Stanley Warner closed the Circle on December 6, 1953 with a double feature of :Blowing Wild" and “Sea of Lost Ships.” According to the local paper, the theatre building was repurposed for retail stores in July of 1954 and then sold in late April 1955.
This was likely a converted fraternal hall that operated as a silent film theatre called the Midvale from 1914-1929 in its silent era and the Falls Theatre from 1929 to 1939 as a sound venue on a 25-year lease. George Bennethune Theatre Circuit took on the operation of the venue in 1919 with Henry Martin managing almost the entire ten years ending its silent operation.
The venue then operated the final ten years on its lease as a sound theatre in the East Falls neighborhood as the Falls Theatre. Operators Charles Goldfine decided to build a New Falls Theatre nearby - a streamline moderne venue - to better accommodate sound films. During planning, however, that building project became the Alden Theatre launching in 1939. It would operate all 30 years of its 30-year lease and has its own Cinema Treasures page. The former Midvale / Falls Theatre was auctioned off on August 16, 1939 becoming a grocery store.
The Parkwood Theatre was announced late in 1963 in the 1962-built Parkwood Manor Shopping Center anchored by an A&P grocer. The 1,400 seat single-screen theatre had 70mm capability and a Colonial design for Robert Theatre Corp. It was a $450,000 suburban built by Leonard Shaffer Co. John T. Brugger was the architect of the theater.
The venue became the Parkwood Twin Theatre operating as a discount house in 1980 and closed as the RAM Parkwood Twin Theatre in 1981 which had experimented with first-run films. It was reopened as a sub-run discount house under the Premium Parkwood Twin Cinema nameplate with “The Twilight Zone.” It received a minor refresh in 1983 with new silver screens as the Parkwood Twin Cinema.
The twin departed after 20 years at end of lease on November 29, 1984 with “American Dreamer” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” (The theatre missed on opportunity to close with its opening film - the appropriately-titled, “What a Way to Go.”) In 1986, the space was converted for other retail purposes by the Korman Co. in a $1 million overhaul.
Harris & Richards were the original architects who designed the $25,000, 900-seat Eureka Theatre for Eureka Amusement in 1913. It had a brief run beginning in February of 1952 as the Fine Arts Theatre until September 8, 1952. It had some additional bookings as the Eureka closing at the end of a second, 20-year lease and auctioned off. It became a retail furniture store in 1954.
Built in late 1913, this venue opened as the Wayne Theatre in 1914. Owner Helen Albert gave the venue a refresh in 1920. It was later wired for sound to remain viable. The Wayne closed after 35 years of operation in June of 1949 at the expiry of a leasing period.
The venue reopened as the Wayne Avenue Theatre on November 11, 1950 showing British cinema and the film, “Kind Hearts and Coronets” with Joseph Conway of the Egyptian Theatre in charge. In early 1951, it was known as the Wayne Avenue Playhouse. It closed December 6, 1966 with “Sins of the Fleshapoids” and “Zero in the Universe.” It had a non-theatrical period as home to a car dealership next.
The venue returned as a live music venue in the late 1970s and into the 1980s when it was briefly known as Theatre on the Avenue. It then was sold for $65,000 and became a house of worship.
Lewen Pizor and Charles Segall opened the Chelten Theatre on September 21, 1938 with Ginger Rogers in “Having Wonderful Time.” It closed January 1, 1952 with “Little Egypt” and “Bowery Batallion.”
Reverand Harry Bristow Jr. of the Christian Youth Cinema bought the Chelten and renamed it the Reel Pulpit beginning on October 23, 1954 showing Christian films. The venue was renamed the Christian Youth Cinema and then the Chirstian Cinema while retaining its Chelten marquee. Bristow ran Christian films there for 12 years until a police officer was killed in front of the theater and he moved on.
The Saco Drive-In Theatre closed for the season on September 19, 2021 with “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” and “Candyman.” It was sold to a trailer dealer and did not reopen for the 2022 season.
The theatre at Germantown and Tulpehocken was announced in 1913 as part of a $95,000 project. It sat unfinished and in foreclosure in latter 1913 and into 1914 when Bader & Simpson Co. completed the project. Constantly changing hands in rapid succession in its first 18 months, the theatre was labeled as a “failure” by the trade press. But in February of 1916, the Tulpe was taken over by Stanley Mastbaum as an early Stanley Corp. venue and renamed then as the Rialto.
