If you want to know why Mrs. Legler was awarded $254, you’re going to have to pony up the five bucks for the rest of the article: http://tinyurl.com/yhuvmv
I can’t figure out which Liberty was run by Warner Brothers in the 1930s. Any ideas? By the way, I thought people only slipped on banana peels in the movies: http://tinyurl.com/yexfu8
The poor widow with three kids was awarded $3500 – the theater argued this was excessive. Who do you think the court found more sympathetic? http://tinyurl.com/yfy784
Here are excerpts from an article in the Doylestown Intelligencer dated 3/2/97. I can’t reproduce the pictures here. There’s no right answer if the building was destroyed and rebuilt, obviously.
Film buffs still flock to County Theater
In 1928, the Strand opened its door to entertain area residents with silent films. A fire damaged the Strand, and it was remodeled and reopened as the County Theater, shown here in 1938 (Photos)
I remember that the late Doylestown Mayor Daniel D. Atkinson used to tell me that the first movies in Doylestown were shown early in the 1900s in a room in a pool or billiard parlor in a building on South Main Street where the County Linen Center now stands. Edward V. Hellyer snowed the first movies in Doylestown. The admission was a nickel.
Researching in the Bucks County Historical Society Mercer Museum Library, I learned that the Strand Theater (I prefer Strand to County) was opened in January 1925. Before the Strand, the movies were shown in a large auditorium on the second floor in Lenape Hall, the more than a century old brick building at State and Main streets. I can remember when the Strand had two stores, a gift shop and the Palace of Sweets off the entrance lobby. The Strand had two apartments on its second floor front. Doylestown Theater
Guild used to present its plays in the Strand until the talkies emerged in 1927. Because of its sensitive sound projection equipment backstage, the live performers moved to a high school auditorium stage. (A fire damaged the Strand and it was remodeled and reopened as the County Theater.)
Bucks County President Judge Hiram H Keller spoke at the opening of the County Theater in September of 1938. The County Theater was modernized and improved at a cost of $75,000. The seating capacity was increased to 700 persons. The first names on the marquee were Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy in “Test Pilot”. Doylestown got its first Sunday movies Nov. 17, 1940. Only the Catholic and Episcopal churches did not formally campaign against Sunday movies.
FORT WORTH—The shell of the historic 7th Street Theatre could be bulldozed as early as Monday if the nonprofit group that owns the property opts to reactivate its demolition permit. What’s left of the building, at 3128 W. Seventh St., has been protected from demolition for the past six months in hopes that an alternative use could be found. That stay expires at midnight tonight, clearing the way for the FPA Foundation to reinstitute its demolition certificate.
CAMDEN, N. J- Fifty children singing songs projected on a screen were told there was a fire in the theater’s projection booth and marched safely outside today, without interrupting their vocal harmony. Manager Morris W. Cummings discovered the fire in the 300-seat Elm Theater 25 minutes after the matinee began, hurriedly opened the exit doors and instructed the children to leave. John Armstrong, 35, of Maple Shade, N.J, projectionist, was singed by flames that spurted from film caught in the projection machine. Loss was slight.
The predecessor to the Madison was called the Opera House and then the Madison until a fire in 1929:
Another costly fire that oldtimers remember destroyed the old Opera House, or Madison Theater, at Park Avenue West and Walnut Street on February 10, 1929. Two men lost their lives in that disaster when they were crushed following the collapse of the west wall of the theater.
The Opera House, later named the Madison, was the city’s leading theater for many years. The entrance was off Park Avenue West next to the Baptist Church which stood on the site of the Farmers Bank. Soon after the rubble of the theater fire was cleared away, the Madison Theater we know today was built on the site.
There was an explosion in the theater in June 1975:
Bomb rips theater; $3,000 damage
A pipebomb caused an estimated $3,000 damage early Thursday to the lobby of the Willow Park Theater in Wheeling Township. The bomb was the second in two months at the theater, which is scheduled to open July 4, and the theater was the second in the Chicago-area that was bombed during the early morning.
