Oops, in addition to THE ENDLESS SUMMER, I also saw Godard’s LA CHINOISE here in 1968. It’s about as different as you can get from the surfing film: a radical Maoist late New Wave revolutionary tract.
Excuse me, that shop next to where the Olympia was is the Olympia FLOWER Shop, not coffee shop. But again, this is not the Olympia/Pilgrim at 658 Washington Street. It is the Olympia at 1723 Washington Street.
No, it’s not still standing. The whole building has been razed, and right now they seem to be readying the area for a new high rise. I was there today.
The Pilgrim Theatre was at 658 Washington Street, in the “combat zone” and diagonally across from the Publix (Gayety). It is said to have been called the Olympia at one time. It is not to be confused with the neighborhood Olympia at 1723 Washington Street.
The address above is incorrect. It should be 1723 Washington Street (at Massachusetts Avenue.) The Pilgrim in the center of town at 658 Washington Street may have been called the Olympia too at one time, but the theatre I had in mind when I added this listing was the neighborhood one at 1723 Washington Street. Comments on the Olympia/Pilgrim at 658 Washington Street…a different theatre…should be added to the Pilgrim Theatre listing, elsewhere on this site. I finally was able to check the location myself today. A professional building occupies the site of the demolished theatre. And next door to it is the (closed) Olympia Coffee Shop.
A personal recollection: on the way back to Rhode Island after a cross-country drive in 1973, I spent the night in Flagstaff. The Clint Eastwood movie “High Plains Drifter” was playing at the Orpheum on July 5th and I went to see it in this very nice little theatre, not far from my motel.
What kind of programming does the Pamir have? Is this where that incredible Afghani film “Osama,” directed by Siddiq Darmak and currently showing in the United States, played in Kabul?
According to a review of “Ten Days that Shook the World” in the New York Times, the theatre opened on November 2,1928 with that silent Russian film by Sergei Eisenstein. The review by Mordaunt Hall bears the heading “New Little Cinema Opens” and mentions that part of the theatre was once Roger Wolfe Kahn’s Le Perroquet Club de Paris, with an entrance on 56th Street. The space was expanded to create the cinema and the entrance was transferred to 57th Street, just a few yards from Carnegie Hall.
This sorely missed little cinema was programming art and specialty fare even in the 1920s, showing films like Lang’s “Dr. Mabuse,” “Madre” (“Cenere”) with Eleonora Duse, “The Legend of Gosta Berling” with Greta Garbo. Between 1958 and 1960 they premiered the three films of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, “Pather Panchali,” “Aparajito,” and “The World of Apu.” For some reason I particularly remember seeing Adolfas Mekas' zany “Hallelujah the Hills” here in 1963 and a revival of Herbert J. Biberman’s “Salt of the Earth” another time. I’d love to have complete list of everything that played here. The Fifth Avenue Playhouse/Cinema belongs in the pantheon of art houses. The only negative I can recall is that the sight-lines were not always the best because of minimal raking in the auditorum and a lower-than-optimal ceiling.
The one I am thinking of was, as I’ve said, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue. There is still an “Olympia” building or something there. The next time I drive into Boston I will check the street number at that spot. This was a NEIGHBORHOOD theatre, not in the downtown area of Washington Street (“combat zone”) which is where the Pilgrim was. You may be right about there being two different Olympias over the years which would confuse the issue. When I posted this theatre, I intended the neighborhood theatre, not the one downtown, because I never knew one downtown under that name, only this one I used to drive by coming in from Providence. I was never inside it.
Finding this former movie theatre was an amazing discovery for me, since I thought I knew all of the surviving cinema buildings in Rhode Island. I was tipped off to its existence by a listing in a 1935 state business directory. And it is virtually intact, with the upstairs level-floored former auditorium now filled with antique furniture instead of seats. One can visit it any time that the antique store is open and absorb the ghosts of the films that were shown here from 1917 for over thirty years.
It would have been great if some entrepreneur had been able to convert this place into a three-screen art/independent house. It might have done well since there is no competition for that type of fare in the area, the nearest being in Providence, about an hour away with its Avon and Cable Car cinemas. Westerly supports a theatre company and the amazing Westerly Chorus. Why not a movie theatre of this type which would complement, not compete with, the mainstream Stonington Cinemas megaplex across the border in Connecticut?
I’m from the east coast, but I happened to catch STAR WARS here in July of 1977. It was my first and only visit to that theatre and it was a most memorable one. A truly optimum presentation of that movie.
