Lewen Pizor and Charles Segall opened the Chelten Theatre on September 21, 1938 with Ginger Rogers in “Having Wonderful Time.” It closed January 1, 1952 with “Little Egypt” and “Bowery Batallion.”
Reverand Harry Bristow Jr. of the Christian Youth Cinema bought the Chelten and renamed it the Reel Pulpit beginning on October 23, 1954 showing Christian films. The venue was renamed the Christian Youth Cinema and then the Chirstian Cinema while retaining its Chelten marquee. Bristow ran Christian films there for 12 years until a police officer was killed in front of the theater and he moved on.
The Saco Drive-In Theatre closed for the season on September 19, 2021 with “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” and “Candyman.” It was sold to a trailer dealer and did not reopen for the 2022 season.
The theatre at Germantown and Tulpehocken was announced in 1913 as part of a $95,000 project. It sat unfinished and in foreclosure in latter 1913 and into 1914 when Bader & Simpson Co. completed the project. Constantly changing hands in rapid succession in its first 18 months, the theatre was labeled as a “failure” by the trade press. But in February of 1916, the Tulpe was taken over by Stanley Mastbaum as an early Stanley Corp. venue and renamed then as the Rialto.
Mastbaum had the right answer and the Rialto became a success. It was wired for sound to remain viable. It received a streamlined makeover in 1938 to the plans of David Supowitz. The Rialto Theatre closed September 15, 1959 at end of lease with “The Big Circus” and “Gunfight at Dodge City.”
The trade press reported that the Leigh Palace Company announced this project in 1909 and then built the new Lehigh Palace Theatre in 1910 opening that year. It was located at 937 West Lehigh Avenue. The installation of a Kimball organ in 1916 was the impetus to raise prices from a nickel to a dime. Ten years after it had opened and likely at the beginning of a new 10-year lease, operator Carl Hess gave the Lehigh Palace a new front and box office as well as an interior refresh in 1920. It was purchased by the Stanley Circuit in 1925 which apparently made a decision to not equip the theatre for sound and closed it in 1929.
The Villa Theater opened October 8, 1928 by the Stanley-Benn Theatre Circuit. The $500,000 theatre opened with William Haines in “Telling the World” with a capacity of 1,000
The Wynne Theatre opened November 18, 1927 with Morton Sills in “The Sea Tiger.” The Wynne closed permanently March 1, 1953 with Olivia DeHavilland in “My Cousin Rachel.”
Just reading the information, it appears that AMC was willing to walk away at the expiry of a 20-year lease of this property - likely why it was rebranded as a Classic. But AMC re-upped the lease until May of 2029 in an agreement that reduced the footprint of the building to the main entry and south auditoriums (14 in total). That is likely why it lost its Classic branding as the vast majority of Classics have simply closed at the expiry of their leases.
The real estate firm shows a proposal to decouple and demolish the inactive part of the AMC Palm Promenade building housing the south screens. This would be done in favor of six newly-created yet diminutive retail spots that will interrupt the parking pass-through and connect the AMC 24 Minus Ten to the Burlington Coat Factory.
The combination of COVID-19 (beginning March of 2020), Wanda Group’s exit from its position in AMC Entertainment (2021), revolutionary platform changes due to streaming, and a lot of leases coming due after the big infrastructure build-out in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the entry of the megaplex era has made for a challenging environment for AMC. It’s tough to re-up a 24- or 30-screen expiring lease based upon the changes that have transpired since the relatively staid environment in which these megaplexes were first constructed. If that’s summarized as schizo, look for a lot more of that in the months ahead.
The Great Northern Theatre was located at 3635-3639 Germantown Avenue. The venue closed on November 2, 1952 with “Affair in Trinidad.” It was torn down in December 1952/January 1953.
