Penypak Theatre

Warner-Equity Theatres launched the new Holme Theatre with sound pictures on October 11, 1929 with “On With the Show” supported by “Look Out Below.” The theatre was named after Thomas Holme and was in the Holemsburg neighborhood of Philly. The Holme closed after the January 8, 1942 showing of “Hold That Ghost” for a major $100,000 refresh. On March 17, 1942, it was relaunched as the Penypak Theatre with Kay Kyser in “The Playmates.”

The Penypak scuffled in the 1950s along with many neighborhood movie houses. In 1950, the independent operator, Melvin Fox, sued the eight major Hollywood distributors citing a cartel that didn’t allow it access to key first run films. That and similar suits at that time around the country led to the Paramount decree that would break up the cartel. The Penypak Theatre initially closed at the expiry of a leasing period on September 27, 1951 with “The Great Caruso.” The former Penypak became the short-lived Herby’s Auction House. A boy got his hand stuck in the Penypak popcorn machine during an auction requiring rescue by the fire department. The auction house closed early in 1954 with the building offered for sale.

The Penypak re-emerged on a grind policy by Mr. Fox on May 8, 1955 with “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Desiree.” The venue had a new 40' screen and widescreen projection to present CinemaScope titles. But the Penypak’s audience loss was not stemmed and it soon cased operations on October 30, 1955 with Anne Appleton in the exploitation film, “The Desperate Women,” supported by Richard Coogan in “Girl on the Run” ending the venue’s cinematic journey.

After being offered for sale without a buyer, the theatre was auctioned off on July 12, 1956 for $70,000. It resumed auction services for a short period. In 1959, it was a showplace with live plays by the Pinypak players. That only lasted three months closing just prior the theater’s 30th Anniversary. The building was again sold in 1962 for $52,500 to a furniture retailer beginning a long retail career.

Compare this view to the photos of the facade in January 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/nywfjx

Yes, that’s so typical of how it is around there now. It’s the current state of the Philadelphia economy, what more can I say?

Here are two interesting views from the Philadelphia Architects & Buildings site. The first is an architectural rendering. Note the different spelling. The second is a 1941 photo from the Irvin Glazer collection:
http://tinyurl.com/2ubcn5
http://tinyurl.com/33hksc

Howard, the marquee that’s currently on the Holme Theatre is triangular — that is, it has two faces, both of which are at a slight angle to one another — and trust me, it is not the original marquee by any means. Meantime, even though I never got to experience the Holme when it still was open as a theater, that’s not to say I have no memories of it when it was a theater building. Having been renamed the Pennypack during its last years as a theater, I have good memories of when it was the Pennypack Theatre all boarded up, and by that point the triangular marquee was in place of the original rectangular one. My guess is they were attempting to make the theater look more modern among other things. I also remember the title that was on the marquee (perhaps missing a letter or two), it was “The White Sheep.” And that title remained there until the building was eventually reopened as other than a theater. Now interesting to note, right next door to the Holme Theatre building (where the lower half of the parking lot is today) had been Holme Drug Store, and looking at that one and only photo of when the Holme Theatre was in full swing (taken 1935 or so) it appears to me that when the Holme Theatre changed its name to Pennypack, the Holme Drug Store next door got the original Holme Theatre sign. Meantime, as for the Holme Theatre’s original marquee, going by that 1930s photo it looks like it doubled as an outdoor balcony of sorts. Hence explaining those doorway like formations in the original Art Deco upper part of the theater’s front exterior — which is still intact today (though the doorway formations have long been sealed up.)

When this theater was in its prime (when that 1930s photo was taken) Holmesburg had been involved in bootlegging activity during Prohibition. This I know, because my father grew up in a house somewhere along Frankford Avenue, and he remembered looking out the bedroom window late at night to hear muffled voices in an alleyway running behind the yards, and seeing shadowy figures and cars back there, and boxes of contraband being moved from one vehicle to another via flashlight. And then the cars would part their separate way. And just to show how little times have changed since then, back last October, when I attended the Holmesburg Civic Association meeting and it was the very first time I suggested the old Holme Theatre building be brought back as a neighbrhood movie theater again, the MAIN topic of that meeting that night was all the unsavory criminal activity (most of it illegal drug trafficking) going on in the historic old African American community that’s right behind the Holme Theatre building. The African Americans who live back there — and who are all very decent people, by the way — don’t want any part of that illegal drug scene but are forced to accept it anyway because they’re black in an area that when Rizzo came to power as Mayor in 1971 was mistakenly forced into becoming predominantly blue collar white and has been forced to be ever since. Today, however, it’s on its last leg with Councilwoman Joan Krajewski soon to be retiring, she being the last leftover up here from the Rizzo era. Which is why I’ve been saying all along that turning the old Holme Theatre building into a mini mall is a mistake. I was just trying to help the new owners from losing their shirts is all. At the same time, and this I didn’t know when I first came forth with the restoring it as a theater idea last autumn, it’s not quite time yet to make it a theater again. I was on the right track with that idea, but too much the early bird as it were. And as luck would have it I got the worm, to which I can only say “Yuck!!!”

