PROP CREW members work on bringing the Wakefield Bowladrome back to 1970.
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Bowladrome at 92 Water St. continues to be a magnet for Tinsel Town film crews shooting movies set in the 1960s and 1970s.
According to Wakefield Bowladrome owner Tom Giordano, film crews have been bringing in props and setting up equipment in the building all week. Shooting is expected to begin today on “The Holdovers,” a film set in 1970 that will star actor Paul Giamatti. Many will be surprised to learn that Giamatti has a previous Wakefield connection. More on that later.
The Wakefield Bowladrome’s retro atmosphere apparently makes it an appealing location for period films. For “The Holdovers,” the Bowladrome has been further outfitted with a vintage cigarette machine and a jukebox, as well as ashtrays, an engraved portrait of President John F. Kennedy, various bowling trophies and other relics of the Sixties and Seventies.
For the second time in less than a year, a major Hollywood movie will be shooting scenes at the iconic Water Street bowling alley. Last April, Director George Clooney and star Ben Affleck filmed scenes at the Wakefield Bowladrome for their movie, “The Tender Bar,” which was released last fall.
According to online sources, “The Holdovers” is a comedy set in 1970 and follows Giamatti as a curmudgeonly, universally disliked prep school teacher who finds himself stuck at Deerfield Academy over the course of the winter holidays along with a trouble-making student and the school’s African American cook, who recently lost her son in Vietnam.
The Miramax film reunites Giamatti and director Alexander Payne for the first time since 2004, when the two partnered on the Oscar-nominated “Sideways.” The screenplay for “The Holdovers” was written by David Hemingson. The producer of the film is Mark Johnson.
Payne’s most recent film was “Downsizing,” starring Matt Damon. With co-writer Jim Taylor, Payne won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for “Sideways” starring Giamatti, and the movie received a Best Picture nomination.
Giamatti currently stars in the Showtime series, “Billions,” now in its sixth season, in which he plays U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades as he attempts to prosecute financial crimes committed by hedge fund managers in New York and Connecticut.
Unknown to many — and perhaps even to Giamatti himself — the actor already has a Wakefield connection. He is the great-great grandson of Arthur G. Walton and Mary E. Walton, for whom the Walton School and Walton Field are named, not to mention three streets and an entire section of Wakefield Square, the Walton Block.
Until 1951, Arthur G. Walton owned the A.G. Walton Co. in Chelsea, one of the largest manufacturers of children’s shoes in the United States. When the Waltons’ estate on Main Street overlooking Lake Quannapowitt was sold to a developer at the height of the Great Depression for pennies on the dollar, the Daily Item called it “one of the biggest real estate transactions ever taking place in Wakefield.” In addition to owning a large chunk of downtown Wakefield, the Waltons owned extensive property on the West Side.
Arthur G. and Mary E. Walton’s granddaughter, Mary C. Walton, was a 1931 graduate of Wakefield High School, before graduating from Smith College in 1935. On July 3, 1937, she married Valentine Giamatti, the son of Italian immigrants and a graduate of Yale University. Their son, A. Bartlett Giamatti, would one day be president of Yale University and later, as Commissioner of Major League Baseball, would ban Pete Rose for life for gambling.
A. Bartlett Giamatti’s son, Paul, would emerge as one of the biggest Hollywood stars of his generation, including starring in the film now shooting in his ancestral hometown.
The Wakefield Bowladrome dates back to the early 1950’s when current owner Tom Giordano’s uncle, Sal Orifice, and his brother purchased the Sunlight Alleys on Water Street. The Bowladrome was remodeled in 1956, installing the new pin setting machines. Unfortunately, in 1959 the Bowladrome was involved in a fire and had to close as a result. Sal Orifice committed to rebuild and reopened in 13 weeks.
Sal Orifice died last year at age 93. He vowed many years ago that, “The bowling alley will be there as long as we have a family member to run it.” The Wakefield Bowladrome has been a family-owned business for close to 70 years. In recent years, it has been run by Sal’s daughter Sally O’Neill and nephew Tom Giordano.
The Wakefield Bowladrome is a Wakefield institution that has endured for generations, hosting bowling leagues for all ages as well as numerous charity events over the years.
And now, for the second time in less than a year, the Wakefield Bowladrome finds itself once again featured in a major motion picture.
Bring on the Hollywood kingpins.