Mayfair Theatre
7300 Frankford Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19136
7300 Frankford Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19136
8 people
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Showing 101 - 123 of 123 comments
Found a few more shots of the Mayfair, including the murals.
View link
My childhood memories of the theater are so different in that my friends and I spent many a Saturday afternoon there at the matinees, but I cannot recall anytime ever anyone — whether it was my friends, or anyone’s parents or whoever — saying anything unusual about the murals, other than they thought they were “pretty” at best, or at worst. It was simply art, and nothing more than that. That is, paint on plaster, not actual human beings. And when “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” was shown there in 1968 or so — the first time I ever saw nudity in a film at the Mayfair (a brief shot of actress Pamela Franklin nude where she’s posing for an artist) — I have absolutely no recollections of anyone complaining about it. The scene did stand out, yes, but not as anything “terrible.” Only that motion pictures were becoming more and more sophisticated, the “Moral Majority” and all that still lightyears away in the future. But regarding the murals, since all my friends and I had been exposed to them since birth, I suppose it was just that thing psychologists call “sensory adaption.” That is, if you’re exposed to a stimulus constantly it is totally unnoticable to you. But given the long hiatus it’s been since I’d seen the interior of the Mayfair Theatre last, only now is it registering what had been nothing strange or unusual back when my friends and I were kids. But certainly not in such a way that has me now as an adult saying, “Oh now I see why they shut it down and good thing they did!” Given how that mural appears to be a great example of Art Deco era painting, something I know full well now but didn’t have any inkling of back then, I’m all the more upset that America’s “Taliban” came along to shut it down when it did. For America’s Taliban is what needs to be shut down, not our classic neighborhood movie theaters! And nothing says it better than this mural does, hoping some of it — if not all – still exists.
I just posted two additional photos of the Mayfair at View link One is a 1937 screen capture from “It Happened In Mayfair” (I figure it’s okay to post since in public domain) and a 1984 or so shot of the marquee.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the mural photo. Yes, there were matching art deco murals on both side walls that ran the length of the wall. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other photos of it.
TheaterBuff1, it’s funny you mention the “progressive” nature of the mural. I remember when I was a kid being amazed that they had naked people on the wall. It may have been the first art with nudes that I saw. I sort of remember thinking “how can they get away with that”?
Anyone know of any other photos of the Mayfair?
Random memory of the Mayfair:
When I was an usher there we wore the boring red formless mid-butt length blazers with thin black lapels, along with a tie, white shirt, and black pants. However, backstage I found a very old waist length purple jacket with gold braiding. Not sure, but I think it dated from at least the 60s or older. It was a great design, but too faded and worn out to actually use.
Random thought#2: I should also mention that there was a large room below the stage that we called the usher’s room that was mainly used for drinking and other unsavory activities.
What I love about the mural is how it reveals how much freer and more progressive a world Northeast Philadelphia had been back when the Mayfair Theatre had been at its height. If a theater were built in today’s Northeast Philadelphia and it had murals of that nature, all the morons that hold reign over today’s Northeast Philadelphia would complain about it and prevail, whereby back when I was a kid it was simply art. And because of Northeast Philly’s higher intelligence level back then no one thought anything twice about it. But in later years came the Steck type businessmen, and maybe this mural, which I myself had no especial memories of, explains why he glared at me so annoyedly that day when I expressed sadness that the Mayfair Theatre building across the street was no longer a movie theater. It’s sort of like that “All In the Family” episode where Mike & Gloria are given this replica of Rodin’s “The Kiss” and feel totally flattered to recieve such a gift, recognizing it for its inherent beauty, but when Archie gets home while Mike & Gloria are away, all he sees in it is pure obscenity.
Whatever the case, thanks for providing us with a photo of that wonderful mural, Jack, while I wonder if that one plus others the Mayfair Theatre contained still exist, given all these years now that Mayfair’s been in the oppressive grips of America’s “Taliban.”
Jack Ferry-
THANKS! Wonderful photo of the Art Deco mural. Do you have more photos of the murals? Were there only two murals, huge ones on each side wall of the auditorium?
