The street number is probably correct, but it is a far stretch to refer to it as Chinatown, which is a good number of blocks away. Nothing Chinese is there. The theatre is close to Park Square.
The “Cinema 3” at the Plaza Hotel was actually referred to as Cinema III, in a review I have from the New York Times. Since it was a separate theatre in another part of town, it deserves its own listing, which I shall submit.
When E.T. played here, day/dating in its initial run with other area theatres, it was an enormous success, perhaps more than any other movie in the theatre’s not-very-long history. When the theatre was twinned by erecting a wall from rear to front, the two resulting spaces were long and narrow bowling-alley auditoriums, and CinemaScope films were no longer well-served as they had been in the single-screen years.
Yes, you may be right. I have in front of me the program notes the theatre gave out when I went there to see Antonioni’s ECLIPSE in December, 1962. It states simply “Little Carnegie” on the front, as do most of the ads I have. The now very amusing first paragraph of the notes begins, “Man’s inability to cummunicate and his sense of alienation continues to concern Antonioni…” That theme rather defined much art house fare of the period, and it was perfectly complemented by the then-free espresso so many of those places offered patrons to help them survive their angst.
I will report some of the other contents of the 1915 ad I have here. For the week of April 19th, 1915, the theatre showed: Monday & Tuesday: THE MAN FROM HOME and JUSTIFIED; Wednesday and Thursday: THE STRAIGHT ROAD with Gladys Hanson and THE CHINATOWN MYSTERY; Friday and Saturday: THE BOUNDARY LINE and the Thomas Ince produced IN THE TENNESSEE HILLS. Admission was 10 cents for all shows.
(Sunday shows were prohibited in Rhode Island at that time.)
I remember attending the Boston premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s FRENZY here on June 20, 1972 with the great director in attendance. Hitch introduced the movie and cracked many sly jokes in his inimitable manner.
Nostalgic memories of the Johnston Theatre are many. As a child in the 1940s into the 1950s I remember regularly walking to the Sunday matinees at this theatre where the admission was 25 cents. The two-bits got you two movies, previews, cartoons, and for a while, a Roy Rogers Club featurette. 10 cents would get you a soda and a candy bar. Popcorn was no more than a dime. The kiddie-packed matinee, filled with screaming, unruly kids constantly running back and forth, particularly during quiet moments in any movie, made for an exceptionally raucous environment. All this was kept under reasonable control by an elderly matron who ran from row to row (she had a pronounced limp) and, with flashlight a-waving, snarled at kids in an attempt to keep them in line. She looked like the Wicked Witch of the West. Later, in our teen years, we would forego the Sunday matinees in favor of the Friday night shows,which is what all the local kids went to. We related to James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and EAST OF EDEN on a double bill at one of those shows. By common consent, the right rear of the theatre was reserved for smooching (and more) by amorous adolescents.
I believe that the Fine Arts Theatre,which I mentioned above, was part of the Loew’s State building, and continued showing its art repertory until the mid 60s even after Loew’s itself stopped showing movies. You entered from the street on the right of Loew’s, went up a staircase, and came into this recital-hall sized theatre. Can anyone verify this? They had great programs. I went countless times in those years.
This theatre is actually a two-screen theatre. The balcony was scetioned off in the 60s and for a long while art house fare was programmed on both the downstairs screen and the upstairs one which was known as the “Studio Cinema.” The Studio screen was used, like the downstairs one, when the theatre was a porno house for over thirty years. Both screens are used during the annual Rhode Island Film Festival.
To show what the programming was like, some films I saw here were CUL-DE-SAC, DAISIES, 491, THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR, I AM CURIOUS YELLOW, THE RAILROAD MAN, LA DOLCE VITA, DINNER AT EIGHT, THE COOL WORLD.
And when Jean Renoir’s lovely THE RIVER played here for thirty-four weeks beginning in September, 1951, it was given a roadshow treatment, two shows daily (2:30 and 8:30) and reserved seats. Classy treatment for this 99 minute non-blockbuster work of poetry!
The projection here was top-notch…whether showing a revival of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN or a 70mm DAYS OF HEAVEN. Aspect ratios were respected, masking was correct, and you could trust the theatre to get things right with sound and focus. The theatre, by the way, kept its name “Cinerama Theatre” even after it no longer showed Cinerama.
A wonderful theatre with enormous character and unique ambience. You felt like you were in some kind of Tudor manor or English country church there, not surprising considering its origin as the First Spiritual Temple. It had similarities with New York’s Plaza Theatre on 58th Street. Even the newspaper ads were always submitted in a period lettering style and format. My first film seen here was Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES in the summer of 1959. The last one was a revival of Visconti’s integral THE LEOPARD around 1984. The place was the complete opposite of so many nondescript and boringly interchangeable places we watch movies in today. A lost treasure for sure.
I saw some very nice movies here over the decades: Claude Chabrol’s THE COUSINS, Inagaki’s SAMURAI, an untrimmed print of Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST and so much more.
