Right in sync with the restoration process of the almost 100-year-old, jazz age Cabot theatre, the spellbinding photography of Matt Lambros will be showcased in a new photo exhibit titled Ghosts of The Silver Screen on the second-floor lobby of The Cabot, beginning today, April 5.
The Cabot is located at 286 Cabot Street, Beverly. In addition to the exhibit, Lambros will give a talk to Cabot Club Members and media on Thursday, April 5 at 5:30 p.m. at The Cabot.
Matt Lambros is an architectural photographer who began photographing abandoned buildings almost twenty years ago. A graduate of Boston University’s digital imaging and photojournalism programs, Lambros has since been documenting the decay of America’s abandoned theatres in the hope of shedding light on these forgotten buildings and the efforts to repurpose them. Part of raising awareness for these treasures is his involvement with various organizations that work to restore and reopen abandoned theatres in the United States. To that end Lambros has donated time and photographs to support such organizations as the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, who in 2009 acquired the historic Victory Theatre, derelict since 1979. Following its restoration, it will be returned by MIFA to its role as a live performance venue for the City of Holyoke.
Lambros’ abandoned theatre photography has been featured in publications worldwide including in the Guardian and the New York Times. His work with Proctor’s Palace Theatre, Loew’s Majestic Theatre, and Loew’s Kings Theatre (among others) has been featured in art galleries around the world.
His first book, After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater was published in late 2016. A longtime member of the Theatre Historical Society of America, Lambros joined the board of directors in 2017.
There’s nothing remarkable about a movie theater today, but that wasn’t always the case. When the great American movie palaces opened in the early 20th century, they were some of the most lavish, stunning buildings anyone had ever seen. With the advent of television, theater companies found it harder and harder to keep them open. Some were demolished, some were converted, and some remain derelict to this day. Lambros’s book After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theatre takes the reader through 22 of these magnificent buildings showing what beauty remains, years after the last ticket was sold.