Ambler Theatre

The AMBLER group have done a great job on this theatre. This was once a Budco theatre. Well Budco operated it for the owner. It closed after AMC bought Budco. A minister who had operated the old Chelten theatre (800 seats) in Phila.showing religious films moved his operations to the Ambler. When he died the building was put up for sale. When all construction is completed it will have 3 screens.
2 of the screens are up and running. The third is in the front half of the orig. aud. with the stage. IT WILL BE GREAT

This website is absolutely incredible.
Here is their photographic listing for the Ambler:
http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ho_display.cfm/60523

This theater was actually built in 1928 and was known as the Ambler Warner Theater. When you click on the link that TC posted, look where it says "Documented Projects". Right below that it will say "Ambler Warner Theater". Click on that and then click on "Chronology" for the 1928 build date. You will also see the architects name which is Solomon Kaplan.

The Ambler Theatre was never a Budco Theatre, nor was it ever a AMC Theatre. It was either a independent, or it it was a Stanley Warner Theatre. opened by Warner Brothers Theatres in 1928, became a Stanley Warner Theatre when Warner Brothers Theatres and The Stanley Company Of America were merged in 1930. I believed it closed as a RKO Century Warner Theatre.

This is the website for the Ambler Theater. On their website if you click on "Projecting a new Ambler" on the left side of your screen, a PDF file will load in a new window. On that new page scroll down to the bottom. In case you don't have the Acrobat Reader installed for PDF files, it reads as follows:

70's Business at Ambler changes hands

"In the 1970's after seeing the theater operated by Warner Brothers and Budco, the theater was sub-leased to an independent exhibitor. After further decline, the theater was sold to the Reverend Harry Bristow who ran the theater as the Christiam Cinema until 1997".

The Ambler was never mentioned in the Philadelphia Inquirer from the 1970's as a Budco theatre. It was always mentioned as a Stanley Warner or a RKO Stanley Warner theatre. I am not disputing what the Ambler's website said.

MIKEra; The Ambler theatre in Ambler, Pa. WAS OPERATED BY THE BUDCO CHAIN. Budco operated it for the owner (remember BUDCO MANAGED, OPERATED AND BOOKED FILMS for several theatres in the Tri-state area. rg

MIKEra; The Ambler theatre in Ambler, Pa. WAS OPERATED BY THE BUDCO CHAIN. Budco operated it for the owner (remember BUDCO MANAGED, OPERATED AND BOOKED FILMS for several theatres in the Tri-state area. rg

If Budco operated this theatre, they why are newpaper ads from 1943 to 1963 has this listed as a Stanley Warner Theatre?

The Inquirer also has this theatre listed as shuttered in 1970, between the months of July and December.

Budco, along with General Cinema, Gulf States, and soon, Loews Cineplex (Loew's, Cineplex Odeon, RKO Century Warner, Plitt, Walter Reade) are a part of AMC Entertainment Inc. (AKA Durwood Theatres, AMC Theatres)

MikeRa: IT was managed, operated by Budco after S/W in the mid to late 60's. It did have a standard Budco Theatre sign at the box office in the long outer lobby. The theatre was not in the best of condition and the owner did not want to put any real money into it. The theatre was for sale. This was one of the theatres in my district as manager. rg

I never disputed the that this theatre was a Budco Theatre. Before 1974, The Inquirer didn't list the Budco Theatres as "Budco xxxx", they listed them as "xxxx".

They didn't do this for General Cinema until 1975, they were listed from 1970 to 1975 as "Cinema xxxx" or "xxxx Cinema", but it confused someone who would think a particular theatre was owned by Budco Theatres or General Cinema Corporation.

The only reason the Sameric Theatres were listed as "Eric xxxx" is because they had the Eric name on the front of their theatre, with the exception of the King Theatre and the Terminal Theatre, not counting the center city theatres.

Budco Theatres was a management company that really did not own any theatres. There is a small conection between Budco and S/W however. The father of one of the owners of Budco was with S/W theatres for years. Several S/W theatres were NOT owned by S/W, but operated by them. Budco did not group or advertise theatres like several other chains did. The ERIC name came from the grandson of one of the owners (SAM). For years Budco and Sharpio theatres were like two kids fighting over candy as to who had more theatres. rg

The Sameric Theatres chain was owned by Sam and Merton Shapiro. The name "Sameric" came from Sam Shapiro, and his grandson Eric, who died in 1971.

