Ritz 5 Theatres

Do on August 28, 2022 at 4:58 pm

I saw “The French Dispatch” in Theater A. Definitely the best screen but needs a redo. New seats at least. Seems the current owner of Landmark should realize this. The Ritz Five is a far cry from when Ramon Posel owned this theater.

HowardBHaas on January 28, 2022 at 1:03 pm

The Philadelphia Inquirer in print today has the obit of the sculptor of the art seen on the theater facade in a 2017 photo that I posted.

Headlines William P. Daley, celebrated ceramic artist and longtime professor, dies at 96 Former Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski called his work “both humble because of their reddish, raw-clay color and regal because of their carefully calculated symmetries.”

NOT ALL OF THE ARTICLE, BUT MUCH- William P. Daley, 96, an internationally celebrated ceramic artist and art professor, died Sunday, Jan. 16, of heart failure at his home in Elkins Park.

Mr. Daley was part of what is known as the American studio craft movement, a shift that took root after World War II during which artists rejected mass production of both crafts and art and combined the two. Mr. Daley worked most often in clay — he called it mud — and many of his pieces, true to the movement, are equally functional and inspiring.

As an example, Mr. Daley noted in a 2010 Inquirer video that a cistern he created not only collected water but was specifically designed to convey “the idea that rain is a sacred event.”

“Craft is absolutely vital to making art,” Mr. Daley said in the video. “But if it’s only craft, it can’t be art. … All art has to be useful either psychically, intellectually, or emotionally.” In addition to his many signature pieces of large unglazed stoneware vessels, Mr. Daley created screens, walls, fountains, and other objects. His work is shown in museums in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, London, the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and elsewhere.

His large-scale architecture can be seen, among other places, in Philadelphia at Landmark’s Ritz Five movie theater on Dock Street, and Germantown Friends School on West Coulter Street; and in West Chester at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on West Pleasant Grove Road.

Elisabeth Agro, curator of American modern and contemporary crafts and decorative arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said Mr. Daley “profoundly influenced many in the field of American craft” and “engaged in deep contemplation of mankind’s ‘inner spiritual grace.’”

Ruth Fine, former curator of special projects in modern art at Washington’s National Gallery of Art, said Mr. Daley was of “immense importance in [Philadelphia’s] attention to the craft-based arts.”

Mr. Daley also taught in the crafts and industrial design departments at Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, from 1957 to 1990, and dozens of his students went on to distinguish themselves in ceramics, glass, furniture, and design.

William R. Valerio, the director and CEO of Philadelphia’s Woodmere Art Museum, called Mr. Daley “a generous teacher who made an impact on the thinking of generations of artists.”

Mr. Daley held dozens of exhibitions, received many awards for both his art and teaching — including the 1991 College Art Association of America Distinguished Teaching of Art Award — and wrote for his own website. He and Helen Drutt were founders of the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen, and the Helen Drutt Gallery in Philadelphia was his primary dealer.

He sometimes even encouraged those viewing his work to handle the pieces to better embrace their emotional impact. “All art is that connection between one human being and another, a kind of communication,” he said in 2010.

In 2009, Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski wrote that “the physical presence of [Mr. Daley’s] work is forceful and inescapable” and that “one is able to appreciate both the formal ingenuity and seductiveness of the compositions and the perceptual dualities they generate.”

Mr. Daley was born March 7, 1925, in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, was shot down on his first mission as a tail gunner, and spent a year as a prisoner of war in Turkey and Germany before being liberated.

Using the GI Bill, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art education from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1950 and two years later earned a master’s degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

thebrat on August 19, 2017 at 11:06 pm

Went here the first time tonight, I live in NY so it’s not likely for me to go again or consistently enough to give a thorough write-up. My feature was in #4 and ouch my back. The seats aren’t exactly comfortable, which is my only gripe. Picture and especially sound is a step down from NYC’s Sunshine, I even heard woofer distortion in the Landmark logo. But I’d be damned this is the cutest movie theater I’ve been to.

It’s a place to see a movie, and less of an experience.

rivest266 on October 8, 2016 at 5:50 pm

June 25th, 1976 grand opening ad in photo section.

alps on April 27, 2014 at 9:39 pm

Right, Budco never owned the Theater, but Variety used to say, in the 70’s, that Milgram Theaters were the owners when they would report grosses, much to the surprize of Mr. Posal. “Budco like” means that, the theater was twinned by building a wall in the center, and not adjusting the seats, which after nearly 30 years, remain on a slant. I try to avoid films there unless they play in the bigger theater.

TheALAN on April 23, 2014 at 11:13 am

In a comment, alps makes a reference to “… Budco like twinning in ‘85.” I would like to make it clear, before this comment is misconstrued, that Budco Theatres Inc. never owned or had an interest in this theater.

alps on April 15, 2013 at 1:26 pm

The Ritz has raised it’s admission, and consession prices, again, limiting discount shows to once a day on selected days.

atb on September 13, 2012 at 1:16 am

Anyone know why some of the theaters were closed today during the day? Anything to do with “The Master” opening here next week? Installation of 4K?

Mike Rogers on July 21, 2010 at 9:40 pm

From Boxoffice to Ritz Theatre lovers.The Silver screen society started by Joe Tommassello, rents the RITZ 5 Cinemas on the first sunday of the month to play timeless classics. “THE MALTSE FALCON” and “ON THE BEACH”,Membership is $50.00 for one $85.00 for two. A single month admission is Ten dollars,Just a little more history for you guys.

kencmcintyre on September 18, 2009 at 9:37 pm

Here is another exterior photo. It seems like the name should be Ritz 5, which is how I searched for it initially.
http://tinyurl.com/nnfl2r

TheaterBuff1 on July 5, 2008 at 11:43 pm

I know that temperatures get warmer the farther south you go (that is, here in the northern hemisphere), but from the northeast portion of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia’s Center City — where this theater is located — I didn’t realize the distance between Northeast Philadelphia and Center City Philadelphia is so great that when it’s cold winter up here it’s very summer like down there. But photos don’t lie, do they?

HowardBHaas on August 25, 2007 at 5:32 pm

The June 1999 Philadelphia Magazine rated the Ritz Five a “3.8” on a 1 to 5 scale, with comment “Screening rooms are small and tight, with thin walls, but this is still the best art-house choice downtown.” The highest possible rating was achieved in the Seating category, and a very high rating in the Cleanliness category.