There were some annoying characteristics with this theatre. The exit lights were right next to the screen and cast a glow on them, All films, old and new, CinemaScope and standard ratio, were shown to fit an invariable screen ratio.
Many thanks to all of you knowledgeable and industrious staff members. I’ve been able, through this site, to learn so much about this fascinating subject we all love but also to share some of my own gleanings. One of the best sites ever, and I am now fully addicted. May require therapy.
From the Providence Journal, November 5, 1933: “All French Dialogue Feature Photoplay "SOUS LA LUNE DU MAROC”. Based on the story “Les Cinq Gentlemen Maudits” by Andre' Reuze. With a fine cast of Parisian stage and screen stars. 2 Days only, Wed.-Thurs., Nov. 8-9. LAURIER Theatre. Woonsocket, R.I. Mat. at 1:30. Eve. at 7:00.
I was there only twice, I believe in 1958 and 1959, for Jacques Tati’s MY UNCLE and Jack Clayton’s ROOM AT THE TOP. It was a much more spacious theatre and with much better sight lines than its follow-up, the Kenmore Square Cinema, would be.
I saw some great movies there for the first time: Mastroianni in FAMILY DIARY, Teshigahara’s WOMAN IN THE DUNES and THE INSECT WOMAN,
the film about the Rome Olympics THE GRAND OLYMPICS. I remember that the angle of projection from the top of a high balcony was so steep that it caused “keystoning”, a noticeably trapezoidal image on the screen. It was, however, a refurbished, clean and characterful theatre. I remember a funny story as well. Once, before a showing of Ferreri’s THE CONJUGAL BED, a woman complained to the cashier when she found out that the Italian movie was going to have subtitles. “What do you mean, it’s in Italian. This is America. We speak English. Why do you show movies like that?”
A bit of esoterica: in June of 1934 the Community Theatre showed, for three days, what was billed as the first showing in Rhode Island of “the most talked of film in the world.” It was an English-language version of the 1931 German MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM (Girls in Uniform), now considered a great classic of world cinema. The theme of lesbian love in a girls' school must have been considered extremely shocking at the time. Patrons were advised in the Providence Journal ad, “NOTE, Because of the Delicate Theme, No Children Will Be Admitted.” Admission was 25 cents for the matinees, 40 cents for evening shows.
The street number is probably correct, but it is a far stretch to refer to it as Chinatown, which is a good number of blocks away. Nothing Chinese is there. The theatre is close to Park Square.
The “Cinema 3” at the Plaza Hotel was actually referred to as Cinema III, in a review I have from the New York Times. Since it was a separate theatre in another part of town, it deserves its own listing, which I shall submit.
Then perhaps I shall be bold enough to add a separate listing for the Fine Arts Theatre to see what memories some folks may have of that place.
When E.T. played here, day/dating in its initial run with other area theatres, it was an enormous success, perhaps more than any other movie in the theatre’s not-very-long history. When the theatre was twinned by erecting a wall from rear to front, the two resulting spaces were long and narrow bowling-alley auditoriums, and CinemaScope films were no longer well-served as they had been in the single-screen years.
Yes, you may be right. I have in front of me the program notes the theatre gave out when I went there to see Antonioni’s ECLIPSE in December, 1962. It states simply “Little Carnegie” on the front, as do most of the ads I have. The now very amusing first paragraph of the notes begins, “Man’s inability to cummunicate and his sense of alienation continues to concern Antonioni…” That theme rather defined much art house fare of the period, and it was perfectly complemented by the then-free espresso so many of those places offered patrons to help them survive their angst.
I will report some of the other contents of the 1915 ad I have here. For the week of April 19th, 1915, the theatre showed: Monday & Tuesday: THE MAN FROM HOME and JUSTIFIED; Wednesday and Thursday: THE STRAIGHT ROAD with Gladys Hanson and THE CHINATOWN MYSTERY; Friday and Saturday: THE BOUNDARY LINE and the Thomas Ince produced IN THE TENNESSEE HILLS. Admission was 10 cents for all shows.
(Sunday shows were prohibited in Rhode Island at that time.)
I remember attending the Boston premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s FRENZY here on June 20, 1972 with the great director in attendance. Hitch introduced the movie and cracked many sly jokes in his inimitable manner.
Sorry, the Carnegie Hall Cinema, with which the Little Carnegie is not to be confused, was around the corner on 7TH AVENUE.
Nostalgic memories of the Johnston Theatre are many. As a child in the 1940s into the 1950s I remember regularly walking to the Sunday matinees at this theatre where the admission was 25 cents. The two-bits got you two movies, previews, cartoons, and for a while, a Roy Rogers Club featurette. 10 cents would get you a soda and a candy bar. Popcorn was no more than a dime. The kiddie-packed matinee, filled with screaming, unruly kids constantly running back and forth, particularly during quiet moments in any movie, made for an exceptionally raucous environment. All this was kept under reasonable control by an elderly matron who ran from row to row (she had a pronounced limp) and, with flashlight a-waving, snarled at kids in an attempt to keep them in line. She looked like the Wicked Witch of the West. Later, in our teen years, we would forego the Sunday matinees in favor of the Friday night shows,which is what all the local kids went to. We related to James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and EAST OF EDEN on a double bill at one of those shows. By common consent, the right rear of the theatre was reserved for smooching (and more) by amorous adolescents.
