Art Theatre
1878 Purchase Street,
New Bedford,
MA
02740
1878 Purchase Street,
New Bedford,
MA
02740
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Casino Theatre
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Opened by 1927, this 600-seat neighborhood theatre had been known as the Casino Theatre when there was a policy change instituted in the late-1940’s that lasted until about 1951, judging from advertisements in the New Bedford Standard-Times.
By 1950 it had been renamed Art Theatre and become an art house that presented very carefully selected films, usually British, Italian, French. The management must have been very fond of classical music and opera because many operatic and other serious music films were presented. They would occasionally be augmented by a live vocalist or other (local) artist. The programs ran for one week only. There was one evening show and a matinee on Thursdays and Sundays. Advertisements described the place as being “your intimate cinema”. The whole affair looks to have been a true labor of love.
I don’t believe that apart from this cinema there was ever any long-term art house in New Bedford.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Here are some of the films shown in the Art Theatre’s heyday during the 1949-1951 period. Note the emphasis on many movies with a classical music or operatic connection: Shoe Shine, To Live in Peace, Mad About Opera, La Traviata, The Red Shoes, The Stone Flower, Volpone, Saraband, To Live in Peace, The Mikado, Passionelle & Torment, Hamlet, Specter of the Rose, The Walls of Malapaga, Rigoletto, Don Quixote, Symphonie Pastorale, Die Fledermaus, Lucia di Lamermoor, Tight Little Island, Animal Crackers & The Informer, Spring in Park Lane, Quartet, The Astonished Heart, Eternal Melodies-The Life of Mozart (advertised as “our contribution to the Salzburg Music Festival”) & a short with Ezio Pinza called “Rehearsal”, Rembrandt, The Ghost Goes West, Devil in the Flesh, Grand Illusion, This Happy Breed, Devil’s Cargo & Elephant Boy, Il Trovatore, Monsieur Vincent, The Fallen Idol, Henry V, Loves of a Clown (Pagliacci), Five Men and a Woman & Alien for a Night, Intermezzo & Since You Went Away, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill & Miranda, The Glass Mountain, The Hidden Room, Passport to Pimlico, The Affair Blum, Salt to the Devil (a.k.a. Christ in Concrete), Faust and the Devil, Kind Hearts and Coronets.
There is a MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the Casino Theatre at 1878 Purchase St. in New Bedford, with a facade photo dated May 1941. It had a very fancy facade with a canopy over the sidewalk and a vertical sign above. To its right were 3 large old wood-frame houses. The Report states that the Casino was not a MGM customer, that it was over 15 years old, that it was in Poor condition, and had 700 seats, all on one floor.
An article in the New Bedford paper described the October 7, 2007 opening of the Orpheum theatre for a “rope light tour.” In it some of the history of the ownership of the Casino is referred to.
READ HERE
What is now at this location?
Looks like a garage next to a residence. You can use Google Maps, type in the address, take it to street level, swivel, and see images of all that is around. Can’t pinpoint where the theatre was.
I’ve never been able to tell from Google Maps whether I’m pointing at the even or odd side of a street, though.
About all I do in that case Ron, is find a business or two in the immediate area, Google them to get their exact address, and go from there. Occasionally addresses change. An old theater may be 431 Main St, but the new business in the same old building may use 433 Main St, as an example.
Sometimes the google maps will tell you what is at that address now,but of course it does not in this case.And a SiliconSam states sometimes the address change anyway.
As the Casino, this theater is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook, with 600 seats open daily.
“The Art Theatre, New Bedford, operated by Irving Conn the last few years, has been taken back by owner Henry Tobin, who will continue its art policy.” —notice in Boxoffice Magazine, December 30, 1950.