The Brattle: Cambridge’s 1890 Theater and the Birth of the Bogie Cult
Built in 1890, turned into one of America’s first art house cinemas in 1953, and still projecting films from behind the screen.
The Brattle started as a social hall. The Cambridge Social Union bought the lot on Brattle Street in 1889 for $9,000, the firm of architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. drew the plans, and the building opened with a gala on January 27, 1890.
An art house before the term caught on
In February 1953 it began showing repertory and foreign films. Cyrus Harvey Jr. and Bryant Haliday made it one of the first art house movie theaters in the country, and later went on to found Janus Films.
The Bogie Cult
Starting in the late 1950s, the Brattle screened Humphrey Bogart movies during Harvard’s final exams. Fans came in costume and recited the dialogue, and the “Bogie Cult” was born. The Valentine’s Day showing of Casablanca still packs the house.
It’s one of the very few theaters, maybe the only one, still using rear projection, with the projector behind the screen. Today it’s a nonprofit run by the Brattle Film Foundation and the only independent cinema in Cambridge. Tickets usually run $13.50 to $19.50; see what’s playing.
Sources: Wikipedia: Brattle Theatre, Brattle Theatre.
