Midway Theatre
1829 E. Allegheny Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
1829 E. Allegheny Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
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Currently there"s a Dunkin' , a H&R Block, and a Wells Fargo on the site of the RKO Stanley Warner’s Midway Theatre. The Wells Fargo moved from it’s original site (as Kensington Trust Company/First Pennsylvania Banking And Trust Company) in 2013.
It appears to have ceased operations on October 20, 1977 with “The Deep.”
December 23rd, 1932 grand opening ad in photo section.
as a kid I remember seeing BOBBY DARIN in person at the Midway, he drove up to the front of the theatre in his Mercury!
Mr. DeLorca, what happened to Betty the cashier; I wunder
And so what happened to that staff as well as so many others????
Amd what happened to the operatoers union?????
The cashier was Betty and the projectionist was George. Anyone else remember the staff in 1977?
Mr. DeLorca is correct, the Midway closed in 1977. I too worked at that Theater until the final day. If memory serves, Mr. Delorca was a “Dead Ringer” for another employee of the Midway by the name of Willard Pierce. Good times, Good times.
Noah Boddy
Here is a July 1979 photo from Temple U:
http://tinyurl.com/yfuk83h
Great photo. I remember the Midway well. I was working there as an assistant manager in 1967.
Here is a 1967 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c936nk
We were still wearing those heavy, hot, woolen jackets in the late 60s when I started working there! They had gold braid, brass buttons with the “SW” logo on them (for Stanley-Warner)and a gold SW shoulder patch. No matter how many times we took them to the cleaners, we couldn’t get rid of their odd, musty smell. In the early 70s, they bought us some great new (and lightweight) black tuxedo jackets with thin black satin lapels. Those were a welcome change! I still have a few of the original uniform’s brass buttons & a patch, too… somewhere!
Yes,we wore uniforms and carried flashlights. I remember during the time I worked there (1956) they exchanged our old uniforms for a new “modern” style uniform. If I remember correctly, we went from a short jacket with a bow tie to a suit length jacket with a regular tie. I believe they were dark blue. We used to change our clothes in one of the old dressing rooms behind the stage on an upper floor.
earlaney, did the ushers wear uniforms? would you please describe them?
I worked as an usher at the Midway during the summer of 1956 while a student at NE High. I was paid 60 cents per hour and I remember one of my jobs was to wake people up after the last show who were asleep.
Thank you Frank, my husband and I were going crazy trying to come up with the name of that 3rd theater.
The Iris — just around the corner from the Midway. It was on Kensington Ave, just off Allegheny Ave.
There were 3 movie theaters in the same area, the Midway, the Kent and the????? Can anyone help me out???
I went to Mastbaum High, starting in Fall 1981— all I ever saw was the worthless Burger King; that’s gone now too? How grand the Midway must have been.
Gerald Clough
Mastbaum ‘84
There was a small balcony; there is no doubt about that.
I remember The Midway very fondly as a child. There were two films that I saw there that I can recall. The first “Mary Poppins” and a few years later I went with my Dad, the only time i can ever remember going to the movies with him to see “Dr Zhivago”. I don’t remember there being a balcony there, but i guess there was according to reports. One of the films that was shown there that I really wanted to see but they told me I was too young was “Valley Of The Dolls” Back then they didn’t have ratings for films. “Valley” had a rating of “M” for mature audiences. I finally saw it later in life and would have loved to have seen it on “the big screen”.
Protest in 1971:
http://tinyurl.com/2upaqr
Dear Frank,
Did the Merben have another name before being named for Mervin and Ben? Is the roller rink now a self-storage place up near the Merben parking lot? I think it was called Concord Lanes. I guess it was never a theater even though it looks like one.
I saw “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The Last of Sheila” at this grand place. As I recall, the Midway was extremely art deco. There was a small, separate balcony which was closed for reasons indicated above.
I hope those protesters are enjoying their closed-up Burger King too!
Here is the 1932 photo again, as I apparently botched the first one:
http://tinyurl.com/jwhzp
Frank DeLorca, can you add anything to iobdennis' description of the interior of the Midway?
I remember the Midway as having the coldest air conditioning of any theater I’ve ever been in including the downtown palaces.
My recollection of the Midway dates to the mid 1950’s onward to 1965, as I recall there were 5 aisles in this behemoth of a showplace.