The Cranston Drive-In was located where there is now a collection of shops, including Marshall’s, I believe, between Oaklawn Avenue and Bald Hill Road. I think it was constructed in the late 1940s. It was not far from where Warwick Mall is, just over the city line. The main entrance was on the Oaklawn Avenue side. In the 1950s, when I was a young teen, I went there several times with my parents. I clearly remember seeing Disney’s documentary THE LIVING DESERT there and THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS with Bob Hope and James Cagney. It had a very large capacity, and the screen, especially after they widened it for CinemaScope, was immense.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a 35mm presentation of Buster Keaton’s masterpiece using a complete and restored print, proper aspect ratio, and accompanied by the wonderful Alloy Orchestra of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The showing at the beautiful Columbus Theatre in Providence was a benefit for the Rhode Island International Film Festival. So much has been written on this wondrous comedy of Keaton, it seems silly to add more except to say that the audience was bowled over by it and vociferous in its enthusiasm. The train chase sequences are inimitable and have never been duplicated even with greater technical resources at hand in later decades. Yes, the music was tremendous, but the ability of this silent treasure to generate such audience excitement today was truly gratifying. And such a gem of a cinema treasure to see it in…what a joyous combination!
If the theatre name is that of a Pasolini movie, the name is misspelled…either the theatre itself, or this posting entry, or both. The correct spelling is ACCATTONE. It is the name of the main character, played by Franco Citti, in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1961 film masterpiece. The word “accattone” (two t’s) means street beggar. In the film, the character Accattone is a pimp of the Roman “borgate” or slum-suburbs.
I also believe that Jean-Luc Godard’s controversial HAIL MARY, protested by some conservative Catholic groups as it had been in New York and elsewhere, played here not long before the theatre’s demise.
Seth, thanks for the great information. Where precisely was it located? Was it on Madison Avenue at 85th Street? I have an address of 1144 Madison Avenue for a Trans-Lux theatre.
I believe I visited this theatre only once, in November of 1974, for a special revival engagement of the 1953 film THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF GIUSEPPE VERDI, presented by Opera Presentations, Inc.
And that wasn’t the end of it! From the Normandie I went to the New Yorker to see A CHAPLIN REVIEW which consisted of the three films: SHOULDER ARMS, A DOG’S LIFE, and THE PILGRIM.
Oops, in addition to THE ENDLESS SUMMER, I also saw Godard’s LA CHINOISE here in 1968. It’s about as different as you can get from the surfing film: a radical Maoist late New Wave revolutionary tract.
Excuse me, that shop next to where the Olympia was is the Olympia FLOWER Shop, not coffee shop. But again, this is not the Olympia/Pilgrim at 658 Washington Street. It is the Olympia at 1723 Washington Street.
No, it’s not still standing. The whole building has been razed, and right now they seem to be readying the area for a new high rise. I was there today.
The Pilgrim Theatre was at 658 Washington Street, in the “combat zone” and diagonally across from the Publix (Gayety). It is said to have been called the Olympia at one time. It is not to be confused with the neighborhood Olympia at 1723 Washington Street.
The address above is incorrect. It should be 1723 Washington Street (at Massachusetts Avenue.) The Pilgrim in the center of town at 658 Washington Street may have been called the Olympia too at one time, but the theatre I had in mind when I added this listing was the neighborhood one at 1723 Washington Street. Comments on the Olympia/Pilgrim at 658 Washington Street…a different theatre…should be added to the Pilgrim Theatre listing, elsewhere on this site. I finally was able to check the location myself today. A professional building occupies the site of the demolished theatre. And next door to it is the (closed) Olympia Coffee Shop.
A personal recollection: on the way back to Rhode Island after a cross-country drive in 1973, I spent the night in Flagstaff. The Clint Eastwood movie “High Plains Drifter” was playing at the Orpheum on July 5th and I went to see it in this very nice little theatre, not far from my motel.
What kind of programming does the Pamir have? Is this where that incredible Afghani film “Osama,” directed by Siddiq Darmak and currently showing in the United States, played in Kabul?
According to a review of “Ten Days that Shook the World” in the New York Times, the theatre opened on November 2,1928 with that silent Russian film by Sergei Eisenstein. The review by Mordaunt Hall bears the heading “New Little Cinema Opens” and mentions that part of the theatre was once Roger Wolfe Kahn’s Le Perroquet Club de Paris, with an entrance on 56th Street. The space was expanded to create the cinema and the entrance was transferred to 57th Street, just a few yards from Carnegie Hall.