Loved your other photos, too, looks wonderful!
Correction:
HowardBHaas’s commentary saying I don’t have a viable business plan for restoring the Mayfair Theatre is 100% misleading, as I never claimed I did, just the complete opposite. I would love to be able to see it happen, but due to its total lack of parking as well as other factors, his guess is as good as mine how it could be possible. Right here and now that is…
Here’s the mural. View link
I’ll try to add the marquee shot once I get a chance to scan it.
As I have with some of my theater photos, please open a free account on any website such as http://www.flickr.com/
post your photos there. Then, link your flickr site on a comment here, as I have with some of my photos of theaters, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardbhaas/
Linking other websites with photos is quite common for this website, and a good thing, since it won’t overload this site. I am really eager to see your photos, if you will be so kind! Thanks.
While the drugstore just used the lobby area, I think that the stores along Cottman may have been expanded back somewhat to use some of the auditorium space. I’m not sure about this, but I know that the Wine & Spirits store goes back a lot further than it used to when the theater was open. There was also remodeling of the Ryan Avenue side of the theater. The exit doors used to come out on a ramp that went below street level. (At least for the northernmost exit door – closest to the screen.) The ramp was apparently filled in, and all the doors are now at street level. They appear to be used for deliveries to the Cottman Avenue businesses. Guess what I’m saying is that I doubt that the auditorium is still there, but the shell of it is still in place. I’m pretty sure I remember someone telling me that the seats had been removed during the remodeling.
I did find a photo of the art deco mural, but unfortunately this site is not accepting photos so I can’t post it. I also have a photo of the marquee that says “HI JACK”. A friend that worked there after me put that up while changing the sign, took the photo, then quickly changed the letters back to the current feature.
The picture I would love to have is the one that hung in the manager’s office when I was there. They had the architect’s pencil drawing of the front of the theater in a cheap Woolworth’s frame. Even at the time I thought I should copy it, but never did. Not sure about this, but I think the owner came in one night and took it with him.
Was the drugstore using the auditorium or just the lobby? Or the murals still visible on the side walls of the auditoriums? I hope Jack Ferry posts his photos!
According to Irv Glazer’s hardback book Philadelphia Theares, A-Z, the Mayfair opened with 1009 seats.
Theaters don’t reopen because of hot air on this website. They reopen because companies, or more usually, nonprofit organizations are formed to save & reopen them. And, with no disrespect meant, TheaterBuff 1 doesn’t have a viable business plan to make that happen, not for acquisition or rental, not for renovation, and not for reuse.
There’s one very feasible way I could see the Mayfair Theatre building becoming a theater once more, but it would require very bold thinking on all the businesses surrounding it. In my vision, the theater itself would be made a nonprofit, and all the businesses around it would contribute towards its full restoration plus its day-to-day operational costs thereafter. And they would do so to increase their own profitability. In other words, the money they would put into the theater they would not make back through the theater itself, but through their own businesses nearby being uplifted by it. Restaurants in the area would have a same day relationship with it, along with pizza parlors, coffee shops and so on. That is to say, these are the type businesses people would cater the same day they went to see a movie at that theater.
And then there’s also what you can call separate day relationships. These would be hobby stores in the area, clothing stores, toy stores, etc. And in some cases even auto dealerships. In other words, someone would go to the theater and like the type of clothing they see a star wearing in the movie. And they’d like to buy clothes such as that — but not necessarily the same day they see the movie. Meaning that one day they’re there in Mayfair seeing a movie at the theater, and the next they’re shopping in Mayfair clothing shops hoping to find clothes similar to what they saw a star wearing in the movie at the Mayfair Theatre the night before. Or shoes, or what have you. So in the separate day relationship the theater would be like advertising. And how much do businesses these days spend on advertising? Yet why spend it that way rather than by restoring the nearby movie theater? For movies put products in a special context, and far better than any commercials can. The Tom Hanks movie “Castaway” did far more to boost Fed Ex’s bottom line than any commercial ever did! And let’s not forget that the Fess Parker movie “Davy Crockett” back in the ‘50s did more to help the sale of coonskin caps than any commercial ever possibly could have.