The Tioga Theatre opened as a motion picture playhouse on January 30, 1915 with J. Warren Kerrigan and Kathleen Kerrigan in “Samson.” Bathed in roman gold, red, tan and ivory, the 1,700 seat theater impressed at opening with its Doric designed interior by Sauer & Hahn. Simplex projectors, leather upholstered chairs. bronze chandeliers and a Choralcelo from Massachusetts added to the proceedings. The Tioga wired for sound the remain viable. It appears to have closed on August 18, 1957 with continuous grind shows of “King Kong” and “Godzilla, King of the Monsters.” If true, what a way to go.
The Colney opened for the Stanley Circuit on April 11, 1925 and while “The Thief of Bagdad” enthused audiences, the theater’s Wurlitzer Hope Jones Style F Organ costing some $75,000 - more than the entire cost of some neighborhood theaters of the era - apparently was the show stealer.
The Italian Renaissance stylings of Hodgens & Hill also wowed the opening afternoon’s audience. The bathing of the interior in blue and gold at the ground level with monochromatic interior elsewhere including the white terra cotta front suggested class. Under Stanley / Stanley-Warner, independent operator Herbert Elliott of the Fern Rock was a thorn in the circuit’s side. After about eight lawsuits - Stanley Warner Circuit cooperatively operated the Colney with Elliott while providing fare and an arrangement with his independent Fern Rock.
Elliott would sell out the Fern Rock to Stanley-Warner, as well. The last advertised show at the Colney for Stanley-Warner was “A Streetcar Named Desire” on May 9, 1952. Said a distressed Marlon Brando, “Colney! Hey, Colney!” The building was then listed for sale ending its cinematic journey.
The venue was announced in 1927 for independent operator George Schwinn. The venue was ambitious and costly aimed at combining vaudeville and silent films with a live band and organ. It opened as the Fern Rock Theatre on July 9, 1928 with “The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris” and other silent films as well as vaudeville acts headed by Silver Toes.
Herbert J. Elliott, another independent operator, acquired the theatre in 1929 and wired the venue for sound. Elliott remained fiercely independent in his tenure at the Fern Rock and sued the major Hollywood studios in 1934 for inability to get the films he wanted. He sued Warner Bros. on the same charges in 1938. Elliot modernized the facility in 1939 including a Simplex Four Star Sound system. He also launched another lawsuit suing competing theaters. He was more successful in his suits than most others as he would sometimes get limited clearances.
Stanley-Warner finally created an operational agreement with Elliott to grant clearances to Elliot’s Fern Park and took over his other house, the Colney Theatre. Elliot, who had maintained the independent operation of the Fern Rock for some 13 years, would then sell out the Fern Park in 1942 to Stanley Warner Circuit.
Acquired by Sameric Circuit, it became the Eric Fern Rock Theatre in October of 1971 and soon was refreshed. In July of 1974, it became the Eric Twin Fern Rock Theatre. The Eric Twin Fern Rock closed permanently on November 8, 1987 with “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II” and “Nightflyers.”
The Pastime Theatre opened at 1420-1426 Point in 1911. The theatre was sold to new operators who modernized the venue in 1924 with a new organ and later equipped it for sound.
The A.M. Ellis chain took it over after the Pastime closed for renovations following the January 30, 1942 shows. It was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz relaunching May 19, 1942 as the Victory Theatre. The adjoining Kresge’s store was a busy neighbor allowing patrons of the Victory to have an alternative to its concession stand.
The Victory closed at the expiry of a ten-year lease likely catering to African American audiences in its final three years and was demolished in 1953. It was replaced by a retail location for Spiro’s Style Shops.
This venue opened in 1911 as a movie house. The Ridge Theatre ceased operations following the November 6, 1952 double feature of “Tripoli” and “Wagon Wheels.”
David Shapiro of the New Penn Theatre at 800-802 North 24th Street gave the theatre a streamlined moderne makeover in 1936 by Paramount Decorating. He then sold the venue to Martin A. Ellis Circuit in September of 1941 who ran it to closure on July 11, 1954 with “South Seas” and “Elephant Walk.” Ellis sold the building for $25,000 becoming the long-running home of St. Hedwig’s Church until 1999. The venue was then razed for a townhouse complex.
