Built for the purpose of worship—first as a Zion Episcopal Church in 1834, then as a Catholic Church in 1885—this restored movie house is now a house of worship for another kind: cinephiles.
Gold-velvet curtains, high ceilings, Art Deco chandeliers, and an imposing organ greet moviegoers to this Newport landmark.
Originally called The Strand during its 1923 inception, the theater was among the early movie houses in Rhode Island. It now prides itself on having shown every mode of cinema to date, transitioning over the years from silent to talkies, and from film to digital.
Its wooden stage remains standing from the brief period when the space was used exclusively as a live-performance venue, from 1918 to 1922. Still in use, the bandstand hosts events ranging from music to theater, among them the annual Rogue Island Comedy Festival.
In 1974, Joe Jarvis bought The Strand and renamed it the Jane Pickens Theater after noted resident of gilded Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Jane Pickens. A former Ziegfeld Follies performer and the musical lead of The Pickens Sisters, she and her sister Patti, then ages 55 and 60, respectively, performed a redux of their heyday act at the dedication ceremony.
It must have been an incredible show.
