Framingham Views

The E.M. Loews Hollis Theatre closed in 1954. The building is still there, owned by a Church. Imagine if the theatre were still there today. Here’s how the block might look.

Opened October 4, 1951, the Framingham Cinema in Shoppers World was considered the very first theatre in a shopping center on the east coast. It would’ve been the first one, except that a theatre in Washington State opened a few months before it.

Here’s the cover of Boxoffice Magazine from 1952.

The entrance to the theatre was on the side facing the shopping center, across from Brockelman’s Market and the Carousel Lounge. Here’s a view looking at the candy stand and boxoffice.  When they added Cinema II in 1964, this area was renovated with vending machines behind white formica doors, and an outside smoking area.  

Here is a view of the auditorium with balcony.  There were 1432 seats here, often sold out on the weekends.

In 1963, the original maroon backed seats with velvet covered cushions  were removed and replaced with white backed, red vinyl seats.  I guess they thought bright seatbacks were more modern looking. This auditorium was split in half in the mid 1970’s, with a wall running down the middle.  In case you’re wondering where they popped corn, looking at the picture, at the back right of the balcony, next to the exit door, was another door that led to the “popcorn room”.  Sorry, but I don’t have a picture of it.

Chet’s Diner on Route 20 was a popular late night spot for many years. It was built on site, around 1931, and looks like what is called a Worcester Diner.  I found these photos at an estate sale a few years ago. The photographer seems to have stopped at Chets after an evening out in Boston, around 1940.

Here are some interior views.

Many years ago, Nobscot Cleaners seemed to be everywhere in Framingham. The store I remember well, was the one on Route 30 in between the Cock a Doodle Doo and the aero-moderne gas station. You know the block of stores that never seem to be open, with the sign in the window that says “refurbrished laptops.”  Nobscot Cleaners had a huge neon sign in front, and if memory serves me right, usually huge neon signs on top of every building they owned.

Back in the day when Cinemas had ushers in uniform, Nobscot Cleaners was the place to go every Tuesday. The crew would leave their uniforms (sport coat, and tux pants) in the office, so that the Manager could drop them off at Nobscot to be cleaned in time for the next weekend.

I don’t know what happened to all the Nobscot Cleaners, but they’re all gone. I wish I had a photo, but the only thing I could find, was a lonely coat hanger with the paper label still attached. Here it is. 

First, we’ll have to thank Wes Tremere for his memorable photography in this Dennison brochure of 1943. Here’s Wes behind the camera.

And here are a few more of his subjects, the Dennison Girls.

There’s Audrey McConnon on the shore of Lake Waushakum.

Next, we have  Mary Joyce, from Sherborn.

And finally, there’s Ursula Grimes of the advertising department.

Looks like someone sent back a souvenir.

Here are a few more pinup girls of the Dennison in Framingham from a World War II magazine sent to the boys in the War.

Ada Sheehan from Department 3 .

Next in a classic pose, is Helen Kittredge from the Correspondence Department posed on the lawn of the Framingham Country Club.

And finally, a favorite Saxonville girl who posed twice for this, and this time in a hayloft at the Twin Maple Farms, Jane Suprena, Sales Service, and as it says, this is “Not taken at the New Warehouse” (wink)

I’m sure the GI’s were looking forward to VJ Day and a return to working in the factory.

A Framingham legend passed away today, and here’s a reprint of the short article I wrote about him last winter.

Pictured here as an usher in 1951, standing proudly at the ticket chopper inside the St. George Theatre downtown, John Berry probably didn’t expect that a few years later, he would become the Manager. John would take over the theatre from Jim Collins, eventually seeing the St. George close in 1967. From there he became the Manager of the Natick Drive In, and eventually the Cinema in Shoppers World in 1983, until he retired in 1994.

Those were the years when movie theatres were a gathering spot for hundreds of people every weekend. Ushers wore military style uniforms, and were proud to be working what lots of kids thought were the best jobs in town. Where else could you get free movies, popcorn, and girlfriends too?

Back then, people went to the movies every single week. And there were ushers showing you to your seat, patrolling the aisles, and generally making sure the audience behaved. They even guarded the exit doors, from kids sneaking in.

Downtown Framingham was an exciting destination, with three theatres, and lots of department stores. Most of what it once was, is just a memory, and as the years go by, fewer remember how glamorous it all was back then.

Eddie Byrnes was called the Gateman, as he guarded the front gate where most of the workers entered on the corner of Howard Street. Here’s a photo of Eddie, from the 1943 salute.

Here’s the Howard Street entrance with lots of people waiting to get their picture taken. 

In 1943, the Dennison published a couple of glossy pictorials, meant to be sent to the boys at war. It was intended to give them some hope for what was waiting back home. A good job, and friends. Here’s the cover of one of these magazines. 

Of course what else would the GI’s like to see while in their foxholes overseas? How about petite Helane Dugan, new girl in the transcribing department?  She must have been wondering what kind of a company she hired onto.  Of course what better than a girl from Saxonville, and here’s Jane Suprena of the Sales Service Department with a photo on a wagon wheel, maybe taken at the Twin Maple Farms?

Sharon Gartenberg has a new website for things to do in Framingham. Here’s a link to click on.   http://www.framinghamevents.com/