AMC Orleans 8

TheaterBuff1 on December 19, 2007 at 9:39 pm

Eddie Jacobs, how you can talk about the demolition of a movie theater in this fashion totally eludes me. Though in its last days the Orleans certainly was far from being at its best, there was a great deal of deliberation behind that way in which it went downhill.

Back in 2005, when I returned to have a look at the Orleans Theatre after my having been away from that area for many many years, when I saw how dreadfully awful it looked, my initial gut reaction was to blame its operators — AMC or whoever. You can see that reaction I had in some of the previous messages I posted at this page. But the more familiar I became with the matter the more I realized I was blaming the victim.

We have a major problem here in the city of Philadelphia in terms of its political leadership (some politicians, I’m not condemning all), plus a certain organized religion holding dominion here that should’ve been brought up on massive charges several years back but wasn’t. And the Orleans Theatre winding up the way it did most certainly is symptomatic of those two things combined. The Orleans could’ve gone in a different direction than it did. But that’s when looking at the matter objectively. With the opening of the Pearl @ Avenue of the Arts factor added to the mix, the Orleans could’ve been restored to being a classy single-screen theater once more. The stage was perfectly set for that. Such, however, would’ve been an intelligent move. But alas, intelligent moves are not permissable under Northeast Philadelphia’s current oppressive occupation. And here you are, as if your own fate is not in any way threatened by it, enjoying every moment of watching the old Orleans get knocked down. Weird!

TheaterBuff1 on December 20, 2007 at 11:49 pm

Well, that’s reassuring to hear from you, Eddie, for up until now I was going to say! In my case I feel priveleged in a way to remember when Roosevelt Mall was all fresh and new and the Orleans Theatre was accordingly, though even when at its height in the early ‘60s it was still no competition for the Mayfair.

In terms of saving the Orleans in terms of making it a single-screen theater once more I was thinking in terms of it becoming a single-screen digital cinema theater. Which would be much better than a multi-screen analog theater. Far more versatility. But Northeast Philly is real weird right now when it comes to anything innovative like that. The way it is around here right now, you could say, “Hey, let’s [fill in your own choice of something positive and exciting]!” and expect yourself to be kicked and cursed at from here to Kingdom Come. Just as the Orleans Theatre just was.

On the good news front in all this, the architecture of the Orleans Theatre wasn’t such that it couldn’t be easily replicated. Building-wise, every aspect of it strictly adhered to a very simplistic formula — namely the use of cinder-block — with any sort of artistry — other than the movies shown there — fully ironed out. Contrast that to the Mayfair, and also the Merben, which had some really great murals. And in the Mayfair’s case many other architectural features too countless to name.

The Orleans had none of that.

But it WAS nice when it was all new, and I fondly remember going there when it was. But now that area of the city, SCHWEW!… I think of how it is now, and hell on earth is the only thing that comes to mind. That is, a hell on earth with people actually sticking up for it. What could be worse?!

TheaterBuff1 on January 1, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Hughie, scroll back and you’ll see the photo links that Eddie Jacobs posted several weeks ago showing various stages of its demolition, or assassination perhaps I should say.

And with anti-movie theater presidential candidate Osama Bin Laden — OOPS! I mean, Barrack Obama — leading in the 2008 Iowa Caucus, if he does prevail in this year’s presidential elections it’s going to be bad news for movie theaters all across America, with what happened to the DuPage Theater which had been located in his Illinois senatorial district just a sampler. I call this trend the “rolling darkness” and count the Orleans' recent demolition as part of that sad sad movement.

Patrick H Friel on January 2, 2008 at 5:59 pm

Eddie, thank you very much for taking the time to take the pictures and re-posting the link.

A sad site, indeed.

Eddiej1984 on June 17, 2011 at 8:31 pm

So 3 and a half years later and we can comment again! (I hope, if this goes thru) While I do miss the convience of the AMC Orleans 8, its time was up, if it got a nice renovation sometime in the 90s or even early 2000s it could’ve still been here today, but either way we have the memories of it. I do enjoy the Target there (which has been opened for over 2 years now) I won’t lie, and the last movie I would see at the orleans was the simpsons movie.