier, Wing and a Prayer, took place here on July 28, 1944. A day later stars Dana Andrews and Sir Cedric Hardwicke made appearances on stage at the Majestic. The Quonset Officers Glee Club sang. Here is the opening day newspaper ad for the program.
I saw “The Graduate” the first Saturday after it opened at the Majestic. Having read the book, I was quite anxious to see it, too. I enjoyed the movie so much that I sat through it twice. After hearing me praise it so much, a classmate promptly rushed to see it. To my surprise, he was denied admission. “Adults Only!” and “No One Under 18 Admitted” were written on signs taped to the box office window. He did return a few days later with his older sister and her husband who purchased the tickets.
And heeeere’s the photo I described above but didn’t link you to.
In this 1948 photo, on the left, we see the Chestnut Street marquee of the Metropolitan Theatre. Beyond the bus, we see Empire Street. The Majestic Theatre is the white bit near the top right. The point of this posting is to show you the relative locations of the two theatres. The photo was taken by Fred Deusch, then an usher at the Met.
On May 1st, 1968 the film The Graduate was in its twelfth week here.
An ad in the 1936 commemorative book Tercentenary, Providence and Rhode Island by four downtown Providence theatres, listed theatre names and managers:
PROVIDENCE DOWNTOWN THEATRES
MAJESTIC
Bernard M. Fay, Manager
R.K.O. ALBEE
Edward A. Zorn, Manager
LOEW’S STATE
Howard C. Burkhardt, Manager
STRAND
Edward R. Reed Manager
Better image than I posted earlier of the interior and stage of the Majestic.
From Buildings of Rhode Island by William H. Jordy, 2004:
“Best of all is the front of the Lederer Theatre, a fantasy version of the Roman triumphal arch motif. Pastel colors in bone white again, lemon yellow, and lime green make this an exceptionally subtle example of commercial terra-cotta. A delicately detailed two-story lobby topped with a stained glass oval dome has been partially restored. Providence’s own George M. Cohan appeared in two productions here before it was converted from stage shows to movies in 1923, reverting to dramatic theatre in 1971 as the home of the important Trinity Repertory Theatre. It was then that the cavernous, ornamented interior was gutted to provide for two replacement theatres, one above the other, in the stripped bare brick manner prevalent for theater reuse in the early 1970s.”
The beginnings of the Majestic…as described by Roger Brett in his 1976 volume on Providence theatres, Temples of Illusion:
“The Majestic seated 3,000, as many people as the Opera House and the Imperial (now Colonial) put together, at least a thousand more than Keith’s. When it opened with five acts of vaudeville and movies on April 9, 1917, it was another Emery challenge to Keith supremacy…. Its stage was the equal of the Imperial and the front of the house was better.
“Once again, the Emery Brothers had commissioned the architectural firm of William Walker and Son to design their Majestic. As usual, the architects turned out a superior piece of work…. The fundamental Italianate mass of this structure is embellished with cornices and rounded entablatures of French influence. A lofty arch rises four storeys at the center of the front. This contains the main entrance doors surmounted by large windows which permit the lobbies to be flooded with outside light. (…)
“The Majestic’s auditorium had a strong art nouveau influence…. Here again, the underlying architecture was Italianate, as revealed in the curve of arches and the solid square lines of boxes. Decorative plaster work of the vast proscenium which encompassed a full third of the auditorium, and the muraled panels of its sounding boards, were typically American art nouveau, circa 1916….
“Gold shades were used…on ornamentation with murals carried out in fairly brilliant hues. Wall surfaces were in deep tints of cream and biege….
“The Emery Majestic was a vaudeville house for exactly nine months….Upon opening in April [the Emery brothers] had simply shifted their vaudeville bookings from the two-and-one-half year old Emery to the new house. And the fact that the Majestic could seat almost twice as many customers didn’t necessarily mean that that many more people would show up to buy tickets. (…)
“Over the years, the stage of the Schubert Majestic knew the lights and laughter of Hello, Alexander starring McIntyre and Heath, Cinderella on Broadway, The Whirl of New York, Al Jolson in Sinbad…in Bombo. Chu Chin Chow, largest musical production ever to play a theater in Providence was at the Majestic, elephants and all.
“The Schubert Majestic was the place where everyone wanted to go.”
