Duke and Duchess Theatres
1605-1607 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
1605-1607 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
6 people
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December 19th, 1969 grand opening ad in the photo section.
I worked at most of the SamEric movies from 1974 – 1986, thru high school, Temple and part time after college. Eric’s Place, D&D, Mark 1 (under the Holiday Inn on Market Street), Rittenhouse 1&2 and the SamEric. From what I was told the Duke was named after John Wayne (friend of Sam Shipiro) and Duchess after the dog. Eric’s Place was named after Mert’s son who committed suicide. There was a big mural at Eric’s Place and the center piece was John Wayne in cowboyoutfit showing a young boy (Eric) his sidearm.
Complaining about Polish jokes in “THE END”,give me a break.ARCHIE BUNKER let out more polish jokes than Burt Reynolds ever did,I can tell you one thing 100 % true they sold tickets with that protest.
RickB — Eric’s Place is absolutely it. Thank you!
Leif, you may be thinking of Eric’s Place, originally the Trans-Lux, which was at 1519 Chestnut.
Thanks hdtv. I’m pretty sure that in the opposite direction of Sam’s, probably in the 1300 or 1400 block of Chestnut, was another small grindhouse theater right in the middle of the block. Any ideas?
Never mind about the Budco, I found its listing. Thanks to all!
Ken, I don’t see a way to contact you directly so hopefully you’ll see this post.
I am still curious if that was the fullsized image of the D&D. The blow up of the thumbnail I have is here:
View link
Also, there was a more mainstream theater down the street on the corner, probably 17th and Chestnut, calleds SAM’S PLACE or something along those line, and then in the opposite direction, the other way down Chestnut, in the middle of a block, was another grindhouse like dive. I can’t remember the name of it to save my life though. Any thoughts?
WOW! My heart just lept! Thank you for posting that link CHUCK1231! I’ve been looking for photos of the DUKE AND DUCHESS for quite a while as well as THE BUDCO REGENCY which was next door right on the corner of 16th & CHESTNUT — you can see a tiny edge of it in that photo. Anyone have any links to an image of the entire Regency?
Also, Ken mc, I had found the thumbnail of the Duke from that first site you listed. I actually considered paying the $40 for the larger but just couldn’t bring myself to it. Was the link you posted the larger image or a blowup of the thumbnail?
Here is a June 1979 photo from Temple U:
http://tinyurl.com/yhq45va
In this 1984 review of exploitation film KILLPOINT, Philadelphia Inquirer film critic Rick Lyman makes special mention of the D&D’s “ambience”.
Philadelphia Inquirer KILLPOINT review (1984)
OK, next time. Let’s move on.
Well, assuming Kelly knows how to browse a webpage, he would go to the homepage and then it’s off to the races.
Kellydrive wanted to know where he, or she, could find other photos of Philly. I was giving the site so he or she could browse the photos.
The photo is from this site. You won’t be able to expand the thumbnails without ponying up $40, however:
http://tinyurl.com/ysvyxm
This message is for Ken mc Thank you for posting that photo of duke and duchess from 84! It sure brought back memories. I was wondering where you found that photo or if it’s from your own collection? I would love to see more fotos like that. Back in the 80’s i went to duke/duchess, regency, eric mark, eric’s place, midtown, rittenhouse, boyd, and eric twin all the time!!!! I have been looking online for fotos from back then (been to temple online and philly history) but haven’t found anything really. Thats why i was so suprised when I saw the one you posted so please let me know! I love seeing the marquees and what was playing. I saw Jaws the revenge at Eric’s Place and also Child’s Play there. I remember there was a huge line for child’s play. I also think I saw Goonies at Duke.duchess or regency. I can’t remember which.
I saw “Outland” and “Altered States” at these theater, also Raiders of the Lost Ark when it first came out. Lots of good memories. Here is a photo from the early eighties:
http://tinyurl.com/29ntff