Chicago Theatre
175 N. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
175 N. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
98 people
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Showing 226 - 250 of 304 comments
Thank you, Brian; it is nice to know this. Maybe research on Chicago area theatres will now go even faster than before. It’s a pity more cities' papers are not fully on-line, but so much scanning and server space is no doubt expensive.
Well, actually Jim, the full run of the Chicago Tribune is now online, available through the Chicago Public Library, and various local libraries and universities. once you get a hang of running searches (I usually do a combination search of several unlikely theater names that would appear in the daily listings, like “milford AND rockne AND adelphi” or what have you), you can fairly easily pull up movie listings for a set window of time. It would be time consuming of course, but less fatiguing than microfilm.
Did anyone see any of the Conan O'Brien shows from the Chicago? Very heartening sight to see them pan across a full house cheering wildly for Conan.
Joe DuciBella of the Theatre Historical Society, located in Elmhurst, is a recognized authority on the CHICAGO, so he may already have compiled such data. He is at:
You can of course do the research yourself by viewing the listings for it in microfilmed copies of the Chicago papers, either at libraries there or by having films sent to your local library. It is a tedious process, but probably the only way to it today.
Can anyone tell me how to obtain a copy of the bookings at the Chicago Theatre for the years 1940 through 1944?
Thanks.
It was on one of those office floors above the lobby, where B&K once had space (I think later Plitt too). You took the elevator upstairs and walked about twenty steps to the screening room’s entrance. It was pretty modern, even having rocker chairs. I photographed the screening room. My whole collection of photos was later given to the Theatre Society in Elmhurst. I’m sure they would sell copies for a few bucks. It seems to me that they would just rip the thing out if they were going to use it for office space. It was an odd space for office conversion, and the interior of the office floor had been demolished to the four exterior walls at the time I saw it. The screening room sat in a big open space.
I’ll drop you a note when I get a few minutes Brian.
I think someone at the theater told me it was office space now but they were looking at using it. LTS, how was it accessed? Also, please email me some time, i’d like to chat.
In the early 90’s it was still up there, although it was draped like an M&R Cinema: heavy, cheap fabric in funky blues and yellows.
Don’t know if it still remains.
Ironic that they will open the “Downstairs” when originally there was the “Little Chicago” upstairs. On page 207 of Ben Hall’s landmark book of 1961 THE BEST REMAINING SEATS …, there is an illustration and caption revealing the 250-seat “try-out theatre” on the top floor of the building. Completely equiped and decorated, it was only for the B&K officials and never open to the public. I wonder what it is today.
The Chicago has apparently created a second venue in the basement of the Chicago called “Chicago Theatre Downstairs” opening in July. I believe they were once considering putting two shoebox theatres in this space in the early days of the 1980s renovations.
No.
Were 3 projector Cinerama films ever screened at the Chicago theatre?
Great photo submissions. It is a classic.
Hard to believe there was once one just like it at 63rd and Cottage Grove.
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/eo2tj
An auditorium view:
View link
Side lobby ceiling details:
View link
Two great photographs of the lobby, taken during the Chicago International Film Festival 2005:
View link
Chandelier & ceiling in the lobby:
View link
Warren: Great photo!
I just saw the movie Chicago with Catherine Zeta-Jones Douglas and near the end of the movie the theatre’s exterior at night is shown with its great vertical marquee and curved window.
I didn’t get downtown very much, we lived off 63rd street and then moved to Roseland on 118th street. Mostly I frequented the theaters in Roseland (State, Parkway, Ridge, Normal, Roseland, Verdi)..but I do fondly recall one of the rare trips my Grandparents made to the Loop and we did the town. We went to Navy Pier, window shopped and topped the day off by going to the Chicago Theater and watching “Escape in the Desert” a remake of the Petrified Forest starring Alan Hale, Phillip Dorn, Helmet Dante and Irene Manning. Eddie Peabody (The Banjo King) was the stage show. It was a great experience for me…9 years old to sit in that magnificent structure and watch the great entertainment..even if the film was less than average. People today have missed out on a great era.
Doug Bruton Denison, Texas
Here is a nice July 1941 view under the marquee from the Library of Congress
Recent color photos of this theatre can be found on the site: “America’s Stunning Theatres” by photographer and stagehand Noah Kern at: http://www.pbase.com/affablebeef/theatres Comments and information may be left there without registration; such can be public view or only to Mr. Kern. Scroll down the page to find the name, and then click on the sample image above it to be taken to the page of photos of it.
Here is a 1949 photo of the Chicago and State-Lake by Stanley Kubrick
From Russell Phillips' Galleries:
1982 (pre-restoration) photos of:
Foyer w/ Vending Machine
Ladies Lounge
Auditorium Entry and Proscenium
Auditorium
From Russell Phillips' [url=http://www.photoeye.com/Gallery/forms/index.cfm?image=1&id=185859&imagePosition=1&Door=6&Portfolio=Portfolio1&Gallery=0>Galleries</a>:
1982 (pre-restoration) photos of:
Foyer w/ Vending Machine
Ladies Lounge
Auditorium Entry and Proscenium
Auditorium
IF no one responds to your question about the “suits of armor” you might possibly find the data at the Theatre Historical Soc. just outside of Chicago in Elmhurst. Contact them through their Ex. Director, Rich Sklenar at www.historictheatres.org Their man Joe DuciBella is their resident expert on the CHICAGO and may well be able to help.