01_DayStreet.jpg Like many early theatres, the Day Street Olympia was housed in a converted church, in this case the former West Somerville Congregational. Sold for $3,000 to the National Amusement Company in 1909, the theatre did not open until 1913 due to public opposition. It began as part of Nathan Gordon's Olympia chain but was eventually purchased by E. M. Loew, who changed its name to Loew's Davis Square. Constructed of wood, with the auditorium on the second floor, the theatre was extremely vulnerable to fire and eventually burned down in May 1942. The films advertised on the marquee in this 1941 photo were typical of the second-grade fair shown at this theatre. Patrons commonly referred to it as the "dust bowl," a reference to the Westerns shown there as well as to the dirt that often ended up on one's clothes. 02_DayStreetChurch.jpg Founded in 1874, the West Somerville Congregational Church was given a building located in Cambrigdeport. Dismantled and moved by wagon to the corner of Day and Herbert Streets, the church was given a complete facelift in 1896 when a new Gothic front and Renaissance tower were added. The congregation moved to its present location at 95 College Avenue in 1912, and after merging with the First Congregational Church in 1963, adopted the latter's name. Samuels and Kimball wrote of the congregation in their 1897 book, Somerville, Past and Present: "The membership of the Day Street Church is composed of kindly, genial folk, who are religious in a quiet, cheerful way, and evermore benevolent, and in all ways charitable. No one need ever feel the world is cold or life is dreary who enters this comfortable Christian atmosphere. The church sets itself to dignify life and labor, and set a star of hope above every cradle and every coffin." 03_DeanCarolineDavies2.jpg Caroline S. Davies (1864-1939), first dean of Jackson College. Photo by Melville S. Munro. Courtesy Tufts Archives. Film was not immediately embraced by everyone. Many believed that it was particularly dangerous for the moral development of children and that it even posed significant health risks. Massachusetts, fearing the damage film-viewing would cause the eyes, initially imposed a "five minute law" that required a break of five minutes after every twenty minutes of exhibition. It was with such concerns in mind that the citizens of Davis Square rallied to oppose the licensing of the Day Street Olympia. Over 400 people signed a petition and from the end of 1909 to April 1913, they successfully blocked it. At a City Hall meeting in February 1912, an overflow crowd gathered to voice their objections. Most opposed it on moral grounds. Mr. F. A. P. Fiske of the school board, for example, said that "there was no demand for such a show, and if people wanted to see one they could go to Boston. He said that there were sufficient attractions now to distract the attention of the school children. He felt that objectionable features would creep in no matter how careful the management might be" (Somerville Journal 2/19/12). Although the president of Tufts, Reverend Frederick W. Hamilton, did not attend, he sent a letter in vehement opposition. He also sent Professor Caroline Davies, dean of Jackson College, the former women's division of Tufts. Dean Davies said that "such a show might be a benefit if it was not accompanied by the objectionable and vulgar vaudeville. She felt that it was exposing the children to great danger on account of the improper and vicious talk of their elders who ought to know better. The young boys and girls leave the show with such impressions that may take up their minds for years. She said that it was also bad for the eyes according to the physicians" (Somerville Journal 2/19/12). Faced with such powerful opposition, Mayor Burns rejected the application once again. But the following year he reversed his position. Joseph Hobbs, a prominent landowner, had proposed erecting a large building only two blocks away. In addition to shops, offices, a restaurant, dance hall, and bowling alley, it would also contain a large theatre to be named "The Somerville." The Mayor realized the importance of this building to the development of Davis Square as well as the injustice of granting one application while denying the other. As he said to the press: "I have decided to grant a theatre license to J. Frank Mixer for the Day-street theatre. Mr. Mixer is one of our prominent citizens, and we know that he will conduct a refined and up-to-date theatre. I see practically no difference between the Day-street proposition and the Davis-square one" (Somerville Journal 4/25/13). 04_DayStOpening8-1-13.jpg This photograph and caption are from an August 1, 1913 article in the Somerville Journal announcing the long- awaited opening of the Day Street Olympia. After the bitter permit fight, the article tries to allay the community's fears emphasizing the many virtues of the new establishment: "The Day Street theatre, Davis Square, renovated and refitted will open next Monday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock, with an attractive bill of moving pictures and variety talent of a high order. Two of the latest and most expensive projection machines will throw the pictures on the screen. An elaborate system of fans will keep the theatre cool and among the improvements is a ladies' room nicely furnished with mirrors, carpets, and easy chairs. An electric sign designed to light the street as well as advertise the theatre has been placed in position. "The Day Street theatre will be in the celebrated Olympia circuit with Clarence M. Mixer as house manager, and the shows will be kept up to a high standard. Performances will begin each day at 1:30 p.m., and on Saturdays a continuous performance will be given from 1:30 to 10:30 p.m. The managers assure the people of the best class of entertainment and feel assured of the success of the new venture in West Somerville." Somerville Journal, August 1, 1913. 