Casino Theatre
Ocean Road,
Narragansett,
RI
02882
Ocean Road,
Narragansett,
RI
02882
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 14 comments
I recall seeing “Magnificent Seven” with Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Yule Brenner in the late 60s at the Pier. My family was summering in Narragansett & we walked to the Cinema in the evening.
In wasn’t aware of the Casino Cinema which was destroyed in the ‘38 hurricane. My guess, it was close to the Towers remnant of Narragansett Casino. I’ve seen images of the Narragansett Casino and it appeared to encompass a large area.
The reports of the Casino Theatre’s demise in the 1938 hurricane may not have been exaggerated. A list of theater projects reported in the last half of 1938 was published in the January 7, 1939 issue of Motion Picture Herald, and a 700-seat Casino Theatre at Narraganset was among them.
From The (Providence) Evening Tribune, September 8, 1916: “Narragansett’s season is rapidly nearing its end, and departures are now the rule rather than arrivals. Social events are few and far between, and for lack of these, society here has taken to the ‘movies.’ The attractive new moving picture house at the Pier fills a long-felt want and the patronage from the cottage colony and hotels has been so large that practically every seat has been taken for the evening performances. Indeed, if one wishes to meet friends just now one needs only to go to the ‘movies’ at any time between 8 and 10 o'clock.”
In September 1922 this theatre was part of Rhode Island’s Paramount Week. Click to see the ad in Providence News, September 1, 1922, which contains a list of all participating theatres as well as the films shown that week.
PART ONE OF AD
PART TWO OF AD
Item in Boxoffice Magazine, October 1, 1938 (after the hurricane)
WASHED TO SEA
There were unconfirmed rumors Saturday that the Casino Theatre at Narragansett Pier in Roode Island had been washed to sea.
The Music Trade Review of September 30, 1916, said “The $100,000 Casino theatre at Narragansett Pier, has just been opened by John Hannon.”
Here is an aerial photo of seaside Narragansett in the 1960s. On the left above the red X, next to the post office, you can seen where the Casino Theatre/Pier Cinema used to be. It is the long white building.
The Casino Theatre became the Pier Cinema in 1967.
Newspaper ad for Esquire Theatres in Rhode Island on December 7, 1971.
Although this information doesn’t deal directly with the Casino/Pier, this is probably an appropriate place to post, since the Pier depot, with which this deals, was about a block away. A Providence Journal article of August 30, 1938 reported a planned movie show at the abandoned Narragansett Pier Railroad Station. I’ve paraphrased some of the information.
A group of men, having formed their own movie company, “S.P.E.”, had produced the feature film The Verdict, from a French play by Erckman-Chatrian called The Bells. Harold Thewlis, one of the members of the group, had the leading role. A second feature, Concentrated Vodka, an original comedy written and acted by the producers, would also be offered that week with showings on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday…and more if boxoffice receipts warranted. Travel films taken by the company during a European bicycle trip would also be featured.
I could uncover no information on these films, although other film versions of Erckman-Chatrian’s play can be found on IMDb.
As the Pier Cinema in March, 1970, one of the double bills was the adultish Russ Meyer program of Good Morning…and Goodbye! & Vixen.
This Casino Theatre is not to be confused with the Narragansett Casino, a dance and live entertainment venue and a Narragansett Pier legend.
Here is a photo of the theatre in 1967 when I went to see “The War Wagon."
View link
I believe the theatre was also called the Pier Cinema in its last days. In June of 1967 I saw THE WAR WAGON here. I have a photo I took that day showing the entrance to the theatre, the “Casino” sign, and a poster-window displaying a one-sheet of THE WAR WAGON. I believe it was the only time I visited the place, which seemed weather-beaten and moldy in a kind of almost charming summer-colony manner. The theatre did not survive another decade, if that. The three-screened Narragansett Theatre now stands a few hundred feet away in a complex of condominiums and small shops.