The "Hippodrome's Of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Part I - The Fall Of The Strand" Story

The Strand on Manor Street

It was an ordinary day.  Standing outside the Strand Theatre on Manor Street in Lancaster, PA waiting for my mom to arrive to take my friends and myself home from the Saturday morning movie.  I can remember heading to the Strand on Saturday mornings with my friends to watch a good western movie on the big screen.  Always began the show with a cartoon and sometimes had to sit through a newsreel before the main movie began on the screen.  The Strand opened in 1910 as a "nickelodeon" with admission being five cents.  The theater was first known as the Kuhn Theatre, then the Lancaster Theatre and later as the Manor Theatre before finally changing their name to the Strand Theatre in 1925.  I recently read a short story about the original theatre which was opened by Mr. Ed Kuhn.  His head projectionist was a guy named Charles C. Smith.  

The interior of the Strand before it was demolished.
The inset is Mr. Harry Chertcoff.

He was responsible for threading the plastic reel through the projection machine and making sure it ran smooth the entire movie.  Every so ofter the film would break and Charlie had to take time out and fix the reel.  A story from the March, 1962 Intelligencer Newspaper told his story and the fact that at the time he lived at 71 Buch Avenue in Manheim Township.  Mr. Smith recalled that Mr. Kuhn opened the movie theatre with proceeds from the sale of his family business which was known as The Adam Kuhn Bakery.  The building had been severely damaged by fire and was later sold and became known as Gunzenhauser Bakery.  

Newspaper advertisement for the Strand.

The original theatre had 400 seats and was about the only building on the city block.  It eventually was enlarged to 900 seats and hemmed in by buildings on all sides.  Mr. Smith operated the theatre for about 3 years beginning in 1918.  The theatre was then purchased by  George Benthan who had a chain of movie theaters in Reading, Pottstown and Philadelphia.  It was Mr. Benthan who renamed it the Strand.  Then in 1928 he sold the theatre to Harry M. Chertcoff who put the theatre in his wife's name.  She retained ownership until the date of the story in the 1962 newspaper, but had been operating under lease from her to the Harry Chertcoff Estate.  

They did have live shows
on the stage at the Strand.

Sound like something fishy going on to you?  Well, a Mr. Morton Brodsky, general manager for the Chertcoff interests said that the Strand had been losing money and couldn't continue to operate.  He thought of renovating it, selling it or even leasing it.  He did find a buyer for about 700 of the seats that had just been replaced two years earlier.  Another interested person was Mayor George Coe who once worked at the theatre as a part-time projectionist on days he wasn't working at the Grand Theatre or Hamilton Theatre in Downtown Lancaster.  Well, the newspaper article dated Wednesday, March 28, 1962 tells the the story of the closing of the Strand.  Happened to coincide with the local observation of "International Theatre Week."  And wouldn't you know it...Lancaster's Mayor George Coe honored the week with a special proclamation.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Another view of the Strand