Pearl Theatre
2047 Ridge Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19121
2047 Ridge Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19121
2 people favorited this theater
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Last day of advertising for the Pearl looks like March 18, 1971, with a program of “3 in the Cellar,” “The Swappers” and the Frazier-Ali fight film.
Photo of the Pearl in the day uploaded.
Here is an August 1976 photo from Temple U:
http://tinyurl.com/ykfqf6u
From the aeriel google photos it looks like the Pearl theatre (the original one) has been razed – just an empty lot now.
Here is an expanded view of one of the PAB thumbnails posted by Lost Memory on 11/30/04. The photo is from the Irvin Glazer collection:
http://tinyurl.com/23s5od
In its earlier years the Pearl was a regular stop for leading African-American entertainers on tour. Pearl Bailey is said to have started her career after winning an amateur contest here. The theater must have survived as a movie venue at least into the late ‘60s or early '70s, as it was still advertised in the Inquirer’s (but not the Bulletin’s) neighborhood theater listings.