![]() These were certain nights, usually weekdays, where dishware, appliances, and other merchandise was given away to entice patrons to attend the show. These gift nights began in the depression and lasted at the Somerville until the 1970s. Like all Viano Theaters, the Somerville was well known for fresh popcorn, and also for gimmicks like prize nights. After playing downtown, the pictures made their way, week by week, often two and three per week, to the neighborhood houses like the Somerville Theatre. 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). Throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, the Somerville remained a prime neighborhood movie house. The Vianos continued with the stock theater company until the harsh economics of the Depression forced them into a 'movies only' policy in 1932. 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. In 1926, the Hobbs family leased and subsequently sold the theater to Arthur F. Future film director Busby Berkeley (famous for 42nd Street and other stylized musicals of the 1930s) directed many shows at the Somerville Theatre in the mid-1920s. Among the notable players who came up at the Somerville were Tallulah Bankhead, Kay Corbett, and Francis X. In 1915, the Somerville Theater Players began their stock company presentation of weekly play performances. The second and third floors also contained office space for lease. Designed for stage shows, vaudeville, opera, and 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 Somerville Theater is part of the Hobbs Building which was built in 1914 by Joseph Hobbs and designed by the firm of Funk & Wilcox of Boston. The building also hosts the Crystal Ballroom. Recent live performances have included Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cursive, Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Joan Baez, and the John Butler Trio. As a music venue, the theater has played host to many historic concerts, including the first of the two Last Dispatch concerts, two shows by Bruce Springsteen in 2003, and a performance by U2 in 2009. The theater has since transitioned and now operates as a live music venue and first-run movie theater. Over one hundred years old, the Somerville Theatre started off as a vaudeville house and movie theater. The Somerville Theatre is an independent movie theater and concert venue in the Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. Stellar Story Company helps people and institutions deliver extraordinary stories and unforgettable events that lead to meaningful change. With sites in Greater Boston and Lowell, MA, and Manchester, NH, IINE creates opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement, and pathways to citizenship. ![]() Suitcase Stories® is a registered trademark of IINE. Presented in collaboration with Stellar Story Company and the I nternational Institute of New England (IINE), where the program originated in 2017. ![]() You might also like Sona Jobarteh Band, Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita, and Cesária Évora Orchestra. Storytellers are all local to New England. Featured nationally on WORLD Channel and PBS, the Suitcase Stories® series provides a way to dig beneath the headlines, exposing audiences to the complexity of migration issues. Suitcase Stories® features foreign- and US-born residents sharing powerful and inspiring stories of refugee and immigrant life.
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