Adonis Cinema
2026 Sansom Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
2026 Sansom Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
2 people
favorited this theater
The Sackett Screening Room was opened in January 1974 playing classic movies. It was not a great success and two weeks after opening it switched to screening adult movies. By 1975 it was screening gay adult movies and was renamed Adonis Cinema by 2004. These are still being screened in 2019.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Maybe the absence of details is for the best!
Maybe?
I like the understated look, like the recently closed Bijou Theater in Chicago. Unlike the garish neon filled facades of straight porn shops!
After he lost his lease on the Aarde Cinema across the street, Barney Sackett set up shop at 2026 Sansom in January 1974, operating as a revival house called the Sackett Screening Room. An Inquirer story said that the theater had 29 seats and no lobby. The 29 seats turned out to be plenty, as two weeks later Sackett announced that he had sold a total of 60 tickets and was switching to porn. He took a couple more shots at revivals later in the year (the Al Jolson musical “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” seems to have been a favorite) but they didn’t fare any better. The theater was advertising as a gay porn house in 1975-76, and Sackett lasted here at least long enough to complain about business being bad in a 1978 Inquirer story. The Adonis started advertising at this address in 1986.