The Golden Triangle Mall was once serviced by two cinemas. The first was the UA Golden Triangle 4 - a long-since demolished outparcel location - that sat across from the northern section of the Golden Triangle Mall just across San Jacinto Boulevard opening June 6, 1980 just ahead of the Mall’s launch. The sequel was this location, the UA Golden Triangle 5, a 5-plex interior theatre inside of Mall opening on March 17, 1995.
The original UA Golden Triangle 4 operated to the end of its 20-year leasing agreement closing quietly on March 26, 2000 with UA continuing with this interior theatre. UA later downgraded the theater to a discount, sub-run venue before discontinuing operations at the end of its lease. Silver Cinemas, a discount specialist, took on the location and ran it continually until the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily closed the cinema on March 16, 2020. The theatre was among just a handful of discount movie theaters nationally which would get second-life relaunching a year-and-a half-later on September 29, 2021.
The discount theatres struggled mightily in late 2021 to get second-run product to fill their screens and Silver Cinemas changed course in December of 2021 opting to try a policy of first-run features under the Landmark Theatres circuit brand name. The theater’s policy change combined with the shuttering of Cinemark’s Hollywood USA in Garland also in December of 2021 ended sub-run, discount films in mega/multi-plexes in Texas if not the entire Southwest. It also left Silver Cinema with one official theater in operation - the Market Square in Madison, Wisconsin - which continued with discount films until closing in February of 2022.
The problems here are many. 1) I don’t think there’s a theatre at the posted address. 2) I believe the photos are of another theater - the William Penn. 3) The guessy years don’t help.
There was a modest neighborhood theatre built at 1426-1428 South Fourth Street at Dickinson in 1913 called the Penn Theatre. The project was initially announced in March of 1913 and would be built for Jacob Petchon. This likely what the contributor is referring to - or not. This Penn Theatre closed after 36 years on July 7, 1949 with “Crime Doctor’s Gamble” and “Sons of Adventure.” During the 4th Street-located Penn Theatre’s run there was also a William Penn Theatre that seated 3,000, a South Penn Theatre showing movies at 10th and Girard and a New Penn Theatre at 800 North 24th Street at Brown that lasted into the 1950s.
The address of this former theatre dated back to the 1870s when Restein Hall served as a meeting place for many political discussions all the way until 1913 when it was razed. August W. Becker, H.W. Becker and Jacob Becker decided to buy the property to build a new $50,000 movie house. The venue was deemed fireproof using structural steel and concrete in its construction.
H.W. Becker was one of the pioneering area theatre operators when live theater changed over to photoplays. Becker’s moved from the New York market into the Philadelphia area when we acquired Fox’s Pleasure Palace in 1898 and changed it to Becker’s Lyceum Theatre. As for this entry, local accounts show the building and opening of this theatre in 1913 (aka the Becker Brothers' Theatre).
The Beckers sold off this theater in 1921 for $63,000 to Abe Wax. The theatre was given a refresh becoming the Stratford Theatre around September of 1921. The theatre added sound to remain viable. Late in 1955, it had a major refresh complete with widescreen presentations. The Stratford ran into a challenging period becoming an ultra-discount sub-run house at a quarter a ticket hoping to get anyone to walk through the front door.
The Stratford closed on January 15, 1963. Shockingly, the venue found another operator reopening July 15, 1963. That operator, Gregory Faramelli, was beaten by patrons in August of 1963 - a sort of welcome to the neighborhood moment. The Stratford appears to have ground to a halt following showings of “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” Chapter 11 of the serial, “Batman and Robin,” and “I Spit on Your Grave” on October 5, 1963 at the time of its 50th Anniversary and end of a leasing period. There were more bookings for the theatre, but they appear to have not been run. The theatre has since been razed.
The Savoia opened on June 9, 1937 with a full house for “Mountain Justice.” The name was suggested by George L. Smiley who won $100 from Warner Bros. Circuit for naming the new-build venue at 1705-1709 S. Broad Street. Construction had started in October of 1936 and featured great quantities of stainless steel to represent the latest and greatest in movie theaters. The Savoia closed at the expiry of a 30-year lease on August 3, 1967 with a double-feature of “Blow-Up” and “Chuka.”