Mastbaum had the right answer and the Rialto became a success. It was wired for sound to remain viable. It received a streamlined makeover in 1938 to the plans of David Supowitz. The Rialto Theatre closed September 15, 1959 at end of lease with “The Big Circus” and “Gunfight at Dodge City.”
The trade press reported that the Leigh Palace Company announced this project in 1909 and then built the new Lehigh Palace Theatre in 1910 opening that year. It was located at 937 West Lehigh Avenue. The installation of a Kimball organ in 1916 was the impetus to raise prices from a nickel to a dime. Ten years after it had opened and likely at the beginning of a new 10-year lease, operator Carl Hess gave the Lehigh Palace a new front and box office as well as an interior refresh in 1920. It was purchased by the Stanley Circuit in 1925 which apparently made a decision to not equip the theatre for sound and closed it in 1929.
The Villa Theater opened October 8, 1928 by the Stanley-Benn Theatre Circuit. The $500,000 theatre opened with William Haines in “Telling the World” with a capacity of 1,000
The Wynne Theatre opened November 18, 1927 with Morton Sills in “The Sea Tiger.” The Wynne closed permanently March 1, 1953 with Olivia DeHavilland in “My Cousin Rachel.”
Just reading the information, it appears that AMC was willing to walk away at the expiry of a 20-year lease of this property - likely why it was rebranded as a Classic. But AMC re-upped the lease until May of 2029 in an agreement that reduced the footprint of the building to the main entry and south auditoriums (14 in total). That is likely why it lost its Classic branding as the vast majority of Classics have simply closed at the expiry of their leases.
The real estate firm shows a proposal to decouple and demolish the inactive part of the AMC Palm Promenade building housing the south screens. This would be done in favor of six newly-created yet diminutive retail spots that will interrupt the parking pass-through and connect the AMC 24 Minus Ten to the Burlington Coat Factory.
The combination of COVID-19 (beginning March of 2020), Wanda Group’s exit from its position in AMC Entertainment (2021), revolutionary platform changes due to streaming, and a lot of leases coming due after the big infrastructure build-out in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the entry of the megaplex era has made for a challenging environment for AMC. It’s tough to re-up a 24- or 30-screen expiring lease based upon the changes that have transpired since the relatively staid environment in which these megaplexes were first constructed. If that’s summarized as schizo, look for a lot more of that in the months ahead.
The Great Northern Theatre was located at 3635-3639 Germantown Avenue. The venue closed on November 2, 1952 with “Affair in Trinidad.” It was torn down in December 1952/January 1953.
The Tioga Theatre opened as a motion picture playhouse on January 30, 1915 with J. Warren Kerrigan and Kathleen Kerrigan in “Samson.” Bathed in roman gold, red, tan and ivory, the 1,700 seat theater impressed at opening with its Doric designed interior by Sauer & Hahn. Simplex projectors, leather upholstered chairs. bronze chandeliers and a Choralcelo from Massachusetts added to the proceedings. The Tioga wired for sound the remain viable. It appears to have closed on August 18, 1957 with continuous grind shows of “King Kong” and “Godzilla, King of the Monsters.” If true, what a way to go.
The Colney opened for the Stanley Circuit on April 11, 1925 and while “The Thief of Bagdad” enthused audiences, the theater’s Wurlitzer Hope Jones Style F Organ costing some $75,000 - more than the entire cost of some neighborhood theaters of the era - apparently was the show stealer.
The Italian Renaissance stylings of Hodgens & Hill also wowed the opening afternoon’s audience. The bathing of the interior in blue and gold at the ground level with monochromatic interior elsewhere including the white terra cotta front suggested class. Under Stanley / Stanley-Warner, independent operator Herbert Elliott of the Fern Rock was a thorn in the circuit’s side. After about eight lawsuits - Stanley Warner Circuit cooperatively operated the Colney with Elliott while providing fare and an arrangement with his independent Fern Rock.
Elliott would sell out the Fern Rock to Stanley-Warner, as well. The last advertised show at the Colney for Stanley-Warner was “A Streetcar Named Desire” on May 9, 1952. Said a distressed Marlon Brando, “Colney! Hey, Colney!” The building was then listed for sale ending its cinematic journey.
The venue was announced in 1927 for independent operator George Schwinn. The venue was ambitious and costly aimed at combining vaudeville and silent films with a live band and organ. It opened as the Fern Rock Theatre on July 9, 1928 with “The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris” and other silent films as well as vaudeville acts headed by Silver Toes.
