........................................ ...............................................................................Main Street ..........................................................................Cardiff, Maryland ...............................................................................Harford County ..............................................................................................  |
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The
following
is courtesy of Hugh Johnston of Grapevine, Texas.
His
grandfather, Joseph Johnson managed the PenMar
Theatre
from 1932 to 1949. The building was totally
destroyed
by fire in the 1970's. ( Family name later changed
to
Johnston )
....................................................................Photos
Courtesy
of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply
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| "
Joseph
Johnson was the manager of the Pen-Mar Theatre in
Cardiff
Maryland from 1932 to 1949. He was hired during
the depths of the Depression for the grand sum of
$3. per night. His sons , Joseph
Jr.and Charlie were the projectionists for the
princely sum of a Quarter per night." " The Pen -Mar Theatre in Cardiff Maryland was built as a Masonic Hall and was later known as Lloyd's Hall. Most Likely, was it was renamed by its longtime owner , Lane Whitaker. The theatre was just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, on Main Street in Cardiff. To the north of the line in this contiguous little community is Delta, Pennsylvania. Since it was not originally built as a movie house, , the layout was a little unusual. Notice the brick annex in the pictures, which housed a very small lobby behind a single door. Just inside the door, to the right was a small candy counter that was run for a number of years by Ms. Johnson. There was a staircase on the right wall that turned 90 degrees and continued to the back of the auditorium. The raised roof in the back of the annex accommodated the stairway and the machine room." "The auditorium was on the second floor, there was a room underneath for other businesses. For years, it was a restaurant. When it closed during World War II, the space was divided into half. On one side, Mr. Johnson opened a photography studio. On the other side, there was a beauty shop. The building also housed the office of long time town doctor Josiah " Joe "Hunt. In the early years, there was a candy store in the building. The owner wanted to dress it up and bought one of those fancy old brass cash registers. Unfortunately, he went out of business because he could not make the payments on the cash register. " The theatre closed in the mid 1950's and in the 1970's, the building burned down.The old theatre may have been used in later years as a laundrymat. |
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| " Films were sent
up from Baltimore on the Maryland and Pennsylvania
Railroad.
About every other day, Mr. Johnson would walk over
to the station to meet the northbound
" York Mail". Films were changed three times per
week.
Typically, on Monday and Tuesday they showed a
Western.
A first -run feature played on Wednesday and
Thursday,
and then another new one on Friday and Saturday.
There were no movies on Sunday. Local farmers
were the big fans of the Westerns and made up most
of
the crowd Monday and Tuesday. These were the days
the theatre would smell like a barn." |
........................................................ ............................................................... Mr. Joseph Johnson, theatre manager, threading a film in the projector of the Pen Mar Theater in Cardiff Maryland. |
| " One day ,
the theater actually was supposed to censor a film
by
Laurel and Hardy. During the days of the old Hays
Code,
censorship was pretty strict. In one episode of
Laurel
and Hardy, Ollie was in the hospital. Stan came to
visit
and naturally aggravated Ollie right away. The
screen went dark and there was a sound of a loud
clang. When the picture returned, Stan was
rubbing his head. Obviously, Ollie had hit him in
the
head with a bedpan. The theatre owner, Lane
Whitaker,
thought even the sound of the bedpan was over the
line
and ordered it cut out. That order was forgotten
during
the first show, and was remembered as the funniest
part
of the movie. When asked if it should be taken out
in
the next show, Mr. Johnson stated " Aw, heck, leave
it
in ! " |
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