Talkies come to Palmyra’s Broadway Palace Theater 91 years ago

July 1930, Marching past the Broadway Theater in Palmyra, IMAGE CREDIT: Joseph and Mary Yearly

As most of us can only enjoy our movies today as streaming content on our tvs, who remembers a real hometown movie theater?

For me, as a kid in Camden in the 1950s, I recall spending Saturdays at the Arlo on Westfield Avenue where I could see a newsreel, a few cartoons, and a feature film for a whole quarter.

Talkies open at Broadway Theater, The New Era, Jan 9, 1930, p1

Imagine the excitement when the talkies came to Palmyra! For Riverton, that was only a brisk walk or a bike ride away.

Palmyra Business District 1954, IMAGE CREDIT: Wm Downs

Bonus question: What business is in its place now?

See the whole Talkies article here.

Please enter a comment below if you can add your recollection of the Broadway Palace to this brief record of another thing that isn’t there anymore. Contact us if you have a photo we could post.

Added 1/22/2021:

Lowell Doerr checked in to contribute this: I remember going to the Saturday kids matinee…cost a dime to get in and after all the seats were full the owner lined up the additional kids and sat them in the runways and exit lanes!!! Money first…Safety last!….LOL

ML DiPietro guessed that a church – Holy Spirit Cathedral – is now in that spot. I said that she was warm, but no.

Added 1/23/2021:

M Gilbert also guessed that the former site of Palmyra’s Broadway Palace Theater is now Holy Spirit Cathedral. I thank MGilbert for persisting with an explanation even though I had mistakenly attributed today’s location to a place two blocks away.

MGilbert points out: I also thought that this was the Holy Spirit Cathedral (corner of Leconey and Broad). The rooflines of the other buildings in the photo look very similar to the ones seen today on that block and on the Palmyra Pharmacy on the next block.

google street view, Oct 2019, former site of Broadway Palace Theater
Broad Street, Palmyra, NJ

 

 

 

 

 

Well, sure, when you explain it like that. No, kidding, thank you for the correction.

-Editor, JMc

Published by

John McCormick

Teacher at Riverton School 1974-2019, author, amateur historian, Historical Society of Riverton Board Member 2007-2023, newsletter editor 2007-2023, website editor 2011-2023

One thought on “Talkies come to Palmyra’s Broadway Palace Theater 91 years ago”

  1. Hi John,

    I have a picture of the digging of the theater’s foundation with my great grandfather heading the team. Do you have any other pictures of such to confirm the authenticity?

    Sincerely,

    Glenn

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