Herbert J. Elliott, another independent operator, acquired the theatre in 1929 and wired the venue for sound. Elliott remained fiercely independent in his tenure at the Fern Rock and sued the major Hollywood studios in 1934 for inability to get the films he wanted. He sued Warner Bros. on the same charges in 1938. Elliot modernized the facility in 1939 including a Simplex Four Star Sound system. He also launched another lawsuit suing competing theaters. He was more successful in his suits than most others as he would sometimes get limited clearances.
Stanley-Warner finally created an operational agreement with Elliott to grant clearances to Elliot’s Fern Park and took over his other house, the Colney Theatre. Elliot, who had maintained the independent operation of the Fern Rock for some 13 years, would then sell out the Fern Park in 1942 to Stanley Warner Circuit.
Acquired by Sameric Circuit, it became the Eric Fern Rock Theatre in October of 1971 and soon was refreshed. In July of 1974, it became the Eric Twin Fern Rock Theatre. The Eric Twin Fern Rock closed permanently on November 8, 1987 with “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II” and “Nightflyers.”
The Pastime Theatre opened at 1420-1426 Point in 1911. The theatre was sold to new operators who modernized the venue in 1924 with a new organ and later equipped it for sound.
The A.M. Ellis chain took it over after the Pastime closed for renovations following the January 30, 1942 shows. It was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz relaunching May 19, 1942 as the Victory Theatre. The adjoining Kresge’s store was a busy neighbor allowing patrons of the Victory to have an alternative to its concession stand.
The Victory closed at the expiry of a ten-year lease likely catering to African American audiences in its final three years and was demolished in 1953. It was replaced by a retail location for Spiro’s Style Shops.
This venue opened in 1911 as a movie house. The Ridge Theatre ceased operations following the November 6, 1952 double feature of “Tripoli” and “Wagon Wheels.”
Reopened March 4, 2022
Stanley Warner closed the Circle on December 6, 1953 with a double feature of :Blowing Wild" and “Sea of Lost Ships.” According to the local paper, the theatre building was repurposed for retail stores in July of 1954 and then sold in late April 1955.
This was likely a converted fraternal hall that operated as a silent film theatre called the Midvale from 1914-1929 in its silent era and the Falls Theatre from 1929 to 1939 as a sound venue on a 25-year lease. George Bennethune Theatre Circuit took on the operation of the venue in 1919 with Henry Martin managing almost the entire ten years ending its silent operation.
The venue then operated the final ten years on its lease as a sound theatre in the East Falls neighborhood as the Falls Theatre. Operators Charles Goldfine decided to build a New Falls Theatre nearby - a streamline moderne venue - to better accommodate sound films. During planning, however, that building project became the Alden Theatre launching in 1939. It would operate all 30 years of its 30-year lease and has its own Cinema Treasures page. The former Midvale / Falls Theatre was auctioned off on August 16, 1939 becoming a grocery store.
Appears to have closed at the end of a 30-year lease in January 1969. Designed in 1938.
The Parkwood Theatre was announced late in 1963 in the 1962-built Parkwood Manor Shopping Center anchored by an A&P grocer. The 1,400 seat single-screen theatre had 70mm capability and a Colonial design for Robert Theatre Corp. It was a $450,000 suburban built by Leonard Shaffer Co. John T. Brugger was the architect of the theater.
The venue became the Parkwood Twin Theatre operating as a discount house in 1980 and closed as the RAM Parkwood Twin Theatre in 1981 which had experimented with first-run films. It was reopened as a sub-run discount house under the Premium Parkwood Twin Cinema nameplate with “The Twilight Zone.” It received a minor refresh in 1983 with new silver screens as the Parkwood Twin Cinema.
The twin departed after 20 years at end of lease on November 29, 1984 with “American Dreamer” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” (The theatre missed on opportunity to close with its opening film - the appropriately-titled, “What a Way to Go.”) In 1986, the space was converted for other retail purposes by the Korman Co. in a $1 million overhaul.
The Casino Theatre closed on June 7, 1951 with “Last Bandit” and “The Man Who Cheated Himself.”
Harris & Richards were the original architects who designed the $25,000, 900-seat Eureka Theatre for Eureka Amusement in 1913. It had a brief run beginning in February of 1952 as the Fine Arts Theatre until September 8, 1952. It had some additional bookings as the Eureka closing at the end of a second, 20-year lease and auctioned off. It became a retail furniture store in 1954.