05_DayStOpeningAd8-1-13b.jpg An ad for the new Day Street Olympia reassures a nervous community that it will be the site of "High Class Entertainment." 06_ScollaySqOlympia.jpg Nathan Gordon (1872-1938) was one of the most important theatre impresarios at the beginning of the film era in Boston. His Olympia circuit included theatres in Central Square, Cambridge, Union Square and Davis Square, Somerville, Uphams Corner, Dorchester, and Washington Street and Scollay Square, Boston. The latter two were based on the same design by Clarence Blackall, the architect who also designed the Metropolitan and Gayety Theatres. Of all these wonderful theatres, only the Strand in Dorchester and the Metropolitan, rechristened as the Wang Center, still stand. 06_tDaySt8-25-16.jpg Theatres often underwent renovations, changing entrances, decors, seating, projection booths, sound systems, and other items. This August 25, 1916 announcement of a four day closing was for the Day Street's first major renovation since opening three years earlier. A short article in the Somerville Journal indicated that the changes would give the space a warmer, more intimate feeling, distinguishing it from the big, downtown picture palaces as befit a local, neighborhood theatre. The article's complete text follows: DAY STREET OLYMPIA "The Day Street Olympia will be closed for four days beginning next Monday for the first time since the theatre was first opened. During this period painters and decorators will take possession, working day and night to carry out a unique scheme of decoration, so that the theatre, when finished, will have an atmosphere of coziness and homeliness secured by the warm tints to be used, unable to be obtained in the typical large theatres of today. "On Friday the house will again be open to the public, and will present the Triangle play, "Let Katy Do It," featuring Jane Grey and Tully Marshall. One of the big features of this picture is a group of seven beautiful children, each one of which plays his or her individual part with a skill nothing short of marvelous for such small "kiddies. "The episode of "Peg o' the Ring" which will be omitted on Monday and Tuesday will be shown the following week." 06_zOlympias11-20-21b.jpg Although Gordon advertised his two Somerville theatres under the heading "At The Olympias," each one had its own programming. This was not always the case for other jointly owned theatres (the Ball Square and Capitol, Broadway and Orpheum, or Broadway, Teele Square, and Somerville) which often showed the same films. The ad shown here is from the week of November 20, 1921. 07_DaySt1922.jpg A window card announcing the films for the week of January 23, 1922. Such cards were placed in the windows of local merchants who were compensated with free tickets. Although these window cards are very rare, they were the most common form of advertising in the early days of cinema, particularly for theatres that depended on a local audience. Somerville Museum Collection. 08_aDaySt3-20-25b.jpg In the mid-1920s, theatre magnate E. M. Loew added the Day Street Olympia to his growing chain of theatres. As this March 1925 ad indicates, he kept the Day Street Olympia name at first, though not long after changed it to E. M. Loew's Davis Square. 08_EMLoew.jpg Elias M. Loew (1898-1984) came to the U.S. from Austria in 1911. Alone and penniless, he worked in various jobs before opening his first cinema at the age of 18. He eventually became the largest theatre owner in New England with 70 movie theatres and 17 drive-ins. He also owned the Bay State Raceway in Foxborough, a chain of hotels, and with Lou Walters, the Latin Quarter Night Club which operated in Boston, New York, and Miami. E. M., who was no relation to Marcus Loew, the country's largest exhibitor, had his headquarters in the Gayety Theatre on Washington Street, and a large estate on Brush Hill Road in Milton. The Brush Hill Road estate was torn down in the 1990s to make way for 30 luxury homes while the Gayety, after a long preservation fight, was demolished at the beginning of 2005. The site, on the edge of Chinatown, will soon be the home of a high-rise apartment building. 09_HEDickson1922b.jpg For nearly fifty years, Harry Ellis Dickson (1908-2003) was the first violinist for the Boston Symphony as well as assistant to Pops director Arthur Fiedler. A beloved local figure, Dickson graduated from Somerville High. While still in his teens, he played the violin and conducted the orchestra at Loew's Davis Square. In his memoir, Beating Time, Dickson gives a unique portrait of what it was like to work in a local theatre at the end of the silent era. "I was standing in front of the Beethoven statue in the entrance hall of the conservatory when I was approached by a man who asked if I would be interested in playing at a moviehouse. "Sure I would," I replied, and soon found myself conducting in the pit of one of E. M. Loew's theatres, the beginning of a two-year association with the movie magnate. "Loew was a rough, tough Hungarian immigrant who owned a string of theatres throughout New England. He had recently added the Day Street Theater in Somerville to his chain, a small neighborhood moviehouse that ran only evening shows. There were eight musicians in the pit, and I was the conductor and violinist. We would begin by playing a short overture, followed by music for the newsreel, a one- or two-reel comedy or short subject, and finally the feature film -- all silent, in those days. Each movie