Anyway, right now Holmesburg’s in that very in-between period, and I can’t invest, and I can’t sway other investors I’m teamed up with to invest, until the smoke finally clears on that. And the gambling that’s coming to Philadelphia is going to really muck things up both on my end and yours, Howard. Though on my end not quite as much as yours, since no slots parlors have been proposed for up here. But we do have this nuisance thing called the Independence Pointe development proposal (which isn’t far from the Holme Theatre building) to worry about. And that’s gotta be taken by the horns and steered the right way somehow. And it ain’t easy when those in charge of it, including U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz, have I.Q.s something like -3. But she’ll be gone after next November, so I’m not too put off by that, just so long as we can keep the Independence Pointe proposal stalled till then. And so far so good on that.

I wish somebody would’ve photographed the original marqueee when briefly visible. Even before gutting, I knew that a movie theater closed in the 1950’s wasn’t going to reopen. Even if a wealthy person renovated the theater to being any kind of theater, Art Deco or not, it wouldn’t exist as a daily mainstream single screener.

In his books, the late Irvin Glazer characterizes this theater as “beautiful” and his description makes it clear it was an impressive Art Deco theater. He says it closed in 1951. Therefore, it didn’t survive TV? or was there also a migration of people from the area?
Its chances of again becoming a single screen theater are sllightly less good as TheaterBuff1’s chances of winning the multi-million dollar lottery. Slightly less good because the owner need not sell, or could be tied to lease obligations not to sell. And, he would need to get Hollywood studios to provide films, which they might not do.

When are they turning it into mini-mall?
Originally, “all of the ceilings and wall surfaces were painted in elaborate design…” I wander if any of that survived.

Ah, HDTV267 strikes again with his “words of wisdom” I see! — and once again based on none other than shear ignorance, in this case his ignorance having to do with business itself. For he doesn’t understand that every store the restored Holme Theatre building is to contain is to be none other than but a mere replication of what that part of Northeast Philadelphia has plenty of already. Meaning that whatever new jobs it will create plus tax dollars for the city will be shortlived. The only exception is if it gets bail outs from the state to keep going, which is the case with many (if not most) of the businesses in Northeast Philadelphia’s Mayfair section, which is just to the southwest of the Holmesburg community where this historic theater building is located.

While it IS true that the area economy right around the Holme Theatre building could use more jobs, and the city of Philadelphia itself could use more tax dollars, the jobs that are needed here in the Holmesburg community are top-paying ones as opposed to those that entail stocking shelves with slave-labor produced goods from China, working behind an ice cream counter for penny wages and so on. For at this point in time that is NOT the direction that Holmesburg now needs to go in.

Meantime, my viewpoint right now is that I was just a little early when I came forth with my proposal to restore the Holme Theatre building back to being a classy neighborhood movie theater once more. Being as I’ve been away so ofttimes from Holmesburg in recent years leading up to when I first put forth my proposal last year, I didn’t know that Holmesburg still had some residue from the ignorant Frank Rizzo years still left in it. And going by HDTV267’s remarks above, I can see I’m still a bit early.

In any event, check out a very rough rendering I did of how I envision the future of the Holme Theatre building to look enroute to its being restored to a classy neghborhood movie theater once more. Along with photos I took of the Holme Theatre building last autumn, it can be seen at the following link:
Http://www.flickr.com/photos/TheaterBuff1/

Thanks for your vote of confidence, John! Meantime, just to go over some of the finer points, because of its location, it is positioned specifically to be a neighborhood theater, as it would be very tricky for a sizeable number of people to be able to get to it from outside the city or from other parts of the city. While Route 1 and I-95 can get people somewhat close to it, beyond that the stretch would be very slow moving, whether we’re talking Frankford Avenue, Welsh Road, Rhawn Street or any of the other major Northeast Philadelphia thoroughfares they’d then have to travel. And for those thoroughfares that would be quite an increase in traffic each time a movie is shown there! Which is why Mr. Haas’s suggestion (he being the man currently in charge of restoring the Boyd movie palace in Center City Philadelphia) that it might work if it were remade into a multiplex is totally out of the question. Which leads back to its being workable only if it could be made a neighborhood theater and those in the neighborhood could be counted on coming to it regularly.

