Paul Brogan has fond memories of the Concord Theatre.
And rightfully so. He spent 27 years working at the 499-seat hot spot for film buffs on South Main Street, beginning as a high-schooler until it closed in the fall of 1994.
“I had the best after-school job,” Brogan said. “I got to stay out till midnight.”
He got paid $1.50 an hour when he started, which was a lot of money back then.
“And all the popcorn I could eat,” he added.
That’s why when he heard about the proposed partnership between the Capitol Center for the Arts and Steve Duprey, who owns the building the Concord Theatre was housed in, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
“If I could still do cartwheels, I would have done them,” Brogan said.
The thought is that the former Concord Theatre would be turned into a flexible, multi-purpose event venue that could house a standing-room-only crowd of 400, or sit 260 with the use of retractable bleacher-like seats. According to our pal Nick Reid’s story in the Monitor, concerts would be the space’s primary use, but could also be used for small-scale live theater, or remote screenings of ballet and opera performances.
“I think it has a tremendous future,” Brogan said. “I don’t think a lot of people realize the value of the space. It’s a part of the history of this city and if there’s a use for it, we should do it.”
So when we learned of the plan, it was the perfect time to connect with Brogan, who had emailed us a couple months ago about a class he was teaching at OLLI on the history of the Concord Theatre.
During his almost three decades at the theater, Brogan became quite close with owner Theresa Cantin. She asked his opinion about films to show, they talked about the history of the venue and spent many late nights making sure the place looked perfect for the next day’s showings.
“She was a real character,” Brogan said.
Cantin’s father and a business partner converted a South Main Street bakery into the theater in 1933, when she was just 19 years old.
“He asked her what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to run a movie theater,” Brogan said.
After 14 years of selling tickets and concessions and keeping the books, Cantin bought out the partner so she could run the operation the way she wanted to.
For years, the theater showed lower-rate movies, which drove Cantin crazy. She wanted the more quality films because at that point she was competing with two other film houses, the Capitol Theatre and Star Theatre. Her first decision was to show the Oscar-winning The Best Year of Our Lives. And from there, the Concord Theatre was known for showing the latest and greatest in the film industry.
“She finally put herself on the map with that,” Brogan said.
Like we mentioned before, the theater had 499 seats, and would be known to sell out three showings in a day.
“If you had under 500 seats, your insurance was a lot less,” Brogan said.
Back in those days, films typically didn’t play more than a week, maybe two. But sometimes shorter.
“Movies were a big source of entertainment,” Brogan said. “In a year, you would show more than 100 movies.”
It had a stage up front with a 30-foot Cinema Scope silver screen that Cantin purchased in 1954. It even had a vent that brought the smell of popcorn into the theater.
“The minute you’d pop the corn, you’d have 40 to 50 people come out,” Brogan said.
Cantin ran the place, with some help from her siblings, for 47 years until she closed the doors.
“The place fascinated me because it was so quaint,” Brogan said. “It was more intimate.”
Since that day, Brogan has been waiting for the Concord Theatre to be revived. And if this plan goes through, he’ll finally get his wish.
March 21, 2017
When I lived in Concord, from 1949-53, I went to both the Star Theater on Pleasant Street and to the Concord Theater. The Concord always ran the Roy Rogers films. If you were coming down the street from Pleasant, you could see the marquee. All they had to do was put “Roy Rogers and Trigger” on the marque, and I came a runnin’ or galloping. I was a Front Row Kid. If you sat in the first or second row, you felt like you were in the movie with Roy riding Trigger at you, firing his six gun. They ran double features, a Roy Rogers and a Gene Autry sometimes. It became the battle of the singing cowboys as we would argue who should have been the King of the Cowboys. Somebody said that Gene had been the first King of the Cowboys and because he went into the service, they gave the title to Roy. I got to know Bill Witney, who directed Roy’s pictures for Republic and he was well known for staging exciting fight scenes. The fights I got into in the admission line, defending Roy’s honor, were twice as bloody as what I saw on the screen. We paid probably #.11 to see a double feature, a cartoon, coming attractions, a newsreel, and last but not least a serial chapter. Approximately four hours of entertainment. Best $.11 I ever spent in my life.
March 21, 2017
When I lived in Concord from 1949–53, I went to both the Concord and the Star Theater on Pleasant Street. The Concord always ran the Roy Rogers films so I became a regular Front Row Kid customer on Saturdays. When you came down the street from Pleasant, you could see the marquee. All they had to do was put “Roy Rogers and Trigger” on the marquee and I came a galloping down. They sometimes ran a double feature Roy Rogers and Gehe Autry. Sort of a battle of the singing cowboys. We kids would line up and start arguing about who should have been the King of the Cowboys. There was a nasty rumor being spread by the Autry group that Gene and Roy were feuding. They claimed that Gene had been the King of the Cowboys until he went into the service and they gave Roy the title by default. Taunts and insults usually led to fisticuffs. I got to meet Bill Witney, who was Roy’s director at Republic and was known for his staging of action scenes. I told him that our scuffles in the admission line were almost as rough as his fight scenes. If you sat in the first two rows, you felt like you were in the movie itself. When Roy came riding on Trigger, firing his pistol, you wanted to duck to avoid the bullets. We paid eleven cents for a double feature, coming attractions, a cartoon, a newsreel and last but not least a serial chapter. Approximately four hours of entertainment. I have yet to find a better deal than that.
March 21, 2017
Loved going there in the 40s & 50s Cashed in soda & beer bottles to go and had money for snacks & drinks
March 22, 2017
I would love to see some pictures of the inside. This property has always interested me and I was too young to remember when it closed, or even get to see the inside for that matter. Curious of the building would be able to be restored and made into an old style theater like it was in the hay day.