In 1935, Almost Every Town in PA Held a Referendum on Sunday Movies. Philly and Lower Merion Voted YES, but Narberth Voted to Keep the Ban
Election Day was on November 5, in 1935. Turnout throughout the state was robust, but probably not because of any “off-off-year” judicial, council or mayoral races. A higher than expected number of voters showed up at the polls that day, because almost every municipality in Pennsylvania was conducting a referendum on whether or not to remove the old “Blue Law” (dating back to 1794) that banned Sunday Movies.
The genesis of the 1935 Sunday movie vote in Pennsylvania, goes back three years earlier to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His landslide win repesented the seismic political upheaval that ushered in the New Deal.
Democrats hadn’t won the presidential vote in Pennsylvnania since 1856. And in 1932, even though FDR carried 42 of 48 states, Keystone State Democrats kept their losing streak intact, as Pennsylvania gave Herbert Hoover its 36 Electoral Votes (now we have 20 and that will be going down to 19 in 2024).
Never-the-less, chinks in the armor of the Pennsylvania GOP were revealed. In 1928, Hoover carried the state by more than 31%, whereas in 1932, he beat Roosevelt in Pennsylvania by less than 6%.
In 1933, Pennsylvania voters overwhelming approved the 21st Amendment that repealed Prohibtion. And just as they would conduct referenda in 1935 on Sunday movies, almost every municipality in Pennsylvania also held a vote on the “Blue Law” that prohibited Sunday sports. Many cities, boroughs and townships voted to keep the ban on Sunday baseball, but in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the two cities with Major League teams, the measure passed easily.
In November of 1934, Pennsylvanians elected a Democrat as governor for the first time since 1890. His name was George Earle, and he was from Lower Merion.
His candidacy was not well received among his fellow Main Liners. Earle even lost his own precinct in Haverford to his Republican opponent, William Schnader, by a vote of 606 to 218.
By January 15 of 1935, before Earle was even sworn in, a bill that would give municipalities the right to choose whether or not to allow Sunday movies; had already been introduced in the Pennsylvania House. The proposed legislation faced opposition from the start, and didn’t get signed into law until July 3 of that year.
Then the real battle began. The “Drys” still feeling stung by the repeal of Prohibtion two years earlier, lined up in oppositon to Sunday Movies. Groups like the W.C.T.U (Womens Christian Termperance Union), the Men’s Dry League and the Anti Saloon League, teamed up with church groups such The Lord’s Day Alliance, The Sabbath Association, The State Council of Christian Endeavor and the Pennsylvania Council of Churches; and waged a well organized, somewhat successful campaign in opposition to Sunday movies.
Organized Labor led charge in support of Sunday movies. John A. Phillips, who was President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor (which at that time represented 1,300 unions with a membership of 380,000), urged members to vote YES, because he thought Sunday movies would result in increased employment.
When the votes were counted
Slightly more municipalities had rejected Sunday movies, as opposed to those that approved. But voters in Pittsburgh voted YES by almost 2-1, and in Philadelphia, the referendum passed by an even bigger margin (352,832-143,896).
Theater owners didn’t waste any time taking advantage of the newly legalized Sunday movies. Election Day was Tuesday November 5, and they were open business on Sunday November 17,