And see, back when this theater was built, 1929, Holmesburg and other communities nearby were not so much the “Simon says” type communities they are now. I.e., at that time there was no such thing as a political machine, or any particular powerful religious faction, or any sorts of organized crime factions or whatever else, overshadowing Northeast Philadelphia the way it is now. Folks around here did as they wanted to do, not what some higher order told them it was okay, or not okay, to do. And the economy of Northeast Philadelphia at that time was such that people around here could do pretty much what they wished without fear. All told, it must have been fantastic!

Now, however, if I were to acquire this building to restore it as a theater but without this or that power-that-be’s blessing, if the powers-that-be tell the folks who reside around here not to go to this theater once it’s completely restored, simply put, they won’t. They’d all be afraid to.

In the Devon Theatre’s case farther down Frankford Avenue it’s a totally different story however. For there we see the political powers-that-be endorsing it. Of course, there’s going to be the big trade-off, all entertainment fare at the Devon limited to what they want the people around here to see and no more. I can assure you, for instance, nothing along the lines of “On the Waterfront” or “Erin Brockovitch” or “The Pawnbroker” or “The Molly Maguires” will ever get shown at the Devon…

I enjoy the saga and will stay tune.

Just to put forth the latest info I can with regard to this historic theater building, first and foremost I had absolutely no idea when I first put forth the concept that it could be restored as a classy neighborhood movie theater the serious socio-economic issues the Holmesburg community all around it has. I was simply looking at the building itself plus the surrounding infrastructure, and based on that alone I began lining up various investors and theatrical equipment providers quite willing to get behind its restoration as a theater, and yes, to be a very classy one at that. Only to then come up against a wall of resistence to the proposal when I began talking it up with various Holmesburg residents. At first I held this against the residents of Holmesburg themselves, for it did seem quite unexplainable and unreasonable why anyone would not want such a classy theater so close to home. But then on further investigation I discovered that it was not they who were saying no to the proposal, but rather, certain individuals — nearly all if not all who are not from here — who have them very intimidated. In other words, a rot that currently exists in Holmesburg that clearly needs to be cleaned out first before a classy theater or anything else that’s nice can hope to rise up in Holmesburg. From my viewpoint, being that I’m fourth generation to here, Holmesburg has every right to be a beautiful community just as does any other community anywhere here in the U.S., while I really don’t have the time, patience or sympathy to debate this point with anyone who disagrees. And I just wish that my fellow Holmesburg residents could find the courage within themselves to say the same thing. Otherwise, how do we expect to rid Holmesburg of its rot once and for all? And I know, I know, drug dealers, bagmen, pimps, loan sharks, auto thieves, burglars, slumlords, cops who thought it was okay to turn crooked and whatever other human garbage have to be able to “earn” livings too. But when it comes at the expense of what otherwise could be a very beautiful Northeast Philadelphia community, I think all of us, not simply me, should seriously rethink that outlook. And to do it now while we still can.

For right now my backers are asking me what the big hold-up is, and I don’t know what else to tell them other than I’m as anxious to get on with this Holme/Pennypack Theatre restoration project as much as they are.

The message I just posted at Cinema Treasure’s Mayfair Theatre page — /theaters/9141_0_2_0_C/ — contains principles that could be applied to this the Holme/Pennypack Theatre as well.

To hdtv267:

Thank you so kindly for posting those comments you did, as I’ve been trying to explain to educated outsiders how much Northeast Philly has gone downhill intellectually since its onetime heyday, and many thought perhaps I was just making it all up. And again I need to correct you, as it’s to be a Cold Stone CREAMERY, not “Cremery.” There’s no such word as “cremery”!!! And whether Cold Stone Creamery’s website makes mention of this being an upcoming site or not, I’m simply repeating what the Northeast Times article said with regards to what the future plans for that building are. So if the info I posted was incorrect, don’t complain to me about it, complain to the NE Times' Jeannie O'Sullivan, for she’s the one who wrote the article. Also if you’re in a complaining mood, you might want to complain to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance for refusing to budge with regard to acquiring for that Holme/Pennypack Theatre building the historic landmark status it deserves. This designation would insure that the Highland Development Group of Elkins Park doesn’t alter it too much in terms of its ever again being able to become a classy neighborhood movie theater.

When I look at that historic theater building and the sorry state that Daley’s Furniture & Appliance left it in when it vacated it, while others might just see it as a crappy old building, I see it like those thousand year old Bhuddist statues the Taliban destroyed leading up to 9/11, and with all of Northeast Philly right now in the grips of America’s Taliban as it were. To give credit where it’s due, Howard Stern is totally right when he says it’s weird that we’re fighting to crush the Taliban overseas while we have one right here in this country that keeps growing and growing yet is totally being ignored. And just as a reality check, you should re-read the comments you made, as they’re vary Taliban like.