I would say that this theater became the Abbe around 1960. It was an “art” theatre at that time which meant that mostly showed legitimate European films, including some great ones as well as sensational ones. Some theatres in the neighborhood guide called them selves Aart theatres and even AAA Art theatres until the papers put a stop to the foolishness.
I can’t say for sure that there was never an Aarde Theatre, but I think the description above is referring to the Aardvark Theatre. It was opened ca. 1961 or 1962 by a guy named Max Raab as an art theatre for a tax shelter. A purist, he only ran single features until economic necessity forced him to go to the standard doubles. His big score was getting VIRIDIANA first run for Phila. It wasn’t open for very long. If listed on this site it wouldn’t be under Aardvark. It was a little theatre not far from the Wayne Avenue Playhouse, I think it was on the other side of the railroad—looking at the map I would say somewhere like Wingohocking Street not far from where it meets Germantown Avenue. I’d like to know if that theatre is on this site.
I attended Grinnell College from 1958 to 1960. At that time there were two theatres in town. The second theatre was on the same side of Main as the Strand on the same block, at or near the corner of 5th Avenue. It was a much larger, more impressive building that was built during the era of cinema palaces. But it was closed. The Strand and a drive-in were the only venues to see movies. The Strand, needless to say, was a single screen theatre at that time. (It isn’t that big and I can hardly imagine how it was made into three screens.)
In my second year there, I took over the college advertising for the theatre. This consisted of making weekly 8 ½ x 11 ditto posters and putting them on all the bulletin boards in the college. For this I got five freebies to the theatre a week, which I later negotiated to four free tickets and a pass for me to go as often as I wanted (shows changed three times a week). A showing of Ingmar Bergman’s THE MAGICIAN resulted in a special discussion at the college with English professors debating its merits, which was very well attended.
I would have discussions with the manager at the time. My 48 year-old memory is that he said his family used to own the other theatre in town. A big chain came in town, built the Strand and with access to better product because it was a chain, drove his family out of business. He then became manager of the Strand as an employee.
I’m glad to see on Google that the town bank, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is still there and still beautiful. I loved to go in there. At that time, believe it or not, no name or account number was on the checks; the bank employees applied the check to the correct account by signature alone. Local stores had blank checks that you could use to pay, if you’d forgotten your checkbook.
I was able to find the Wayne Avenue Playhouse on this site by calling up all the theatres in Philadelphia, which seems to be a more reliable way to find theatres, unless the name has changed. Pretty shocking list; almost every one is closed. They were nearly all open when I left in 1963. I used to know Barney Sackett slightly, who ran the Wayne Avenue, and went there many times.
There was a little theatre near the Wayne Avenue Playhouse, I think it was on the other side of the railroad—looking at the map I would say somewhere like Wingohocking Street not far from where it meets Germantown Avenue. It was closed, but ca. 1962 a guy named Max Raab opened it as an art theatre as a tax shelter, and renamed it the Aardvark Theatre, a play on all the Aart theatres that clogged the neighborhood listings. A purist, he only ran single features until economic necessity forced him to go to the standard doubles. His big score was getting VIRIDIANA first run for Phila. It wasn’t open for very long. If listed on this site it wouldn’t be under Aardvark.
There was also a large theatre on the west side of Chelten Avenue between Wayne and Germantown, I think a chain theatre, but I don’t remember the name.
I can’t remember for sure, but I think the Esquire was the theatre that Gordon managed before moving to the Midtown. It’s the right area and a Goldman theatre.
I remember going to a Saturday matinee at this theatre ca. 1952 for 12 cents. Haddonfield was the largest town in the area but had the smallest theatre, a tiny cheese box. My parents didn’t want me to go to this theatre because they disapproved of its reportedly Jim Crow policy, with African-Americans only allowed to sit in a tiny balcony. I don’t know if that was actually true. If so, the balcony must have been small since the theatre itself was tiny.
