Actor Michael Caine played a little-known role in the Worcester theatre. He starred in “Alfie,” the first film to screen at the Lincoln Plaza Theatre.
The 850-seat theater opened on January 13, 1967 in a plaza that has seen many acts over the years. A Target store is located in the general domain of the old theater, which closed in 1996.
The Lincoln Plaza Theatre hosted moviegoers in the years since “Alfie” presented the show. At that time, other major theaters in the city, many of them downtown, were converted into theaters.
The new theater had features that were considered extravagant for the time: stereo sound and an oversized lobby. It was billed as Worcester’s first new construction for films since the 1930s.
While the theater had a few calls from the years, employing spelling theater of choice, the official credits of the call go to Helen Zendzian. A naming contest was held. In September 1966, while the theater was under construction, the owners announced that the single in front of Zendzian’s Lincoln Plaza Theatre was the winner.
Interestingly, the opening of the Lincoln Plaza Theatre led to the closure of the Capitol Theatre at 68 Franklin St. (later Paris Cinema). The Capitol and Lincoln Plaza Theatre had the same parent company, and federal antitrust law forced the old theater to close.
Many workers at the Capitol, plus Director Leo A. Lajoie, a movie addict in his days in St. John’s High School, took on the same roles at Lincoln Plaza Theatre. (The latest movie on Capitol Hill “Poppy Is Also a Flower. “)
The Lincoln Plaza Theatre is temporarily a popular venue for late-night dates, matinees, and dollar movie specials. The business changed hands several times, with Redstone Theatres, run by Sumner Redstone, assuming the lease in 1981. The same company ran White City Cinemas in Shrewsbury, Showcase Cinemas in central Worcester (now Hanover Theatre) and Webster Square Cinemas.
A renovation and Lincoln Plaza resulted in a three-screen theater in 1987.
In the mid-1990s, Redstone’s company, then called National Amusements, built Showcase Cinemas North on Brooks Street. Multi-screen cinema opened in late 1995, first with seven screens. inciting officials to announce the closure of what was then called Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.
On May 27, 1996, Sharon Stone’s “Last Dance” had played on one of the screens when the projectors were turned off.
Reporter John J. O’Connor described the mundane scene: “Moviegoers threw popcorn on their laps last night and left the theater. “
Last week: Then and now: Victory Arch of World War I, Worcester Common