Boyd Theatre
1908-18 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
1908-18 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
45 people
favorited this theater
Showing 426 - 450 of 514 comments
The Friends of the Boyd, Inc are working on film equipment issues, and certainly want the best movie experience in the area. Our aim is to have a huge movie screen within the prosecenium arch. Like the Prince’s it will need to fly to get out of the way for live shows, but the arch as you know is much bigger than the Prince’s. We also wish to have 70 MM in addition to scope, flat, and pre-1953 dimension classic films, and of course, excellent sound. The auditorium is indeed very wide. When restored with its original decorations, paint colors, plaster, etc. there will be no other movie experience like this in our region, considering the huge screen, huge auditorium, glorious lobbies, lounges, and foyers, and ornate features.
The Boyd’s balcony is quite nice, too. Currently, the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, and the Newtown are the only 2 area theaters where you can experience a movie from the balcony.
Howard B. Haas, President, Friends of the Boyd, Inc.
I’m really thrilled that the Boyd is going to be saved and restored.
I also understand that it would not be able to survive only showing film. One of the things that the Boyd has going for it as a multi purpose venue is the width of the auditorium and proscenium. I would think that a very large movie screen would still be able to be maintained for screenings and would do justice to scope and 70mm films. The screen at the Prince (formally Midtown) is small for that size theater as it must be able to be pulled up for live events. I am
guessing that at least a 60 foot wide screen would be able to fit
within the arch and still be able to be pulled up for live shows. It may not be a 76 foot wide, deeply curved, Cinerama screen, but with good projection and sound it potentially could be far and away the best movie experience in the area. A note about IMAX as a venue for seeing mainstream films: it stinks. The scope and 1:85 to 1 movies are cropped to be shown at 1:33 to 1 and also the IMAX versions are many times edited and shortened. I’d love to know more about the plans to restore the Boyd’s capacity to show film. If anyone knows, please feel free to comment.
I too would love to see the Boyd restored to the days of the Stanley Warner ownership and see the three panel Cinerama films again, in addition to all the 70mm epics shown there over the years. However, I also know that even though there is a great many of us who feel that way, it would not be enough to keep the Boyd Theatre operating. I look forward to some day in the not too distant future walking back in the Boyd and seeing whatever Broadway touring show they are presenting. And maybe, just maybe, entering again sometime and taking our seats in the “loge” to watch an epic film. At least we will be able to enter this theatre again! That is more that what
can be said for the Stanley, Fox, Randolph, Goldman, and even the
Midtown. One restored movie palace is better than none. It is unfortunate that we cannot go back again. New York City does not even have one of the Times Square area movie palaces still taking up space, except for the Mayfair/DeMille which is sitting there rotting away. The number of people who remember what movie going was like just thirty to forty years ago are dwindling. For most people the megaplexes are what they have grown up with. It’s a shame. But shopping in Center City USA is also history. Time marches on and maybe not always for the better. Sitting here waiting for the opening day of the Boyd!
As to 1953 glamour and glitz, I am puzzled. The exterior lost its gorgeous Art Deco marquee & ticket lobby. The round marquee is big but most people don’t think it very handsome or lavish, and we’ve heard from many people.
The Grand Lobby of the Boyd lost its main Art Deco chandelier & 2 adjoining pendant chandeliers, as well as four marble pedestals with Art Deco vase light fixtures and ornate metal railing on the Lobby Mezzanine.
Art Deco ceiling fixtures in the Foyer and Auditorium were replaced by a more modern metal fixture, which though interesting, doesn’t fit quite well with the French Art Deco decor.
In the Auditorium, the huge screen covered much of the ornate decoration. The Monel figures of 6 ladies around the world, and other figures, were overpainted or covered over. The original paint
colors were overpainted in much of the theater. And, yes, that big ugly box intruded into the orchestra seating.
Philadelphia should be proud to have entertained many with Cinerama at the Boyd & to have kept the movie palace due to the innovative film process. We should celebrate the Cinerama history in writing, and on exhibits in the theater with programs, ticket stubs, posters, etc.
But, if you want to see a movie on a really giant screen, Imaxes do that. The Boyd can’t function that way on a daily basis. What the Boyd can do is return fully to its Art Deco beauty, and be one of the few most impressive Art Deco movie palaces in the nation. With its fantastic Mural, Monel figures, glass & metalwork, Art Deco fabrics, and a restored exterior, it will be faithful to the intent of its original builders, architects, and decorators, and “knock the socks off” of everybody who enters.
And, yes, we will work to return film to the Boyd.
Howard
We are
This isn’t realistic. Built for 2400 seats, there are enormous costs such as heat and air conditioning. The Hollywood Dome is very small compared to the Boyd & survives with a megaplex attached to it. Single screen houses like the DC Cinema, the New York Astor Plaza & Beekman are closing, and others like the Ziefeld are struggling. The Boyd prospered with first run exclusives, but there are no more 1st run exclusive mainstream films! They open nationwide, and throughout the Philadelphia area on many screens.