Stanley Warner closed the Commodore Theatre on May 13, 1956 with “Guys and Dolls.” The long-running Commodore and Ogontz were retrofitted as live theaters. The Commodore became the Forty-Third Street Theatre beginning on January 12, 1959 with “The Potting Shed” by Graham Greene. It appears to have folded after just two plays.
H.W. Becker was one of the pioneering area theatre operators when live theater changed over to photoplays. Becker’s first foray into the Philadelphia market when we acquired Fox’s Pleasure Palace in 1898 and changed it to Becker’s Lyceum Theatre. As for this entry, local accounts show the building of the theatre in late 1911 and opening as Becker’s Theatre early in January of 1912 by August W. Becker, Jacob Becker and C.W. Becker (aka the Becker Brothers' Theatre). They also acquired another theatre at 7th and Snyder in 1913 which they renamed as the Becker Theatre.
The venue was opened at the corner lot of 1727-1731 Snyder Avenue and the Becker made headlines when two blackmail notes came in reading, “ Warning to the bearer, Jacob Becker. I am going to blow up your moving picture place is you don’t send me $5,000…. I will blow it up when (you and) the crowd are in it. YOUR WORST ENEMY.” The Philadelphia police apprehended a 13-year old boy who didn’t follow through on his plan and the tip came after he had boasted of the plot to school chums. The Beckers ran the unexploded venue until 1928 when they sold it to J.M. Krause, Inc.
The theatre was wired for sound under the Venice Theatre nameplate. According to the local paper, the Venice was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz in 1938/9 for a streamlined look. Gilbert Addeo was the final operator of the Venice which closed September 7, 1953 with “The Girl Next Door” and “Invaders from Mars.” It became the events center, the Venice Plaza in 1956.
Lewen Pizor and Charles Segall opened the Chelten Theatre on September 21, 1938 with Ginger Rogers in “Having Wonderful Time.” It closed January 1, 1952 with “Little Egypt” and “Bowery Batallion.”
Reverand Harry Bristow Jr. of the Christian Youth Cinema bought the Chelten and renamed it the Reel Pulpit beginning on October 23, 1954 showing Christian films. The venue was renamed the Christian Youth Cinema and then the Chirstian Cinema while retaining its Chelten marquee. Bristow ran Christian films there for 12 years until a police officer was killed in front of the theater and he moved on.
March 11, 2022 - opening date for the Evo Entertainment Southlake.
The Saco Drive-In Theatre closed for the season on September 19, 2021 with “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” and “Candyman.” It was sold to a trailer dealer and did not reopen for the 2022 season.
The theatre at Germantown and Tulpehocken was announced in 1913 as part of a $95,000 project. It sat unfinished and in foreclosure in latter 1913 and into 1914 when Bader & Simpson Co. completed the project. Constantly changing hands in rapid succession in its first 18 months, the theatre was labeled as a “failure” by the trade press. But in February of 1916, the Tulpe was taken over by Stanley Mastbaum as an early Stanley Corp. venue and renamed then as the Rialto.
Mastbaum had the right answer and the Rialto became a success. It was wired for sound to remain viable. It received a streamlined makeover in 1938 to the plans of David Supowitz. The Rialto Theatre closed September 15, 1959 at end of lease with “The Big Circus” and “Gunfight at Dodge City.”
August 27, 1931-September 9, 1931 program
The trade press reported that the Leigh Palace Company announced this project in 1909 and then built the new Lehigh Palace Theatre in 1910 opening that year. It was located at 937 West Lehigh Avenue. The installation of a Kimball organ in 1916 was the impetus to raise prices from a nickel to a dime. Ten years after it had opened and likely at the beginning of a new 10-year lease, operator Carl Hess gave the Lehigh Palace a new front and box office as well as an interior refresh in 1920. It was purchased by the Stanley Circuit in 1925 which apparently made a decision to not equip the theatre for sound and closed it in 1929.
