......	Main Street Cardiff, Maryland Harford County
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 1950's. ( Family name later changed to Johnston )
. ................... .........Photo Courtesy of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply	" 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 Joshua " 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. "

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 ...............................................Photo Courtesy of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply
 
" 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."

Photo  - Courtesy of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply

" 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 ! "

Photo -  Courtesy of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply

....................................................... ...............................................Photo Courtesy of Johnson Camera and Photo Supply        Mr. Joseph Johnson, theatre manager,  threading a film in the projector of the Pen Mar Theater in Cardiff Maryland.

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