Fortunately, movie exhibition has improved from multiplexes with small screens, small rooms, lousy sound, lousy chairs, and no decor. Philadelphia’s Bridge has 2 decent sized screens, decent sound, plush seats. The screens are not huge like the Boyd’s and they don’t use a curtain, but those 2 are more than tolerable, and the theater has pleasant decorin the common areas.
Many movie palaces were built by Hollywood studios, or in the case of the Boyd, sold to them shortly after being built, to showcase product. The studios were forced to divest of their movie palaces, one reason for the decline in the movie palaces. The distibutors- studios- today care about a return on their investment in movies. The theaters make their profit from concessions. The wonderful new book with the same title as this website tells the story quite well, and one of its co-authors, Andreas Fuchs, will be our Guest Speaker on May 5 at International House at our VIP Reception before our
1970’s Philadelphia themed film, Rocky. Our Guest Speakers take Q & A.
Howard
I understand. And I appreciate your efforts. However, I do think – and I am not the only one who thinks this – that the Boyd could be…again… a magnificent “movie theatre.” The problem is with the distributors who will willingly book films into tiny boxes like the Sansom Street Roxy, and apparently dont give a damn about audience appreciation. I absolutely and totally disagree about your theory that Boyd’s not being possible to be operated as a single-screen first-run downtown theatre. But that’s just my opinion, Howard, as a patron of the Boyd since October, 1953. I will continue to support your efforts, but as a member of a large Cinerama-loving-and-supporting group, I am SURE it can be saved as as a “destination” first run house, much like the ones I mentioned earler. It can be done! Again, I appreciate your efforts, but I would like to see the Boyd restored to its 1953 glamour and glitz, not its 1928. Vince
Unlike the Hollywood Dome’s main auditorium or the Seattle one, the Boyd is a 2400 seat theater in downtown real estate. It is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE to operate the historic theater with a single screen on a daily basis for movies, as downtown exclusives are over, and suburbs & megaplexes are in. I have spent 3 years now volunteering to save the Boyd, seeking authentic restoration, permanent preservation, and a program to include classic films, film festivals, film premieres, organ concerts, public tours, and exhibits of the Boyd’s history. But, it can’t return to being a daily moviehouse anymore than Radio City Music Hall could, and for the same reasons.
As to the current marquee, it looks appropriate for a midcentury building, not a French Art Deco movie palace. The original Boyd marquee was beautiful, just as the original ticket booth was beautiful.
I could only be aware of any use of the upstairs projection booth from historical accounts, in this instance Irv Glazer. Vince says otherwise, and that was informative. As to his apparently being upset with the demolition of the orchestra projection booth, well, we hope to return film including 70 MM to a decent standard from the upstairs booth that he tells us was used after 1953.
Broadway musicals will be the primary use of the theater. That’s a respectible use. The Boyd will be gorgeously restored, unlike the fixer upper that Vince saw on his visit with me. If Broadway musicals or other live events were not interested, then Philadelphia would have lost its last premiere movie palace forever. The building
would have been demolished. Instead, the movie palace will be returned to its original glory as built.
Howard B. Haas, Esq. President, Friends of the Boyd, Inc. www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.Inc next film fundraiser to restore the Boyd, and film to the Boyd, May 6, the original Rocky, at International House, see our website for details
To avoid serious litigation, I will try to hold my tongue here as much as possible, but the group of people (and I am seriously holding tongue here) who are trying to
turn the SamEric/aka Boyd in Philadelphia from a former formidable Cinerama venue into some artsy-fartsy performance venue have just
announced gleefully the following:
“The orchestra level projection booth was built for Cinerama in 1953 & expanded in 1962. The booth is an ugly intrusion on the Art Deco
showplace, and takes up prime seats. Once the delay in changing theater owners
was over, demolition began on the cinder block booth. I quickly
assembled a team to rescue the two 35/70 mm MOVIE PROJECTORS & SOUND
EQUIPMENT. Brian Hartman, 1990’s projectionist at the theater, has assisted
us
for 3 years. After having knocked down half of the booth, the sledge
hammers paused just long enough so that amidst the rubble, Brian could
disassemble the projectors & sound equipment. Professional movers took
them from the theater. Once renovation is complete, film equipment will be
in the original, upstairs booth.”
I was fortunate enough to take a tour of the Boyd with these people (tongue
still held in cheek) a couple of months ago and got a
chance to explore the stagehouse, both booths, offices, dressing rooms, etc.
These people (tongue squirming now) want to turn
this place back to its original state, even removing the 1953 Cinerama
marquee and replacing it with its ugly-a** 1928 white-lettering-on-black
original.
