Wanamaker's
Encyclopedia
Wanamaker's department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

 was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and one of the first department stores in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. At its zenith in the early 20th century, there were two major Wanamaker department stores, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 at Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...

 and Tenth Street. Both employed extremely large staffs. By the end of the 20th century in the shopping-mall era, there were 16 Wanamaker's outlets, but the chain was absorbed into Hecht's
Hecht's
Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States....

 (now Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

) in 1995 after years of change. As of 2011, the occupant of the former Philadelphia Wanamaker's Department Store is Macy's Center City.

Beginnings

John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker was a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a "pioneer in marketing." Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:He was born on July 11, 1838.He opened his first store in...

, the founder of the store that bears his name, was unable to join the U.S. Army during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 because of a persistent cough. Having been rejected from war duty, he ventured into business with his brother-in-law, Nathan Brown. In 1861, they founded a men's clothing store in Philadelphia called Oak Hall. Wanamaker carried on the business alone after Brown's death in 1868. In 1876, Wanamaker purchased the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 station for use as a new, larger retail location. The concept was to renovate the terminal into a "Grand Depot" similar to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange (London)
The Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham to act as a centre of commerce for the city. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and is trapezoidal, flanked by the converging streets of Cornhill and...

 or Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

's Les Halles
Les Halles
Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named for the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles...

—two central markets, and forerunners of the modern department store, that were well-known in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 at that time.

The Wanamaker's Grand Depot opened in time to service the public visiting Philadelphia for the American Centennial Exposition of 1876, and in fact resembled one of the many pavilions at that world's fair because of its fanciful new Moorish facade. In 1877 the interior of Wanamaker's was refurbished and expanded to include not only men's clothing, but women's clothing and dry goods as well. This was Philadelphia's—and perhaps America's—first modern-day department store. A circular counter was placed at the center of the building, and concentric circles radiated around it with 129 counters of goods.

Enlightened retailing

Wanamaker first thought of how he would run a store on new principles when, as a youth, a merchant refused his request to exchange a purchase. A practicing Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

, he chose not to advertise on Sundays. Before he opened his Grand Depot for retail business, he let evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 Dwight L. Moody
Dwight L. Moody
Dwight Lyman Moody , also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts , the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers.-Early life:Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large...

 use its facilities as a meeting place, while Wanamaker provided 300 ushers from his store personnel. His retail advertisements—the first to be copyrighted beginning in 1874—were factual, and promises made in them were kept.

Wanamaker guaranteed the quality of his merchandise in print, allowed his customers to return purchases for a cash refund and offered the first restaurant to be located inside a department store. Wanamaker also invented the price tag.

His employees were to be treated respectfully by management (including not being scolded in public), and John Wanamaker & Company offered its employees access to the John Wanamaker Commercial Institute, as well as free medical care, recreational facilities, profit sharing plans, and pensions—long before these types of benefits were considered standard in corporate employment.

Innovation and "firsts" marked Wanamaker's. The store was the first department store with electrical illumination (1878), first store with a telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 (1879), and the first store to install pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents (1880).

Wanamaker's commissioned a Philadelphia/New Jersey artist, George Washington Nicholson (1832–1912), to paint a large landscape mural, "The Old Homestead," which was finished in March 1892. The 7x14-foot mural was still owned by Wanamaker's in 1950, but its location is unknown as of the 2000s.

In 1910, Wanamaker replaced his Grand Depot in stages, and constructed a new, purpose-built structure on the same site in Center City Philadelphia. The new store, built in the Florentine style with granite walls by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham, had 12 floors (9 for retail), numerous galleries and two lower levels totaling nearly two million square feet. The palatial emporium featured the Wanamaker Organ
Wanamaker Organ
The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City . The largest organ by some measures is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ...

, the former St. Louis World's Fair pipe organ, at the time one of the world's largest organs. The organ was installed in the store's marble-clad central atrium known as the Grand Court. Another item from the St. Louis Fair in the Grand Court is the large bronze eagle, which quickly became the symbol of the store and a favorite meeting place for shoppers. All one had to say was "Meet You at The Eagle" and everyone knew where to go. The store was dedicated by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

 on December 30, 1911.

