Palace Theatre

With the closing of the Savoy across the street, the Palace inherited that theater’s all-night policy on April 25, 1952, showing “5 Fingers” and, for post-11 p.m. customers only, “Stations West.”

The TheaterBluff had to check in again with his politcal nonsense. FDR, Nixon, Rizzo? What the hell did they have to do with the Palace Theatre? The Palace Theatre, like so many other theaters at the time, fell victim to television, plain and simple!

The 1931 Palace facade photo is #26 on page 4 of the search results…just click on the Feb. 12 link and do a “Market Street” search on the Hagley site. You can see the Savoy across the street in the early construction photos.

Joe: That’s Greta Garbo’s head on the left side of the Palace, in the 1931 photo. “Inspiration” is playing. Search the site for “Market Street” and there is a great close-up shot of the Palace Theatre, probably taken the same day…

The front of the Palace Theatre can be seen at far right in this 1931 photo. The buildings between the Palace and 12th Street were then about to be demolished to make way for Howe & Lescaze’s Philadelphia Savings Fund Society building.

The photo above is not the same Palace Theater. The photo shows the Budco (later AMC) Palace Theater on Chestnut street. That theater originally opened as Theater 1812.

I went to the Palace often in the 1960’s. It frequently played the first run of the Japanese rubber suit giant monster movies. It was also one four theaters in downtown Philly that were open all night. The others, all on Market Street, were the Center, News, and Family (later the Apollo).

The early 1970s was a very tough time for movie palaces, and probably a great deal of it had to do with the political shifts that were going on at that time — the way America was changing by that point under Nixon, and, in Philadelphia’s case, the mayoral rise of Frank Rizzo. While can you imagine a movie palace falling on so desparate times that it believed exhibiting porno was a logical way to remain afloat? And by that I mean actual, straightforward porno, not serious-minded films that the less educated branded as such. Case in point, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, which hit the theaters just two years before the Palace closed, bore an X-rating at that time.

Demographically, in 1971, the baby boom generation, a very sizeable majority, was just starting to come of age at that point. And so there was a mad political scramble as to who and what would have the greatest control over it from that point forward. And though the babyboomers had been weaned on movies exhibited in movie palaces among other things, in the early ‘70s all efforts were made to knock that influence out of the picture completely — a full undoing, if you will, of what FDR and others had helped bring into prominence many decades before.

Of all types of artistic expression, there is nothing more powerful, more potent, then a well-crafted movie exhibited in a well-run theater, and if that theater is a palace this is true even more so. And it’s not something that politicians weren’t aware of in 1971. For it was an awareness that had been strongly in place ever since the time of FDR.

And I believe that had it not been for a few key assassinations that occured not all that long before 1971, there’s a very strong possibility that when 1971 rolled around movie palaces such as the Palace, the Boyd, the Fox and so forth would’ve received an all-new shot in the arm, rather than forced on hard times the way they were. And the hard times they’ve pretty much been on ever since.

Both of you and all other visitors to this page should make a special point of going to the following link — http://www.hallwatch.org/faxbank/philadelphia — and using the set-up they have set up there to send a fax to Philadelphia Mayor John Street and City Council letting them know the tremendous importance of the Boyd Theatre, PHILADELPHIA’S LAST STILL-STANDING MOVIE PALACE, and why all efforts absolutely must be made to ensure it does not face demolition. It’s current owner, Live Nation, has hinted that it might be putting it up for sale, and with the high value of Center City Philadelphia land value right now, a greedy developer could swoop in and have that theater torn down tomorrow! And all of us who love theaters, great palaces especially, cannot allow that, most particularly when it’s Philadelphia’s very last. Not only must we pressure the Mayor and City Council to save this theater from demolition, but also ask their assistance in finding a new owner who will restore it to all its glory. Send your faxes right away if you haven’t already. GOD SAVE THE BOYD!!!

Thank You,

TheaterBuff1

I was the Mge of the Palace when it close I work at the Palace for 13 years as usher and Mge when it close it was like losing a good friend I have a great time as mgr of the Palace theatre

The Palace is on the left in this 1948 photo. There is another theater across the street, which I can’t identify offhand:
http://tinyurl.com/gv7kt

veyoung:

Thanks for setting me straight on that! Being as I’m up here in NE Philly and haven’t been back down to that part of Center City in many years, and since Cinema Treasures gives no listing/description for the Apollo Theatre, I just assumed from that that the two theaters must’ve been one and the same. I remember the 13th & Market Septa subway stop (as much as I try hard to forget it!) indicating that by the time I began passing through that part of Center City regularly (1975-76) the Palace plus the News Theatres were already gone by then.

