Media Theatre for the Performing Arts

In the early 1990’s, Walter M. Strine, Sr. saved the historic Media
Theatre, which was built for movies in 1927 in Philadelphia’s suburbs. The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday published his obituary and photos, as he passed away at age 100. View link

Here is a recent marquee shot of the Media Theater.

excellent photo of exterior, showing “Oliver”
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close up Marquee
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A July 2008 photo can be seen here.

The Media was part of the Harry L. Dembow Circuit in the early sixties. General manager was Harry L. Dembow, not surprisingly. Besides the Media, other Dembow theaters in Pennsylvania at the time were the Congress in Marcus Hook and the State in Columbia.

Happy birthday Patsy. Had I known that it was your birthday, I would have given you a theater or more likely, some popcorn. :)

This is a recent night view of the Media Theater.

George H. Rothacker painted the Media Theater in 1991 to help raise money for a community effort to preserve the 1927 movie house. More than $3500 was raised in print sales, after which the owner of the theater decided to restore the theater for musicals and live stage events. A few months later, on a trip to Doylestown, Mr. Rothacker discovered that the 1938 County Theater was dark. His wife photographed the building with a disposable camera, and he painted the building, and created a print series which eventually helped the community restore the theater.

Since that time, George Rothacker has painted 10 theaters, the latest of which is the Indiana Theater, created and reproduced for the benefit of the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

“Sometimes I paint a theater to help physically preserve it,” said Mr. Rothacker. “And sometimes I simply paint it because of it’s a wonderful building that should remain with us in memory a while longer. When establishing a fundraising effort, I do the painting, and the printing it at my cost and then offer the sponsoring organization 50% of the sale of the prints from the initial sale. By taking all of the risk , I relieve the community or other sponsor of any financial concerns. Its an all win situation for them.”

Mr. Rothacker is continually searching for movie houses to paint and reproduce. If you know of any theaters in need of preservation, or of an organization who could help benefit the revitalization of a theater or a community, please call 610-566-0334.

This theatre has true “street front presence” thanks to the beautiful lighted marquee, ticket kios and brick facade with the year 1927 above the theatre doors and marquee.

Thats a beautiful marquee at night.

Very nice theater. Does anyone know if they still show a movie from time to time?

This is a recent photo of the Media Theater.