Midway Theatre
1829 E. Allegheny Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
1829 E. Allegheny Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
9 people
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Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
Here is a 1932 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/s6ap6
Hey Frank, did your brother also work at the Midway?
Art S.
What a great art deco interior! When Burger King purchased/leased the lot and threatened to tear it down which it did, people protested at nearby BKs by making their purchases by paying in pennies. The “protest” did not work. K and A lost a giant when they razed the Midway.
Did the Merben have another name?
I worked at the Midway from 1964 to early 1968. The film playing when I started was “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.” I remember the balcony being opened for some shows when the crowed was large, usually matinees. Ususally it was closed but you could normally find a policeman sitting up there getting out of the cold or the heat and watching the film.
When I was younger there were some live shows there with local celebrities like Roland and Sally Star.
Art S.
This was one of the theaters of my youth. I lived on Willard Street, and spent Saturdays and Sundays at matinees at the Midway. I can recall a nickle admission which then was raised to ten cents. This is back in the 50s. I also haunted the Iris Theater around the corner. The inside of the Midway was special, though. The walls were decorated with art nouveau painted or etched figures behind long wall sconces that were dimmed dramatically at the beginning of each show. I used to get a real thrill out of that as a kid. I can’t recall a balcony, but I thought the theater was on two levels. Perhaps the upper level only housed restrooms? I recall seeing many a great Hollywood musical here, as well as “Julius Caesar” with Brando, and “Blackboard Jundlge” with Poitier.
Although my employer, the last owner of the Midway, never told me directly, it was my understanding that Sam Shapiro relinquished ownership to several theatres as part of an alimony agreement. His ex-wife then transferred ownership (or management) of the theatres to their son, Ben, who ran them under seperate corporate names/companies, for tax purposes. The theatres and their (final) corporate owners were The Midway / Keystone State Theatre Company , The Merben (named after Shapiro brothers Merton and Ben) / Merben Theatre Company and the Arcadia /Arcadia Theatre Company. The Devon theatre may also have been involved in this: I just can’t remember. As a further complication, until the mid-70’s, the Merben was partly owned by Sam Shapiro and the Fox Corporation in a deal that also involved the Mayfair Theatre, which was located in the immediate proximity of the Merben and Devon. Apparently, the rival Fox/Shapiro companies were “killing each other off” by building competing theatres in the same immediate area. When a fourth theatre was under construction in the area, a deal was struck to share profits of the first three theatres for a period of 25 years and convert the fourth (unfinished) theatre into a roller skating rink instead (which is what was done). The Fox/Shapiro deal expired sometime in the 70’s; ownership of the Merben reverted to Shapiro, who then included the Merben in the Midway/Arcadia divorce settlement shortly thereafter.
As I said, this was never spelled out for me by the owner but the story was repeated to me almost verbatim by most of his long-term associates and employees and seemed totally credible, from what I observed. Ben and the other Shapiros (Sam and Merton) seemed to continue a fine, supportive (yet competitive) business and personal relationship throughout all of this and I was sometimes recruited to help out at any/all of their collective theatres, from time to time. Ben (my employer) had a real love of the business and it’s too bad the dawning multiplex business-model forced him to close his theatres as he always aimed for a first-class operation and tried to upgrade the Merben & Midway (as I mentioned before), until it became financially unfeasable to do so.
The site where the Midway stood has been vacated by Burger King (later a Blockbuster Video store) and Pearle Vision.
From my understanding, the Midway Theatre building was owned by Sam Shapiro (who also owned the Uptown Theatre building, and the Sameric Theatres chain), but the theatre, and the Uptown Theatre, was leased to Stanley Warner, later RKO Stanley Warner.
I’m positive it closed to the public in 1977: I still have the theatre’s “grosses” book from that year! Also, right after it closed, the owner transferred me immediately to another of his theatres, the Arcadia (also now closed) to work with the first-run feature “The Goodbye Girl,” which was also a 1977 film.
As far as the seating: there was a 400+ seat balcony that was closed to the public (to save on cleaning costs – it was perfectly safe & sound), which may account for seating differences. When the seats were re-spaced -and capacity reduced- in early ‘75 (before I worked there: I was at another of the owner’s theatres when this work was done — The Merben, which was demolished, too), they were issued a new maximum-capacity sign from the city inspection board with the “2300” number on it and I assume the new sign reflected the new capacity. As a footnote, I also worked at the Midway as an Usher/Doorman/and emergency assistant Mgr in the late 60’s – early 70’s. It was owned by RKO Stanley-Warner at that time but I don’t remember what the earlier (posted) seating-capacity sign read. I have some photos of the theatre being demolished & some earlier pics, too. I’ll post one in the “photo” section when I have time to dig them out. I worked at at least a dozen theatres in Philly around this time (The Boyd, Stanley, Palace and more) but the Midway – even in near-ruins – was always my favorite.
I was the Manager of this theatre when it closed in 1977 – Demolished probably in 1979. Our final “Double-Feature” was The Deep / Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
The owner had spent a good deal of money upgrading the interior and had all of the seats removed/replaced and re-spaced (reducing the seating capacity to the 2371) in anticipation of signing a contract with Electric Factory concerts to present live concert shows there.
Things were progressing smoothly until a local activist group “KAN” (Kensington Action Now) threated protests and legal action if the Theatre presented rock shows. Their ridiculous argument was that the concerts would “bring drugs” into what was at the time a notoriously drug-infested area! Rather than proceed, the owner secretly sold the property and it was demolished and turned into a (now closed, I understand) Pearl Vision center and a Burger King, with a lot of unoccupied “dead” space surrounding. We closed the theatre without notice or fanfare: one day we were just “gone.” Too bad “KAN” was so shortsighted (and blind to their surroundings). The theatre’s owner had every intention of restoring that theatre (which had an enormous stage, complete with a huge light board, trap doors, an orchestra pit and 3 stories of dressing rooms with giant lightbulb-ringed mirrors, makeup tables and showers on every floor…leftovers from its' vaudeville/big band-show days) which probably would have had a positive effect on the neighborhood. Hope they enjoyed that Pearl Vision center while it lasted.