And here’s another thing to consider:
I’ve seen old b&w photos of the Mayfair Theatre where they had banners hanging beneath the marquee proclaiming how the theater was air-conditioned. And this at a time and in an area where few if any houses around were air-conditioned at the time. The technology was very new, not to mention expensive, so many were very skeptical of it. So by the Mayfair Theatre’s being air-conditioned, it went a long way in erasing that skepticism. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mayfair Theatre went a long way in selling people on the idea of wall-to-wall carpeting as well. That, too, being something totally new. And in today’s world there’s geothermal heating and cooling technology which is having a hard time catching on more. It’s expensive to install, and many people are doubtful of it. Yet when you go straight down Cottman Avenue and get to State Road, there’s a company right there at that corner that specializes in installing it, and nobody knows about it. But they sure as heck would if the Mayfair Theatre had it, and if everyone who experienced it there at the theater loved how well it worked!
Too often today businesses want to see immediate returns, and that, I fear, might be the biggest problem ailing Mayfair right now. Over time I believe they would get huge returns from their investing in the Mayfair Theatre’s full restoration, but not necessarily right away. At the same time, they sure won’t get that longterm return, not even close, if it’s just made another ho hum drug store again.
I know from my own experience back when I was a kid I used to shop at that hobby shop there in Mayfair all the time. And was there a correlation between that and the theater? You bet! If I saw “Blue Max” at the theater one day, three days later or so I was there at the hobby shop buying the new model kit of the blue max plane. Or if I saw John Lennon wearing a turtle neck in the movie “Help!” I’d be at Fleet’s several days later buying up turtle necks. Meaning that if the theater, and the businesses around it, are in sync, everybody gains from its being a theater. And an Eckerds drug store at that site can’t even begin to have that same magical uplifting effect on all that’s around it. That Eckerds was geared just to be stop and go. And that’s just what people do. They stop there, and then they go on, given how it doesn’t promote in any way anything that’s around it. For how could it? It’s just a drug store, not a theater.
I worked in the Mayfair near the end. There were lots of nights with 10 or less seats filled and hundreds empty. While the poor film selection was one factor, the sad truth is that the theater could not pull its own weight. If someone put in the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would take for restoration, I don’t see how they’d ever get their money back out of it.
Still, maybe I lack vision. I have seen an old theater restored, revitalizing the entire community. In that case, someone literally put lottery winnings into the massive restoration project and it was a fantastic result. (The Allen Theatre in Annville PA.) Even then it was a smaller scale project given it was an existing (but closed) theater.
I agree that Mayfair needs a focal point and something to rally around. A fully restored Mayfair Theatre might do that, but for how long and at what cost?
CORRECTION:
Although the Philadelphia Flyers again won the Stanley Cup in 1975, it was in 1974 when the big riot I describe took place there in Mayfair. The celebrations that took place there the following year, 1975, were much more civil, and even more peaceful still the year following that when the Flyers failed to get the “Hat Trick in ‘76” that everyone had hoped for…
To Jack Ferry:
Although what you say of it not being economically viable to restore that Mayfair Theatre building as a movie theater is valid, my feeling is that it’s far more an attitude problem Northeast Philadelphia currently suffers from that ultimately prevents this theater building from ever being made a theater again.
Meantime, the design of the Mayfair Theatre is such that it literally screams, “I’M SUPPOSED TO BE A MOVIE THEATER!!!” when efforts are made to try to make it something else and with this misuse not being fully noticeable. As anyone who passes through Mayfair can readily see, it is clearly the centerpiece of all Mayfair, and so prominantly so, that it’s hard if not totally impossible to do anything with it other than allowing it to be a movie theater without this putting a tremendous dampener businesswise on all other businesses that surround it. That theater building, as a theater, puts a face on Mayfair that it totally lacks otherwise. And there is something a bit blasphamous its being put to other uses.