RKO Stanley Warner's Midway theatre was owned by Sam Shapiro, so was RKO Stanley Warner's Uptown Theatre.

Today, the legacy of Budco Theatres and Sam & Merton Shapiro's Sameric Theatres lives on as AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group Theatres.

That's not saying much for Budco and Sameric theatres. Most of the theatres are gone.

A photo of the Ambler Theater can be seen here.

A Gottfried organ Size 3/9 was installed in the Ambler Theater in 1928.

The news of the Ambler Theater being fully restored is fantastic news and truly a refreshing step in the right direction! Now if only the same thing could be done with the old Pennypack Theater at Welsh Road and Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia, a beautiful old theater building that currently sits empty and all boarded up, its new owners seemingly not quite sure what to do with it. But with the highly oppressive and backwards leaning Philadelphia Councilwoman Joan Krajewski about to be retiring soon -- and thank God for that! -- bringing the old Pennypack Theater back to life could mark the start of an exciting new era for Northeast Philadelphia, for Northeast Philly's Holmesburg community especially.

Here is another photo of the Ambler Theater.

Being as the Ambler Theatre is THE theater, more or less, that kicked off the whole restore-the-classic-old-theaters-in-the-Philadelphia-area movement, what's the latest news on the Ambler Theatre now that it's been up and running for a while? Even though Northeast Philadelphia right now is much too steeped in the dark ages at the present moment to be able to do anything positive with its historic Holme/Pennypack Theatre, I would hate to think such dark political climate applies to Ambler as well.

So given that, I was hoping to visit this page tonight and see that at least Ambler made it through and continues making progress even though Northeast Philadelphia appears totally hopeless for now.

So if there's any great new news on the Ambler, I would hope somebody would be so kind as to post it here. Thanks!

I've created a special Cinema Treasures webpage where I invite all interested parties to discuss in greater detail what they feel the likely impact that Pennsylvania's recently legalized gambling will have on Pennsylvania's movie theaters. I look forward to seeing your comments there, and here's the link to the webpage:

http://cinematreasures.org/news/14515_0_1_0_M/

This is a recent photo of the Ambler Theater and here is another.

Great photos, and a great restoration job, one that all at various levels of society who are interested in acquiring and restoring historic old movie theaters in the best possible way can derive a great deal of inspiration from, and learn from. Thanks for posting them.

Yes, When the theatre opened it was known as the Monica Twin. When I lived in the city we called it the Monicas.

sadly the council have plans for a mulitplex on the neighbouring cleared site above a market/shop complex, which has discouraged cinema operators from taking on the expense of restoring and reopening the Granada, with some imagination the cinema could be the main screen and entrance for this proposed mulitplex as the lobby area is huge.

I didn't post the two comments above.

Here are some photos of the Ambler Warner Theater from the Library of Congress.

What's going on? Who ever posted Monica info, either posted the wrong site or doesn't know what their talking about. rg

rg....I think the website is acting up. The Monica comment belongs in the Laemmle's Monica 4 listing which is here:

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1138/

For some strange reason the comment was saved to two theater listings at once and it put my name on it. Are websites haunted? :)

Very cool photo's. You are the man. haha

Lost Memory: I new you would not make that type of mistake. Did you see my post on the Hiway Theater in Jenkintown, Pa. rg

rg....I make mistakes, but I'm not that bad just yet. :) I'll take a look at your comment in the Hiway Theater listing now.

Most Potential
Opened in 1928 and now a triplex forged from a single-screen theater (which, in its most recent previous life, featured Evangelical Christian propaganda), the Ambler shows indies, and art and foreign films, along with some repertory and loads of special events. Handsomely designed—but sadly with its largest screening room unfinished—the Ambler is poised as the place to catch a movie of quality in the sticks.

from Philadelphia Weekly today:
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=13454

Movie theaters seem to arrive at their best level when they're run as offshoots of something else rather than as stand-alone operations -- as in corporations building beautiful theaters to give their employees a nice place to spend their money and time when they're not working. Stand-alone theaters don't have that advantage of corporate subsidization. As such, standing alone, they either have to be run as a cold hard business or as a charity, and neither makes for the best movie theater going experience. When you go to a theater you want it to be elegant and beautiful on the one hand, but you don't want to have to spend a fortune on the other. You want it to be proportionate to what you can easily afford. The Ambler Theatre, however, is quite removed from that, while it would be interesting to learn what subsidized it at one time and whatever became of that. Today money being spent is money that was made in the past, at least in Ambler's case. So given that I wouldn't especially say it's poised for anything. It could be if something were to rise up there to subsidize it. But there isn't anything such as that on the horizon so far as I know. So it's stand-alone through and through, and on a life's blood that's waning rather than waxing.

