Rosewood Theatre

Organ failure in 1921:

March 23, 1917, plaintiff had judgment against defendants by confession for $3,759.72 and costs. The defense set up in the affidavit is that defendants on February 13, 1917, operated the Rosewood theatre as a moving picture house; that when they purchased the theatre it was supplied with a pipe-organ orchestra of plaintiff’s manufacture; that it did not give satisfaction and that plaintiff represented that it could not be made to give satisfaction because of its location in the theatre; that thereupon the plaintiff sold to the defendants one pipe-organ orchestra, style “V,” for $5,500, and warranted that it would give satisfaction; that $1,510 was paid on account of the purchase price at the time and the balance of the purchase price was the note in judgment; that the organ did not give satisfaction in that it failed to keep in tune; that the various pipes and stops were so constructed as to create sounds which were displeasing to all who heard them; that defendants notified plaintiff of the defects, which it attempted to correct, but failed in doing so; that by reason of such defects the organ was of no value to defendants, who notified plaintiff to remove it, which plaintiff refused to do, whereupon defendants removed it and placed it in storage for plaintiff’s account, sending the warehouse receipt therefor to it; that a consideration for said $3,900 note on which judgment had been confessed had wholly failed. A chattel mortgage was given upon the organ to secure the note, and it appears that after the organ was stored plaintiff sold it under the chattel mortgage and that it brought $1,044. On a trial before court and jury there was a verdict and judgment in defendants' favor, and plaintiff brings the record here by this appeal for review.

There was an abundance of evidence from which the jury might properly find that the style “V” organ which defendants bought of plaintiff for their moving picture theatre was wholly unsatisfactory for the purpose for which it was purchased and entirely worthless to defendants in their moving picture business in which it was to be used, and that plaintiff knew the purpose for which the organ was to be used and, so knowing, installed it in defendants' Rosewood theatre.

We find no error in the instructions or in the rulings of the trial judge upon the admission or exclusion of testimony. The record being free from reversible error, the judgment of the municipal court is affirmed.

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Here are photos of this theater.

Is this where the Beatuy Salon(and later a subway franchise) was?
My stepfather owns a baseball card store not too far away (www.elitetradingcards.com) and I would walk past this every time i got off the montrose stop.

It closed May 3, 1953 and was considered for use as a dance hall, but the community did not allow it and it underwent retail conversion.

The Rosewood was, of course, named for the intersection of Montrose and Ravenswood. It the theater portion of the building is doomed as part of the Brown line expansion, done in by the very force that brought it into existence at that location. The CTA aquired it in the last month. The theater is empty and has a fence around the front; the corner cleaners too. The rest of the building is still in operation. It has some nice Sullivanesque terra cotta medallions. The auditorium was not entirely gutted for the contractor’s shop and still looks mostly the same; it was a simple barrel-vault design with arches. There are windows cut into the sides that you can peer into.

July 10 2004,just stopped by The Rosewood (now the “Rosewood Cabinet” store of Ravenswood)at 1821/23 W Montrose and it’s still there! I stopped in and saw what must have been the entrance/lobby section and the store slopes up towards the rear. Behind the back wall of the store,must be where the theater section is or once was,it has a long section in back you can see from the alley and elevated tracks.The Oriental gentleman at the counter was aware the building was a theater once long ago and mentioned the original owners of long ago were the people who had the theater. My wife told me it was “Rosies Restaurant” at one time in the ‘70s,makes you wonder if the two buisness names had any nostolgic reference to the theater. Quite a facinating little neiborhood this little obscure theater once entertained.
The front has obviously been removed long ago,replaced with plain brown brick and storefront windows.