Somerville Theatre

Somerville Theater/Hobbs Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Somerville Theater, as seen from across Davis Square
Location	Somerville, Massachusetts
Built	1914
Architect	Funk & Wilcox
Architectural style	Art Deco
MPS	Somerville MRA
NRHP reference No.	89002330
Added to NRHP	1990

The Somerville Theater is a movie theater and concert venue in Davis Square, located just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, in the city of Somerville in the United States of America. It is currently the only operating movie theater in Somerville since the closing of the theater complex at Assembly Square. It has played host to many historic concerts in the past, including the first of the two Last Dispatch concerts, and two remarkable shows by Bruce Springsteen in 2003, and one performance by U2 in 2009. Generally known for running second-run movies at reduced prices, the theater has of late been showing first run movies while maintaining a ticket price in the range of $5–$7. Bands that have played at the Somerville Theater recently include Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cursive, Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Joan Baez, and the John Butler Trio. It is also the home of the Somerville branch of the Museum of Bad Art.

Early years

The Somerville Theater and the Hobbs Building it is a part of was built in 1914 by Joseph Hobbs and designed by the firm of Funk & Wilcox of Boston. Designed for stage shows, vaudeville, opera, and that new fad, motion pictures, the theater was only one of the highlights of the Hobbs Building, which also contained a basement café, basement bowling alley and billiards hall, the theater lobbies and ten storefronts on the ground floor, and the Hobbs Crystal Ballroom, a 700 person dance hall, on the second floor. The second and third floors also contained office space for lease. In 1915, the Somerville Theater Players began their stock company presentation of weekly play performances. Among the notable players who came up at the Somerville were Tallulah Bankhead, Kay Corbett, and Francis X. Bushman. Future film director Busby Berkeley (famous for 42nd Street and other stylized musicals of the 1930s) directed many shows at the Somerville in the mid 1920s.

The Movie Era

In 1926, the Hobbs family leased and subsequently sold the theater to Arthur F. Viano, whose family built and owned other area theaters such as the Teele Square Theater, the Broadway Theater in East Somerville, and the Regent Theater in Arlington. The Vianos continued with the stock theater company until the harsh economics of the Depression forced them into a 'movies only' policy in 1932. Throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, the Somerville remained a prime neighborhood movie house. In those days, new films would open at the downtown theaters like the RKO Keiths (now the Boston Opera House), the Paramount, the Metropolitan (now the Citi Performing Arts Center) and the Loew's Orpheum (now a concert hall). After playing downtown, the pictures made their way, week by week, often two and three per week, to the neighborhood houses like the Somerville Theater. Like all Viano Theaters, the Somerville was well known for fresh popcorn, and also for gimmicks like prize nights. These gift nights began in the depression and lasted at the Somerville until the 1970s. These were certain nights, usually weekdays, where dishware, appliances, and other merchandise was given away to entice patrons to attend the show. Gradually the Viano family came to operate the Capitol Theater in Arlington as well, and by the 1970s, the Somerville, Capitol, Regent, and Broadway theaters were mainstays of local movie-going. The opening of the Sacks Assembly Square Cinema (now closed) helped to kill the Broadway Theater, and the Fresh Pond Drive-In became a multiplex, forcing the Cambridge-Somerville-Arlington neighborhood theaters to become strictly second run venues.

Repertory House

The Viano family leased the Somerville to Garen Daly in 1982, and he turned the theater into a repertory house, running double features and daily changes, offering independent and offbeat fare in the days before video and DVD made it easy to track down such titles. Daly also brought back live performances to the stage for the first time since the 1930s when he began programming concerts to complement the film programs. During this period, the Hobbs Building was purchased by Chatham Light Realty, whose owners, the Fraiman family, had previously bought and operated the Capitol Theater in Arlington. When Garen Daly's lease ended in 1989, the Fraimans decided to operate the Somerville themselves, closing the venue for a series of renovations. Some in the community were afraid the original theater would be subdivided into smaller cinemas, and formed an activist group to prevent such an occurrence, but as the owners had never actually made that decision, the theater was preserved, and reopened in 1990, looking better than ever, and retaining its single screen charm.

Renovation and Restoration

Movie attendance, however, had dropped considerably, and a plan had to be devised to keep the theater competitive. The remainder of the Hobbs Building, with the exception of a few storefronts and the theater, had been abandoned since the early 80s, and this space proved to be the answer. In 1996, extensive renovations were begun. The bowling alleys in the basement and a portion of the first floor retail space were gutted to create modern bathrooms and two new auditoriums. Two more screens were built in the former ballroom space on the second floor. An elevator was installed, new windows and a bright stylish marquee were added, and the third and second floors became new and modern office space. The theater lobby was expanded by taking over an adjacent storefront, and new comfortable seats were installed in the orchestra seating of the original auditorium.

File:MOBA Somerville Theater gallery.jpg

Museum of Bad Art at the Theater.

Further renovations in 2006 restored the original auditorium interior to a more historically accurate theme and color scheme while upgrades to the stage like new curtains, rigging, and movie screen were also completed.

In 2008 the second gallery of the Museum of Bad Art opened in the basement of the theater. The gallery was placed near both the women's and men's restrooms, similar to the museum's first gallery location in the Dedham Community Theater. Although the original gallery is free and open to the public, the gallery here is only free with admission to the theater.

Renovations in the summer of 2009 included new balcony seating, replacing the original seats from 1914; the installation of Dolby Digital Sound and 24 surround speakers throughout the original auditorium; and a revamped projection booth, containing two Norelco DP-70 projectors. The Somerville is now one of the few theaters in New England that can run 70mm film.

Today

Today, operated by F.E.I. Theaters, the Somerville Theater continues to entertain locals with five screens of first run films and regular music and stage performances. It struggles to compete with the giant chain theaters and the local non-profit art-houses, remaining, with its sister theater, the Capitol, among the last of the neighborhood theaters that aren't a charity. It still offers an inexpensive ticket, lower food prices, fresher popcorn (with real butter if desired), alcoholic beverages in the evening, and a funky charm that bigger theaters cannot offer.

U2 performed a "secret show" there on March 11, 2009. Only 800 people attended; they won the tickets from local radio station giveaways. In addition, Cinematic Titanic played two live shows on February 20 and 21, 2009, both of which were sold out.

External links

• Official Site