CHICAGO THEATERS
Growing up in Chicago wasn't always thankless. Albeit there were very few kid friendly places to play. While at Swift I and my brothers would sometimes swim at Thorndale beach among a trillion ladybugs, or my Dad would take us to Lawrence park to fly a balsum trick plane. But day to day fun consisted of empty lots, hopping the Swift playground fence that was always chained shut on Sundays or hang out on Thorndale avenue looking for trouble and avoiding the TJO's.
Anyway ... this is about Theaters. Thank goodness for movie theaters. What an event for a 3-5th grader, and what a time for movies. What I couldn't know then was the Theaters I frequented were Vaudville marvels and architectural masterpieces. The likes you rarely see preserved anymore.
We have the Chicago Theater downtown which is a masterpiece. But Rapp and Rapp had created many theaters in Chicago around the turn of the century and into the roaring 20's. Including the Uptown, Granada, and the Tivoli.
My brothers and I went to the Uptown many times, later I went to the Granada. And we mostly travelled by El train to those great big caverness marble monuments downtown for the latest and greatest films. The State and Lake, The Oriental and about three others I believe. Although impressive, they all folded with exception of the Chicago Theater due mainly to poor upkeep. A Downtown movie in the sixties meant you had to watch with your feet up lest a rat came scampering over your shoes as they traversed the theater. I don't particularly remember this happening to me, but hey, we were kids. Rat's cool.
And the matinee fair that brought us to these places? Besides an assortment of Disney knock-em outs, the likes of 'Emil and the Detectives, The Sword in the Stone, Grimms Brothers Fairy Tales' and such, was the hottest craze to hit the Cowboy and Indians crowd........" Bond .... James Bond."
As a tyke I was completely mesmerized by the sound and color of the Bond movies opening titles. Dr. No, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, and the almighty .. Thunderball. The booming sound echo-ing throughout the gigantic space. The cinemascoped saturated primary colors dancing throughout the titles, barely covering silouetted nipples as they danced, swam or shimmied to the camera.
The Uptown theater is now protected by the landmark act but it is in bad shape. There is an ambitious and protective group heading up a restoration project for the Uptown. I might suggest you look into it if you love theaters. I think it is important for kids today to witness what entertainment was like before them. When all you had , in Uptown's case, was one room, 4,300+ seats and the shizznit block wide screen. Not to mention actual balconies to vicariously dangle your untied shoes over.
Offical History
The Uptown Theatre was built
by architects Rapp and Rapp for the Balaban and Katz Corp. This amazing
corporation started as a family business in the late nickelodeon era and
by the early 1920s had control of most film markets in Chicago. The flagship
of Balaban and Katz, the Chicago Theatre, opened downtown on State Street
in 1921. The Tivoli, which they also built that year, was similar in size
and located on the far south side. Their first theater, the Central Park
on the west side, was surrounded by competition, as was their second, the
Riviera, on the north side. All were designed by Rapp and Rapp. A financial
analysis Balaban and Katz completed in 1923 suggested that their best interests
were served by building a theater as large and lavish as they could manage
near Broadway and Lawrence. And so, the Uptown was planned.
According to the press of
the time, all of these buildings were built for substantial cost and quality
in order to be "for all time." When the Uptown opened in August 1925, the
phrase "an acre of seats in a magic city" was coined to describe the wonders
of over 4,300 seats in a theater that covered 46,000 square feet of land.
At the time, it was the third largest in terms of seating. But it was the
largest, by far, in land area and cubic volume, due in part to the three
vast lobby areas.
Many of the details we associate with a movie palace had not been codified by the time the Uptown opened. The stage shows were planned in consideration of the feature. Music was customized for the large orchestra, as well as for the Uptown's Wurlitzer organ, the second largest one in operation. Stars of national fame played regularly. Even the posters in the display cases were custom artwork with new items every week.
UPTOWN YESTERDAY AND TODAY