THE FIRST OF the two bombs exploded in the lobby of the Meadowbrook Cinema in Downers Grove at 2:17 a.m. Downers Grove police said the bombs caused an estimated $5,000 to $8,000 damage to the theater and two adjacent stores. The Cinema had been in operation for almost a year, police said.
Here is an article about the Andalusia dated 12/8/77:
Vandalism, crime may write Bensalem landmark’s obituary
When my editor recently told me to do a story on the closing of the Andalusia Drive-In, I was just as surprised as the next guy. Had the outdoor movie closed? How come we haven’t gotten any letters or calls about it from its loyal fans out there? Good question. But a better question is this. Is the theater, now boarded up and chained shut, really dead, or is it just in hibernation for the long, cold winter? “That’s one of the great question marks,” said David Weinstein, who should know. He’s general manager of Hellman Theaters, the New Jersey firm operating the Andalusia and Lincoln Drive-Ins in Bensalem Township.
Weinstein gave a non-committal “yes-and-no” type answer. Yes, the theater is closed and is also up for sale to the highest bidder; but no, the neighborhood drive-in may not be dead yet. “I imagine it will open in the spring as a theater,” added Weinstein, by way of explanation. But it appears as though that may be a last resort. Because in practically the same breath, Weinstein mentioned “there is enough acreage there for a lumber yard, a food store or restaurant.” He is willing to sell the ground as long as anything but another theater is opened. After all, that would be competition for our other theaters,“ Weinslein said. However, judging from the Andalusia’s recent history, another theater might have a hard time of it. Looking back to 1963 in the Bucks County Courier Times newspaper clipping files, it becomes clear the theater has gained the most publicity from the vandalism and crime it has suffered.
There were reports after reports of break-ins, suspicious fires and robberies. Last September, the problem peaked when a 17-year-old Philadelphia girl was raped and her boyfriend seriously beaten by a gang of youths. According to Weinstein, the crime was a terrible nuisance, but the recent “drop-off in customers was the final straw in deciding to close the more than a quarter-century old drive-in.
"This will be the first winter the Andalusia will be closed since it opened in the early 1950s,” said Weinstein. “I blame it on the neighborhood kids who tore the place apart.” How bad has the damage been? Weinstein gave two examples. He said he spent $5,700 last spring to replace fencing around the theater which was gradually torn to pieces by youths. A continuing problem, he said, has been the thefts of portable heaters used in cars during the winter months.
“I used to be able to buy the heaters for $12 each,” Weinstein said. “Now they’re $29 apiece, and the kids rip them off because they think they can use them at home. They can’t. Their home voltage doesn’t match that of the heaters.” Weinstein, who doesn’t have any doubt “neighborhood kids” are behind the vandalism, said he doesn’t know why the destruction continues. According to Bensalem Township police, the destruction has been particularly bad the last six months. Lawrence Michaels, township police chief, said youths, not necessarily from the neighborhood, have been involved in fighting, smashing windows and breaking in to the theater’s concession stand. Those responsible, who are hardly ever caught, are hit-and-run vandals from the city and also local youths, Michaels
said.
“The neighbors evidently resent the theater,” concluded Weinstein. “Yet the theater has been there long before many in the neighborhood.” Police verify Andalusia residents are not all that happy about the drive-in. They have complained of the noise of the loudspeakers at night and the litter and trash, allegedly from the theater, which winds up in their yards. According to one police officer, residents along Colonial and Walnut Avenues will be most pleased to see the theater’s closing. But Weinstein still remembers better times. “The Andalusia was always a family-type theater,” he said. “I remember when it had a playground with swings and sliding boards.” Like so much else there, however, the playground fell victim to the vandals, he said.