They haven’t a clue about how to return this theatre into one of the East
Coast’s most fantastic single-screen theatres. Now that the DC Uptown
has begun its ride into Hell, and the D-150 house in Long Island now gone, and the Music Hall too expensive to distributors to show films on a regular basis, thiswould be – for a forward-thinking business person – the perfect opportunity for a top-grossing house, like the Dome(s), like the Seattle Cinerama, etc. Instead, what we’re going to have in Philadelphia is a building which has
gone from GWTW to TIC to Britney Spears!!!!!!
I should let you know that these statements about the circumcision of the Boyd were made by a person who debated me about whether the original booth had ever been used since 1953. Some idiot who was often mistaken about the history of Philadelphia theatres (no, I’m not saying his name) stated in a published book that the Boyd’s original upstairs booth had not been used since 1953. I guess those prologues and breakdown reels were projected from across the street.
Dennis, there are pictures of the original Cinerama auditorium head-on installation at the Temple Univ archives site. These were probably from the “Bulletin.” There are other pictures from the “Inquirer”. If you wait a minute, and be sure to remind me, i can get you the date of the Inquirer photo. The one i have is a reprint from an article that appeared a little while back when the restoration program began..the “Bulletin” photos i know exist because someone in the current SavetheSameric program showed them to me, but he refused to let me know the dates. But they do exist. If you find them before I do, I would hope you would share them. Yes, they are alive!!!!
vince
“Fiddler On The Roof” premiered at the “New Sameric” (AKA Boyd) on
Dec. 14, 1971. It moved over to the Eric’s Mark 1 on June 21, 1972. At that time it changed from a Reserved Seat Engagement to a Reserved Performance engagement. It was still separate showings, but not reserved seats. It closed at the Mark 1 on Sept. 26, 1972. Can anyone tell me where an “outsider” – not living in Center City – get any pictures of the Boyd during its times of using the Cinerama screen. The pictures on the Save The Sameric website are great. But they are either from the opening years of the theatre or after the 1971 change to the Sameric. I am more interested in interior pictures from the 50’s and 60’s showing the screen and interior. I would also love to have some interior pictures of the Stanley, Fox, and other long gone center city movie palaces. I have many pictures of their marquees that I took when attending those theatres. But have none of their interiors. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
rg, interesting. it may be that i saw “fiddler” after the hard-ticket, roadshow run had been discontinued. this often happened, and the house would go continous-“popular prices” midway through the run…i seem to recall (and this is dangerous) that i sat my self down front row center with my friend without having to have had reserved seats. btw, i went to the last show at the Fox.
Speaking of the souvenier books, in my collection I have FUNNY LADY,JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR,BLUE MAX, hard covered books AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, BEN HUR, KING OF KINGS, JUST TO NAME A FEW. Do you remember the little containers of orange drink some of the theatres sold during these shows. I would see these great movies in center city and waite for them to come north. The BEST theatre of them all was the MASTBAUM. I made a point of going to the last show when it closed. Unfortunately it was domed from opening day.
I started seeing the roadshow attraction films back in the 50’s with my parents. The Cinerama Travelogues, “Ben Hur”, “Grimm”, “How The West Was Won”, “Circus World”. However, my ticket stub collection only started in the 60’s. Here is a list of the 70mm epics seen at the Boyd and the date I saw them.
“The Greatest Story Ever Told” 5/31/65
“Doctor Zhivago” 5/29/66
“The Bible” 3/21/67
“The Happiest Millionaire” ½/68
“Star” 12/22/68
“Goodbye, Mr. Chips” 12/31/69
and at the “Sameric"
"Fiddler On The Roof” 2/26/72 – Which was a reserved seat showing as the ticket stubs indicate our seats were Left Center, Row E, Seats 118 and 120 in the balcony. When “Fiddler” moved over to the Mark 1 on Market street, the reserved seat policy was discontinued I believe.
I have the souvenier programs from “Ben Hur” and the later Cinerama films, but since my Father bought the tickets I was not old enough the think I would really appreciate them in later years! As I have said many times, I still miss the movie going experience of the reserved seat Cinerama/70mm presentations. There was something magical about them, especially the movie palace surroundings. Thanks to this website, I realize I am not the only person that feels this way!
rg, i don’t know everything, and am sorry to have given you that impression. as i recall – and i admit i may be mistaken- the original Ben-Hur run in Phillytown began 11/24/59 (or within a few days) in anamorphic 70m. It is entirely possible that the some of the sites of the initial 2nd run were in 70mm. Excuse me. Fading memories recollect a possible 70mm booking somewhere in the Northeast. This would have been a house prior to the Goldman Orleans or the GCC Northeast, somewhere in Lower Bucks County. I forget the name. Please enlighten me, as I am always willing to learn more history. Vince
Excuse me: I forgot that you know everything> The showing of BEN HUR were the complete, uncut with intermission at the two theatres above. The only difference from center city was price and NO resv. seating and in some cases no 70mm. However some theatres were able to feature 70mm.
