On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

I would like to present a great story written by one of my friends, Anthony Accardi. Like me, he grew up in Somerville and has seen the city’s many exciting changes.  This is the second story Anthony has shared with us. He is also a fan of  “the old days.”  I hope you enjoy this special guest feature.

It looks like it’s finally completed. Just a few cosmetics needed for the entrance. They built a balcony above the doorway that somewhat resembles the marquee that once graced the entrance. The grand opening was held the weekend of September 10. I read in their blog that they kept the former proscenium intact. What I am speaking of is the renovation of the former Broadway Theater or as we used to call it, the Broadway Show into a ceramic/clay pottery school. About ten years ago, Mudflat Studios, a ceramic and clay pottery school located further up Broadway purchased the theater from the City of Somerville. Its intention was to move from their outdated cramped studios at the former Tuck’s clothing store to a much more modern and larger facility. It wasn’t until about a year ago that the demolition and renovation started and a former movie theater was transformed into a ceramic/clay pottery school.

For the past year or so, I have been following their construction blog on their website. The shell of the theater remained intact since closing in 1982. I think just the seats, marquee, and fish bowl ticket booth were just removed. The decorative ceiling, walls, opera style balconies and proscenium all remained intact albeit very much decayed. I go by the site twice a week as I take the bus to and from work. Each time I pass by, my little tape recorder of a memory instantly goes from “rewind” to “play”. I cannot remember the first movie I saw there. I think it was a movie called Skinny and Fatty. This was a movie about two Japanese kids, one skinny and poor and one fat and well-to-do that become unlikely friends. Other movies I saw there were The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, both starring Don Knotts. There was Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry, Carwash, The Song Remains the Same, Freebie and the Bean and many others. Back then it was one dollar to get in during the week and on Friday and Saturday nights, it was a whopping $1.25. You could take a date to the movies for under $10, including admission, popcorn, candy and a drink for each of you.

As kids The Broadway Show was “our” theater. It was close to home and we either walked there or were dropped off and picked back up by one of our parents. Thinking back, the physical building and theater itself was really kind of rundown. Many of the seats were either broken or torn. The floors were always sticky and only the brave used their restrooms. All that didn’t matter to us. It was a place to see a movie and have fun. The popcorn was popped fresh and the aroma would waft throughout the theater. We had so many great times there, like the time Joey Scimemi was throwing jawbreakers at the screen from the projection booth. When they hit the screen, they would ripple and make the movie look wavy. Or the time when a former “X” rated movie Alice In Wonderland was edited down to “R” and shown there. The theater never carded nor turned down anyone, especially us under-17 teens trying to see an “R” rated movie. I think that movie lasted two nights before the pastor at St Benedicts caught wind of the movie and made them stop showing it. When I got into my teens, the manager (I think his name was Al), would allow us to bring in our beer with one stipulation. We had to take our empties with us when we left. Imagine making a deal like that to teens in this day and age.

As we all got older and then started driving, we started to go to other theaters like the Medford Square with its three cinemas or the Woburn Showcase, which back then had six cinemas and reclining seats. The Broadway was a single screen cinema and could only show one movie at a time. I think the last movie I saw there was Rocky II in 1979. The more modern movie theaters had more choices of movies, more comfortable seats. Although admission and food was much more expensive, the comfort and cleanliness that we didn’t care about as children, now became important to us. The Broadway slowly started becoming a place we really didn’t frequent as much and more of a place that we reminisced about.

Around 1982 with the opening of the Showcase Cinema in Revere, which had eight theaters under one roof, the Broadway was on life support. Its knockout punch came when the Sack Cinema at the old Assembly Square mall opened. It was at that point that the few people that were still going to the Broadway (those loyal locals that didn’t want to drive far or didn’t drive at all) were now given an option of another theater with a choice of ten cinemas. Soon after that the Broadway closed its doors forever. It succumbed to what would be the future of movie going.

Now its future is that of a ceramic/pottery school. The building went from entertaining generations of children and adults to a place where one can use their imagination to create anything they want with their own two hands. I can only hope that the memory of the old Broadway Show will live on while clay pots and figurines are being molded and fired in Mudflat Studios many kilns. Think about all the movies, the smiles, the tears and most of all the memories that the old building holds.

– Anthony Accardi