At one time, things were much different. The Andalusia’s heyday was in the 1950s, according to a former theater employee. Frank Harper, of Cornwells Heights, who worked for both the Andalusia and Lincoln for 17 years, saw some of the happy times. “The kids would go to the drive-in to make love, not see the picture,” said Harper. “There were none of these X-rated movies and entire families could go to the drive-ins, too.” As far as Harper is concerned, though, Andalusia had always had less business than the Lincoln. “Cars used to line up on Roosevelt Boulevard from the Lincoln in Trevose to Byberry Road in Northeast Philadelphia,” Harper remembered. “The Andalusia never enjoyed that type of business.” But the cars used to “bottle up” Route 13 for the Andalusia just the same, said Harper.
Although he hasn’t been involved in the theaters' operations since 1964, he believes times have changed since he depended on young people from the Mayfair and Kensington sections of Philadelphia for customers. Weinstein agrees. “People have come from as far away as Chester,” Weinstein said. “They take I-95.” The now dark screen at Andalusia is the site of one of the oldest drive-ins in the Philadelphia area. According to Weinstein, the Lincoln, one of the oldest drive-ins in the country, is just a few years older than Andalusia. Whether the Andalusia’s obituary has been written today remains to be seen.
I like the little plea at the bottom of the photo. My gym used to be the Mann 9 at the Del Amo mall in Torrance CA. No trace of the theater now.
If you want to know why Mrs. Legler was awarded $254, you’re going to have to pony up the five bucks for the rest of the article:
http://tinyurl.com/yhuvmv
I can’t figure out which Liberty was run by Warner Brothers in the 1930s. Any ideas? By the way, I thought people only slipped on banana peels in the movies:
http://tinyurl.com/yexfu8
The poor widow with three kids was awarded $3500 – the theater argued this was excessive. Who do you think the court found more sympathetic?
http://tinyurl.com/yfy784
Vaudeville was still going strong at the Orpheum in 1934:
http://tinyurl.com/y73gx9
Here is some information on renovation, or proposed renovation, in the 1970s:
http://tinyurl.com/so2dy
Here is a 1953 lawsuit filed by the buyers of the Forest:
http://tinyurl.com/y7k53x
There was a fire in 1950 that caused substantial damage. Litigation ensued:
http://tinyurl.com/yxpxph
Unless there was another Colonial in Germantown, the theater was already closed by 1952:
http://tinyurl.com/ygul7p
Here are excerpts from an article in the Doylestown Intelligencer dated 3/2/97. I can’t reproduce the pictures here. There’s no right answer if the building was destroyed and rebuilt, obviously.
Film buffs still flock to County Theater
In 1928, the Strand opened its door to entertain area residents with silent films. A fire damaged the Strand, and it was remodeled and reopened as the County Theater, shown here in 1938 (Photos)
I remember that the late Doylestown Mayor Daniel D. Atkinson used to tell me that the first movies in Doylestown were shown early in the 1900s in a room in a pool or billiard parlor in a building on South Main Street where the County Linen Center now stands. Edward V. Hellyer snowed the first movies in Doylestown. The admission was a nickel.
Researching in the Bucks County Historical Society Mercer Museum Library, I learned that the Strand Theater (I prefer Strand to County) was opened in January 1925. Before the Strand, the movies were shown in a large auditorium on the second floor in Lenape Hall, the more than a century old brick building at State and Main streets. I can remember when the Strand had two stores, a gift shop and the Palace of Sweets off the entrance lobby. The Strand had two apartments on its second floor front. Doylestown Theater
Guild used to present its plays in the Strand until the talkies emerged in 1927. Because of its sensitive sound projection equipment backstage, the live performers moved to a high school auditorium stage. (A fire damaged the Strand and it was remodeled and reopened as the County Theater.)
Bucks County President Judge Hiram H Keller spoke at the opening of the County Theater in September of 1938. The County Theater was modernized and improved at a cost of $75,000. The seating capacity was increased to 700 persons. The first names on the marquee were Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy in “Test Pilot”. Doylestown got its first Sunday movies Nov. 17, 1940. Only the Catholic and Episcopal churches did not formally campaign against Sunday movies.