Despite its size, the organ was deemed insufficient to fill the Grand Court with its music. Wanamaker's responded by assembling its own staff of organ builders and expanding the organ several times over a period of years. The organ still stands in place in the store today, and is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, with some 28,000 pipes. It is famed for the delicate, orchestra-like beauty of its tone as well as its incredible power. Free recitals are still held twice every day except Sunday, and visitors are invited to tour the organ's console area and meet with staff after recitals. Once a year, usually in June, "Wanamaker Organ Day" is held, which is a free recital which lasts most of the day.

News of the Titanic's sinking was transmitted to Wanamaker's wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

 station in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, and given to anxious crowds waiting outside—yet another first for an American retail store. Public Christmas Carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...

ing in the store's Grand Court began in 1918.

Other innovations included employing buyers to travel overseas to Europe each year for the latest fashions, the first White sale
White sale
A white sale is a marketing strategy in which a store steeply discounts its merchandise to increase sales during a short period of time.-Origins:...

 (1878) and other themed sales such as the February "Opportunity Sales" to keep prices as low as possible while keeping volume high. The store also broadcast its organ concerts on the Wanamaker-owned radio station WOO-AM beginning in 1922. Under the leadership of James Bayard Woodford, Wanamaker's opened piano stores in Philadelphia and New York that did a huge business with an innovative fixed-price system of sales. Salons in period decor were used to sell the higher-price items. Wanamaker also tried selling small organs built by the Austin Organ Company for a time.

Slow decline

After John Wanamaker's death in 1922 the business carried on under Wanamaker family ownership. Rodman Wanamaker
Rodman Wanamaker
Lewis Rodman Wanamaker was a Republican and was a Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania in 1916. Wanamaker created aviation history by financing a two plane experimental seaplane class in response to a prize contest announcement by London's The Daily Mail newspaper in 1913 – the flying boat...

, John's son, enhanced the reputation of the stores as artistic centers and temples of the beautiful, offering imported luxuries from around the world. He died shortly before the Great Depression, and after his death in 1928, the stores (managed for the family by a trust) continued to thrive for a time. The men's clothing and accessories department was expanded into its own separate store on the lower floors of the Lincoln-Liberty Building
One South Broad
One South Broad, also known as the Lincoln-Liberty Building or PNB Building, is a 28-story office tower in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The art deco tower, designed by architect John Torrey Windrim as an annex for Wanamaker's department store, was completed in 1932...

, two doors down on Chestnut Street, in 1932. This building, which also had a private apartment for the Wanamaker family on its top floor, was sold to Philadelphia National Bank
CoreStates
CoreStates Financial Corporation was a United States bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area.The bank, previously known as PNB , was renamed in the mid-1980s after a series of mergers...

 in 1952; the initials on the building's crown now read "PNB" even though the bank no longer exists (PNB was acquired by CoreStates
CoreStates
CoreStates Financial Corporation was a United States bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area.The bank, previously known as PNB , was renamed in the mid-1980s after a series of mergers...

, which was then acquired by First Union, which in turn was acquired by Wachovia Corporation
Wachovia
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...

, which was acquired by Wells Fargo & Co.). Over time, Wanamaker's lost business to other retail chains, including Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...

 and Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

, in the Philadelphia market. The Wanamaker Family Trust finally sold John Wanamaker and Company, with its underpatronized stores, to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores
Carter Hawley Hale Stores
Broadway Stores, Inc. was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional...

 for $60 million (USD) cash in 1978. Carter Hawley Hale poured another $80 million (USD) into renovating the stores, but to no avail—customers had gone elsewhere in the intervening decades and did not come back.

Finally, in 1986, the now 15-store chain was sold to Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop was a department store chain headquartered in Washington, D.C. Woodward & Lothrop was Washington, D.C.'s first department store, opening in 1887. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States...

, owned by Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 shopping-mall magnate A. Alfred Taubman
A. Alfred Taubman
Adolph Alfred Taubman is an American real estate developer and philanthropist from Michigan. He pioneered the modern shopping mall concept and was described by CBS News as a "legend in retailing" who became wealthy developing upscale shopping malls. He built shopping mall developer Taubman Centers...

