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Joe Sherlock sent us an undated ad for the Frankford Gazette(the original). Subscribed for a buck a year, that must have been a while ago. Their printing house is shown as 4432 Frankford Ave, I wonder if it’s this building here, looks kinda small.
Thanks Joe, and anyone looking for a good read on Philly history and Northeast Philly in particular, check out his History of Philadelphia. It strikes me as a personal account but seems so universal to the Philly experience.
Yesterday, after I posted more hints about a local movie filmed in and around Frankford and Tacony, Shirley and her mother properly guessed it was Pride of the Marines. In the film, Al Schmid is a border in Tacony, dating Ruth Hartley, played by Eleanor Parker who lived at 1025 Filmore Street in Northwood. Remember this is her house here:
As soon as I was this scene, I stopped the movie and started hunting down that location. I was pretty sure it was in East Frankford around Darrah and Wakeling. But it took me a while before I found it; it ended up being 200 yards from my front door in Northwood. Check it out on Google Street View here. And I probably should have just kept watching the movie to save myself some effort, cause her exact address shows up in the movie when Al’s coming back to Philly and she gets a telegram from his friend:
I guess they didn’t have zip codes back then. But anyways, congrats, Shirley and your mom, if we ever start printing up tee shirts, we’ll be sure to give you one.
I have no more guesses on that movie made in 40s that was filmed in Frankford and Tacony that I posted on Monday. I’m so sad. But maybe the clues were a little too hard. I’ll leak some more. It’s from the 40s so you may have guessed it’s about the second great war. And you’d be right, it is about a soldier in WW2 anyways. Here’s another screen shot:
That’s at Tulip and Hellerman in Tacony. Here’s the google street view of what it looks like today. In the movie, this is where the guy lived. Any guesses? C’mon, Philly even features in the beginning of the movie in an opening montage. I’ll even give you the first line: “This is Philadelphia, 1941. Everyone has a home town, this mine, my name is Al Schmidt……”
Over on the message board, a couple of users have come up with a thread about quizzing each other about Frankford and its history. And now I have one. Actually I don’t, friend of the Gazette, and Grey Lodge Brewmaster Mike Scotese brought this nugget to my attention.
Here’s a couple of hints. It was nominated for an Oscar, it was made during the 40s, and it had prominent exterior shots in both Tacony and Frankford, below you’ll find a screen shot of a scene from Frankford.
Any guesses you can put into the comments section. And if you have any fun facts that you’d like to tease, you don’t have to go through me, just head over to the message board and have some fun.
When I was the Stearne school a few weeks ago for career day, I was chatting with Terry Weck, the math coordinator, about Frankford history. She grew up in the neighborhood and had lots of memories of things that aren’t there anymore.
One building that is still here is the former Synagogue on the 4300 block of Paul Street. It was called Adath Zion and was built to serve the numerous Jewish merchants who had businesses along Frankford Avenue. You can preview the book “The Jewish Community Under the Frankford El” By Allen Meyers and Carl Nathans on Google here. The synagogue moved up to Pennway Street in 1956.
Interesting note on how people come and go in a neighborhood. The city is always reshaping itself.
