Erlanger Theatre
21st Street and Market Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19013
21st Street and Market Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19013
2 people
favorited this theater
After the original Forrest Theatre was demolished in 1927 on South Broad Street, the two theater operators went their separate ways. The Shubert organization built a new Forrest Theatre on Walnut Street. Abraham Lincoln Erlanger built his own theater, the Erlanger Theatre on the northwest corner of 21st Street and Market Street. Prior to the decision of the Shuberts to build separately, this theater was going to be called the New Forrest Theatre.
The Erlanger Theatre was Philadelphia’s most elaborate legit theater ever and one of the most magnificent ever built in the United States. The exterior was Georgian. The elegant interior was furnished in Napoleonic French and other period styles. Three lobbies, the grand stairs, lounges, and the 1,890 seat auditorium were elaborated decorated and furnished with imported marble, gold leaf, murals, tapestries, crystal chandeliers, crystal mirrors, antique wood-work, hand wrought ironwork, and elaborate furniture. The Spanish Lounge for smoking was especially magnificent. Philadelphia theater architects Hoffman-Henon designed the theater.
The Erlanger Theatre opened October 23, 1927 with the musical show "Criss Cross." The theatre was also equipped to show movies. RKO began a lease on September 29, 1929 to show first run movies. RKO’s first “talkie”, "Street Girl" had its premiere here. By 1930 RKO gave up. In 1932, William Goldman, formerly manager of Stanley Warner’s local operations, leased the theater.
The Erlanger Theatre was famous for Broadway musical stage shows such as "Guys and Dolls" "West Side Story" "Man Of La Mancha" "My Fair Lady" Movies were also shown. The theater ceased showing Howard Hughes' movie "The Outlaw" (1943) because of church objections. Goldman couldn’t show all the movies he wanted because Warner Brothers controlled so many other theaters and had such leverage. So, Goldman filed an antitrust lawsuit that forced Hollywood studios to sell off their movie theaters.
Starting in 1968, the Erlanger Theatre became a restaurant, a night club, a venue for rock shows, and had great success with more legit stage shows. Overall, the Erlanger Theatre continued in the red, and was demolished in 1978. The Philadelphia Historical Commission seemed to note its importance in taking many photos. The site became a parking lot for three decades. In 2008, the Murano residential tower was built at its old site.
Contributed by
Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Here is another 1976 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lta2vt
Your 1938 link don’t work
Click it again Chuck. It seems to work for me.
Strange, it won’t work on my PC or my laptop.
When I click the link on both my PC & Laptop I get the following message Server Error in PhotoArchive Application.
Chuck….That is one of the best photos that I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame that you can’t see it. LOL
Maybe it’s a problem with your service provider. I just tried the link again and it still works. The name of the movie on the marquee is “In Old Chicago”.
Chuck; here is the full address of the 1938 photo;
View link
The source home page of the photos is:
View link
All work ok with me, so if you are having a problem opening them, it could be a settings issue on your firewall or as LM stated above, your service provider.
The part about the illegal sign was mentioned on some other 1938 photos. It apparently had something to do with the projection of the marquee over the street past some statutory limit.
Ken Roe, both your links work, but it still won’t let me open the ones that Ken Mc posted. At at any rqate I got to see the photo. Besides and unidentified souce sent me the photo through email. LOL
I saw Bette Midler back in 1974 or 1975 with her “Clams on a Half Shell” Show. A nice place for stage shows.