From 1982 to 2017 I wrote a weekly restaurant review column, “Table Hopping,” for the Local. It seemed almost every time we visited a Center City restaurant, we would see the ubiquitous Thom Cardwell. I don't think I have ever known anyone who squeezed more juice out of life than Cardwell, a Germantown resident who died Jan. 2 at age 79 of natural causes.
Cardwell rarely seemed to eat anything because he was always sharing laugh-out-loud bon mots with other diners or staff members, regaling them with anecdotes about his travels and conversations with celebrities. He seemed to know everybody. It even became a standing joke between us that he was really triplets. Otherwise, how could he possibly be in so many places at once?
Known affectionately as the “Mayor of the Gayborhood,” Cardwell could not walk down Spruce or Pine Street without being stopped by folks who wanted to chat him up. Cardwell once told me, “I never believed in living in a closet. I am who I am, and if anyone does not like it, it is their loss, not mine. We have come a long way, and we are not going back.”
Cardwell was also a poet, publisher, film producer, director, screenwriter, event planner, and more. His articles appeared in Taste magazine, Women's Wear Daily, and the Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), among others. He helped organize the Philadelphia Film Festival, the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance, and the international LGBTQ+ film festival QFest (formerly the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival).
“Irrepressible” and “indomitable”
Matthew Ray, who worked with Cardwell at that festival, said, “Thom was such an irrepressible spirit and indomitable force in Philadelphia queer culture for several decades. He was a great connector, a thoughtful mentor, a kind friend, and had a scathingly funny sense of humor that was always on the cutting edge. He had a real joy for life and the city, and he is terribly missed.”
Janice Canfield, Cardwell's younger sister, said last week, “Thom exposed me to Center City arts, classical music, and human diversity at an early age, since he was five years older than me. He was the best motivator for our neighborhood by organizing summer garage plays. He wrote, choreographed, directed, and acted. Anyone could be part of his play, but practice was mandatory! He included parents by collecting rummage and selling them at a flea market to purchase material for costumes that parents made.”
Cardwell was born in West Philadelphia. His family moved to Upper Darby when he was 5. As a teenager he was a regular on “American Bandstand.” After graduation from Monsignor Bonner High School, he attended St. Francis College in Maine for his bachelor's degree and then Fordham University for graduate courses in literature. He began hosting film festivals while at Fordham.
After graduation, Cardwell became an assistant headmaster at a boys’ boarding school, the New Hampton School in New Hampshire, where he incorporated films and museum trips into classroom learning. Then came the Philadelphia Film Festival and Qfest.
He wrote a screenplay, “What Happens Next,” a queer-focused rom-com filmed in Philadelphia, and was an entertainment columnist, eventually becoming head of a publication called “Queertimes.” Many of his articles and memorabilia are now housed at the John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives at the William Way LGBT Community Center.
Michael Feighan, who was head of jurors for five years at the old Philadelphia International Film Festival, which Cardwell coproduced, said, “Thom was a bigger-than-life character, and it was so much fun to be his friend. A real bon vivant, charismatic, life-of-the-party kind of guy. But he was also quite the intellectual who had deep knowledge of film history. He was a world traveler well before it was popular — imagine Afghanistan in the 1970s — and he contributed as a writer to numerous travel, fashion and lifestyle publications. His legacy, however, will be as a longtime producer of Philadelphia’s Gay Film Festival, where he nurtured the careers of dozens of directors and other film professionals.”
After he died, Cardwell's liver was successfully donated to an organ recipient. He is survived by his partner, Randal Edelstein; sister, Janice Canfield; nieces Lisa Laffey (Bill) and Pam Myer (Robb); and grandnephews and grandniece Nicholas, Zachary, and Mackenzie Laffey, and Robert and Edward Myer.
A memorial was held for Cardwell on Sunday, April 27, at the William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St., “to celebrate the memory of our dear friend, who was the embodiment of the phrase, 'Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal!'" Donations in his name may be made to William Way and will benefit the new Philadelphia LGBTQ+ International Film Festival.
Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