You are correct on all points. At the time I was working for Goldman, the Erlanger and the Locust were both legitimate theatres, owned by Goldman. The box office at the Midtown when there were reserved seat roadshows was operated by “treasurers” (according to their contract). They basically operated independently of the theatre management and would move from venue to venue according to need. I got to know a number of the treasurers, who were great people. Freebies being a more established tradition in the legitimate theatre, the treasurers would often get me seats to legitimate shows (in any theatre, not necessarily Goldman’s). Lyle Trenchard was still general manager of the chain when I was there. (Thanks, your mention of the name brings it back to me.) I guess I knew that Gordon was once at the Bandbox. I lived close to the Bandbox in the mid-fifties and went there several times because it showed revivals. I wonder if he was there then. He had also managed a Goldman theatre somewhere in North Philadelphia, possibly on Broad Street. I wish I could remember the name. That was the theatre that he talked about. It was someone else who told me that he once was general manager. Whatever the reason, it is a fact that he did not report to Trenchard but was his own “general manager.” At the time I worked at the Midtown, ushers made 50 cents an hour, a ridiculously low amount even then. (I was never an usher.) I left the Midtown in 1963 and moved to New York but would always drop in to see Gordon when I came back to the city as long as he was at the Midtown. When I worked there, we used to talk about the “art theatre” phenomenon, which he was contemptuous of. Later, I returned to the city to find the Midtown (still a Goldman theatre, still managed by Gordon) showing a hard core feature! (When hard core went legal in Phila, it also went legit, which never happened in NYC, the sleaze relegated to sleaze houses.) Gordon said “business was pretty good for a skin flick.”
By the way, I note that the Wayne Avenue Playhouse is not on this site. Do you know exactly where that was located?
I worked at the Midtown Theatre from 1960 to 1963 when Norman Gordon was manager. I believe Gordon had been general manager for the chain at one point, and he was the only house manager that did not report to the current general manager, but reported directly to William Goldman. In practice he was his own general manager with little oversight. He really knew the movie theatre business and he taught me a lot. I really liked and respected him. While I was there we showed WEST SIDE STORY (9 AM Saturday Girl Scout shows with not a dry eye in the house), SPARTACUS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE ALAMO and CAN-CAN, all on a reserved seat roadshow basis, in addition to various films shown “continuous.” Goldman at the time also owned two legitimate theatres in Philadelphia. He was one of the first to build a new theatre after the long decline of movie theatres due to the rise of television. That was the Orleans, a shopping center theatre.
I would say that this theater became the Abbe around 1960. It was an “art” theatre at that time which meant that mostly showed legitimate European films, including some great ones as well as sensational ones. Some theatres in the neighborhood guide called them selves Aart theatres and even AAA Art theatres until the papers put a stop to the foolishness.
I can’t say for sure that there was never an Aarde Theatre, but I think the description above is referring to the Aardvark Theatre. It was opened ca. 1961 or 1962 by a guy named Max Raab as an art theatre for a tax shelter. A purist, he only ran single features until economic necessity forced him to go to the standard doubles. His big score was getting VIRIDIANA first run for Phila. It wasn’t open for very long. If listed on this site it wouldn’t be under Aardvark. It was a little theatre not far from the Wayne Avenue Playhouse, I think it was on the other side of the railroad—looking at the map I would say somewhere like Wingohocking Street not far from where it meets Germantown Avenue. I’d like to know if that theatre is on this site.
I attended Grinnell College from 1958 to 1960. At that time there were two theatres in town. The second theatre was on the same side of Main as the Strand on the same block, at or near the corner of 5th Avenue. It was a much larger, more impressive building that was built during the era of cinema palaces. But it was closed. The Strand and a drive-in were the only venues to see movies. The Strand, needless to say, was a single screen theatre at that time. (It isn’t that big and I can hardly imagine how it was made into three screens.)
In my second year there, I took over the college advertising for the theatre. This consisted of making weekly 8 ½ x 11 ditto posters and putting them on all the bulletin boards in the college. For this I got five freebies to the theatre a week, which I later negotiated to four free tickets and a pass for me to go as often as I wanted (shows changed three times a week). A showing of Ingmar Bergman’s THE MAGICIAN resulted in a special discussion at the college with English professors debating its merits, which was very well attended.
I would have discussions with the manager at the time. My 48 year-old memory is that he said his family used to own the other theatre in town. A big chain came in town, built the Strand and with access to better product because it was a chain, drove his family out of business. He then became manager of the Strand as an employee.