This sorely missed little cinema was programming art and specialty fare even in the 1920s, showing films like Lang’s “Dr. Mabuse,” “Madre” (“Cenere”) with Eleonora Duse, “The Legend of Gosta Berling” with Greta Garbo. Between 1958 and 1960 they premiered the three films of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, “Pather Panchali,” “Aparajito,” and “The World of Apu.” For some reason I particularly remember seeing Adolfas Mekas' zany “Hallelujah the Hills” here in 1963 and a revival of Herbert J. Biberman’s “Salt of the Earth” another time. I’d love to have complete list of everything that played here. The Fifth Avenue Playhouse/Cinema belongs in the pantheon of art houses. The only negative I can recall is that the sight-lines were not always the best because of minimal raking in the auditorum and a lower-than-optimal ceiling.
I remember seeing Jean-Luc Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou,” starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, in January 1969 here during its New York first run engagement.
The Castle has just recently closed, possibly for good.
The one I am thinking of was, as I’ve said, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue. There is still an “Olympia” building or something there. The next time I drive into Boston I will check the street number at that spot. This was a NEIGHBORHOOD theatre, not in the downtown area of Washington Street (“combat zone”) which is where the Pilgrim was. You may be right about there being two different Olympias over the years which would confuse the issue. When I posted this theatre, I intended the neighborhood theatre, not the one downtown, because I never knew one downtown under that name, only this one I used to drive by coming in from Providence. I was never inside it.
Finding this former movie theatre was an amazing discovery for me, since I thought I knew all of the surviving cinema buildings in Rhode Island. I was tipped off to its existence by a listing in a 1935 state business directory. And it is virtually intact, with the upstairs level-floored former auditorium now filled with antique furniture instead of seats. One can visit it any time that the antique store is open and absorb the ghosts of the films that were shown here from 1917 for over thirty years.
It would have been great if some entrepreneur had been able to convert this place into a three-screen art/independent house. It might have done well since there is no competition for that type of fare in the area, the nearest being in Providence, about an hour away with its Avon and Cable Car cinemas. Westerly supports a theatre company and the amazing Westerly Chorus. Why not a movie theatre of this type which would complement, not compete with, the mainstream Stonington Cinemas megaplex across the border in Connecticut?
I’m from the east coast, but I happened to catch STAR WARS here in July of 1977. It was my first and only visit to that theatre and it was a most memorable one. A truly optimum presentation of that movie.
The Cranston Drive-In was located where there is now a collection of shops, including Marshall’s, I believe, between Oaklawn Avenue and Bald Hill Road. I think it was constructed in the late 1940s. It was not far from where Warwick Mall is, just over the city line. The main entrance was on the Oaklawn Avenue side. In the 1950s, when I was a young teen, I went there several times with my parents. I clearly remember seeing Disney’s documentary THE LIVING DESERT there and THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS with Bob Hope and James Cagney. It had a very large capacity, and the screen, especially after they widened it for CinemaScope, was immense.
The Bijou Theatre has just announced that it will be closing. Very sad. See their web site for details.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a 35mm presentation of Buster Keaton’s masterpiece using a complete and restored print, proper aspect ratio, and accompanied by the wonderful Alloy Orchestra of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The showing at the beautiful Columbus Theatre in Providence was a benefit for the Rhode Island International Film Festival. So much has been written on this wondrous comedy of Keaton, it seems silly to add more except to say that the audience was bowled over by it and vociferous in its enthusiasm. The train chase sequences are inimitable and have never been duplicated even with greater technical resources at hand in later decades. Yes, the music was tremendous, but the ability of this silent treasure to generate such audience excitement today was truly gratifying. And such a gem of a cinema treasure to see it in…what a joyous combination!
I just checked the web entry for the cinema. It is spelled Accattone, with two t’s. Therefore this entry should be corrected.
If the theatre name is that of a Pasolini movie, the name is misspelled…either the theatre itself, or this posting entry, or both. The correct spelling is ACCATTONE. It is the name of the main character, played by Franco Citti, in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1961 film masterpiece. The word “accattone” (two t’s) means street beggar. In the film, the character Accattone is a pimp of the Roman “borgate” or slum-suburbs.
The Sala Trevi Alberto Sordi opened on March 6, 2003.
I also believe that Jean-Luc Godard’s controversial HAIL MARY, protested by some conservative Catholic groups as it had been in New York and elsewhere, played here not long before the theatre’s demise.
Seth, thanks for the great information. Where precisely was it located? Was it on Madison Avenue at 85th Street? I have an address of 1144 Madison Avenue for a Trans-Lux theatre.
I believe I visited this theatre only once, in November of 1974, for a special revival engagement of the 1953 film THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF GIUSEPPE VERDI, presented by Opera Presentations, Inc.
And that wasn’t the end of it! From the Normandie I went to the New Yorker to see A CHAPLIN REVIEW which consisted of the three films: SHOULDER ARMS, A DOG’S LIFE, and THE PILGRIM.