Lyric Theatre
806 Penn Street,
Reading,
PA
19601
806 Penn Street,
Reading,
PA
19601
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The Lyric Theatre launched October 3, 1910. The 1,000-seat venue was managed by Frank D. Hill who programmed three acts of live vaudeville followed by four reels of motion pictures in the formative years of the Lyric. On July 12, 1912, blind organist W.A. Wallace played the new M.P. Moller pipe organ with Hill singing Irish ballads with illustrated lantern slides projected. On October 8, 1925, the theatre was gutted by fire ending its run. Some elements of the theatre were incorporated into a furniture store thereafter. That building burned down on February 10, 1928.
An article in the May 2, 1913, issue of the Reading Times said that Frank Hill had opened the Lyric Theatre at 806-810 Penn Street in 1910.
The June 29, 1914, issue of the paper said that the Moller organ just installed in the Lyric would be dedicated on July 4. It was a three manual instrument with 850 pipes, and had taken four weeks to install. It was the same style of organ that had been installed in the Vitagraph and Strand Theatres in New York City and the Stanley Theatre in Philadelphia.