. Taubman reorganized the business with a shortened corporate name (Wanamaker's Inc.), and poured millions more into store renovations and public relations campaigns. This too was no help, as Taubman's retail interests were heavily in debt and the stores' combined sales were a disappointment. Believing that the Wanamaker Building space was more valuable than portions of the historic Wanamaker store, the Philadelphia flagship store was reduced to its first five stories, the Juniper Street side became the lobby of an office building for the upper stories, and the former basement Budget Store became a parking garage. The Crystal Tea Room restaurant was closed and eventually leased to the Marriott Corporation for use as a ballroom. Personal effects of Mr. Wanamaker from his until-then preserved office on the eighth floor, and the store archives, were donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...

. Beloved huge Easter paintings of the trial and Passion of the Christ by Mihály Munkácsy
Mihály Munkácsy
Mihály Munkácsy was a Hungarian painter, who lived in Paris and earned international reputation with his genre pictures and large scale biblical paintings.-Early Years of Munkácsy:...

 that had been personal favorites of Mr. Wanamaker and were displayed every year in the Grand Court during Lent were unceremoniously sold at auction. Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop was a department store chain headquartered in Washington, D.C. Woodward & Lothrop was Washington, D.C.'s first department store, opening in 1887. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States...

 collapsed in bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and with it the Wanamaker stores, which were sold to May Department Stores Company
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...

 on June 21, 1995. Wanamaker's Inc. was formally dissolved, and operations were consolidated with May's Hecht's
Hecht's
Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States....

 division in Arlington, Virginia. After a century and a third the Wanamaker's name was removed from all stores and replaced with Hecht's
Hecht's
Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States....

. In 1997, May acquired Wanamaker's historic rival Strawbridge & Clothier and re-branded all Philadelphia-area Hecht's locations with the Strawbridge's name. The Center City Hecht's (temporarily named Strawbridge's) was closed for a lengthy renovation and refurbishment that saw the former Wanamaker retail space reduced in size again to three floors, and the former selling floors on the upper floors further subdivided into commercial office space. This was to prepare the way, in 1997, for New York-based Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor, colloquially known as L&T, or LT, based in New York City, is the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States. Concentrated in the eastern U.S., the retailer operated independently for nearly a century prior to joining American Dry Goods...

, another division of May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...

, to open in the former Wanamaker's flagship in Center City Philadelphia. In August 2006 the store was converted to Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

, operated by the Macy's East
Macy's East
Macy's East, New York, New York is a division of Macy's, Inc.. It is the operating successor to the original R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. and operates the Macy's department stores in the northeast U.S. and Puerto Rico. Over the years it has been known as Macy's New York and Macy's Northeast...

 Division of Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....

 Inc., (now Macy's Inc.), which acquired May in late 2005.

The store was not immune to the major change in retailing away from regional chains to national chains. The uniformity of brand offerings and the cost savings available to national chains all worked against the viability of the store as an independent personality, although customers generally had a major say in determining store offerings and the magnificence of its commercial space did tend to cause it to be stocked with better offerings. Other retailers had also learned to offer goods with much smaller staff rosters. The ability of retailers to "go national" in opposition to regional tastes is still an experiment-in-progress with mixed results.

The Wanamaker's flagship store, with its famous organ and eagle from the St. Louis World's Fair, was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

 in 1978. Retailers continue to reap significant monetary returns from the elegance of this unparalleled retail space. In 1992 a nonprofit group, the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
Wanamaker Organ
The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City . The largest organ by some measures is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ...

, was founded to promote the preservation, restoration and presentation of the famous pipe organ.

As a retail site, the Philadelphia flagship store has proved quite profitable for later tenants Lord & Taylor and now Macy's. With a long tradition of parades and fireworks displays, Macy's has taken a prominent civic role in fostering historic Wanamaker traditions, especially the Wanamaker Organ and the Holiday Pageant of Lights Christmas Show. In 2008 Macy's celebrated its 150th birthday in the Philadelphia flagship store with a concert featuring the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra that attracted a capacity audience.

Christmas Light Show

In 1956, the Philadelphia Wanamaker's premiered a Christmas Light Show, a large musical and blinking light display several stories high, viewable from several levels of the building, but with the best viewing on the central ground floor. Its popularity with Philadelphia parents and children, as well as tourists, ensured a continuous run, even after the building was sold to different business interests.