Built in late 1913, this venue opened as the Wayne Theatre in 1914. Owner Helen Albert gave the venue a refresh in 1920. It was later wired for sound to remain viable. The Wayne closed after 35 years of operation in June of 1949 at the expiry of a leasing period.
The venue reopened as the Wayne Avenue Theatre on November 11, 1950 showing British cinema and the film, “Kind Hearts and Coronets” with Joseph Conway of the Egyptian Theatre in charge. In early 1951, it was known as the Wayne Avenue Playhouse. It closed December 6, 1966 with “Sins of the Fleshapoids” and “Zero in the Universe.” It had a non-theatrical period as home to a car dealership next.
The venue returned as a live music venue in the late 1970s and into the 1980s when it was briefly known as Theatre on the Avenue. It then was sold for $65,000 and became a house of worship.
Lewen Pizor and Charles Segall opened the Chelten Theatre on September 21, 1938 with Ginger Rogers in “Having Wonderful Time.” It closed January 1, 1952 with “Little Egypt” and “Bowery Batallion.”
Reverand Harry Bristow Jr. of the Christian Youth Cinema bought the Chelten and renamed it the Reel Pulpit beginning on October 23, 1954 showing Christian films. The venue was renamed the Christian Youth Cinema and then the Chirstian Cinema while retaining its Chelten marquee. Bristow ran Christian films there for 12 years until a police officer was killed in front of the theater and he moved on.
March 11, 2022 - opening date for the Evo Entertainment Southlake.
The Saco Drive-In Theatre closed for the season on September 19, 2021 with “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” and “Candyman.” It was sold to a trailer dealer and did not reopen for the 2022 season.
The theatre at Germantown and Tulpehocken was announced in 1913 as part of a $95,000 project. It sat unfinished and in foreclosure in latter 1913 and into 1914 when Bader & Simpson Co. completed the project. Constantly changing hands in rapid succession in its first 18 months, the theatre was labeled as a “failure” by the trade press. But in February of 1916, the Tulpe was taken over by Stanley Mastbaum as an early Stanley Corp. venue and renamed then as the Rialto.
Mastbaum had the right answer and the Rialto became a success. It was wired for sound to remain viable. It received a streamlined makeover in 1938 to the plans of David Supowitz. The Rialto Theatre closed September 15, 1959 at end of lease with “The Big Circus” and “Gunfight at Dodge City.”
August 27, 1931-September 9, 1931 program
The trade press reported that the Leigh Palace Company announced this project in 1909 and then built the new Lehigh Palace Theatre in 1910 opening that year. It was located at 937 West Lehigh Avenue. The installation of a Kimball organ in 1916 was the impetus to raise prices from a nickel to a dime. Ten years after it had opened and likely at the beginning of a new 10-year lease, operator Carl Hess gave the Lehigh Palace a new front and box office as well as an interior refresh in 1920. It was purchased by the Stanley Circuit in 1925 which apparently made a decision to not equip the theatre for sound and closed it in 1929.
The location closed March 16, 2020. It never reopened.
The Viola Theatre closed permanently on December 30, 1947 with “Ivy” and “White Pongo.”
The Villa Theater opened October 8, 1928 by the Stanley-Benn Theatre Circuit. The $500,000 theatre opened with William Haines in “Telling the World” with a capacity of 1,000
The Wynne Theatre opened November 18, 1927 with Morton Sills in “The Sea Tiger.” The Wynne closed permanently March 1, 1953 with Olivia DeHavilland in “My Cousin Rachel.”
Just reading the information, it appears that AMC was willing to walk away at the expiry of a 20-year lease of this property - likely why it was rebranded as a Classic. But AMC re-upped the lease until May of 2029 in an agreement that reduced the footprint of the building to the main entry and south auditoriums (14 in total). That is likely why it lost its Classic branding as the vast majority of Classics have simply closed at the expiry of their leases.
The real estate firm shows a proposal to decouple and demolish the inactive part of the AMC Palm Promenade building housing the south screens. This would be done in favor of six newly-created yet diminutive retail spots that will interrupt the parking pass-through and connect the AMC 24 Minus Ten to the Burlington Coat Factory.