As I’m sure you know, all Mayfair at one time had been the sizeable estate of the great 19th century stage actor Edwin Forrest. And even after his estate was cleared and Mayfair was created, it appears that there something in his spirit that persistently lived on there, evidence of this in the success of onetime Mayfair resident Sylvester Stallone, and more recently, Joanne Picutti (hope I spelled that right) who was literally born to play the part of Annie in the Broadway production. Only for Broadway to make the terrible mistake of pulling her from it.
And the fact that the Devon Theatre is now being restored to be a live performing arts theater in face of the fact that it stands on what once had been part of Edwin Forrest’s estate is more than just mere coincidence. And subconsciously at least, I believe the fact that all Mayfair had once been Forrest’s estate is why a theater — in this case the Mayfair Theatre — was chosen to be its centerpiece.
But there are certain decision-makers reigning over Mayfair now who are not getting it for some reason. And they’re losers all if you really take the time to examine them more closely. And Mayfair citizens are allowing them to hold reign without question, even though I believe they would like to get passed them now — only to be told, “Well, it takes money…”
Last October, when I was taking a walking tour of Holmesburg’s main consumer business district with Holmesburg Civic Association head Fred Moore, we ran into the man currently in charge of restoring the Devon Theatre. We asked him how it was going, and he quickly replied that the effort was greatly short of funds. And it immediately blurted out of me before I could think of what I was saying, “It’s a shame you have to think of the project strictly in terms of money.” His eyes immediately darted to Fred with a look that said, “Hey Fred, your friend here has a great sense of humor!” Both he and Fred then both had a very good laugh over it. But yet there are times when lacking money is not the real problem. Rather, it’s the absence of intelligent thinking. And that seems to be the biggest problem right now in Mayfair’s case. To be sure, the intelligence is there, it’s there as much as is the enduring spirit of Edwin Forrest himself, but the good folks of Mayfair are allowing monetary thinking to take precendence over it — hence the number one reason why the Mayfair Theatre has not gotten to be a theatre since 1985.
Even though it does lack parking, it could work again as a theater if it were made a community theater. But it would require a bit of a revolution on the part of the people of Mayfair. A willingness to rise up and throw off the shackles of the John Perzels, Joan Krajewskis and others that now have it so locked down. I saw first hand that power Mayfair has once. I saw it in the Flyers Stanley Cup celebrations back in 1975. And as I say, the one thing I’ll always remember of the many things that got vandalized that night, the one thing that loomed up in the middle of it but that didn’t get touched in the least was the Mayfair Theatre. And that I look back upon now as having been a type of miracle. For all around it that night there were storefront windows getting smashed left and right, small fires of trash being set in the Cottman-Frankford intersection, a 66 bus halted there at Cottman and being totally torn to pieces, and so forth and so on. But while all this was happening I turned and looked to the theater, and it was if it had some sort of a special force field all around it. Not quite a glow, but something that seemed to say, whatever you do, people, spare this. And the drunken revelers that night did spare it. And I’ll never forget that.
So with that said, despite all this money talk, I think the people of Mayfair come January should stand up and say, no, no, this is going to become our beloved theater once more. For there are times to say, hey, money is not all there is. And now I believe is one of those times…
As much as I’d like to see the return of the Mayfair Theatre for sentimental reasons, it’ll never happen. The Fox brothers (the owners) will simply find a new tenant for the Eckert space. Unless, of course, someone comes along and offers them a pile of money for the building. But rebuilding the Mayfair is simply not economically viable.
Meaning that it might be open to being a movie theater once more? While I certainly would love to see this, I’m not sure that it could be done in the face of the fact that it has no parking whatsoever. Keep in mind that it came into being when getting around by car was far more the exception than the norm. And because of this it had a foothold of acceptance by the time the age of the automobile came into being. For the span of a generation people were well adjusted to the concept of not going to the Mayfair by car. “To the Mayfair you go by public transit or on foot.” Nothing at all seemed strange or unusual about it. Because that was all many had been used to since birth. And to the generation before that, that had been the norm with everything.