The location closed March 16, 2020. It never reopened.
The Viola Theatre closed permanently on December 30, 1947 with “Ivy” and “White Pongo.”
The Villa Theater opened October 8, 1928 by the Stanley-Benn Theatre Circuit. The $500,000 theatre opened with William Haines in “Telling the World” with a capacity of 1,000
The Wynne Theatre opened November 18, 1927 with Morton Sills in “The Sea Tiger.” The Wynne closed permanently March 1, 1953 with Olivia DeHavilland in “My Cousin Rachel.”
Just reading the information, it appears that AMC was willing to walk away at the expiry of a 20-year lease of this property - likely why it was rebranded as a Classic. But AMC re-upped the lease until May of 2029 in an agreement that reduced the footprint of the building to the main entry and south auditoriums (14 in total). That is likely why it lost its Classic branding as the vast majority of Classics have simply closed at the expiry of their leases.
The real estate firm shows a proposal to decouple and demolish the inactive part of the AMC Palm Promenade building housing the south screens. This would be done in favor of six newly-created yet diminutive retail spots that will interrupt the parking pass-through and connect the AMC 24 Minus Ten to the Burlington Coat Factory.
The combination of COVID-19 (beginning March of 2020), Wanda Group’s exit from its position in AMC Entertainment (2021), revolutionary platform changes due to streaming, and a lot of leases coming due after the big infrastructure build-out in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the entry of the megaplex era has made for a challenging environment for AMC. It’s tough to re-up a 24- or 30-screen expiring lease based upon the changes that have transpired since the relatively staid environment in which these megaplexes were first constructed. If that’s summarized as schizo, look for a lot more of that in the months ahead.
The Great Northern Theatre was located at 3635-3639 Germantown Avenue. The venue closed on November 2, 1952 with “Affair in Trinidad.” It was torn down in December 1952/January 1953.
The Tioga Theatre opened as a motion picture playhouse on January 30, 1915 with J. Warren Kerrigan and Kathleen Kerrigan in “Samson.” Bathed in roman gold, red, tan and ivory, the 1,700 seat theater impressed at opening with its Doric designed interior by Sauer & Hahn. Simplex projectors, leather upholstered chairs. bronze chandeliers and a Choralcelo from Massachusetts added to the proceedings. The Tioga wired for sound the remain viable. It appears to have closed on August 18, 1957 with continuous grind shows of “King Kong” and “Godzilla, King of the Monsters.” If true, what a way to go.
The Colney opened for the Stanley Circuit on April 11, 1925 and while “The Thief of Bagdad” enthused audiences, the theater’s Wurlitzer Hope Jones Style F Organ costing some $75,000 - more than the entire cost of some neighborhood theaters of the era - apparently was the show stealer.
The Italian Renaissance stylings of Hodgens & Hill also wowed the opening afternoon’s audience. The bathing of the interior in blue and gold at the ground level with monochromatic interior elsewhere including the white terra cotta front suggested class. Under Stanley / Stanley-Warner, independent operator Herbert Elliott of the Fern Rock was a thorn in the circuit’s side. After about eight lawsuits - Stanley Warner Circuit cooperatively operated the Colney with Elliott while providing fare and an arrangement with his independent Fern Rock.
Elliott would sell out the Fern Rock to Stanley-Warner, as well. The last advertised show at the Colney for Stanley-Warner was “A Streetcar Named Desire” on May 9, 1952. Said a distressed Marlon Brando, “Colney! Hey, Colney!” The building was then listed for sale ending its cinematic journey.
The venue was announced in 1927 for independent operator George Schwinn. The venue was ambitious and costly aimed at combining vaudeville and silent films with a live band and organ. It opened as the Fern Rock Theatre on July 9, 1928 with “The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris” and other silent films as well as vaudeville acts headed by Silver Toes.
