Goldman Theatre
30 S. 15th Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19102
30 S. 15th Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19102
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 95 comments
Budco Theatres sued the film critics on November 19th, 1979
Budco Vs. film reviewers Tue, Nov 20, 1979 – Page 25 · The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com
The Goldman on a side street could pretend to be a grindhouse…Shame that they treated the Regency on a main shopping street that way…Granted Philly residents at the time also could continue down Chestnut and have a great army & navy store and Zounds arcade
On opening, this theatre was the subject of an article in Marquee, titled “Philadelphia’s First Post-War First-Run Theatre Features a New Idea in Acoustic Technique – THE GOLDMAN THEATRE.”
Alas, the link is to a Google Books entry providing a “Snippet View” only; however, I am able to view the following text:
“The effects are obtained by applying to the walls 1,190 panels fabricated from convex wood-and-metal squares, 3 feet on a side…”
Also, thanks, John, as to your comments re particular films here and on the Prince (Midtown) and Stanley pages. In the next week or so, I will revise the Introductions as to significant changes. Would welcome a post at Cinema 19 page, too, from you.
John, the opening of Disney’s 70mm “Sleeping Beauty” in the Spring of 1958 introduced the Goldman’s new post-scope screen on a deeply curved track which remained in place at least through the run of “Porgy and Bess” the next year and quite possibly as late as “El Cid” in 1962. This was the 2nd 70mm install in the area, the first of course being the 1955 introduction of the Todd-AO system at Goldman’s Midtown. And both installations were originally on curved screens which subsequently were replaced by flat projection.
SethLewis should have seen the Goldman in the 1960s – a wide angle auditorium with a great view of the large screen. Very clean & well-maintained, the best projection and sound. Other large, great theaters with reserved seat 70mm movies: Boyd, Stanley, Midtown, Randolph (after Cinerama renovation) and Cinema 19 (former Viking).
What happened in the 1970s as Center City deteriorated was VERY SAD.
There was no “deeply curved” screen at the Goldman, but a very large flat screen. Add Todd-AO version of The Agony and the Ecstasy, Half A Sixpence (35mm mono). The Longest Day was presented in CinemaScope (b&w 35mm 4-track). I saw all the movies from Spartacus onward.
I’ve been going through old copies of the Inquirer on Newspapers.com the last few days…I lived in Philly in the late 70s – shocking reminders of how oddly programmed Center City theatres were in those days – kung fu, hard core porn and horror double features that were rougher than NY’s 42nd street and this in the mainstream Budco and Eric houses before they were acquired by AMC and UA respectively. The only ones that seemed not to show porn were the Milgram theatres but they made up for it with blaxpo and kung fu. I’m not being judgemental – I appreciate this went with the times just seems so odd in retrospect especially when there were good studio films and foreign films being made
walterk…. The IMDb info on “Planet of the Apes” is NOT correct (or, at the very least, lacks context). The fact is “Apes” opened in at least two U.S. markets in the February/March ‘68 period. And while my research shows the film did open in at least a few markets during the week of April 3rd, most “keys” opened it after April 3rd. And, of course, the second- and third-tier markets opened it even later than that. And yes it would be nice if the person in question would chime back in and acknowledge the mistake, especially since they were dismissive of my correction claim.
Coate, the information IMDb supplied was right. The person posting failed to note that April 3 was the United States release date for “Planet”, which was clearly stated by IMDb, and not necessarily the date it began its run at any particular location. Without further research to confirm, it was a stretch to assume it opened at the Goldman on that date and post that misinformation. I’m surprised that person has not acknowledged their mistake and apologized, as they expect others to do.
Hopefully this “Planet of the Apes”/Goldman opening date incident will serve as a lesson for those naive or irresponsible enough to rely on the IMDb for such information.
To whom it may concern, Planet of the Apes opened at the Goldman on April 24, 1968, and not one day earlier! Advertisements in both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Evening Bulletin indicate clearly state that Apes opened as the incoming feature of an “All Day Prevue” (a Philadelphia exhibition protocol in which the incoming feature is paired with the outgoing film to produce a double-feature billing for one day) with “The Secret War of Harry Frigg” as the outgoing film. The Variety magazine issue of May 1, 1968, in the “film grosses” section also states without reservation that the first week of “Apes” at the Goldman ended and was tracked by Variety on April 30. It grossed $47,000, btw. I’ve posted photos.
hdtv267…. Take it up with veyoung52, the Philly area resident who looked up the info on my behalf.
hdtv267…. Advertisements in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.
So Planet Of the Apes was before Funny Girl which opened in Oct 1968.
hdtv267… “Planet of the Apes” opened at the Goldman on April 24th, 1968.
Yes Planet Of The Apes played there in the late 60’s. I think it was before Funny Girl.
Phil Walker informs me he saw the 1968 Planet of the Apes here at the not yet twinned Goldman.
Phil Walker commented today at (Friends of the Boyd) Facebook as to the Goldman & the auditorium’s sconces- It was sad when the room was twinned and the existing walls (and fixtures) were painted white (they were a forest green)
Cleopatra was actually at the Stanley Theatre, which has its own page and was a beautiful prewar movie palace (according to historical accounts, as I wasn’t there).
why are there no images of the interior of the Goldman theatre before renovations….the place was gorgeous….I took my girl there in 1963 (?) when the movie “Cleopatra” premiered there…we had opera seat…fantastic building…beautiful !!!
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201946/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201946%20-%209667.pdf
has the grand opening ad from August 15th, 1946. Ad also in photo section.
Today, I posted a 1960 slide of the Goldman. Arcade Building is north, as is a trolley. Marquee for the Richard Burton movie reads: The shameless things done in the name of love. The BRAMBLE BUSH.
RE: Blow Out and the Goldman Theater: Travolta makes a phone call in front of the Goldman Theater; you can see the marquee (and the multi-colored lights) in the background of the widescreen frame. His office is above the Apollo Theater (a long-gone porn theater) on Market East at City Hall.
Didn’t see this mentioned in the comments, but while watching De Palma’s Blow Out yesterday, I realized the Goldman is in the film, I believe as The Apollo. The offices for the exploitation film company Travolta’s character works for is located above the theater. You can even catch the edge of One Meridian.