Like all other theatres that featured roadshows in the 1950-60’s, the schedule could change depending on film length, and time of year. Although it was always customary to have one evening show daily with matinees Wed, Sat, & Sun. Almost always it was matinees every day during the Summer months and holiday weeks. In particular, the Boyd was host to many prestigious roadshows, going back possibly even earlier than the 1939 GWTW. Beginning in 1953, there were the Cinerama and CineMiracle travelogues, with a C'scoped “Gigi” in the Summer of 1958. After the temporary removal of Cinerama equipment, the Boyd roadshowed Ben-Hur, Exodus, Judgement at Nuremburg and King of Kings. After re-establishing Cinerama in 1962: Brothers Grimm, and HTWWW, followed by numerous 70mm projections: IAMMW, Greatest Story, Hallelujah Trail, Khartoum, Circus World…The Bible, Dr. Doolittle..the list goes on. The last semi-roadshow there was the opening attraction as the severely unattractive SamEric: “Fiddler On The Roof,” on “modified” roadshow….reserved performances, but not reserved seats. Just a small point: in general a roadshow performance means reserved seats & performances. The 2nd run billings of Ben-Hur and Exodus were not, as was mentioned in the posts regarding the Erlen and Merben Theatres in Philadelphia, strictly speaking, roadshows. They were, to quote the print media, “special exclusive engagements”…seats were not reserved, though in some theatres the performances may have been. And, of course, in those days, the 70mm projection prints were not used at these 2nd-run houses. Other cities used somewhat different tactics: in a racially segregated Washington, DC in 1962, a 70mm print of “West Side Story” was being truly “roadshowed” simultaneously with a 35mm “continous performance-popular prices” (“grind”) booking at a theatre in heavily segregated neighborhood.
This theatre was featuring the resevered seat performance of “EXODUS"
matinees 2pm & evenings 8pm. What a great theatre to see this movie. rg
Just keep firmly in mind that the few auditorium shots do in no way present the Boyd in its glory days 1952-1959, 1962-1971 as a Cinerama showcase, initially with the largest Cinerama screen ever installed. Both the Philadelphia Inquirer microfilms at the public libraries, and the Philadelphia Bulletin collection at Temple University Urban Archives have photographs of the initial installations.
Those were great pictures TC. Amazing pictures.
Further to the post of 3/25/04, here is the link to the interior photos:
View link
While writing the comment above about my father being a projectionist in Phila. and environs from 1930-1941, I remembered some things he told me:
1) He worked for awhile at a theatre with another projectionist who was the brother of Ed Wynn. Ed Wynn was born Isaiah Leopold in Phila. in 1886. My fahter was born in 1911 and arrived in Phila. in 1930 from Kansas when he was 19 years old. Both brothers were in show business, I guess—one a vaudeville performer, and the other a projectionist!
2) Although a member of the IATSE, my father attempted with others to start a rival (?) union that I believe failed. I remember coming across some old dues books and stamps in our attic of “The Keystone State Moving Picture Machine Operators Association.” This would have been approx. 1935.
Does anyone know anything about either of the above?
Glenn M.
Washington, DC
DennisZ, “I just remember the curtain and screen always extending out past the proscenium until the Sameric take over of the theatre”. I understand that there are photographs available of the original Cinerama installation at the Temple University Urban ARchives section. You can “google” that name to get to the site. I don’t have time to search their files as I work weekdays, and I believe the archives are open weekends only once a month. The great thing about sitting in the Loge section of the Boyd was that the screen still extended above your head and still nearly completely filled your peripheral vision. Wasn’t it grand?
veyoung: I concede to your expertice. I was only 12 years old when my parents took us to see “Ben Hur” at the Boyd. I remember seeing the Cinerama travelogues prior to that, but do not remember much else.I do not have the resource information a lot of the other contributors to this site have available to them. My resource is my memory, ticket stubs, and the souvenir book collection. Maybe it is just that I was not info savy back then. I just remember the curtain and screen always extending out past the proscenium until the Sameric take over of the theatre. We also sat in either the balcony or loge sections. Either way, it was still an awesome experience seeing the many movies I traveled from Lancaster to see at the Boyd!
Thanks for that location info Mikeoaklandpark.
I have located the Brookline Theatre, 34 Brookline Blvd, Havertown, PA listed on the Cinematour.com website. It is listed as closed. Strange that it doesn’t show up in any of my Film Daily Yearbooks? eh.
GlennM;
Looking through the Film Daily Yearbook, 1941 for all of PA theatres, the only Brookline Theatre that comes up is for Pittsburgh, located at 1734 Brookline Blvd with a 300 seat capacity.