Earle Theatre
1046 Market Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19107
1046 Market Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19107
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 29 comments
If I am not mistaken, the Ames Brothers were the last group that appeared at the theater. I was in high school and remember going with a friend.
Some nine months before the Earle Theatre opened, its financier and namesake George C. Earle presided over the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone for the new building, as reported in the July 7, 1923 Moving Picture World. The item said that the new theater was to be named the Elrae, which is Earle spelled backwards, in his honor. For some reason this plan was abandoned, and the house opened as the Earle Theatre, and two older Philadelphia neighborhood theaters were renamed Elrae instead.
Although those neighborhood houses, which last operated as the Ritz and the Hollywood, are long since closed, their buildings are both still standing, unlike the Earle, which was razed shortly before what would have been the thirtieth anniversary of that cornerstone ceremony.
March 23rd grand opening ad at
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201924/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201924%20-%202759.pdf
or in the photo section
These photos and comments are so great. My mom was Frances Elizabeth Wilkins, her maiden name, from Cambria St., Kensington, born in 1925. I believe she saw Frank Sinatra at the Earle early 40s? I love imagining her having that experience. She loved movies and music. Thank you for the info, wonderful capturing of the atmosphere. Thanks for the Temple archives too! I went to Temple and didn’t even know! Dan
Thanks for posting the new old photos Brad.
Here’s a photograph of the Earle Theatre taken in 1933 and another photograph taken in 1937 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
This photograph of the Earle Theatre was taken in 1929 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
thanks BR. Sad photos,you are right Tisloews,but for Historical reasons Great to have.
Sad photos of the demolition,Marion.
When my father was working his way through college he was Head Usher at the Earle. He also had some involvement with the backstage. Sadly the only talent I remember him mentioning was the young Sammy Davis, Jr. and oddly, Tallulah Bankhead (although who knows what she was doing on the bill). Allegedly he sat through Gone With The Wind for over a month, though the note suggesting that the pictures after the live acts were mostly B Movies may prove this to be an exaggeration. I will try to find out what my mother remembers about the Earle and report back.
Love the March 1953 photo listed above. Notice, right next door is a Horn & Hardart- another former Philadelphia tradition. Here are some shots of the Earle during demolition (thanks TUL). Sad:
View link
Here is an interior photo from the Glazer collection:
http://tinyurl.com/y9nuoqh
i remember going to the earle theater in the ‘40’s. the main act was buck and bubbles. one of the other acts was the will masten trio with some kid named sammy davis jr.
an almost lost generation.
Here is a March 1953 photo from the Irvin Glazer theater collection:
http://tinyurl.com/pn6fz6
The Earle was famous more for its shows, but here’s a couple of the many movie tidbits.
22 June 1940 Box Office reported (with a photo of the Earle’s marquee) that with cooperation of the Army, the East premiere was held at the Earle of the movie “All This and Heaven, Too”
20 March 1948 Box Office reported that “Miracle of the Bells” was to have its East Coast premiere at Earle with the stars on March 27.
Ok, done, old Intro of only 2 or 3 sentences has been replaced. I, too, admire Mr. Rankin’s magnificient description and hope people look down a few comments to read it, too.
I’ve rewritten many of the introductions for downtown Philadelphia movie palaces (as well as many other historic & current Philadelphia region cinemas). I didn’t do the Earle yet because it’s history was so amazing! However, I will get to it eventually.
Here is the 1938 Temple photo from 9/12/06:
http://tinyurl.com/axj4ql
Reading Jim Rankin’s comments of 3/24/04, I believe the annual I reviewed the other day was the one he was discussing. There was a series of annuals in the LA Library, one was Loew’s Paradise in NYC, another was the Oriental Theater in Chicago and so on. The photos in each annual are fascinating. Unfortunately my washed out photocopies above don’t give you an accurate view. I recommend checking out the annuals if you can access them.
This theater has a billboard advertising what would be the Earle’s one year anniversary in 1925. I don’t know if the Great Northern theater is listed here under another name:
http://tinyurl.com/plkv6
Here is another view of the Earle, from 1949:
http://tinyurl.com/ffq3c
Here is a 1938 photo of the marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/fkh6d
Here is a set of photographs of the Earle. Unfortunately, you can’t expand the thumbnails without a subscription to the website:
http://tinyurl.com/g7tol
I recall going to the last show at the Earle Theater and seeing The Ames Brothers. It was a very sad feeling knowing that the place would be closing and all the history wrapped up in it gone forever.
I should have listed the URL of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOC. OF AMERICA: www.HistoricTheatres.org