Herbert J. Elliott, another independent operator, acquired the theatre in 1929 and wired the venue for sound. Elliott remained fiercely independent in his tenure at the Fern Rock and sued the major Hollywood studios in 1934 for inability to get the films he wanted. He sued Warner Bros. on the same charges in 1938. Elliot modernized the facility in 1939 including a Simplex Four Star Sound system. He also launched another lawsuit suing competing theaters. He was more successful in his suits than most others as he would sometimes get limited clearances.
Stanley-Warner finally created an operational agreement with Elliott to grant clearances to Elliot’s Fern Park and took over his other house, the Colney Theatre. Elliot, who had maintained the independent operation of the Fern Rock for some 13 years, would then sell out the Fern Park in 1942 to Stanley Warner Circuit.
Acquired by Sameric Circuit, it became the Eric Fern Rock Theatre in October of 1971 and soon was refreshed. In July of 1974, it became the Eric Twin Fern Rock Theatre. The Eric Twin Fern Rock closed permanently on November 8, 1987 with “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II” and “Nightflyers.”
The Pastime Theatre opened at 1420-1426 Point in 1911. The theatre was sold to new operators who modernized the venue in 1924 with a new organ and later equipped it for sound.
The A.M. Ellis chain took it over after the Pastime closed for renovations following the January 30, 1942 shows. It was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz relaunching May 19, 1942 as the Victory Theatre. The adjoining Kresge’s store was a busy neighbor allowing patrons of the Victory to have an alternative to its concession stand.
The Victory closed at the expiry of a ten-year lease likely catering to African American audiences in its final three years and was demolished in 1953. It was replaced by a retail location for Spiro’s Style Shops.
This venue opened in 1911 as a movie house. The Ridge Theatre ceased operations following the November 6, 1952 double feature of “Tripoli” and “Wagon Wheels.”
David Shapiro of the New Penn Theatre at 800-802 North 24th Street gave the theatre a streamlined moderne makeover in 1936 by Paramount Decorating. He then sold the venue to Martin A. Ellis Circuit in September of 1941 who ran it to closure on July 11, 1954 with “South Seas” and “Elephant Walk.” Ellis sold the building for $25,000 becoming the long-running home of St. Hedwig’s Church until 1999. The venue was then razed for a townhouse complex.
The Golden Triangle Mall was once serviced by two cinemas. The first was the UA Golden Triangle 4 - a long-since demolished outparcel location - that sat across from the northern section of the Golden Triangle Mall just across San Jacinto Boulevard opening June 6, 1980 just ahead of the Mall’s launch. The sequel was this location, the UA Golden Triangle 5, a 5-plex interior theatre inside of Mall opening on March 17, 1995.
The original UA Golden Triangle 4 operated to the end of its 20-year leasing agreement closing quietly on March 26, 2000 with UA continuing with this interior theatre. UA later downgraded the theater to a discount, sub-run venue before discontinuing operations at the end of its lease. Silver Cinemas, a discount specialist, took on the location and ran it continually until the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily closed the cinema on March 16, 2020. The theatre was among just a handful of discount movie theaters nationally which would get second-life relaunching a year-and-a half-later on September 29, 2021.
The discount theatres struggled mightily in late 2021 to get second-run product to fill their screens and Silver Cinemas changed course in December of 2021 opting to try a policy of first-run features under the Landmark Theatres circuit brand name. The theater’s policy change combined with the shuttering of Cinemark’s Hollywood USA in Garland also in December of 2021 ended sub-run, discount films in mega/multi-plexes in Texas if not the entire Southwest. It also left Silver Cinema with one official theater in operation - the Market Square in Madison, Wisconsin - which continued with discount films until closing in February of 2022.
Technically, that ends the Silver Cinema Circuit.
The problems here are many. 1) I don’t think there’s a theatre at the posted address. 2) I believe the photos are of another theater - the William Penn. 3) The guessy years don’t help.
There was a modest neighborhood theatre built at 1426-1428 South Fourth Street at Dickinson in 1913 called the Penn Theatre. The project was initially announced in March of 1913 and would be built for Jacob Petchon. This likely what the contributor is referring to - or not. This Penn Theatre closed after 36 years on July 7, 1949 with “Crime Doctor’s Gamble” and “Sons of Adventure.” During the 4th Street-located Penn Theatre’s run there was also a William Penn Theatre that seated 3,000, a South Penn Theatre showing movies at 10th and Girard and a New Penn Theatre at 800 North 24th Street at Brown that lasted into the 1950s.