And now here it is, 2005 heading into 2006, and we’re all fully accustomed to reaching anything that’s totally new by car. And though if the Mayfair were restored it would hardly be “new,” it would indeed be totally new to anyone who never knew it as a movie theater. In other words, unlike how it is with the Pennypack Theatre, which does have parking, it would be a real challenge to breathe all new cinematic life into that Mayfair Theatre building again. And even I, who grew up with its being a theater, don’t know that I could ever get back to using it frequently the way I once did. It’s like that girl you love madly who dumps you, and after you finally get over her, it taking many years to do so, here she is, suddenly back in your life once more, begging you to take her back. But you’re married to someone else now, and you love the one you’re married to now, so it’s like, what do you say???
But nonetheless, nothing would make me happier than to see others get hold of the Mayfair Theatre building and successfully make it a movie theater once more to bring the joy and happiness to the next generation the same joy and happiness it once brought to me. But see, in my mind, the Mayfair Theatre is so affixed as being a certain way, so much so that if I was overseeing the project I’d always be trying to make it that same way again — which would be totally impossible now, given how much all the other factors of the over all gestalt have changed. The Pennypack Theatre on the other hand I never got to know as a movie theater, so my relationship to that is there’s no pre-fixed conceptions.
Oops! I meant to say “Mayfair Theatre” in that second to last paragraph above, not “Pennypack.” Freudian slip I suppose.
For the Pennypack Theatre building up Frankford Avenue to Mayfair’s north east is perfectly positioned to becoming a movie theater once more, given the sizeable parking lot it has — the one critically needed thing the Mayfair Theatre building is totally lacking right now. And with no way of changing this without causing undue hardship to other businesses in close proximity — including Steck (though, given the type businessman he is, he’d never appreciate my saying this.)
It is not the consumer’s place to deal with a businessman in a business-like manner. This was a b to c relationship, not a b to b relationship. Back during Mayfair’s best days, when the Mayfair Theatre was just as it should be, just as it was designed to be, to serve as a theater, all the businessmen throughout Mayfair understood how b to c relationships are supposed to work, which is why Mayfair was such an enjoyable place to go to back then. Now, however, Mayfair is like a charity where people go to shop not because they really want to, but out of shear dread that it will become even more blighted if they don’t. And the only real reason why it’s not looking more blighted right now than it is is because it’s getting all these government bailouts (re: your and my taxdollars)so as to look halfway decent, albeit in a very propped up fashion. Don’t believe me? Hey, see for yourself. Just look at that big sign they have along Frankford Avenue in front of the Mayfair Theatre that reads: “Mayfair, a Great Place to Work and Live,” and then look down at the bottom left where it lists the name of three current politicians — John Perzel, Joan Krajewski and Mayor Street. See, to me, a true businessman knows how to run a business in such a way that they don’t require vast expenditures of your and my taxdollars to make it look like they know what the heck they’re doing. And the businessmen of the original Mayfair were true businessmen. Then came the new breed, the Stecks and so on, all just in it for themselves and we the consumer be damned. And if you criticized this new breed in anyway they’d penalize you by not repairing your word processor right or what have you. Which is exactly what did happen in my case when I simply spoke the truth regarding the Mayfair Theatre to that Steck guy. When I got the word processor home, the damned thing didn’t work, I had a college term paper I needed to get down for class that night, so I called up the Steck guy and made him come out to my house to fix it there. He did so, but only when I made it clear I’d kill him if he didn’t (figuratively speaking, of course.) Several years later. when Bill Clinton, campaigning for president, made a stop at the Mayfair Diner, I remember hoping he’d see that Pennypack Theatre building and quicky point out to U.S. Rep Borski and others who were campaigning with him that day that it needs to get back to being a theater once more, just as any truly great presidential candidate would have done.
