![]() ![]() ![]() Two more screens were built in the former ballroom space on the second floor. The bowling alleys in the basement and a portion of the first floor retail space were gutted to create modern bathrooms and two new film rooms. The remainder of the Hobbs Building, with the exception of a few storefronts and the theater, had been abandoned since the early 80s, and this space proved to be the answer. Movie attendance, however, had dropped considerably, and a plan had to be devised to keep the theater competitive. Some in the community were afraid the original theater would be subdivided into smaller cinemas, and formed an activist group to prevent such an occurrence, but as the owners had never actually made that decision, the theater was preserved, and reopened in 1990. When Garen Daly's lease ended in 1989, the Fraimans decided to operate the Somerville themselves, closing the venue for a series of renovations. During this period, the Hobbs Building was purchased by Chatham Light Realty, whose owners, the Fraiman family, had previously bought and operated the Capitol Theater in Arlington. Daly also brought back live performances to the stage for the first time since the 1930s when he began programming concerts to complement the film programs. The Viano family leased the Somerville to Garen Daly in 1982, and he turned the theater into a repertory house, running double features and daily changes, offering independent and offbeat fare in the days before video and DVD made it easy to track down such titles. The opening of the Sacks Assembly Square Cinema (now closed) helped to kill the Broadway Theater, and the Fresh Pond Drive-In became a multiplex, forcing the Cambridge-Somerville-Arlington neighborhood theaters to become strictly second-run venues. Gradually the Viano family came to operate the Capitol Theater in Arlington as well, and by the 1970s, the Somerville, Capitol, Regent, and Broadway theaters were mainstays of local movie-going. 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. ![]()
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