Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60613
3733 N. Southport Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60613
69 people
favorited this theater
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Main auditorium: 2 Century JJs (35mm/70mm). NEC digital projector. 16mm Eastman projector. Small auditorium (Theatre 2): Barco digital projector. Two 35mm projectors recently installed. I don’t know what kind; I will try to find that out and post info later.
so the Music Box can show 35mm, 70mm and DCP on the main screen – right? what type of projector do they have?
MB bulletin: crystal ball foresees screen #3
humor aside there’s news the theatre is expanding by purchasing the north adjacent property, ostensibly for the purpose of building a third auditorium in the existing building there. the sale just closed i think
The second screening room will be closed for nearly a month for renovations. Add: a much larger screen and digital capability. Subtract: 28 seats, reducing the seating capacity to 70. Story at DNAinfo.
Saw Vertigo here in 2005; auditorium is lovely. And took a peek at the mini-cinema, which is wildy decorated like an outdoor garden (I think). It was great to a see a 100 seat “atmospheric.”
excellent i will visit the theater,,it sounds very interesting,,and nostalgic
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1975
Interesting! Thanks for the info. Maybe it was someone/something else….I mean so many people (living and now dead) have come through that space…
My father is the reputed “ghost” known as “Whitey” who reportedly “haunts” the Music Box. The Music Box Theatre’s website tells about him. A few years ago, I visited the Music Box with my teenage daughter to check things out. The employees we spoke to were all familiar with “Whitey”, and had many questions about him for me. The manager invited us to explore the theatre. We walked all around inside, but “Whitey” never made his appearance known to us. He and my mother, who worked as cashier at the Music Box until my fathers death in 1977, are buried in Graceland Cemetery.
Just saw Cropsey at the Music Box! I felt a strange presence in the front right hand corner of the theatre and there was a strange seat light flickering in a way that seemed inexplicable throughout most of the film. There were also some weird sounds over there, even though that area remained vacant. I thought about asking a staff person if a ghost lived in the theater, but didn’t. Now that I have come online and see that a ghost does in fact hang out at the theatre I am intruiged. I have been to old theatres before, by myself and not noticed anything like this. Has anyone noticed/felt the ghost?? If so, where and what did you feel, see or hear?
Foreign films on some days, art films on others. They are soon to start a Film Noir series in August I believe.
It’s always an eclectic line up of films at the Music Box.
I just went to the Music Box Theatre Yesterday, and they are now showing forign films there.
Hello, gentle readers.
I am a graduate student writing a recent (since 1970) history of the Music Box Theatre. I am looking for people who have firsthand experience attending or working at the Music Box prior to 1983. Maybe this is a longshot, but if anyone is or knows a possible source, please contact me here or at Any help or leads would be greatly appreciated.
I just visited the theater for the first time and it is really great. Saw THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, a Fritz Lang from 1944 with Edward G. Never saw the movie before and it was quite suspenseful. I felt like I was back in time. Only disappointment was that there was no organ player that day, even though it was promised on the theater’s website. The smaller 100 seat screen is decorated to match the rest of the building and it is cute, though I would hate to see a movie there because it is hardly a “big screen” experience.
I did indeed, Paul2!
thanks Eponymous1! did you find this by way of public record archives of the Trib?
Paul2: I have your answer(s): Charles Bickford in “The Sea Bat” and Gary Cooper in “Man From Wyoming”. That day’s ad in the Tribune also reassures the films are “all talking”.
Great photos od the MUSIC BOX Life,s too short.
Nice interior and exterior Music Box photos toward bottom:
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You could also try the Harold Washington Library 3rd floor microfilm room. They have rolls of microfilm of newspapers dating back to 1849. Good Luck. Let us know what you find.
Thanks David. Sounds like a great place to start.
To paul2, there is a store opening in Skokie (on Oakton) called Bob’s Newstand.
They specialize in vintage newspapers & magazines. Copies from specific dates bought as gifts for birthdays & anniversaries etc.
Perhaps you could purchase a Chicago newspaper from that day, and the films at the Music Box would be listed inside.
Might anyone know what feature played the Music Box, Friday, October 10, 1930?
FYI. Director Harold Ramis premiered his new film “Year One” at the Music Box Theatre last night. He still lives near Chicago. Some of the exterior footage may still be up on WGNTV’s website. WGN’s Dean Richards interviewed Ramis out front in the rain.
It was a cloudy day when this shot was taken in 1995:
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