The picture above is probably from early 1962—the UA marquee shows One, Two, Three with James Cagney while the Woods has Rita Hayworth and Rex Harrison in The Happy Thieves. Both are dated as 1961 films, but The Happy Thieves has a January 1962 release date.
Here is a 2009 newspaper story about the fire. According to the story the theater was built circa the 1880s as Moore’s Opera House. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was the last feature shown before the fire.
Here is a screen capture from the TV series Taxi showing this theater’s marquee (as the Embassy 49) at far left. It’s from a first-season episode titled, appropriately enough, Hollywood Calling.
This was located off the northbound side of 206 between Dunns Mill and Georgetown Roads, north of Interchange 7 of the New Jersey Turnpike. The Turnpike Authority currently owns the property and is using part of the lot as a staging area for construction equipment (the Turnpike is being widened in this area). Aerial photos suggest that trees have overgrown the rest, and that little or nothing remains of the drive-in facilities.
Former Motown singer Kim Weston talks a little about the Uptown in this Philadelphia Inquirer story. Clicking on “View images” under the picture leads to a 1972 photo of the Uptown and a vintage ad for a Georgie Woods-presented show at the theater.
Here is the newofficial site for the Queen. It is being run as a music venue by World Cafe Live, a licensee of WXPN radio in Philadelphia and its World Cafe program, distributed nationally by NPR.
Status can be made Open, with Live Performances as the function.
Not a Jerry Lewis—this one was a little bigger than the JLCs. I don’t remember seeing any other Century theaters in South Jersey; this may have been a first venture into the market that was not successful and not repeated. The main local players in first-run indoor theaters in the area at this time were Sameric, GCC, RKO-SW, Milgrim and Budco.
There’s a larger version of the picture here right now. Using a zoom function to examine the sign above the admission price, I’m pretty sure that it says “CARNEGIE THEATRE”. The turnstile could be a relic of the Carnegie’s brief early existence as a newsreel theater just a couple years before. What the 12-year-old is doing on Rush Street in the dark is another matter.
Here is a reproduction of a Cherry Hill Mall brochure from the late 1960s. What’s interesting about this for Cinema Treasures purposes is that space #26—on the outside of the mall, next to the bank on the Route 38 side—is identified as “Mini Cinema.” (You may have to zoom the picture to see the number. It’s near the bottom left.) Does anybody remember movies being shown in that space? I don’t. I know it was a health club in the ‘70s and after, but I can’t recall what it was when the Mall opened. I suspect that the cinema was something that was planned but never opened.
The Hamilton opened on Christmas Day 1946 with a double feature of “Canyon Passage” and “Bamboo Blonde.” At the opening it was a joint venture of the RKO and Walter Reade chains. Newspaper story reproduction here. The blogger who posted the article says that the theater only operated for a short time but doesn’t say exactly how short.
There may have been a connection between this theater and the Black Horse Pike Drive-In a few miles away. Both theaters had towers topped by very similar large horse figures. There was a sign with an attraction board for this drive-in at the Collingswood traffic circle; after it closed, the board read “VISIT BLACK HORSE DRIVE IN” for a long time. (The sign was actually much closer to the Black Horse.) It’s possible that the Black Horse was opened as a replacement for this one, although the two sites are far enough apart that they could have drawn from different population bases to some extent.
According to this page at Forgotten New York the theater is actually built on a bridge over railroad tracks, although it looks like a typical commercial street. (There are pictures about a third of the way down the page, but they don’t show the theater closely enough.)
The picture above is probably from early 1962—the UA marquee shows One, Two, Three with James Cagney while the Woods has Rita Hayworth and Rex Harrison in The Happy Thieves. Both are dated as 1961 films, but The Happy Thieves has a January 1962 release date.
Looks like the building has been foreclosed on and is going to auction in the coming week:
View link
Here is a 2009 newspaper story about the fire. According to the story the theater was built circa the 1880s as Moore’s Opera House. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was the last feature shown before the fire.
A little late…but yes, the 1983 pic is this theater.
