LEISURE TIME
During the 1800's and early 1900's children found entertainment in simpler ways. Singing and performing on a musical instrument, playing baseball or stick ball, and simple games (such as tag) were favorite pastimes. In warmer weather, swimming in the local creek and going to Menlo Park were also popular activities. With technological improvements, work processes became more mechanical and adults and kids had more leisure time.
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| Nursery school children playing at the Third Street playground in 1939. | A popular form of local entertainment was the hangout on Friday and Saturday nights. Kids and a few chaperones would dress up and go to a canteen at Menlo Park and hangout. They would play cards, talk with friends, and they would also dance. The picture above shows teenagers at the canteen hall playing cards. |
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Locally kids became involved in community organizations such as musical performing groups and scouting. With these activities, children and teenagers learned to work with others their own age to perform tasks and achieve goals.
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| VFW drum & Bugle Corps circa 1940 | ||||
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| First Regimental Band Camp in Perkasie circa 1906. | ||||
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| The four photos below are from a 1939 movie of Perkasie. The bands perform in front of Pennridge High School (now Penn South Middle School). | ||||||||
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| Girl Scout Troop #1 in 1929. | Boys Scouts compare their model planes(1939). |
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| Boy Scout Troop at camp. | Boy Scout Troop outside St. Stephens Church in Perkasie (1939). |
THEATERS
From 1889 to 1910 The Perkasie Opera House at 401 W. Walnut Street served as an amusement hall. All types of performing acts were presented in this theater that could seat 600 people.
From 1922 to the 1950's the Plaza Theater at 615 W. Market Street in Perkasie served as a movie theater and also featured other performing acts. The building seated 638 people and was owned by the Perkasie Fire Co. at first. Later the business was owned by Bernard Haines of Philadelphia.
There was a movie theater that started in Sellersville in 1950 after the theater in Perkasie was ruined by a fire on the Saturday after Thanksgiving of 1949; the Sellersville Theater continued in operation until 2001 when the building was sold to the owners of the Washington House Hotel. In the early years the theater would play a movie every night except for Sundays. People could buy Saturday afternoon matinee tickets for 10 cents. The matinees would show a cartoon and a western. The western would end as a cliff hanger which made people come back the next Saturday to see what happened to the hero. The theater was located on 24 W. Temple Avenue in Sellersville.
As of 2001, the only theater facilities remaining in the Pennridge School District are those found in local schools or churches.
TECHNOLOGY
Typical entertainment for teenagers in the 1940's was much more low-tech then it is today. In Perkasie there was only one television present before World War II (1942). The T.V. was a wonder for local teens but the only broadcast at that time was wrestling. They were fascinated by the technology but not by the content of the shows.
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Radio was the main source of pleasurable entertainment in the past. Kids would sit down in front of the radio with their favorite food and tune into broadcasts such as The Lone Ranger; Little Orphan Annie; and Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy. The children had to use there imaginations with the shows because there was no picture with the voice. Each episode or these serial shows was fifteen minutes long. |