For decades until 1994, the melodic barotone "voice", or narrator, of the show was John Facenda
John Facenda
John Thomas Ralph Augustine James Facenda was an American broadcaster and sports announcer. He was a fixture on Philadelphia radio and television for decades, and achieved national fame as a narrator for NFL Films and Football Follies...

, known to Philadelphians for decades reporting the news on radio and television, as well as nationally known as the voice of NFL Films. NFL Films' Ed Sabol referred to Facenda as "The Voice of God" (Facenda is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio). Various announcers narrated the show between 1995 and 2005. Beginning in 2006, under Macy's, Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

 became the show's narrator. Also in 2006, the Santa Express Train at the top of the Grand Court returned.

In 2007, the entire Christmas Light Show was completely modernized and rebuilt by Macy's Parade Studio on new trusses with lighter materials and LED lighting. In 2008, a new and bigger Magic Christmas Tree with LED lights debuted. However, due to safety concerns and logistical issues, the dancing water fountains were retired and will not return.
The Christmas Light Show continues annually at Macy's in The Wanamaker Building (1300 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107), from the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve; the 15-minute show runs every hour on the hour from 10am-8pm daily (10am-5pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve; closed Christmas Day). Current information is available by calling 215-241-9000.

Crystal Tea Room

Wanamaker's also was home to the Crystal Tea Room restaurant on the 9th floor which closed in 1995; it was restored as a private banquet hall, accommodating sit-down receptions of up to 1,000 people. A Wanamaker's guidebook from the 1920s states that the Crystal Tea Room was the largest dining room in Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the world. It once could serve 1,400 people at a time. It served breakfast in the morning, luncheon, and afternoon tea. The kitchen's big ovens could roast 75 turkeys at a time and the facility was equipped with lockers and baths for the employees. In acknowledgment of John Wanamaker's promotion of temperance causes, alcohol was not served in the Tea Room until after the family trust sold the store.

There is also a balcony cafe, the Terrace on the Court, on the third floor facing the Grand Court, where shoppers could hear the Wanamaker Organ as they dined. Macy's closed this restaurant in 2008.

Unique features

  • Ground floor: 2,500-pound bronze eagle statue in the Grand Court, made by French sculptor August Gaul for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition and purchased by John Wanamaker; for many decades, Philadelphians would agree to "meet me at the eagle" (at Wanamaker's).
  • 3rd floor: Egyptian Hall auditorium behind the executive offices, also a Greek Hall auditorium. The architecture of Egyptian Hall is presently (2008) obscured by the Executive Offices and Dickens Christmas Village.
  • 8th floor: toy department had a monorail for the kids that traveled around the entire department, camera dept, piano and organ dept. The monorail car is a feature at Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum
    Please Touch Museum
    The Please Touch Museum is a children's museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The museum focuses on teaching children through interactive exhibits and special events, mostly aimed at children seven years old and younger.-History:...

    .
  • 9th floor: Crystal Tea Room
  • 10th floor: in-house physician and nurses
  • 12th floor: Wanamaker Organ Shop, where the Wanamaker Organ was enlarged by an in-house expert staff
  • Sub-floors: the Downstairs Store, post office, lost and found, shoe repair, the Dairy restaurant. This area became a parking garage.
  • Radio broadcasting station
  • Model house on the furniture floor
  • Home of the world's largest playable pipe organ

Wanamaker's in the movies and theatre

  • In the musical number "Marry the Man Today", from Guys and Dolls, Wanamaker's is mentioned.
    • Lyrics:
At Wanamaker's and Saks and Klein's
A lesson I've been taught
You can't get alterations on a dress you haven't bought
  • In Brian De Palma
    Brian De Palma
    Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...

    's 1981 film Blow Out
    Blow Out
    Blow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget slasher film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination involving a...

    , John Travolta
    John Travolta
    John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

    's character, Jack Terry, crashes a Jeep into a display window
    Display window
    A display window is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in the front façade of the shop...

     of Wanamaker's after driving through City Hall
    Philadelphia City Hall
    Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...

     center courtyard in a chase scene.
  • In 1987, Wanamaker's flagship Philadelphia store was featured, under the name "Prince & Co.", in the film comedy Mannequin
    Mannequin (1987 film)
    Mannequin is a 1987 romantic comedy film, starring Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, Meshach Taylor, James Spader, G. W. Bailey, and Estelle Getty...

    and its sequel Mannequin Two: On the Move.
  • Wanamaker's was also featured in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys
    Twelve Monkeys
    12 Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La jetée, and starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer....