Here is a screen capture from the TV series Taxi showing this theater’s marquee at right. It’s from a first-season episode titled Hollywood Calling.
Here is a screen capture from the TV series Taxi showing this theater’s marquee (as the Embassy 49) at far left. It’s from a first-season episode titled, appropriately enough, Hollywood Calling.
Do any other cities have similar clusters of surviving film-related buildings?
Another Uptown story here, but nothing much new in it.
This was located off the northbound side of 206 between Dunns Mill and Georgetown Roads, north of Interchange 7 of the New Jersey Turnpike. The Turnpike Authority currently owns the property and is using part of the lot as a staging area for construction equipment (the Turnpike is being widened in this area). Aerial photos suggest that trees have overgrown the rest, and that little or nothing remains of the drive-in facilities.
Former Motown singer Kim Weston talks a little about the Uptown in this Philadelphia Inquirer story. Clicking on “View images” under the picture leads to a 1972 photo of the Uptown and a vintage ad for a Georgie Woods-presented show at the theater.
Here is the newofficial site for the Queen. It is being run as a music venue by World Cafe Live, a licensee of WXPN radio in Philadelphia and its World Cafe program, distributed nationally by NPR.
Status can be made Open, with Live Performances as the function.
Google Books has a larger version of the Life fire picture here.
The Regal theater is this one, which is across the highway inside the Moorestown Mall.
Not a Jerry Lewis—this one was a little bigger than the JLCs. I don’t remember seeing any other Century theaters in South Jersey; this may have been a first venture into the market that was not successful and not repeated. The main local players in first-run indoor theaters in the area at this time were Sameric, GCC, RKO-SW, Milgrim and Budco.
There’s a larger version of the picture here right now. Using a zoom function to examine the sign above the admission price, I’m pretty sure that it says “CARNEGIE THEATRE”. The turnstile could be a relic of the Carnegie’s brief early existence as a newsreel theater just a couple years before. What the 12-year-old is doing on Rush Street in the dark is another matter.
Here is a reproduction of a Cherry Hill Mall brochure from the late 1960s. What’s interesting about this for Cinema Treasures purposes is that space #26—on the outside of the mall, next to the bank on the Route 38 side—is identified as “Mini Cinema.” (You may have to zoom the picture to see the number. It’s near the bottom left.) Does anybody remember movies being shown in that space? I don’t. I know it was a health club in the ‘70s and after, but I can’t recall what it was when the Mall opened. I suspect that the cinema was something that was planned but never opened.
Here’s a direct link for that YouTube clip. The Paradise shows up at about 2:18—all too brief, but impressive.
Here is a January 2011 photo of the screen. Trees are getting in the way…
August 2009 photo here.
A glimpse of the Mayfair’s marquee may be seen on the left side of this picture from about 1973.
The Hamilton opened on Christmas Day 1946 with a double feature of “Canyon Passage” and “Bamboo Blonde.” At the opening it was a joint venture of the RKO and Walter Reade chains. Newspaper story reproduction here. The blogger who posted the article says that the theater only operated for a short time but doesn’t say exactly how short.
Part of the Hunt’s chain in 1931. July 1 newspaper ads for the State and other Trenton theaters here.
Theater was gutted by a fire on May 2, 1931, during a showing of “It’s a Wise Child” starring Marion Davies. Reproduction of newspaper story here.
There may have been a connection between this theater and the Black Horse Pike Drive-In a few miles away. Both theaters had towers topped by very similar large horse figures. There was a sign with an attraction board for this drive-in at the Collingswood traffic circle; after it closed, the board read “VISIT BLACK HORSE DRIVE IN” for a long time. (The sign was actually much closer to the Black Horse.) It’s possible that the Black Horse was opened as a replacement for this one, although the two sites are far enough apart that they could have drawn from different population bases to some extent.
According to this page at Forgotten New York the theater is actually built on a bridge over railroad tracks, although it looks like a typical commercial street. (There are pictures about a third of the way down the page, but they don’t show the theater closely enough.)