Here is a 2007 photo of the Ambler Theater.

This is the Ambler in b/w.

What a nice place to see a movie keep up the good work!

All three (3) screens are up and running. Yes the third Aud. is open and restored. rg

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/15680
24 October 2007:
Cinema Paradiso
The Ambler gets a new look and becomes the best first-run theater in the region.

by Andrew Repasky McElhinney





While you wait for the long-promised replacement of the murderous seats at International House or for the reemergence of big-screen film at the Prince Music Theater, a trip just 16 miles outside the city to Ambler reveals the near impossible: a discerningly programmed triplex housed in a classic old movie theater.

The process took about as long as a Kubrick movie shoot, but after nearly five years the Ambler Theater finally opened the doors of its main 270-seat auditorium earlier this month.

It was worth the wait. A recent excursion to see Ang Lee’s lugubrious snoozefest Lust, Caution revealed posh stadium seating, glorious sound and sharp, efficient projection inside the main auditorium. Featuring a giant sloped screen that moves to accommodate live events and, in its flexibility, creates the best possible sightlines, the Ambler is now, along with the Colonial Theater of Phoenixville, the best first-run moviegoing experience around.

The Ambler is a not-for-profit, community-owned venture, a sister theater to the still emerging Bryn Mawr Film Institute and Doylestown mainstay the County Theater. A trip to the Ambler recalls the days when each neighborhood had a movie palace and the cinema was not only an escape but also the soul of the community.

Built in 1928, the theater has been updated with a restoration that’s sensitive to the decor of the original and also progressively modern in its gentrification of a house that’s been dark since the mid-’80s.

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The Ambler hasn’t been slavishly restored to its original glory. Rather it’s enjoyed the type of chic utilitarian rehab dipped in classicism whose most prominent architectural models are those jewels of New York: Manhattan’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema and Brooklyn’s BAM Harvey Theater.

The architectural compromise of carving out two black box auditoriums from the original’s former rear, and modernizing the rear portion of the new main auditorium, won’t satisfy the most stalwart preservationists. But it does bring life to what was a dead theater.

The majestic return of the Ambler mirrors the evolution of the town itself. A down-and-out borough nearly crippled by an asbestos factory left abandoned in 1962, which had been polluting the region with vile toxins since the 1880s, Ambler has turned around in recent years. Once a blighted suburban skid row, it now boasts a refurbished R5 SEPTA train station, restaurants, cafes, one-of-a-kind stores and a young population seeking a return to small-town living.

The cozy small-town vibe is what’s most alluring about the theater. Cinephiles aren’t bombarded by advertising and endless infotainment prior to screenings. A repertory film series of classic pictures flourishes, but regrettably, its features play only in the smaller auditoriums.

The Ambler also offers movie history programs, creative booking, appearances by notable guest critics and filmmakers, and promises to become the mecca for movies northwest of the city.

According to Howard B. Haas, the leader of the tireless effort to save Philadelphia’s Boyd theater (also known as the Sameric), more than 95 percent of the nation’s historic movie houses have closed, and many of those remaining have been gutted.

“There are only a few movie houses in the entire Philadelphia region where you can walk in and enjoy an original ornate lobby and auditorium,” he says.

The restored Ambler Theater is the best of both worlds: old-school charm and state-of-the-art technical aptitude. It’s a new benchmark of quality that highlights the disappointing dearth of modern moviegoing options in Center City.

Here is an expanded view of one of the PAB thumbnails:
http://tinyurl.com/27o9cd

Some photographs from December 2007, courtesy of Howard B. Haas:
Exterior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardbhaas/2118264362/
Ticket booth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardbhaas/2118258094/
Front auditorium
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardbhaas/2118253438/

Here is another recent photo of the Ambler Theater.

This is a 2009 photo.

Here's a link to photos of April 2009 installation of replica of historic marquee, shorter so it will not be hit by trucks (as the street is wider than before):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23976955@N07/sets/72157616157176075