    , though its appearance is anachronistic, as the film is set in 1996, a year after the chain had been folded into Hecht's. Wanamaker's had still been trading under that name when the movie was filmed in 1994-1995.
  • Philip Barry
    Philip Barry
    Philip James Quinn Barry was an American playwright born in Rochester, New York.-Early life:Philip Barry was born on June 18, 1896 in Rochester, New York to James Corbett Barry and Mary Agnes Quinn Barry. James would die from appendicitis a year after Philip's birth, and his father's marble and...

    's 1938 play The Philadelphia Story
    The Philadelphia Story (play)
    The Philadelphia Story is a 1939 American comic play by Philip Barry. It tells the story of a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist.-Production:...

    includes the following dialogue: Liz: "Use the word 'Wanamaker' in a sentence." Mike: "OK, I'll bite." Liz: "I met a girl this morning. I hate her but I --." Mike: "All right, I get you. But you're wrong."
  • In the musical number "Come Up to My Place", from the Broadway musical On the Town, Wanamaker's in mentioned.
    • Lyrics:
[Hildy] "Let's go to my place!"
[Chip] "Let's go to Cleopatra's Needle!"
[Hildy] "Let's go to my place!"
[Chip] "Let's see Wanamaker's store!"
  • From 1918 to 1919, actor James Cagney
    James Cagney
    James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

     worked in the New York City Wanamaker's Store as a Package Wrapper, while trying to get his Broadway career started. A fellow Clerk whom he was friends with told him about his very first audition, which he went out for (and got) and shortly after quit Wanamaker's for the Theater World.
  • The 1977 film Nasty Habits, starring Glenda Jackson
    Glenda Jackson
    Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...

    , Melina Mercouri
    Melina Mercouri
    Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...

    , and Rip Torn
    Rip Torn
    Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...

    , has a scene set in Wanamakers, where a blackmail money exchange takes place in the "ladies' loo at Wanamaker's". The scene opens to opening bars of Beethoven's fifth (supposedly) being played on the Grand organ, while the camera pans the Grand Court.
  • In the 6th-season Sopranos episode, "Moe N’ Joe", when Johnny Sack is being told his plea arrangement by his lawyer, Johnny tells him that he met his wife, Ginny, at Wanamaker's, where she worked at the tie counter.
  • In the first episode of the seventh season of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX Network), "Frank's Pretty Woman" (2011), Mac suggests to Dennis over a meal of chimichangas that while on the way to Frank and Roxy's impromptu wedding, "we fire down to John Wanamaker's and get ourselves a couple of Tommy Bahama shirts".

See also

  • Wanamaker Organ
    Wanamaker Organ
    The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City . The largest organ by some measures is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ...

  • Wanamaker Mile
    Wanamaker Mile
    The Wanamaker Mile is an event held annually at the Millrose Games in New York City's Madison Square Garden.The event is an indoor one-mile race. It was first held in 1908, and in 1926 became known as the "Wanamaker." It is named in honor of the head of the Wanamaker's Department Store in New...

  • Millrose Games
    Millrose Games
    The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet held on the first Friday in February in New York City. They will be held at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011...

  • Wanamaker Trophy for golf's PGA Champion
  • Please Touch Museum
    Please Touch Museum
    The Please Touch Museum is a children's museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The museum focuses on teaching children through interactive exhibits and special events, mostly aimed at children seven years old and younger.-History:...

     (Wanamaker's Rocket Monorail)

Further reading

  • Herbert Ershkowitz John Wanamaker: Philadelphia Merchant (Signpost Biographies-Da Capo Press (May 21, 1999))
  • Robert Sobel
    Robert Sobel
    Robert Sobel was an American professor of history at Hofstra University, and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories.- Biography :...

     The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 3, John Wanamaker: The Triumph of Content Over Form ISBN 0-679-40064-8

External links

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