Film Society Center
1412 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19102
1412 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19102
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 85 of 85 comments
Photo by Dennis Zimmerman with Oliver on marquee:
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Thanks to Dennis for taking the photo & allowing it to be posted.
Yes, that’s correct. And she was also the leading lady in the first (1931) version of “The Maltese Falcon” opposite Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade. And her acting career continued on into the early years of television as well, then all appears to end there, although she died in 1971. Also noteworthy, by age four she had already toured in stage productions, having been born in 1901. And she starred as Dorothy in the 1910 silent version of “The Wizard of Oz.”
But alas, leave it to me, and I guess many others as well, to never have heard of her until seeing that photo you posted! But of that time when that picture was taken, I assume it was a moment in time which anyone still living today, if they do remember, would just assume forget — while I, not having been around back then, find it to be very fascinating. Particularly right now as Philadelphia ponders where it goes next from here…
Great historic photo, Lost Memory, while I don’t think I ever saw a “RENT” sign right nextdoor to the Karlton looking more desparate! Alas, the Great Depression, and, going by the film title on the Karlton’s marquee — “Cocktail Hour” — I assume the end of Prohibition, too. And while the film’s Randolph Scott went onto greater stardom, Bebe Daniels…as in, er, Bebe who? Well, as legend has it, when making a personal appearance in Chicago she had thousands of dollars worth of jewelry stolen from her hotel room. When longtime Daniels' fan Al Capone heard about it he circulated the message around town that whoever stole it had 24 hours to return it “or else.” The jewelry was returned the next day. Such was the way of things in that long ago era, Chicago with its Al Capone, Philadelphia with its Dutch Schultz and so on.
On Monday, December 18, 2006, the Prince Theatre had the proud honor of hosting Philadelphia’s premiere of “Rocky Balboa,” the latest in the Rocky series. Sylvester Stallone and other stars of the movie were on hand to great the huge throng of fans who attended. More about it can be read in the following Philadelphia Inquirer article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/16270232.htm
I saw many films at the Midtown, including 10 with Bo Derek, Endless Love with Brooke Shields and Saturn 5 with Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett. I didn’t say they were good films, did I?
On the back of the Prince Music Theatre, you can still see, just barely, a painting with the “Midtown” name, in the style the William Goldman Theatre Co. used in the newspaper for the Goldman, the Midtown, and The Randolph, and in the mid 1960’s, The Regency
I worked there from January 1969 to December 1970. Saw the movie “OLIVER!‘ for ten months, about seven shows a week. Othe movies to play there: "Catch-22”, “The Sterile Cukoo” with Liza Minelli, “The Boys in the Band” The managers there were Norman Gordon and Bob Beck, Anybody out there who also worked there in '69 and '70???
Andy P.
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The Prince Music Theatre originally opened in 1921 as the Karlton Theatre. It originally had 1,066 seats. The William Goldman Theatre Co. acquired it in 1949 and renamed it to “Midtown” in 1954. The Budco chain twinned it in the mid 1970’s, and AMC Theatres closed it in 1999. The Midtown has played some great movies, including “ROCKY II”, “South Pacific”, “Lawrence Of Arabia” and “Glory”
The Prince opened in about 1999 in the completely renovated Midtown movie theater (seat count is now 450.)
The theater is beautiful and has excellent acoustics. They do musical theater as well as showing classic and foreign movies, film festivals, and other special events.
Learn more at:
http://www.princemusictheater.com