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Yeadon Theatre
541 Church Lane,
Yeadon,
PA
19050
541 Church Lane,
Yeadon,
PA
19050
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 65 comments
The last movie I saw there was Independence Day. It was a couple of dollars to get in so I treated my whole family my Mom, sisters, my kids, nieces and nephews. It was great! Good times.
at 1:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzCyzybxVbs
I saw a re-release of “Gone With the Wind” at the Yeadon on 8/13/70. I remember the owner serving coffee and doughnuts to her patrons in the lobby. I also remember the old-fashioned curtains that creaked open very slowly to reveal the screen.
iam sadly to imform you that most of you knew what i already suspected the yeadon theatre is gone!! erased no marquee saved nothing, just a vacant lot just memories!! if you go to google maps click on the address and youll see a green field empty lot!!! another theatre lost to time MORE the reason to SAVE the BOYD and LANSDOWNE and other theatres our cinema treasures
Boy,you are right Chuck,A nice theatre,noticed “THE VERDICT” playing might have been taken around the Christmas holidays.
Thanks for posting the photos. I spent a few times in the Yeadon Fire Hall for little league sports banquets. Anyway, it is so sad to see that the theater is gone. My father took me to my first movie in that theater while growing up there. My father has since passed away, so it is even more saddening to see the theater gone. Mira, that’s great that you remember Rhea. I myself don’t remember her, but I have heard amazing things about how she ran that theater.
From the ages 10 thru 13, I cannot count the number of Saturdays I spent at the Yeadon Theatre. Even later on, Rhea kept a lot of the old features, including a nickel soda machine. I went there once in the 70s and 2 inebriated young men were sitting a few rows in front of us and being loud and inappropriate. In the middle of the movie, they stopped the film, turned up the lights and Rhea came down the aisle with 2 Yeadon policemen and escorted the 2 rowdy’s out of the theatre. We all applauded and then settled back down to watch the rest of the movie. She was a gem. I lived in Lansdowne Park and we used to climb over the gate of Holy Cross Cemetary to cut through to the other gate for a short cut to the theatre. The last movie I saw there was “Superman” and the place was packed. Sweet memories.
Look closely at this photo of the site of the demolished Yeadon. Note the building to the right of the photo, the Yeadon FIRE DEPARTMENT!
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A happy discovery among the rubble – bits of the Yeadon facade:
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Very sad to read and see that this theatre has been destroyed and that it had a fire. And yes, such a shame for the people of Yeadon to have lost this special art deco theatre! So nice to read that several chunks of ceramic facade material will make their way to the THS archive in Elmhurst, IL.
It is most certainly demolished. All that remains is a neatly groomed square of land, ready for redevelopment. However, a little closer inspection of the gravel unveiled several chunks of ceramic facade material which will now make their way to the Theatre Historical Society’s archive in Elmhurst. IL. Not sure if any effort was made by the local preservation groups to save any major ornamental details. From the photos listed here, it looks to have been a really nice house. Such a shame for the people of Yeadon.
I was under the impression that the Yeadon was demolished— any info?? I see it is listed still as “closed”…
If it wasn’t demolished has anything been removed for preservation??I need to take a ride to Yeadon and see for myself what is there….
I am Rhea Friedman’s granddaughter, and I am trying to collect some information about her life, and her achievements at the Yeadon Theater.
I’m hoping some of you will be willing to share your memories of my grandmother or your time at the Yeadon Theater with me. I am particularly interested in the quirky stuff that made her theater so wonderful – her policy of not segregating blacks and whites, her afternoons for kids with contests (and no adult males allowed), her distribution of coffee and cookies when people stood outside in the cold.. Anything and everything would be appreciated.
Thanks.
You can
Here is a February 2006 article. Too little, too late.
http://tinyurl.com/y95oaj
A John Eberson designed theater seeing the wrecking ball?! That is outlandishly surreal that I don’t even know how to begin the fathom that! Earlier tonight I caught the second half of Ric Burn’s “Andy Warhol,” a PBS American Experience TV documentary, and when focusing on his assassination attempt in 1968 — which happened right before Bobby Kennedy was assassinated for — when Andy Warhol was rushed to the hospital, the doctors and surgeons were ready to write him off for dead, when some of Warhol’s followers pleaded, “No, no, you don’t understand! This is Andy Warhol, a world famous artist!” (Or something to that effect.) With that a specialist surgeon was rushed in, and though Warhol was declared clinically dead, the surgeon cut open his chest and actually manually massaged his heart till it started pumping again.
And you feel, what’s different between 1968 and now? For if a human being with all its complexities can be brought back from being clinically dead, then why the hell can’t an historic theater — especially one designed by John Eberson, who even designed theaters as faraway as far off Australia — be stopped from facing the wrecking ball for chrissakes?! Was it because those who comprised the human race in 1968 were a much higher race of people than any of us of today are? Did that race all suddenly die off when Bobby Kennedy did? For I think this theater’s demolition should come as a major wake up call for everybody! For as I see it, America’s Taliban just struck again.
Just viewed the 4/14/04 photos and the Yeadon was most definitely an art deco EBERSON! It is a shame that someone in the community with deep pockets couldn’t have stepped up the plate and saved this theatre as has been done in other small towns. Or a civic minded group of business people or an arts council or someone!
I would love to see a photo of this theatre and what it looked like in its heyday!
This theatre is an EBERSON and should never have been considered a demolition project. The Town of Butler PA lost their Eberson and now it, too, is gone forever!
The sad thing is that people do not care until its to late. It seems soon as the word gets out about a theatre closing or being torn down, then everyone wants to get on the bandwagon and SAVE it. By then its TO LATE> Look at Phila. and all the theatres that are gone. Some small, some large but G O N E! Theatres that could NEVER be replaced today. I’m so happy I took pictures of a lot of the houses before it was to late. rg
On September 20, 2006 the demolitation of the Yeadon Theatre will be complete. Once my favorite movie house and one of the last neighborhood theatres. It’s a sad day in Yeadon, PA.
veyoung: I just posted my personal thoughts concerning this sad theatre news out of Yeadon PA on the CT news link and I hope many fellow CT members do the same! And maybe a letter to the Mayor of Yeadon telling him how us CT members feel about his town’s decision wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
See today’s Cinema Treasures news. House will be demolished.
DeniedX: In the CT photos that have been posted the sink sure looks pink to me, but perhaps at one time it was red.
Was that sink pink? I remember it being red as a child.
Howard: “The theater can still be saved!” Sweet words to my eyes and ears! BUT if it can’t, the very special art deco artifacts such as the pink sink need to be saved or sold, BUT certainly not thrown away!
The front of the theater is equally special. The interior’s primary decoration consists of paint, bands of Art Deco colors, that would have needed to be repainted anyway. The theater can still be saved.