Penn Theatre

1426 S. Fourth Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19147

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Original the site of the Panama Theatre. The Penn Theatre built for Jacob Petchon in 1913 with 490-seats. The Penn Theatre was located on S. Fourth Street across from Wilder Street. It was equipped with a Kimball organ. Around 1930 it was wired for sound and expanded to seat 600. The Penn Theatre closed on July 7, 1949 with Warner Baxter in “The Crime Doctor’s Gamble” & Lynne Roberts in “Sons of Adventure”. It was incorporated into the parking lot of the huge Albert Einstein South hospital but has since been demolished.

Housing now stands on the site.

Contributed by Chuck

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on February 21, 2022 at 10:29 pm

The problems here are many. 1) I don’t think there’s a theatre at the posted address. 2) I believe the photos are of another theater - the William Penn. 3) The guessy years don’t help.

There was a modest neighborhood theatre built at 1426-1428 South Fourth Street at Dickinson in 1913 called the Penn Theatre. The project was initially announced in March of 1913 and would be built for Jacob Petchon. This likely what the contributor is referring to - or not. This Penn Theatre closed after 36 years on July 7, 1949 with “Crime Doctor’s Gamble” and “Sons of Adventure.” During the 4th Street-located Penn Theatre’s run there was also a William Penn Theatre that seated 3,000, a South Penn Theatre showing movies at 10th and Girard and a New Penn Theatre at 800 North 24th Street at Brown that lasted into the 1950s.

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