came with a cue sheet of recommended music for each episode in the film, with the approximate timing. I would choose the music ahead of time, and during the performance signaled the musical entrances by depressing a foot switch, causing the light on each musician's stand to flicker. "Between the preliminary movies and the feature films there were five or six acts of live vaudeville. After the vaudeville we played for twenty minutes or so into the feature, at which time a pianist would take over. Each Tuesday was "amateur night," when bookers would come to scout new vaudeville acts. On such nights there might be as many as eight or ten acts, most of them pretty awful. I remember dreading Tuesday nights because they were sometimes dangerous. The audience would show their displeasure with a bad act by screaming and shouting insults at the performers, and we musicians were afraid they would take it out on us! "One evening we were actually in mortal danger, not from the audience but from the stage. A group of would-be jugglers were tossing objects to one another, many of them falling to the floor. While we were playing some lively music, I looked up and saw dishes flying in all directions, most of them smashing to the floor in bits. The audience was screaming. When the performers began to throw long-handled knives at one another, and one landed not far from me, I felt we had had enough. I motioned my musicians to follow me out of the pit. The manager was furious. I said to him, 'You go into the pit! We're not ready to die!' " Harry Ellis Dickson. Beating Time. Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1995: 21-23. 10_Turkey1941.jpg Like many theatres, E. M. Loew's Davis Square (formerly the Day Street Olympia) used various giveaways to attract its working-class audience. This November 1941 ad combines the names of movies with the special giveaways accompanying them: ten turkeys for Thanksgiving, a "parlay award," and for the ladies, a creamer. 11_DavisSqGiveaway3.jpg Giveaways were an important part of the movie-going experience from the beginning of the Depression to well into the 1950s. Dishware was the most common item as individual pieces were cheap and would guarantee that patrons returned week after week until the entire set was complete. They also targeted women who were believed to control most families' discretionary spending. More elaborate gift items included fur coats, refrigerators, dishwashers, and even an occasional car. The flier shown here is for several upcoming giveaways. Some, such as the Aqua Marine Service (which is apparently a bowl) will be given to every woman who enters, while the Dinah Cook Rolling Butler and refrigerator will be reserved for only one "Lucky Lady." 12_Sacco1939b.jpg Candlepin bowling developed in the Boston area at the beginning of the 20th century just as movies were also making their debut. Many theatres such as the Somerville, Highland, Day Street, and Union Square had lanes built inside them. Independent owners also liked to place their alleys near theatres as they competed for the same working-class customers. The most important of these operators were the Saccos who opened their first alley in Egleston Square around 1910. At their height, they had between 20 and 30 alleys throughout the Boston area. In 1939, the Saccos took over an auto repair shop across the street from Loew's Davis Square and opened Bowl Haven. While the theatre was destroyed in 1942, the alley is still going strong, run by J. P. and Damon Sacco, great-grandsons of founder Ralph Sacco. The photo shows Bowl Haven when it first opened in 1939. The neon pin, identical to the Saccos' Bowl Haven in Central Square, Cambridge, was a common target for vandals and eventually removed. Photo courtesy J. P. Sacco. 13_BowlHaven1939.jpg Bowl Haven interior, 1939. Courtesy J. P. Sacco. 14_Sacco's2.jpg The Good Fellowship Bowling League at Bowl Haven, 1940. Courtesy J. P. Sacco. 15_Sacco's.jpg An undated photo of a women's league team at Bowl Haven. Courtesy J. P. Sacco. 16_DayStFire.jpg The wooden construction of the Day Street theatre made it extremely vulnerable to fire. This photo from the Dec. 13, 1934 Boston Globe shows firemen investigating one of several fires that occurred at the theatre. On May 1, 1942 an even worse one took place, and despite the fact that the theatre was undergoing renovations, Loew decided to close it for good. 17_DayAndHerbert.jpg Undated photo from the Somerville Journal announcing that the former site of the theatre will be converted into a parking lot. Sacco's Bowl Haven is clearly visible across the street. 18_PTuitt.jpg The corner of Day and Herbert as it looks today. Photo by Peg Tuitt. 18_z1Sacco's, JDow2.jpg Sacco's Bowl Haven as it looks today. Photo by Jim Dow. 18_z3flatbread_pizza1.jpg After 70 years in operation, Sacco's Bowl Haven was sold to a small New England boutique pizza chain which reopened in 2010 as the Flatbread Pizza Company. It retained ten of the lanes and added a bar and pizza restaurant, all of which have been extremely successful. Photo by David M. Guss. 18_z4flatbread_pizza2.jpg Flatbread Pizza Company, 2010. As can be seen, the new occupants have retained many of the original architectural elements as well as much of Sacco’s wonderful memorabilia. They have also become active members of the community, hosting a number of benefits for various local organizations. Photo by David M. Guss. 18_z2Saccos billiards, JDow2.jpg The pool hall at Sacco's Bowl Haven. Photo by Jim Dow. 19_PTuitt2.jpg Although principally a parking lot, the site still provides a community function as farmers gather there every Wednesday to sell their produce in one of the area's many farmers' markets. Photo by Peg Tuitt.