Here is a webpage with some additional information:
http://tinyurl.com/vgbes
If he kept driving into the marquee, why didn’t he figure out a different route?
http://tinyurl.com/yfq4pt
Where was the wet floor sign?
http://tinyurl.com/ykwzn6
Fix my marquee forthwith:
http://tinyurl.com/yfryss
This lawsuit shows a different address for the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/ymgy2q
Looks like status should be closed/demolished:
http://tinyurl.com/y2n262
Here is a July 2000 article about the possible demolition of the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/y6xfwe
This news article is dated 10/12/02:
FORT WORTH—The shell of the historic 7th Street Theatre could be bulldozed as early as Monday if the nonprofit group that owns the property opts to reactivate its demolition permit. What’s left of the building, at 3128 W. Seventh St., has been protected from demolition for the past six months in hopes that an alternative use could be found. That stay expires at midnight tonight, clearing the way for the FPA Foundation to reinstitute its demolition certificate.
Here is a view of the Metropolitan marquee from the other end of Broadway in 1926:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics49/00059101.jpg
There was a fire in the theater on 7/7/47:
Projection Booth Afire; Children Leave Theater
CAMDEN, N. J- Fifty children singing songs projected on a screen were told there was a fire in the theater’s projection booth and marched safely outside today, without interrupting their vocal harmony. Manager Morris W. Cummings discovered the fire in the 300-seat Elm Theater 25 minutes after the matinee began, hurriedly opened the exit doors and instructed the children to leave. John Armstrong, 35, of Maple Shade, N.J, projectionist, was singed by flames that spurted from film caught in the projection machine. Loss was slight.
The County opened as the Strand in 1925. After a fire, the theater re-opened as the County in September 1938.
The predecessor to the Madison was called the Opera House and then the Madison until a fire in 1929:
Another costly fire that oldtimers remember destroyed the old Opera House, or Madison Theater, at Park Avenue West and Walnut Street on February 10, 1929. Two men lost their lives in that disaster when they were crushed following the collapse of the west wall of the theater.
The Opera House, later named the Madison, was the city’s leading theater for many years. The entrance was off Park Avenue West next to the Baptist Church which stood on the site of the Farmers Bank. Soon after the rubble of the theater fire was cleared away, the Madison Theater we know today was built on the site.
There was an explosion in the theater in June 1975:
Bomb rips theater; $3,000 damage
A pipebomb caused an estimated $3,000 damage early Thursday to the lobby of the Willow Park Theater in Wheeling Township. The bomb was the second in two months at the theater, which is scheduled to open July 4, and the theater was the second in the Chicago-area that was bombed during the early morning.
THE FIRST OF the two bombs exploded in the lobby of the Meadowbrook Cinema in Downers Grove at 2:17 a.m. Downers Grove police said the bombs caused an estimated $5,000 to $8,000 damage to the theater and two adjacent stores. The Cinema had been in operation for almost a year, police said.
Here are some photos by Seth Gaines:
http://tinyurl.com/yj8xau
Here is an article about the Andalusia dated 12/8/77:
Vandalism, crime may write Bensalem landmark’s obituary
When my editor recently told me to do a story on the closing of the Andalusia Drive-In, I was just as surprised as the next guy. Had the outdoor movie closed? How come we haven’t gotten any letters or calls about it from its loyal fans out there? Good question. But a better question is this. Is the theater, now boarded up and chained shut, really dead, or is it just in hibernation for the long, cold winter? “That’s one of the great question marks,” said David Weinstein, who should know. He’s general manager of Hellman Theaters, the New Jersey firm operating the Andalusia and Lincoln Drive-Ins in Bensalem Township.
