The Ambler Theater is the heart of Ambler and a very well-known landmark in the community. Theaters bring people together and have good laughs when watching movies. It's always been like that for a very long time when Dr. Richard Mattison of the Keasbey & Mattison Company decided to revamp the community.
Ambler Opera House and The Palace
The idea of having a theater came from Richard Mattison, and thus the Ambler Opera House was born. Originally, vaudevilles and other musical acts were performed in the opera house during the 1890s until motion pictures began to rise in theaters.
As the popularity of motion picture theaters begin to climb, a new theater was built along Butler Pike called "The Palace." It was debuted on August 30, 1913 with two featured pictures: "The Ways of a Mother" and "Old Mammy's Secret Code."
In the new theatre, there were more than 300 mahogany opera chairs with dark red wall decorations and lighting. Asbestos booths were provided by the Keasbey and Mattison Company. The projector used to show the motion pictures was possibly a Cameragraph No 6A.
The theater operated for 4 years until the Wissahickon Fire House and Town Hall built their new building over the former theater. Prior to the occupation of the fire house, there was a fire outbreak at the theater, and it was possibly due to the maintenance and facility flaws that discontinued the theater.
The Birth of the Ambler Theater
As the Wissahickon Fire House and Town Hall stood, so did the home of Henry Slutter (1838-1913). He was an experienced wagon maker, who made 25 wagons a year, and a repair man. He built his home in 1878 after purchasing 100 feet on Butler Pike for $1,000.
Later on he sold his home to Dr. Albanus Styer, a skilled physician who graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in 1849, and practiced medicine in Montgomery Square. He later moved to Ambler and operated a drug store and a farm on his property. His son Samuel became a successful businessman who owned three coal mines in Clearfield and Cambria County, and shipped bituminous coal to New York, Buffalo, New England, Chicago and St. Louis.
Fun Fact #1: Dr. Albanus Styer descended from Stephanus Styer, the first immigrant in Pennsylvania from the Czech lands, known today as the Czech Republic.
When he died in 1902, his second wife, Harriet "Hattie" Styer, took over his property.
The idea of erecting a brand new movie theater began around the 1920s. They began discussing the project in 1927 and hired architect Soloman Kaplan (1892-1966) to design the new movie theater, and hired the Harrison Brothers to construct the building.
The Ambler Theatre opened its doors on News Year's Eve 1928. The theatre has a large lobby between the front entrance and the main auditorium. The main auditorium had 1,227 leather seats with plush seats. There were active lights inside the room as well as the Spanish-inspired vibrant interior.
On the second floor, there was the control room where the motion picture is played with three large motion picture machines and a vitaphone attached to them.
Fun Fact #2: The vitaphone was invented by the Warner Brothers. It was used from 1926 to 1930. It became the most successful sound-on-disc processes.
There was a large number of people attending the Ambler Theatre that there wasn't enough seats to hold the 2,500 people who were there. For those who couldn't fit into the theatre, they went to the Ambler Opera House. But, the opera house ended up being crowded too. There were so many people at both theaters that the police couldn't control the flow of traffic of people attending the theaters.
The theatre was managed by the Equity Theaters, Inc. when it was first debuted until the Warner Brothers became the managers of the theater.
Bibliography
"Ambler News." Ambler Gazette. January 3, 1929. Page 4. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/15405/rec/1.
"Ambler Theatre To Open Monday Eve." Ambler Gazette. December 27, 1928. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/15118/rec/1.
"Emmy Simon Postcard Collection." Wissahickon Valley Historical Society. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.wvalleyhs.org/emmy-simon-postcard-collection/.
"Fire House is Dedicated." Ambler Gazette. November 8, 1917. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/7836/rec/1.
Franklin Survey Company. Montgomery County 1949 Vol D, Plate 14, 1949.
"Google Maps Area Calculator Tool." DaftLogic. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm.
Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator. Ambler Warner Theater, 108 East Butler Pike, Ambler, Montgomery County, PA. Pennsylvania Montgomery County Ambler, 1994. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/pa2982/.
Hough, Mary P. H. "Early history of Ambler 1682-1888.” A Celebration of Women Writers. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/hough/ambler/ambler.html.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 26, 1916.
Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, v. 42, n. 48 (1927): 766.
Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, v. 43, n. 5 (1928): 76.
Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, v. 43, n. 7 (1928): 106.
"POWERS CAMERAGRAPH 6A SILENT 35MM MOVIE PROJECTOR BOOK." WorthPoint. Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/powers-cameragraph-6a-silent-35mm-86434796.
Rechcígl, Jr., Miloslav. "The First Pennsylvania Settler from the Czech Lands." Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, Inc. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://www.svu2000.org/cs-america/pennsylvania/.
Roberts, Ellwood. Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Containing Genealogical Records of Representative Families, Including Many of the Early Settlers and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens, Volume 2. (New York, Chicago: T.S. Benham & Co. and The Lewis Publishing Co., 1904): 281-282.
Scott, J.D. North Pennsylvania Railroad 1886 Philadelphia - Bucks - Montgomery Counties, Ambler, 1886.
"The Journal of the American Medical Association." The Journal of the American Medical Association 39, no. 1 (1902): 148.
"Town Topics." Ambler Gazette. August 28, 1913. Page 5. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/11143/rec/1.
Warner, Cass. "…what was to come with Vitaphone." Warner Sisters. November 27, 2011. https://warnersisters.com/what-was-to-come-with-vitaphone/.
"Whittock's Whitpain." Wissahickon Valley Historical Society. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://www.wvalleyhs.org/whittocks-whitpain/.