The architectural firm that built the Majestic was William R. Walker & Son, according to a plaque that is next to the current Trinity Rep entrance.
Federico Fellini’s then-scandalous La Dolce Vita had its first R.I. showings here starting in September of 1961. It seems to have done very well, and the booking of a foreign-film in its original language version with subtitles was unusual for the place (although there was some history of the theatre occasionally presenting Italian-language films on slow nights for the Italian-speaking community.) Another Mastroianni film, Casanova ‘70, also later played here in a subtitled version sometime in 1965.
PROVIDENCE THEATRES: “TEMPLES OF ILLUSION"
A book called "Temples of Illusion,” by Roger Brett, was published in 1976. It is Mr. Brett’s detailed history of all the old downtown area theatres of Providence from 1871 to 1950. It includes numerous rare photos, a list of theatres with name changes, and a map to show exactly where they all were. The book is an invaluable resource and is owned by many libraries in the R.I. CLAN system. I found a copy for sale online and will use it as a reference for future postings.
First Vitaphone anywhere???
Television has no future???
An article in the Rhode Islander section of the Providence Sunday Journal for April 20, 1947 wrote of Edward M. Fay, “the dean of R.I. showmen,” who owned the Majestic, Fays, the Rialto, the Carlton and other venues. The article asserts that Mr. Fay was the first in the nation to wire a theatre (the Majestic) for Vitaphone. Here follow excerpts:
“Mr. Fay was the first man in the country who mustered enough faith in the garrulous movies to have a theatre (the Majestic) wired for them. He offered the Vitaphone tio the world on Christmas Day in 1926, and everybody knows what happened since…”
And on the future of television the Journal quoted Mr. Fay as saying, “I think television has had the greatest promotion the country has ever seen…but I don’t think it will compete with movies or with radio in the home. Commercially I can’t see it at all. It’s all right for a championship prize fight or football game, but that’s about all. I can’t see it.”
I wonder if by the time Mr. Fay died in 1964 he had realized the enormous threat (among other threats) to movie theatres that television would represent over the coming decades, so much so that all the theatres he owned or ran in Providence would be demolished or gutted for other uses?
The theatre was previously known (circa the 1920s) as Emery’s Majestic. Down on Mathewson Street was the Emery Theatre which later became the Carlton. Emery’s Majestic is listed in the 1925 Providence Journal Almanac as having a seating capacity of 2500. Other data: proscenium opening, 40x36 feet; footlights to back wall, 33 feet; between side walls, 80 feet; height to gridiron, 60 feet.
Here is the other photo of the exterior from 1944. And here is a photo of the
interior .
That White Tower later became the Californian, I believe. Now it’s a parking garage. The other White Towers I knew were on Dorrance Street and in Olneyville Square. They seemed so spiffy and “cool”.
Gerald, no I didn’t!! I admit that I would not have known that it was a White Tower. My mother kept always mentioned a White Tower. I would correct her and iterate it was White Castle and we’d go round and round.
Moms are always right!!
I just blew up the picture. Carmen Miranda is on the smaller corner marquee.
Roland, That IS a nice photo. I have a photo which might have been taken around the same time, which I take to be 1944 or so. It’s the same angle and everything, except that there was an Abbott and Costello film program, plus cars and a bus to be seen. The vertical marquee is a gem. In this picture did you note the mill-factory to the left beyond LaSalle Square where the Dunkin' Donuts Center is now? And to the right on Washington Street you can see the White Tower, the hamburger place.
I just love this picture of the Majestic. Note the name Don Ameche to the right.
I recall Don Ameche hosting this Circus show and I believe it was on Sunday nights.
View link
Here is the homepage for the Trinity Square Repertory Theater:
http://www.trinityrep.com/
If you click on “about us” and then “Lederer Theater” you’ll find the entire history of the theater.
I remember this beautiful theatre from the early 1960s. All the Walt Disney movies used to be shown there; I remember that the two lines at the box office for MARY POPPINS completely surrounded the building, even back to the printer’s shop in the rear. The rest rooms were downstairs, with upholstered chairs where the ladies could sit while waiting. Yes, the interior of the theatre was gutted out for Trinity Rep, but at least they didn’t knock the whole beautiful structure down for some glass and concrete modern abomination.
The theatre opened in 1917 with vaudeville as well as movies.