Weinstein gave a non-committal “yes-and-no” type answer. Yes, the theater is closed and is also up for sale to the highest bidder; but no, the neighborhood drive-in may not be dead yet. “I imagine it will open in the spring as a theater,” added Weinstein, by way of explanation. But it appears as though that may be a last resort. Because in practically the same breath, Weinstein mentioned “there is enough acreage there for a lumber yard, a food store or restaurant.” He is willing to sell the ground as long as anything but another theater is opened. After all, that would be competition for our other theaters,“ Weinslein said. However, judging from the Andalusia’s recent history, another theater might have a hard time of it. Looking back to 1963 in the Bucks County Courier Times newspaper clipping files, it becomes clear the theater has gained the most publicity from the vandalism and crime it has suffered.
There were reports after reports of break-ins, suspicious fires and robberies. Last September, the problem peaked when a 17-year-old Philadelphia girl was raped and her boyfriend seriously beaten by a gang of youths. According to Weinstein, the crime was a terrible nuisance, but the recent “drop-off in customers was the final straw in deciding to close the more than a quarter-century old drive-in.
"This will be the first winter the Andalusia will be closed since it opened in the early 1950s,” said Weinstein. “I blame it on the neighborhood kids who tore the place apart.” How bad has the damage been? Weinstein gave two examples. He said he spent $5,700 last spring to replace fencing around the theater which was gradually torn to pieces by youths. A continuing problem, he said, has been the thefts of portable heaters used in cars during the winter months.
“I used to be able to buy the heaters for $12 each,” Weinstein said. “Now they’re $29 apiece, and the kids rip them off because they think they can use them at home. They can’t. Their home voltage doesn’t match that of the heaters.” Weinstein, who doesn’t have any doubt “neighborhood kids” are behind the vandalism, said he doesn’t know why the destruction continues. According to Bensalem Township police, the destruction has been particularly bad the last six months. Lawrence Michaels, township police chief, said youths, not necessarily from the neighborhood, have been involved in fighting, smashing windows and breaking in to the theater’s concession stand. Those responsible, who are hardly ever caught, are hit-and-run vandals from the city and also local youths, Michaels
said.
“The neighbors evidently resent the theater,” concluded Weinstein. “Yet the theater has been there long before many in the neighborhood.” Police verify Andalusia residents are not all that happy about the drive-in. They have complained of the noise of the loudspeakers at night and the litter and trash, allegedly from the theater, which winds up in their yards. According to one police officer, residents along Colonial and Walnut Avenues will be most pleased to see the theater’s closing. But Weinstein still remembers better times. “The Andalusia was always a family-type theater,” he said. “I remember when it had a playground with swings and sliding boards.” Like so much else there, however, the playground fell victim to the vandals, he said.
At one time, things were much different. The Andalusia’s heyday was in the 1950s, according to a former theater employee. Frank Harper, of Cornwells Heights, who worked for both the Andalusia and Lincoln for 17 years, saw some of the happy times. “The kids would go to the drive-in to make love, not see the picture,” said Harper. “There were none of these X-rated movies and entire families could go to the drive-ins, too.” As far as Harper is concerned, though, Andalusia had always had less business than the Lincoln. “Cars used to line up on Roosevelt Boulevard from the Lincoln in Trevose to Byberry Road in Northeast Philadelphia,” Harper remembered. “The Andalusia never enjoyed that type of business.” But the cars used to “bottle up” Route 13 for the Andalusia just the same, said Harper.
Although he hasn’t been involved in the theaters' operations since 1964, he believes times have changed since he depended on young people from the Mayfair and Kensington sections of Philadelphia for customers. Weinstein agrees. “People have come from as far away as Chester,” Weinstein said. “They take I-95.” The now dark screen at Andalusia is the site of one of the oldest drive-ins in the Philadelphia area. According to Weinstein, the Lincoln, one of the oldest drive-ins in the country, is just a few years older than Andalusia. Whether the Andalusia’s obituary has been written today remains to be seen.