This has often been referred to as the old Star Theatre in Westerly (RI) but it was actually located a few yards across the city line/state line in the village of Pawcatuck in Stonington, Connecticut.
I never saw the actual interior of this theatre, since it was shuttered before I was born. I do remember being dropped off by the crosstown city bus from La Salle Academy on the Plainfield Street side of the long-closed theatre to await my Thornton or Hughesdale bus to get to my home in Johnston after school in 1956-1957 and perhaps later. Students from Mount Pleasant High School would also be waiting here to transfer to another bus. Even earlier however, before and after 1952, I remember walking with my mother into the former lobby of the Royal, which was then being used by a fruit and vegetable vendor. I would help her carry her purchases. I also remember the doors to the auditorium. They were on the left, perhaps after two or three steps. Looking back, I wish I had had a camera to photograph that portion of the interior. For some reason this theatre, more than any other lost theatre of Providence, has haunted my memories. Strange.
The collected records of the Royal Theatre, dating from 1914 to about 1935, are available for study purposes at the Brown University Library in Providence.
https://brown.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/328
The CNN documentary “Dreamland: the Burning of Black Wall Street” recounts quite powerfully the events of the 1921 Greenwood massacre and has numerous references to the theatre and a recurring image of the place.
Circa 1906.
This has often been referred to as the old Star Theatre in Westerly (RI) but it was actually located a few yards across the city line/state line in the village of Pawcatuck in Stonington, Connecticut.
PERMANENTLY CLOSED! (According to Block Island websites.)
“Rice Girl” was a very good Italian film with Elsa Martinelli. It was a spinoff of the more famous “Bitter Rice.”
I never saw the actual interior of this theatre, since it was shuttered before I was born. I do remember being dropped off by the crosstown city bus from La Salle Academy on the Plainfield Street side of the long-closed theatre to await my Thornton or Hughesdale bus to get to my home in Johnston after school in 1956-1957 and perhaps later. Students from Mount Pleasant High School would also be waiting here to transfer to another bus. Even earlier however, before and after 1952, I remember walking with my mother into the former lobby of the Royal, which was then being used by a fruit and vegetable vendor. I would help her carry her purchases. I also remember the doors to the auditorium. They were on the left, perhaps after two or three steps. Looking back, I wish I had had a camera to photograph that portion of the interior. For some reason this theatre, more than any other lost theatre of Providence, has haunted my memories. Strange.
The collected records of the Royal Theatre, dating from 1914 to about 1935, are available for study purposes at the Brown University Library in Providence. https://brown.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/328
This theatre first opened one hundred years ago in March 1921 as the Liberty.
1958 or thereabouts.
The CNN documentary “Dreamland: the Burning of Black Wall Street” recounts quite powerfully the events of the 1921 Greenwood massacre and has numerous references to the theatre and a recurring image of the place.
A 1975 film release.
I made a trip to the Cinema Dragon on August 9, 1970 to see the movie TRISTANA by Luis Bunuel.
Circa 1956.
December 1971.
LOS OLVIDADOS.
Film listed first on marquee: I WANTED WINGS (1941).
As the Tivoli.
As the State Art. Circa 1963.
DADDY LONG LEGS with Mary Pickford was a 1919 film.
A 1948 film on the marquee.
Both films on the marquee were released in 1952.
1943 and ff.
Note spelling ADELE.
In newspaper “L'Italo Americano di Los Angeles.”
1941 or so. “The Bad Man” with Wallace Beery.
Update: during the 1960s, this theatre was known for a while as the Coral Studio.