Paul R. Marchesano on September 14th, 2021:
"One of the Byrd Theatre’s happier occasions occurred in 1933 when nearby St. Francis de Sales Church (47th and Springfield) held a fundraiser there, to a standing-room-only crowd. The event included an organ recital on the theatre’s Gottfriedson organ — a shining moment for the massive movie theater pipe organ. "...on March 15, 1941, *The Philadelphia Inquirer* reported that Oscar Forman, the theatre manager, suddenly noticed that the Byrd’s organ was gone! Bemused police detectives confirmed that it was, indeed, missing from the premises, and quickly located and arrested the thieves: the usher, Allen Goodwin, of 30th St. near Tasker; and two seventeen-year-olds: Robert Lewis of Baltimore Ave. near 48th St,; and Lewis Roberts, of 51st St. near Baltimore Ave., who confessed to having secretly removed the organ, pipe by pipe, over a period of four months, The operator of a junkyard at 49th and Paschall was also arrested after he admitted that “he paid $36.40 to Goodwin for 924 pounds of lead, zinc, and brass chimes.” The organ was not the only thing stolen: the detectives also discovered that Forman’s local manager, Harold Sands of 44th Street near Parrish, had transported “two lamps, a rug and two rug pads – out of the theatre lobby down to Goodwin’s house, where the detectives reported finding them.” -- "Organ Theft at The Byrd Theatre", Street History of Philadelphia website, https://streetofhistoryphiladelphia.wordpress.com/2021/06/12/organ-theft-at-the-byrd-theatre-4720-baltimore-ave/ accessed 2021-09-14

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Database Manager on July 23rd, 2016:
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