I’m glad to see on Google that the town bank, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is still there and still beautiful. I loved to go in there. At that time, believe it or not, no name or account number was on the checks; the bank employees applied the check to the correct account by signature alone. Local stores had blank checks that you could use to pay, if you’d forgotten your checkbook.
I was able to find the Wayne Avenue Playhouse on this site by calling up all the theatres in Philadelphia, which seems to be a more reliable way to find theatres, unless the name has changed. Pretty shocking list; almost every one is closed. They were nearly all open when I left in 1963. I used to know Barney Sackett slightly, who ran the Wayne Avenue, and went there many times.
There was a little theatre near the Wayne Avenue Playhouse, I think it was on the other side of the railroad—looking at the map I would say somewhere like Wingohocking Street not far from where it meets Germantown Avenue. It was closed, but ca. 1962 a guy named Max Raab opened it as an art theatre as a tax shelter, and renamed it the Aardvark Theatre, a play on all the Aart theatres that clogged the neighborhood listings. A purist, he only ran single features until economic necessity forced him to go to the standard doubles. His big score was getting VIRIDIANA first run for Phila. It wasn’t open for very long. If listed on this site it wouldn’t be under Aardvark.
There was also a large theatre on the west side of Chelten Avenue between Wayne and Germantown, I think a chain theatre, but I don’t remember the name.
I can’t remember for sure, but I think the Esquire was the theatre that Gordon managed before moving to the Midtown. It’s the right area and a Goldman theatre.
I remember going to a Saturday matinee at this theatre ca. 1952 for 12 cents. Haddonfield was the largest town in the area but had the smallest theatre, a tiny cheese box. My parents didn’t want me to go to this theatre because they disapproved of its reportedly Jim Crow policy, with African-Americans only allowed to sit in a tiny balcony. I don’t know if that was actually true. If so, the balcony must have been small since the theatre itself was tiny.
You are correct on all points. At the time I was working for Goldman, the Erlanger and the Locust were both legitimate theatres, owned by Goldman. The box office at the Midtown when there were reserved seat roadshows was operated by “treasurers” (according to their contract). They basically operated independently of the theatre management and would move from venue to venue according to need. I got to know a number of the treasurers, who were great people. Freebies being a more established tradition in the legitimate theatre, the treasurers would often get me seats to legitimate shows (in any theatre, not necessarily Goldman’s). Lyle Trenchard was still general manager of the chain when I was there. (Thanks, your mention of the name brings it back to me.) I guess I knew that Gordon was once at the Bandbox. I lived close to the Bandbox in the mid-fifties and went there several times because it showed revivals. I wonder if he was there then. He had also managed a Goldman theatre somewhere in North Philadelphia, possibly on Broad Street. I wish I could remember the name. That was the theatre that he talked about. It was someone else who told me that he once was general manager. Whatever the reason, it is a fact that he did not report to Trenchard but was his own “general manager.” At the time I worked at the Midtown, ushers made 50 cents an hour, a ridiculously low amount even then. (I was never an usher.) I left the Midtown in 1963 and moved to New York but would always drop in to see Gordon when I came back to the city as long as he was at the Midtown. When I worked there, we used to talk about the “art theatre” phenomenon, which he was contemptuous of. Later, I returned to the city to find the Midtown (still a Goldman theatre, still managed by Gordon) showing a hard core feature! (When hard core went legal in Phila, it also went legit, which never happened in NYC, the sleaze relegated to sleaze houses.) Gordon said “business was pretty good for a skin flick.”
By the way, I note that the Wayne Avenue Playhouse is not on this site. Do you know exactly where that was located?
I worked at the Midtown Theatre from 1960 to 1963 when Norman Gordon was manager. I believe Gordon had been general manager for the chain at one point, and he was the only house manager that did not report to the current general manager, but reported directly to William Goldman. In practice he was his own general manager with little oversight. He really knew the movie theatre business and he taught me a lot. I really liked and respected him. While I was there we showed WEST SIDE STORY (9 AM Saturday Girl Scout shows with not a dry eye in the house), SPARTACUS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE ALAMO and CAN-CAN, all on a reserved seat roadshow basis, in addition to various films shown “continuous.” Goldman at the time also owned two legitimate theatres in Philadelphia. He was one of the first to build a new theatre after the long decline of movie theatres due to the rise of television. That was the Orleans, a shopping center theatre.