Sam's Place One and Two
1836 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
1836 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 65 comments
Saw many great mid-70’s movies during the 1 dollar admission days; double bill of West Side Story and The Missouri Breaks; Little Big Man and Hard Times; Chinatown and The Parallax View; Godfather Part II; Towering Inferno; all you had to do was wait a couple of weeks after first run and the same movie would turn up for a dollar at Cinema 19. That was the beginning of it’s downfall, I guess. One time while watching a double bill of Marathon Man and Black Sunday, somebody had a portable tv and was watching a World Series game. It wasn’t even the Phillies.
Dec. 11, 1978 Box Office reported that the theater had closed.
The Cinema 19 Theatre looks like it closed in early 1979, since the Feb 1980 picture shows the theatre as borded up with the “Sold” sign out in front. That pic was taken shortly before it reopened as “Sam’s Place Twin”.
Here’s the cover for a program from Feburary, 1922 at the Aldine Theatre, where they were showing Erich von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives (1922). You can read the entire program at The Silent Film Still Archive.
Saw “The Accused” here (Sam’s Place then) while courting my wife-to-be, and I recall seeing “The Dirty Dozen” either here (Cinema 19) or down a few blocks at The Goldman.
GREAT photo of “Student Prince” at the Viking. Wish I could have seen it (in CinemaScope!) on that screen.
As I’ve noted elsewhere I saw a re-issue of “Raintree County” at the Viking when I was at West Chester U. I remember it had a great wide screen and sound system.
Speaking of sound, I was also interested in the opening comment about the premiere Fantasound screening of “Fantasia” there.
What a history. It make the 1980 photo that much sadder…..
Here is a February 1980 photo from the Temple U library:
http://tinyurl.com/yjvt3dh
Here is a better view of the photo from the Jacob Stellman collection posted on 1/9/08:
http://tinyurl.com/naqd23
Rich, the Intro typo will be corrected. I can share photos & stuff with you. Email me, click on my name and profile to find my email address.
Correction to the beginning of the history. The Theater was opened by Fred D. and Maurice E. FELT (Not Field). I believe it was eventually sold to the Stanley Company (who worked in coop with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation). It was in the Felt brother’s control at least until 1925, when Maurice died under suspicious circumstances. If any other photos appear from this time period I would be interested as I am a Felt descendant.
if you type in exactly
Boxoffice March 5, 1955
and enter 101 in page
there is description and INTERIOR PHOTOS, including auditorium and lobby. page 91 has daytime photo
Type exactly in search engine
BoxOffice July 17, 1954
and 43 in page box (or Philadelphia in search box)
for photo of Viking exterior on reopening day, with marquee & vertical lit up.
17 Aug 1940 Box Office reported that due to a contract dispute with Warner, musicians union Local 77 asked First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt not to attend August 22 premiere of “Pastor Hall†as contract dispute with Warner. Her secretary replied she’s not attending because she has seen film several times and is too busy to travel to Philadelphia. The film was the story of an anti-Nazi German minister and was formally presented by the president’s son James Roosevelt. The First Lady delivers a prologue in the film. 24 Aug 1940 Box Office reported that Jimmy Roosevelt was ill so at the Philadelphia opening of Pastor Hall , the president’s other sons, Elliot & Franklin D Jr., represented him
Here’s some selected Aldine Theatre history from the late 1930s. 10 Oct 1936 Box Office ad boasted that the Aldine turned people away as “Dodsworth” sold out screenings In 1937 “The Prisoner of Zenda†did great box office. Famous movies shown in 1939 included “Stagecoach” and “Wuthering Heights” (which was shown for at least six weeks). 26 Aug 1939 Box Office has a photo of Warner’s Philadelphia theater zone convention at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, and states that they then saw “The Old Maid” at the Aldine.
View link
This link also has other links to documents listing the Sam’s Place opening in mid 1970’s under the “RU-S” (as Sam’s Place) and “T-Z” (as Viking)
View link
or link does not work, google search exactly
Boxoffice February 14, 1948
type 40 in the page box and you will see a photo of Aldine exterior with Western movie “The Unconquered” banners
I think that one, the single screen was just Sam’s Place, ,maybe two blocks down, Im pretty sure there are some pics posted.
Many thanks. I’ve just posted on its site.
Yep.
/theaters/1209/
and www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org
Which was the very big theatre further down the street that was in a very bad shape but still open until the mid late 90s?? Sameric something?
Actually, it opened on February 7th, 1986. It was later reissued on February 13th, 1987.
I think that film came out in fall 1986.
I recall these were both good size twin auditoriums with a spacious feel. Saw a sold out showing of “Hannah & her sisters” sometime in the early 80’s.
“suburban” would still have a mistake since we aren’t referring to 1855.
I’ve listed the downtown Locust Street Theatre, but doubt there was still film in the 1950s there. /theaters/22730/