To better explain, did you ever see the movie, “The Last Picture Show”? In that film, the closing down of the town’s movie theater in the film’s finale is the ultimate symbol of the town’s demise and death. Meantime, in Ambler and in Phoenixville we’re seeing the exact opposite of this going on right now, now that their movie theaters are being newly brought to life once more. And yes, though they might be getting government grants to aid in the restoration (your and my taxdollars), at least in this case it’s for something the people really want. But do I want my taxdollars being wasted on bailing out a businessmen who resents my love of movie theaters, not to mention resenting doing what I;m paying them my hard-earned dollars to do? Well what do you think? And just out of curiosity, what brings you to the Cinema Treasures website anyway, HDTV? For I get a sense you don’t like movie theaters very much, going by your above commentary…
The one memory I have of the Mayfair Theatre has to do with when I took my word processor to be repaired at Steck Typewriter, which is just across the street from it on Cottman Avenue. This was sometime back in the early 1990s, and the theater had been converted to a Thrift Drug by then or some other crap. Anyway, I said to Mr. Steck, the guy who owned the typewriter place, how really sad it was that the Mayfair across the street was no longer a movie theater. And although he didn’t come right out and say it, the look on his face said, “Well who the hell are you, buddy!?” He then did a really lousy job of repairing my word processor, not to mention charging me a small fortune for the really lousy work he did. I guess it was just his low life sort of way of getting back at me for speaking the truth about the Mayfair Theatre. For as a kid I used to love going down to Mayfair, and that theater itself was at the heart of it all. And it wasn’t just me who felt this way. Back sometime in the mid ‘70s when the Flyers won the Stanley Cup, and revelers came out to the intersection of Frankford and Cottman the night they won, things got so out of hand that they were vandalizing things left and right. Store windows all around there got smashed, and a whole 66 trackless trolley was abandoned there at Frankford and Cottman, not to mention car windows being busted and so on. But the one thing I’ll always remember is how the most prominant thing of all at that intesection — the Mayfair Theatre, which back at that time was still a theater — was completely untouched. With destruction of other things going on all around it, given how so drunk out of their skulls many in the crowds were that night, the love everyone had for that theater itself was so great that nobody dared touch it. And that is something I’ll always remember.
The Mayfair Theatre, after it closed, became a Thrift Drug. when JC Penney acquired Eckerd, they renamed all the Thrift Drugs to Eckerd. The theatre auditorium is still standing, but the lobby has been “Eckerd"ized
I worked at the Mayfair Theatre (always spelled “theatre”, never “theater”) from 1979 through 1983 as an usher, projectionist, and assistant manager. I met my wife there when she was hired to work in the candy stand in the summer of 1981. We married in June, 1983, and our kids are now older than we were!
Not 100% sure of this piece of trivia, but I believe Lincoln High School (2 blocks away) was almost named Mayfair High, but the thinking was that too many places were already named Mayfair.
Also not sure I agree that the theater had 1,000 seats. I think it may have been around 700, at least in the 70s and 80s.
Until 1980, the theater had a round ticket booth under the marquee, but it was removed when the thick curved glass broke and it would have been too expensive to repair. The official story was that it was broken when Phillies fans were celebrating the World Series, but the truth is that it broke when a boyfriend of a ticket seller punched the glass as a joke. A cheapo plywood booth was then built in the lobby.
Around 1981 the dual carbon arc projectors were replaced with a single projector and a Potts platter system. The owners fired the two union projectionists, one of whom had been there 50 years, and made the manager the projectionist. I got my projectionist license so the main manager could get a night off once a week.
There was small balcony box next to the projection booth, but it was not used by the public during at least the last 20 years.
The murals on the side walls of the auditorium were great, but water damage was a big problem by the 80s. I think my friend has photos – I’ll try to get him to post them.
Finally, be sure to check out the 1937 film “It Happened In Mayfair”, a tour of Mayfair businesses presented by the then manager of the Mayfair Theatre, Herb Shulman. It’s a public domain film posted in several places on the web.
THE THEATRE STILL STANDS. THE INNER LOBBY AND AUD. IS THE DRUG STORE. THIS THEATRE WAS NEVER TORN DOWN. IT’S LIKE A SHOE BOX WAS SLIPPED INSIDE THE THEATRE.
This is currently an eckerd, from a pic i have seen of this, it still looks like it a bit (best looking eckerd imo