Strand Theatre opens.

Architect: Funk & Wilcox. Designed in the Classical Revival style with an Adamesque interior, it is located on the former site of the Clapp-Dyer House at 543 Columbia Road. Described as Boston’s “First great movie palace,” it seats 1,870 and opens with a double feature of Queen of the Sea and Out of a Clear Sky. Many patrons wear formal wear and they are greeted by ushers wearing white gloves and jackets with gold braiding. Performers include Dorchester natives Fred Allen and Ray Bolger, as well as Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Fanny Brice, Tommy Dorsey, Jerry Lewis, Duke Ellington and Alfred Hitchcock. The building closes in the 1960s, is taken over by the city in 1975. Renovated by William Reisman & Associates, it reopens as the M. Harriet McCormack Center for the Arts in 1979. It closes in 2006, reopens on a limited basis in 2007, is renovated and reopens in 2009.*