I believe that the Fine Arts Theatre,which I mentioned above, was part of the Loew’s State building, and continued showing its art repertory until the mid 60s even after Loew’s itself stopped showing movies. You entered from the street on the right of Loew’s, went up a staircase, and came into this recital-hall sized theatre. Can anyone verify this? They had great programs. I went countless times in those years.
…and SCORPIO RISING with JOHNNY MINOTAUR!
This theatre is actually a two-screen theatre. The balcony was scetioned off in the 60s and for a long while art house fare was programmed on both the downstairs screen and the upstairs one which was known as the “Studio Cinema.” The Studio screen was used, like the downstairs one, when the theatre was a porno house for over thirty years. Both screens are used during the annual Rhode Island Film Festival.
To show what the programming was like, some films I saw here were CUL-DE-SAC, DAISIES, 491, THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR, I AM CURIOUS YELLOW, THE RAILROAD MAN, LA DOLCE VITA, DINNER AT EIGHT, THE COOL WORLD.
And when Jean Renoir’s lovely THE RIVER played here for thirty-four weeks beginning in September, 1951, it was given a roadshow treatment, two shows daily (2:30 and 8:30) and reserved seats. Classy treatment for this 99 minute non-blockbuster work of poetry!
The theatre also used to program occasional foreign films in the smallest of the three cinemas. Imports were otherwise rarely screened in the area.
The projection here was top-notch…whether showing a revival of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN or a 70mm DAYS OF HEAVEN. Aspect ratios were respected, masking was correct, and you could trust the theatre to get things right with sound and focus. The theatre, by the way, kept its name “Cinerama Theatre” even after it no longer showed Cinerama.
A wonderful theatre with enormous character and unique ambience. You felt like you were in some kind of Tudor manor or English country church there, not surprising considering its origin as the First Spiritual Temple. It had similarities with New York’s Plaza Theatre on 58th Street. Even the newspaper ads were always submitted in a period lettering style and format. My first film seen here was Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES in the summer of 1959. The last one was a revival of Visconti’s integral THE LEOPARD around 1984. The place was the complete opposite of so many nondescript and boringly interchangeable places we watch movies in today. A lost treasure for sure.
I saw some very nice movies here over the decades: Claude Chabrol’s THE COUSINS, Inagaki’s SAMURAI, an untrimmed print of Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST and so much more.
There were some annoying characteristics with this theatre. The exit lights were right next to the screen and cast a glow on them, All films, old and new, CinemaScope and standard ratio, were shown to fit an invariable screen ratio.
Many thanks to all of you knowledgeable and industrious staff members. I’ve been able, through this site, to learn so much about this fascinating subject we all love but also to share some of my own gleanings. One of the best sites ever, and I am now fully addicted. May require therapy.
Considering the name of the theatre, was it ever an Italian-language house?
From the Providence Journal, November 5, 1933: “All French Dialogue Feature Photoplay "SOUS LA LUNE DU MAROC”. Based on the story “Les Cinq Gentlemen Maudits” by Andre' Reuze. With a fine cast of Parisian stage and screen stars. 2 Days only, Wed.-Thurs., Nov. 8-9. LAURIER Theatre. Woonsocket, R.I. Mat. at 1:30. Eve. at 7:00.
I was there only twice, I believe in 1958 and 1959, for Jacques Tati’s MY UNCLE and Jack Clayton’s ROOM AT THE TOP. It was a much more spacious theatre and with much better sight lines than its follow-up, the Kenmore Square Cinema, would be.
I saw some great movies there for the first time: Mastroianni in FAMILY DIARY, Teshigahara’s WOMAN IN THE DUNES and THE INSECT WOMAN,
the film about the Rome Olympics THE GRAND OLYMPICS. I remember that the angle of projection from the top of a high balcony was so steep that it caused “keystoning”, a noticeably trapezoidal image on the screen. It was, however, a refurbished, clean and characterful theatre. I remember a funny story as well. Once, before a showing of Ferreri’s THE CONJUGAL BED, a woman complained to the cashier when she found out that the Italian movie was going to have subtitles. “What do you mean, it’s in Italian. This is America. We speak English. Why do you show movies like that?”
A bit of esoterica: in June of 1934 the Community Theatre showed, for three days, what was billed as the first showing in Rhode Island of “the most talked of film in the world.” It was an English-language version of the 1931 German MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM (Girls in Uniform), now considered a great classic of world cinema. The theme of lesbian love in a girls' school must have been considered extremely shocking at the time. Patrons were advised in the Providence Journal ad, “NOTE, Because of the Delicate Theme, No Children Will Be Admitted.” Admission was 25 cents for the matinees, 40 cents for evening shows.