Philadelphia's LAST extant movie palace, the Sameric (originally known as
The Boyd), was recently shuttered by its last operator, and the owner has
immediately applied for a demolition permit. The city's recent record of
historic preservation has not been good. This is a city that granted
instant approval to demolish Siegmund Lubin's intact, original film studio
-- in a depressed part of town -- because a nearby business wanted a
parking lot. When a preservation effort (actually just a preservation WISH)
was made known by a Pennsylvania group, the building was immediately
destroyed by arson. There was no investigation.

The Sameric/Boyd is in a much better part of town (which may make the fight
tougher, since the real estate is desirable). It is a more or less
completely intact 2350 seat Art Deco movie palace, with balcony and full
35mm/70mm projection booth (a ground floor Cinerama booth at that). Three
smaller theaters were added on to the property in the 1980s, but the
original single screen theater was never divided or disturbed.

A grass roots effort was started just this month, and a large number of
supporters came tonight to the first meeting of a group that has formed.

You can read about the theater and the state of the preservation effort at www.boydtheatre.com

If you have any ideas or comments about saving this theater, you can write
to myself, or to Howard B. Haas, chairmen of the Committee to Save the
Sameric/Boyd Theatre, at HowardBHaas@aol.com

Thank you.

Jay Schwartz

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Robert A. Harris (the archivist who restored "Lawrence of Arabia", "Spartacus", "My Fair Lady", "Vertigo", and "Rear Window") added his support to the effort:

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For what's its worth, Phila. used to be an A city,
Independence Hall, the Mint, those stairs with the
Museum attahced.

Over the past thirty years they have consistantly allowed
their many movie palaces to be destroyed.

There is now not one proper venue in the city to run
a large format film.

RAH

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