Stratford Theatre
715 W. 63rd Street,
Chicago,
IL
60621
715 W. 63rd Street,
Chicago,
IL
60621
7 people
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If you notice that the closest sign in the picture is the old Stratford drug store. it was operated by a Bill Eisenstead his wife Blanch and son Jack. We were childhood pals. Many times we went out the back door and a across the area way and entered back stage of the Stratford. We met many of the entertainers who were performing there on the stage show bills.Many were unknowns but I remember meeting Sammy Davis Jr. and the Will Masters trio.Senior Wences and his famous hand puppet.The great Gwenn the magician and the best of all the Hollywood Midgets.Animal acts, roller skaters many comedians whistlers and singers. The stratford showed a lot of Warner Bros and Universal movies while the Southtown showed many Paramount ,Columbia and Metro Golden Meyer.Both theatres had there own personalities and both went down in the late fifties. The Stratford became a revival meeting house and the Southtown became Carr’s department store. What a shame that The generations That came after never had a chance to enjoy the excitement and splendor of these old movie houses Which made the Englewood area one of the finest in the city of Chicago!!
Chuckie Z.
Earlier this year (on a different theater), I posted a note regarding the Bob Hope/Stratford Theater connection. I wrote the following:
“At the point of repeating my earlier post about this theater: Bob Hope: During the 1920s, when he was nobody, he had just come from a booking agent’s office in the Loop, looking for work. He found none.
Hope later stated that, at that moment, he decided to give up and go back to Cleveland and go into some other line of work. As luck would have it, he ran into a fellow performer on the street who recommended that he try the West Englewood Theater at 63rd and Ashland Ave., (later to become the Ogden Theater). There, he caught a couple of weeks' work. The theater said they could really use him at their other vaudeville theater, the Stratford. He remained at the Stratford Theater for about a year as the emcee and honed his act. The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve heard him state that where he really got his start was at the Stratford Theater in Chicago.”
Glad to add this tidbit to the Stratford trivia.
“As Hope and Byrne toured, they added more comedy to the act. When Hope found that he had a knack as a master of ceremonies, the act split, and Hope was booked as an "M.C.” at the Stratford Theater in Chicago in an engagement that would be seminal to his career. A master of ceremonies is a host, the link between the performance and the audience-providing continuity between scenes or acts by telling jokes, introducing performers, and assuring that the entertainment does not stop even if delays occurred backstage. Hope was such a success as a master of ceremonies in this Chicago engagement that his initial two-week booking was extended to six months.“
-http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/vaude.html which also features a larger version of the photo displayed here, and an ad
Bryan,
That’s where I found the address, causing me to ask the question. I think you may be correct. The Chicago United may have been on the spot earlier.
Thanks for answering
Was this theater (probably in its earliest days) ever known as the Chicago United Theater?
It’s not just neighborhood lore. I heard Hope state exactly that on the old Johnny Carson Show back in the 70s. It was at the Stratford that his career really took off.
Neighborhood lore tells that Bob Hope got his start at the Stratford.