The address of this former theatre dated back to the 1870s when Restein Hall served as a meeting place for many political discussions all the way until 1913 when it was razed. August W. Becker, H.W. Becker and Jacob Becker decided to buy the property to build a new $50,000 movie house. The venue was deemed fireproof using structural steel and concrete in its construction.
H.W. Becker was one of the pioneering area theatre operators when live theater changed over to photoplays. Becker’s moved from the New York market into the Philadelphia area when we acquired Fox’s Pleasure Palace in 1898 and changed it to Becker’s Lyceum Theatre. As for this entry, local accounts show the building and opening of this theatre in 1913 (aka the Becker Brothers' Theatre).
The Beckers sold off this theater in 1921 for $63,000 to Abe Wax. The theatre was given a refresh becoming the Stratford Theatre around September of 1921. The theatre added sound to remain viable. Late in 1955, it had a major refresh complete with widescreen presentations. The Stratford ran into a challenging period becoming an ultra-discount sub-run house at a quarter a ticket hoping to get anyone to walk through the front door.
The Stratford closed on January 15, 1963. Shockingly, the venue found another operator reopening July 15, 1963. That operator, Gregory Faramelli, was beaten by patrons in August of 1963 - a sort of welcome to the neighborhood moment. The Stratford appears to have ground to a halt following showings of “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” Chapter 11 of the serial, “Batman and Robin,” and “I Spit on Your Grave” on October 5, 1963 at the time of its 50th Anniversary and end of a leasing period. There were more bookings for the theatre, but they appear to have not been run. The theatre has since been razed.
The Savoia opened on June 9, 1937 with a full house for “Mountain Justice.” The name was suggested by George L. Smiley who won $100 from Warner Bros. Circuit for naming the new-build venue at 1705-1709 S. Broad Street. Construction had started in October of 1936 and featured great quantities of stainless steel to represent the latest and greatest in movie theaters. The Savoia closed at the expiry of a 30-year lease on August 3, 1967 with a double-feature of “Blow-Up” and “Chuka.”
Stanley Warner closed the Commodore Theatre on May 13, 1956 with “Guys and Dolls.” The long-running Commodore and Ogontz were retrofitted as live theaters. The Commodore became the Forty-Third Street Theatre beginning on January 12, 1959 with “The Potting Shed” by Graham Greene. It appears to have folded after just two plays.
H.W. Becker was one of the pioneering area theatre operators when live theater changed over to photoplays. Becker’s first foray into the Philadelphia market when we acquired Fox’s Pleasure Palace in 1898 and changed it to Becker’s Lyceum Theatre. As for this entry, local accounts show the building of the theatre in late 1911 and opening as Becker’s Theatre early in January of 1912 by August W. Becker, Jacob Becker and C.W. Becker (aka the Becker Brothers' Theatre). They also acquired another theatre at 7th and Snyder in 1913 which they renamed as the Becker Theatre.
The venue was opened at the corner lot of 1727-1731 Snyder Avenue and the Becker made headlines when two blackmail notes came in reading, “ Warning to the bearer, Jacob Becker. I am going to blow up your moving picture place is you don’t send me $5,000…. I will blow it up when (you and) the crowd are in it. YOUR WORST ENEMY.” The Philadelphia police apprehended a 13-year old boy who didn’t follow through on his plan and the tip came after he had boasted of the plot to school chums. The Beckers ran the unexploded venue until 1928 when they sold it to J.M. Krause, Inc.
The theatre was wired for sound under the Venice Theatre nameplate. According to the local paper, the Venice was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz in 1938/9 for a streamlined look. Gilbert Addeo was the final operator of the Venice which closed September 7, 1953 with “The Girl Next Door” and “Invaders from Mars.” It became the events center, the Venice Plaza in 1956.