College Theatre
627 S. Chester Road,
Swarthmore,
PA
19081
627 S. Chester Road,
Swarthmore,
PA
19081
1 person
favorited this theater
Opened in 1946, the College Theatre has a single story Georgian style facade, in Colonial brick with four columns supporting a portico. The auditorium had all seating on a single floor. Notable decoration were two large photo-murals midway down the side-walls over emergency exits. These depicted the Parrish Hall (the main building of Swarthmore College) and the Clothier Memorial Tower at Swarthmore College.
Since closing in around spring of 1987, the College Theatre has been turned into stores.
Contributed by
Robert Rooney, Ken Roe
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
I grew up in a house across the street from The College, from the 60’s to the 80’s. The first film I was ever taken to was there, Born Free. I remember seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey there multiple times. I saw Jaws there on it’s first run, and Raging Bull. The films that played there varied in type from kiddie features to the more mature films of the ‘70’s. They even occasionally showed foreign movies here (possibly to draw the university crowd from Swarthmore College). When Nagisa Oshima’s In The Realm of the Senses played there, it was picketed for its supposed erotic content (it’s a beautifully photographed but extremely tedious movie about a self destructive affair between a fallen samurai and a geisha, very unsexy arthouse pseudo porn).
I think it was an independent house originally, the Budco chain bought it in the late 70’s or early 80’s I think, but they didn’t know what to do with it and it became a cheaper second run house before it died. It was built in the middle of a row of shops on one level, so that the lobby had a fairly steep upward rake from street level, to accommodate the more gentle downward rake of the auditorium. Due to the floor structure, I believe it was partly demolished, the front facade and half courtyard were removed,
bringing the front of the row of shops into one continuous line. (You can see the former site on Google Street View View link)
Near the end I remember seeing a lot of bad low budget sci fi there, including Starcrash, and, as noted above Forbidden World (which was the second part of a double feature, during the opening credits I remember someone in the audience shouting “No wonder it’s Forbidden, it sucks!” which has become a running joke for my friends who were there ever since.
wow, lucky you seeing forbidden world on the big screen. I wish i could have. Do you recall how the concession stand looked. or the theater itself how nice was it??
Mother’s day was shown here in sept of 1980.
The College Theatre was operated by Budco Theatres, from at least August 1974.
Any more memories or info on this theater would be appreciated. For example, i wonder what year they changed everything and turned it into a business office? Did the theater sit for a few years once it closed??
Mad Max shown here in 1980 also…
what happened to the 1983 photo that was on here??
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=college&ProductID=33311
college theater from May 1983.
link
chuck, i really wish i was old enough to see movies at this theater. I pass it by almost everyday. You can see in the back of the shopping center that the one part of it stands out really far in the back, thats where the theater was….