The combination of COVID-19 (beginning March of 2020), Wanda Group’s exit from its position in AMC Entertainment (2021), revolutionary platform changes due to streaming, and a lot of leases coming due after the big infrastructure build-out in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the entry of the megaplex era has made for a challenging environment for AMC. It’s tough to re-up a 24- or 30-screen expiring lease based upon the changes that have transpired since the relatively staid environment in which these megaplexes were first constructed. If that’s summarized as schizo, look for a lot more of that in the months ahead.
The Great Northern Theatre was located at 3635-3639 Germantown Avenue. The venue closed on November 2, 1952 with “Affair in Trinidad.” It was torn down in December 1952/January 1953.
The Tioga Theatre opened as a motion picture playhouse on January 30, 1915 with J. Warren Kerrigan and Kathleen Kerrigan in “Samson.” Bathed in roman gold, red, tan and ivory, the 1,700 seat theater impressed at opening with its Doric designed interior by Sauer & Hahn. Simplex projectors, leather upholstered chairs. bronze chandeliers and a Choralcelo from Massachusetts added to the proceedings. The Tioga wired for sound the remain viable. It appears to have closed on August 18, 1957 with continuous grind shows of “King Kong” and “Godzilla, King of the Monsters.” If true, what a way to go.
The Colney opened for the Stanley Circuit on April 11, 1925 and while “The Thief of Bagdad” enthused audiences, the theater’s Wurlitzer Hope Jones Style F Organ costing some $75,000 - more than the entire cost of some neighborhood theaters of the era - apparently was the show stealer.
The Italian Renaissance stylings of Hodgens & Hill also wowed the opening afternoon’s audience. The bathing of the interior in blue and gold at the ground level with monochromatic interior elsewhere including the white terra cotta front suggested class. Under Stanley / Stanley-Warner, independent operator Herbert Elliott of the Fern Rock was a thorn in the circuit’s side. After about eight lawsuits - Stanley Warner Circuit cooperatively operated the Colney with Elliott while providing fare and an arrangement with his independent Fern Rock.
Elliott would sell out the Fern Rock to Stanley-Warner, as well. The last advertised show at the Colney for Stanley-Warner was “A Streetcar Named Desire” on May 9, 1952. Said a distressed Marlon Brando, “Colney! Hey, Colney!” The building was then listed for sale ending its cinematic journey.
The venue was announced in 1927 for independent operator George Schwinn. The venue was ambitious and costly aimed at combining vaudeville and silent films with a live band and organ. It opened as the Fern Rock Theatre on July 9, 1928 with “The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris” and other silent films as well as vaudeville acts headed by Silver Toes.
Herbert J. Elliott, another independent operator, acquired the theatre in 1929 and wired the venue for sound. Elliott remained fiercely independent in his tenure at the Fern Rock and sued the major Hollywood studios in 1934 for inability to get the films he wanted. He sued Warner Bros. on the same charges in 1938. Elliot modernized the facility in 1939 including a Simplex Four Star Sound system. He also launched another lawsuit suing competing theaters. He was more successful in his suits than most others as he would sometimes get limited clearances.
Stanley-Warner finally created an operational agreement with Elliott to grant clearances to Elliot’s Fern Park and took over his other house, the Colney Theatre. Elliot, who had maintained the independent operation of the Fern Rock for some 13 years, would then sell out the Fern Park in 1942 to Stanley Warner Circuit.
Acquired by Sameric Circuit, it became the Eric Fern Rock Theatre in October of 1971 and soon was refreshed. In July of 1974, it became the Eric Twin Fern Rock Theatre. The Eric Twin Fern Rock closed permanently on November 8, 1987 with “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II” and “Nightflyers.”
The Pastime Theatre opened at 1420-1426 Point in 1911. The theatre was sold to new operators who modernized the venue in 1924 with a new organ and later equipped it for sound.
The A.M. Ellis chain took it over after the Pastime closed for renovations following the January 30, 1942 shows. It was modernized to the plans of David Supowitz relaunching May 19, 1942 as the Victory Theatre. The adjoining Kresge’s store was a busy neighbor allowing patrons of the Victory to have an alternative to its concession stand.
The Victory closed at the expiry of a ten-year lease likely catering to African American audiences in its final three years and was demolished in 1953. It was replaced by a retail location for Spiro’s Style Shops.
This venue opened in 1911 as a movie house. The Ridge Theatre ceased operations following the November 6, 1952 double feature of “Tripoli” and “Wagon Wheels.”