Jules Mastbaum was born in Philadelphia in 1872. He had a brother, Stanley, and two sisters, Minnie & Julia, who would each marry sons of Adam Gimbel, the founder of Gimbels department store. Jules would also marry into a department store family, marrying the daughter of the founder of Lit Brothers.
Jules started his career with Gimbels, where he would become their highest paid employee. After leaving Gimbels, he began investing in real estate with his bother and another partner. He opened the first nickelodeon in Philadelphia and bought the first of what would be many theaters in 1911. He called his company Motion Picture Company of America which he eventually changed to Stanley Company of America in honor of his brother who died in 1918. In 1918, the company operated thirty-four theatres; in May 1926, a merger added two hundred and twenty-five theatres to his chain and the Stanley Company of America became the largest theatre chain in the world.
After Jules died in December, 1926, the company was bought out by Warner Bros. and became Stanley-Warner Theaters. The theater company’s crown jewel was built at the N.W. corner of 20th and Market St. and opened on Feb. 28, 1929. The Mastbaum Theater, with over 4700 seats, was the biggest theater in Philadelphia and the 8th largest movie palace in the country. The theater had lead glass windows, gold leaf, statuary, 3 balconies, five vast sequential lobbies, a Wurlitzer organ, and was home to the largest chandelier in the city.
Unfortunately, the theater opened soon before the Depression, and struggled to become profitable. It closed in 1934, reopening in 1942 when the economy had recovered. But by the mid 1950's, with the advent of television, grand movie houses were a thing of the past. The Mastbaum Theater was razed in 1958. Commerce Square, a pair of matching office buildings, now sits at the site of the Mastbaum.
Though Mastbaum's movie theaters are almost all gone now, he is best remembered as the man behind the Rodin Museum. The Museum was his gift to the city of Philadelphia. Mastbaum began collecting works by Rodin in 1923 with the intent of founding a museum to enrich the lives of his fellow citizens. Within just three years, he had assembled the largest collection of Rodin's works outside Paris. In 1926, Mastbaum commissioned Paul Cret (who designed the B. Franklin Bridge) and Jacques Gréber (who designed the Parkway) to design the museum building and gardens. The collector did not live to see his dream realized, but his widow, Etta Wedell Mastbaum honored his commitment to the city, and the Rodin Museum opened on November 29, 1929.
Exterior of the Mastbaum Interior
One of the lobbies Phila. Inquirer, Feb. 28, 1929 Exterior of Rodin Museum, 1929
Bust of Mastbaum in the Rodin Museum
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