Media Theatre for the Performing Arts
104 E. State Street,
Media,
PA
19063
104 E. State Street,
Media,
PA
19063
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At the time it was build by Samuel Dembow it was Media’s third and largest movie theatre. The interior was described as English Renaissance.
I know a Person by the Name of Phil Arsenault. He really added some “BOOM”! into the History of The Media Movie Theater!
Facebook page for The Media Theatre.
https://www.facebook.com/mediatheatre/?hc_ref=ARQYA1HMFkNO1pBBHx2jaq3k-Qms8HUUANm9UOqOwuDsFU5crefzWIav6F4vQjwN9wU
In the early 1990’s, Walter M. Strine, Sr. saved the historic Media
Theatre, which was built for movies in 1927 in Philadelphia’s suburbs. The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday published his obituary and photos, as he passed away at age 100. View link
excellent photo of exterior, showing “Oliver”
View link
close up Marquee
View link
Maybe Mr. Rothacker the artist can make it out to the Ioka or Crest Theatres listed on Cinema Treasures.
One small and one big in need of some saving.
The Media was part of the Harry L. Dembow Circuit in the early sixties. General manager was Harry L. Dembow, not surprisingly. Besides the Media, other Dembow theaters in Pennsylvania at the time were the Congress in Marcus Hook and the State in Columbia.
LOL! Thanks and you are one of the reasons why I like CT so much!
Lost Memory: You have posted on my birthday!
I wish Mr. Rothacker had come to my hometown in the early 90’s…perhaps he could have painted the Grand Theatre and helped save it rather than have it demolished for reasons I will never understand!
George H. Rothacker painted the Media Theater in 1991 to help raise money for a community effort to preserve the 1927 movie house. More than $3500 was raised in print sales, after which the owner of the theater decided to restore the theater for musicals and live stage events. A few months later, on a trip to Doylestown, Mr. Rothacker discovered that the 1938 County Theater was dark. His wife photographed the building with a disposable camera, and he painted the building, and created a print series which eventually helped the community restore the theater.
Since that time, George Rothacker has painted 10 theaters, the latest of which is the Indiana Theater, created and reproduced for the benefit of the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
“Sometimes I paint a theater to help physically preserve it,†said Mr. Rothacker. “And sometimes I simply paint it because of it’s a wonderful building that should remain with us in memory a while longer. When establishing a fundraising effort, I do the painting, and the printing it at my cost and then offer the sponsoring organization 50% of the sale of the prints from the initial sale. By taking all of the risk , I relieve the community or other sponsor of any financial concerns. Its an all win situation for them.â€
Mr. Rothacker is continually searching for movie houses to paint and reproduce. If you know of any theaters in need of preservation, or of an organization who could help benefit the revitalization of a theater or a community, please call 610-566-0334.
The www.georgerothacker.com site will give you his entire theatre painting gallery which includes this historial theatre.
This theatre has true “street front presence” thanks to the beautiful lighted marquee, ticket kios and brick facade with the year 1927 above the theatre doors and marquee.
Thats a beautiful marquee at night.
Very nice theater. Does anyone know if they still show a movie from time to time?
You can buy a print of the theater at this link:
http://www.georgerothacker.com/ga1.detail.1.html
Media Theatre rehires three key players January 18, 2002
By PATTI MENGERS
The show will go on at the Media Theatre, at least through mid-May. Media Mayor Bob McMahon, who chairs the Society for the Performing Arts, the non-profit group that runs the theater, said board members “voted overwhelmingly” yesterday to retain three former staff members as contract employees.
“I don’t think there is any question that the theater is open for business and that it will be ongoing,” McMahon said last night.
Former artistic director Jesse Cline, publicist Roger Ricker and Patrick Ward, former director of the society, have been retained to stage shows and programs that have been planned through mid-May.
They had been terminated as employees of the Society for the Performing Arts on Dec. 31, a little more than a year after the for-profit Rockwell Productions headed by Alice Strine closed shop and ceased to be their employer.
Subsidized by Rockwell, Cline had staged six seasons of American musicals attracting about 750,000 patrons since 1994 when the 75-year-old moviehouse was restored to its former glory by owner Walter Strine Sr.
Fourteen board members attended yesterday’s meeting of the Society for the Performing Arts to decide the fate of the Media Theatre’s current programming, noted McMahon.
The mayor said that the mood of yesterday afternoon’s 90-minute meeting at the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce was in stark contrast to the board meeting of the previous month.
“I think we had a split board before. Now we know in what direction we’re going. Now the board has supported quality programs without any stoppage,” said McMahon.
Cline, Ricker and Ward with the help of volunteers including several World War II veterans staged a successful production of “South Pacific” last fall under the auspices of the non-profit Society for the Performing Arts.
Current programs include a children’s theater presentation of “Treasure Island” Jan. 24 through 26 and"Nunsense", a musical featuring members of Actor’s Equity April 3 through 21.
“In the next month or so, we’re going to discuss programs for mid-May through the end of August and we want to plan a program for next year,” said McMahon.
The next board meeting of the Society for the Performing Arts is set for Feb. 14.
©The Daily Times 2002