Friends of the Boyd will host the third in a series of benefit nights to save the Sameric Theatre from permanent closure and possible demolition.

The fundraising event will feature a screening of The Philadelphia Story at International House on Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. with an after-party including appetizers and beer. Former city planner Ed Bacon is scheduled to speak at a 6:30 p.m. VIP reception before the screening.

"We hope to raise money from the sale of tickets to help restore the theater," says Howard B. Haas, Friends of the Boyd chairman. "We're advising people to come early."

Alexander Boyd opened the theater in 1928 just as vaudeville was being replaced by new talking pictures. The building, built on Chestnut between 19th and 20th streets, features a carved-limestone façade and a magnificent vertical sign. The marquee is dotted with 20 floodlights, which showcased a colored-light show on the nights films were running.

Inside, custom-designed carpets lined the aisles of the movie house, which held 2,300 seats. Crystal and glass light fixtures hang from the high ceilings. The stage, which includes an organ and orchestra pit, was one of the first to use electric machines for raising and lowering musicians during performances.

Between 1971 and 1998, the Boyd Theater changed hands several times. It was sold to the Sameric Corporation and renamed the Sameric Theatre, sold again to United Artists in 1988 and 10 years later, it was turned over to Kenneth Goldenberg and the Goldenberg Group.

Goldenberg got a permit to destroy the building in 2002 after the city's Historical Commission rejected a proposal to protect the theater as a historic building.

After local groups waged a campaign to keep the theater open, Goldenberg asked City Council for a tax increment financing plan. Under the plan, the city would agree to forego taxes so that Goldenberg could pay construction and renovation costs. Clear Channel, a media conglomerate, says that it will work with Goldenberg and operate the theater. So far, the idea is still being discussed in Council meetings.

"We need the city to approve the financing requested, and we believe that [Council] will pass it soon," Haas says. "A lot of the money will be needed to purchase the parking lot next door to expand the theater and to make some repairs inside."

Meantime, Haas says that his group will continue to hold quarterly fundraisers, screening a Philadelphia-themed film from each decade.