Randolph Theatre
1116 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19107
1116 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19107
6 people
favorited this theater
The Randolph Theatre opened on November 10, 1901 as Chestnut Street Keith’s Theatre or simply known as Keith’s Theatre by Benjamin F. Keith. It was a dual format theatre, with both Keith-Albee vaudeville and Stanley Warner’s photoplay.
French Renaissance in style, Keith’s Theatre had a large seven-story facade. The ground floor used three bays in a triumphal arch/Palladian motif with Ionic columns. A recessed entrance sat under the archway with dentils and relief figural sculptures. The second through fourth levels on the facade used a large arcuated central oriel, topped by shell and segmental scroll motifs on the 5-bay fifth level. Spandrels of the sixth and seventh floors, 5-bays each, were in the form of monumental Ionic pilasters. A huge ornamental projecting overhang sat above the top story. It had an equally beautiful interior, including two balconies and box seats, however there were some obstructed views.
Stars appearing on stage included Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers. By the late 1920’s, the theatre had become out of date as newer theatres had been built. Paramount and Alexander Boyd tookover, opening September 22, 1930, with the Marx Brothers in “Animal Crackers”. In September 1931, Loew’s replaced Paramount, and in March 1932, Stanley-Warner replaced Loew’s. Projection equipment was removed in May 1932, and the theatre closed until December 30, 1932, when for a short time, stage and movies were presented. Then, the theatre returned to showing movies only.
On May 8, 1943, Philadelphia theatre operator, the William Goldman Co. acquired Keith’s Theatre for his movie circuit. Stanley Warner’s longstanding policy was to show films here subsequent to their initial runs in other downtown theatres, but Goldman returned the theatre to first run status, starting December 18, 1948 with “Mexican Hayride” starring Abbott & Costello. In 1949, William Goldman had remodeled the theatre to the plans of architect David Supowitz. The facade was shortened to four stories and covered with plastic tiles. The various lobbies were combined into one foyer with modern decor. The auditorium was gutted, to create a new 2,020 seat auditorium, including one balcony, the seat count courtesy of Barry Goodkin who worked there. Goldman renamed it the Randolph Theatre in memory of his late son Randolph and reopened it December 24, 1949 with the movie “On The Town”. The movie musical “Excuse My Dust” had its world premiere on June 6, 1951. “An American in Paris” was a movie also showcased in 1951, and “Singin' in the Rain” in 1952, and Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder” in 1954. In April 1956, the Randolph and Monaco had dual world premieres of Grace Kelly’s film “The Swan”.
In 1956, the epic “The Ten Commandments” had its roadshow presentation here. In the 1960’s, 600 seats were removed to enable the Randolph Theatre to become the City’s second ‘Cinerama’ venue. This was not real, ‘three-strip’ Cinerama with three projection booths, but ‘one-strip’ 70mm. The Randolph continued as one of downtown’s showplace first run movie theatres. It was well known for Road Show and 70mm movie presentations, including “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, and “2001- A Space Odyssey”, “Hello Dolly”, which ran for several months each!
On January 3, 1971, the Randolph Theatre closed and was demolished. The last movie that played at the Randolph was "Tora, Tora, Tora". Today, a clothing store sits on the site.
Goldman sold his other theatres to Philadelphia theatre operators Budco, but the Randolph was not to continue, as the movie theatre district had become concentrated west of Broad Street. The Earle Theatre, one block to the north, had long been demolished. When the Randolph Theatre closed, Goldman’s other Center City theatres were all within a block of 15th Street and Chestnut Street – the Midtown Theatre, Goldman Theatre and Regency Theatre. The Randolph Theatre was spared the fate each of those suffered, of having their auditoriums twinned down the middle.
Contributed by
Michael R. Rambo Jr., Howard B. Haas, Peter Clericuzio
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 46 comments)
Thanks for all the great pictures.“Ice Station Zerba” looked great and the ad for 2001 was just like the one Nick sent me from an ad he saved from the Tampa newspaper in 1968.
I haven’t been copied on comments, so I didn’t realize there was a question. I have googled BoxOffice only with specific dates, but I am not an expert at using that journal. For the record, I never experienced the Randolph. I hope more people will write of their recollections.
This theatre is listed as a former Loews does anyone know why?
Never mind I read the header again.Missed it first time.
my name is jack swartz,I was the last assistant mgr of the randolph theatre. norman cohen was our district mgr. and his office was located in the randolph. my office was located just down the hall from the old ice house,which was used for early air conditioning efforts during the keiths era.since the randolph was built inside of the keiths we used to store our supplies up the old marble staircase which led to the balcony of the keiths theatre.any information that I may have I will be glad to furnish. there may be some lapses of memory to to a recent stroke I sustained but I hope I may be able to help out some people.
Jack, you were there when it closed? what year did you begin working at the Randolph? were there any movie premieres, perhaps with movie stars, when you were there? What regular movie screenings do you recall? did the theater do well in attendence for the regular screenings? if you worked or saw movies at other Philadelphia theaters, your recollections on those pages would also be welcome. Other Center City theaters run by Goldman would be listed on this site by their last names, Prince Music (prior: Midtown), Goldman, and Regency I & II.
howard,i worked at the randolph for two years from ‘69-closing in '71 the only “hollywood” style 0pening that i can remember was the running of patton at the gold man theatre. by the time I was working there the hay day of hard ticket films were at a close. during hello dolly there were perhaps 5-15 people in the audience,with about 30 in the evening show. I have to leave for work now, but I have more for you on tora,tora,tora.when I’m done this evening.
Jack, please add your Patton recollection directly on the Goldman Theatre page, including whether there were any of the movie stars, director, etc present or whatever hoopla there was. So few people for “Hello Dolly” implies to me that the Randolph really was too far east on Chestnut, from the other movie theaters. I look forward to your later postings!
last show at the randollph theatre was tora,tora,tora. reserved seating with advanced sales. opened to alarge audience. but was not received very well. apparently the older americans, who served during word war two,memories of the event were far different than those portrayed in the film.quote , by one customer “if you think we were that stupid, you’re crazy!” “who made this movie a bunch of commies.!” at any rate within a few weeks the theatre as well as the show died a slow,painful death.
as we started to close the theatre,nothing was left we pulled ou the seats and sent them to a theatre in chambursburg. the screen,which was made up of 2 inch louvre strips was simply cut down and we sold the scaffolding on which it was installed. the cinemascope lenses ,which were rented, i retuned.with the warning,if you drop these kid,just keep going.