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$3 Million for Construction in Boston
Joe Levine Plans Twin Theatre Project
While Ben Sack Will Add 3 Houses
Architects' drawing of the twin theatre planned by Joe Levine in Boston.
By GUY LIVINGSTON
BOSTON — Joe Levine, the producerdistributor,
now going into exhibition in
Boston announced his long-awaited plans
for the first twin theatre in Boston at a
press luncheon and conference at the Ritz
Carlton hotel here on Wednesday i8).
With two associates he showed the plans
for the $1,000,000 project, a twin theatre
with 500 seats on the lower level, and 700
seats on the upper level, featuring continental
seating, and one boxoffice, to be
built at 596 Commonwealth Ave. in the
Kenmore Square area opposite Boston University
dormitories.
Levine, in association with Albert R.
Daytz, veteran exhibitor with a circuit of
theatres, and his partner, attorney Maurice
Epstein, signed a 50-year lease on the
parcel of land where the theatre is to be
built by William Riseman Associates of
Boston and Ben Schlanger, consulting theatre
architect. Levine said the theatre has
not been named, and that he inay run a
contest in Boston for a name for the new
type theatre.
Plans call for the opening of the new
theatre by Labor Day. "A most revolutionary
architectural conception of theatre
design has been blueprinted for thLs theatre,"
Levine said. "Twin theatres that
will combine perfection in sight and sound
from every section of these theatres. Special
continental seats giving parlor seat
comfort to all, with generous aisles always
illuminated from below the seats. Fresh
pure air the year around will be automatically
circulated.
"One of the truly revolutionai'y details
of these twin theatres will be that never
will the viewer be subjected to 'black-outs'
or obstniction of vision at any time. Thus
the continuity of the visual story on the
screen will remain luibroken.
"In every detail of the architecture, the
comfort of the patron has been the dominant
factor stressed," he said. "Spacious
lobbies, comfortable rest rooms, picturesque
but simple decor, always restful to the eye."
He called it "a jewel of a theatre," and
"doubly so, since they will be 'twins.' "
Levine also announced that he and his
associates are taking over the Telepix Tiieatre
in the Park Square Building, which
will be renamed the Park Square Theatre,
where the seating of 211 will be increased
to 250. Telepix, now operated by Irving
Isaacs, closes on April 30, and the new
owners take over for refurbishing and expansion
during May and June with opening
set for July 1.
The combination move of the twin theatres
and the Telepix gives Levine three
theatres in Boston for playdates. The cost
of construction of the twin theatre is set
at $600,000 and the land is valued at about
$400,000, a conservative estimate, Levine
said.
Also Ben Sack, the hard-hitting
Boston exhibitor, who is rapidly winning
international attention with his remodeling
and restyling of motion picture theatres
making them edifices of beauty and simplicity,
to say nothing of practicality, and
who has been making news in the motion
picture business in Boston, has announced
his biggest coup, which has Boston. New
York and Hollywood sitting up and taking
notice. The operation, which is focusing
the eyes of the motion picture world on
Boston finds the colorful exhibitor plunging
into a $2,000,000 theatre building and
acquisition deal, which will add tliree
brand new showcase houses to his extensive
holdings.
The operation, which is going down as
one of the biggest deals in motion picture
history here, includes the building of a
new revolutionary type motion picture theatre,
the taking over and refurbishing and
restyling of two other theatres including
the largest capacity house in Boston, the
Metropolitan.
Sack is building a revolutionary new
type 1,200-seat theatre, which will be completely
walled with glass on one side that
allows for visibility in and out, with electronically
controlled curtains coming together
to screen the glass when the 70mm
projection, wiiich the house will be
equipped with, goes on the screen. With
800 orchestra seats, and 400 mezzanine
seats, including rocking chair seats, the
theatre, which will be named "The Commonwealth."
will be built at Kenmore
Square at the corner of Beacon St. and
Commonwealth Ave. Ground for the new
theatre will be broken in three weeks, and
Sack expects to open the glass house in
September.
TO REFURBISH METROPOUTAN
The exhibitor, who has made show case
houses out of his Beacon Hill, Capri, Saxon
and Gary theatres in Boston, takes over
the biggest motion picture palace of them
all, the Metropolitan, built in 1925, and a
showplace, which he wall completely refurbish
and restyle in a $500,000 operation.
The MetropoUtan, which was recently
sold by ABC -Paramount Corp. to the New
England Hospital Center, is going to receive
a complete overhaul from top to bottom,
inside and outside. It wOl be named: "Boston's
Music Hall."
With all new seats, an 80-foot screen,
interior and exterior work in keeping with
the beauty and design of the marble building,
all types of greenery will be installed
and spouting fountains will be placed in
the marble lobby. The Sack inspired
"Music Hall" is set to open on Friday, July
13. And the exhibitor said he picked the
Friday, 13th date pui-posely, to indicate
that "pictm-es are great any day in the
week, no matter what!"
The showman will also restyle and refurbish
the Strand Theatre on Huntington
Ave., which will be called the Capri, and
which will open on June 28. This house will
carry on for Sack's present Capri, which is
in the path of a new toll road extension
into downtown Boston and will be torn
down.
Sack, whose theatres here, the Beacon
Hill, Gary, Saxon and Capri, have played
seven Academy Awards in six years, leaves
for the coast to screen new product for his
theatres on April 26, and he will call a
press conference on his return to detail
plans for the new theatres, and to show
blue prints and sketches to the press.
SIX FOR SACK IN BOSTON
With the completion of his projected $2,-
000,000 plan, the showman will have six
theatres in Boston, the Beacon Hill, Gary,
Saxon, the new Capri, new "Boston's Music
Hall," and new "Commonwealth."
Sack only recently completed a $50,000
refm-bishing job on the Beacon Hill Theatre
making it a showcase house. He converted
his other three theatres from former
legit houses into No. 1 motion picture theatres,
the Saxon, which was the former
Majestic: then Gary, the former Plymouth:
and the Capri, the former Copley. With
the acquisition of the Metropolitan, he will
be operating the biggest capacity film
house in the city. The theatre is occupied
by the Metropolitan Opera Co. for one
week. Sack's staff moves into the Metropolitan
on June 1, and present offices of
New England Theatres there, will serve as
Sack Theati-es general offices.
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BOXOFnCE AprU 16, 1962