Astor Theatre
722-728 W. Girard Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19123
722-728 W. Girard Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19123
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The Germantown Theatre was built in 1905 as a legitimate playhouse on the corner of W. Girard Avenue at N. Franklin Street. In later years it operated as the American Theatre, Astor Theatre and Lyric Theatre and presented Yiddish plays. It ended its days as a movie theatre, and was was demolished.
In it place rose this late John Eberson-designed theatre opened in 1940 as the Astor Theatre, operated by Warner Brothers. The theatre could seat 1,422, all on a single level. Interior decorations were carried out by Rambusch Inc. The Astor Theatre closed in the 1960’s and was razed in 1989.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Was mentioned by Bob Hope on the Dick Cavett Show DVD.
The Philadelphia Architects and Buildings website gives the following info for this address:
German Theatre. Also known as: American Theatre (1911); Astor Theatre (1921); Lyric Theatre.
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 781 style “D” was installed in the Astor Theater on 2/7/1924.
The phillyhistory.org site places this 1961 photo at N. 7th and Girard. It looks like there is a Girard Theater at that spot, but it’s hard to tell exactly.
http://tinyurl.com/qa76zt
Pictured in 1940 trade ad at bottom of this page: Boxoffice
If memory serves, a cartoon version of the Astor showed up in an animated Bill Cosby special in the ‘70s. Bill and friends had to go under the terrifying Ninth Street Bridge to get home after watching a movie there. I think the cartoon Astor looked reasonably like the picture shown here, with the name at a point up at the top.