As for the Boyd Theatre, where my family saw the grand Philadelphia premiere of “Ben Hur” in 1959, the latest really great news on that movie palace is that Clear Channel is in the process of fully restoring it to its original magnificent glory and it will be for live performances for top name acts when fully renovated. Howard B. Haas, Esq. is in charge of the over all project, and from I understand, he’s doing a great job! Meantime, it’s a shame the Palace designed by William Harold Lee, which must’ve been a magnificent theater, too, wasn’t as lucky.

Hughie:

Was the Palace Theatre and the Apollo one and the same? If so, I once trained as a projectionist there – a job lead I had gotten from a friend of mine who was managing the Apollo for a time before later becoming a Philly cop. As for that projectionist job, I went through all the training for it but then didn’t follow through with it, thinking it would look like hell on my resume!

Since I don’t recall any other theaters right around there that were right across Market St. from Wannamakers, I presume the Palace and Apollo were one and the same.

Rummah, you are probably correct in that the Palace in the movie, Mikey And Nicky is the same one that was mid block between 12th and 13th Streets on Market Street. Although the movie has a release year of 1976, I seem to recall that the movie was shot a couple or three years prior.

A friend of mine lived in a building at 12th St. and Pine Street from around 1971 to 1974. One day the building owner came through the front door of the building with Elaine May, who directed the movie. She was scouting apartments for use in the movie.

A great deal of the movie was shot in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.. There may have been problems with the shoot and with Elaine “Ishtar” May at the helm there might have been friction between her and the studio. I’m sure, studio execs that saw any footage of Mikey And Nicky were more than baffled by where their money was going. May is not into shooting movies with plots but, rather, she paints character portraits. Within the same time frame of ‘72 or ‘73 a college friend of mine told me that, the day before, he was walking in his neighborhood in the Philly suburb of Glenside. Walking by the cemetery he noticed a film crew and he stuck around. Turns out it was a scene being shot for M & N.

Back to the Palace, though. In the late ‘60’s I would cut school, along with friends and we would go to downtown Philly and hang out at the penny arcades, play pin ball, catch some pie and coffee at Horn& Hardart’s automat or go to movies. A couple of times we did go to the Palace for the soft core porno movies. Mostly, we giggled through the movies as we watched the men scattered around us. They were a serious bunch intent on getting their money’s worth. Matter of fact, as I recall, those eyes riveted on the screen remind me of today’s gamers sitting in front of the TV. Yeah, and as with the men at the Palace theatre the only thing moving are the gamer’s hands.

There used to be so many theatres in the downtown area. After all, all the first run houses were located there and that’s where movies not only opened but that is where one went to see them. Waiting for a movie to come to your neighborhood theatre is akin to waiting for the DVD to come out today.

Sadly, people gradually stopped going downtown to see movies, center city was getting the reputation as being “rough”. Theatre owners, about this time, found profits in the growing popularity of the “Kung Fu movies. This stopped the middle class from going near down town. When the Kung Fu craze faded then the porn movies took their place and when that peaked, there was nothing to offer the middle class who were never coming back downtown to see a movie. Gradually, the theatres were knocked down and replaced with the glass office towers. We moved towards suburban theatres, mall theatres and the multi-plex for our movie going experience. Just as with our shopping and banking experiences of yesteryear we no longer had to go downtown. Wanamaker’s department store, along with Lit Brothers and Gimbals moved to locations in Northeast Philadelphia. Mall were built and, again, it was a thing of the past to venture into the scary streets of downtown Philadelphia.

One of my most cherished memories from my childhood was topping of an agonizing shopping spree with my mother and sisters by having waffles at the Crystal Room restaurant inside Wanamaker’s department store. Occasionally, depending on the time of day we went, there would be a woman’s fashion show during lunch. People ate their lunch while women walked towards you on an elevated run way. Believe me when I say it was not Heidi Klum walking towards you but a model in a long dress that covered everything down to her shins. A hat was a requisite part of the outfit on display as well.

Well, that is enough from me for this posting. You may see me around, contributing to other movie posts. I have a lot of memories of the theatres from my youth and I cherish them all!