State Theatre
105 South 52nd Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
105 South 52nd Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
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From 1950 a newsprint photo of the State Theatre marquee and entrance.
Another PAB photo?
Here is a photo circa 1929:
http://tinyurl.com/pfvt4r
I recall the shuttered building but not the marquee, but the interior was indeed fabulous from what I viewed in the Irwin Glazer book. It may have been removed as a safety precaution before the demolition, or maybe age is eroding my memory.
SIDENOTE: Is there any info regarding the old Eric Terminal Theater in the 69th St. El/Bus Terminal?
No answer right now, but
Google search exactly
Boxoffice 3 June 1950
put 125 in the search box
for photo of State exterior with “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” on the marquee.
Is that demolition date correct? I think the State may have been around slightly longer than 1967, possibly ‘68 or even '69.
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ysqnb4
A Kimball theater organ KPO 6941 size 3/13 was installed in the State Theater in 1929.
I barely remember being taken there as a kid to see Old Yeller in 1959. There were 3 other theaters on 52nd St in West Phila during that time: The Nixon, where I saw everything from “Hercules Unchained "to "Our Man Flint”, at 52nd and Market; The Locust, known for their triple bills on Saturdays (“Guns of Navarone –” Great Escape" – “The Train”)
at 52nd and Locust, and The Capitol, at 52nd just above Girard Av, where I saw “The Silencers” and “Hombre”. The State was the biggest and best of the bunch, but closed before the others, and they all played second-run double and triple bills.
By the 1980’s urban blight and multiplexes killed off these “neighborhood” theaters.