United Artists Theatre

Bryan- thanks for sharing that great photo. That double feature played from January 4 to the 17th, 1980. Notice the 3 sets of steel doors facing the street. On Friday and Saturday nights, when there was a full- or almost full- house, the ushers would open those side doors. That way, the audience from the main floor- and the balcony,too- could easily exit onto Dearborn, thus avoiding the crowd lined up on Randolph, tickets in hand, waiting for the next showing. To Mike- in May of 1968, was Morrie still taking tickets? Was Eddie still working as a porter? And was Mr. Milstein still a manager? By the early 70s he was one of the managers of the Loop theatre. In late 1964, ushers started at 80 cents an hour. After 6 months, you got 90 cents. “Candy girls” got $1.00 hour; ticket sellers $1.25- if memory serves.

Here are some photos from December 1986:
http://tinyurl.com/y9w7vfo
http://tinyurl.com/ybrfhtj

I worked at the UA from May of 1968 to around July of 1970,eventually becoming the head usher or “Chief of Service.” Most of the ushers back then were paid 95 sents an hour, as chief I was paid about 1.25 per hour. The people in the projection booth, a union job, were paid $25 per hour and the theater had a union “stage hand” whose salary I don’t really know, but I knew their job was to open and close the curtain and turn the house lights on and off, the rest of the time was his own. The popcorn wasn’t really inventoried, as it cost probably less than a dollar to make a bag three feet high and around 15 inches across. But popcorn cups and soda cups were counted. I remember afternoons in the basement counting hotdogs and writing how many were in each box. Some of the hot dogs I counted in 1970 were probably there when the UA was torn down – they used to keep recycling those dogs until they were all wrinkled and dry! But the work was easy, the hardest job being taking the film canisters up three stories to the booth…you didn’t think those union men would do that now did you? It was a great time and my movie pass got me into to see a lot of flicks for free. The UA was the best theatre downtown, the seat rows were set farther apart and the place was more comfortable. Too bad it got tore down. I guess they knew what they were doing when the the downtown theatres led a petition drive to ban cable – which they called “pay TV” becasue it would put them out of business. Guess they were right!

I think this was my favorite of the Loop theaters. It was really beautiful and somehow felt a little smaller than the rest. A real jewel.

Great post KenC. I mentioned over on the Surf/Playboy/Chelex/Sandburg Theatre page, that some “North By Northwest” scenes were shot at the Ambassador East Hotel. And a famous still of Cary Grant peeking around an alley wall, was shot across the street almost to Astor. Behind the building at the S/W corner of Astor & Goethe.
Someone else had posted that Grant himself was at the grand opening of the Walgreen’s that replaced the Sandburg Theatre in the early `80’s.

Yes if you look at the other Loop palaces where I list the bookings you will find MANY re-releases through the years. WOODSTOCK and 2001 are just two that played many times through the years after their initial releases.

Love those photos! Thanks for posting them, Lost Memory.

btw—did the great, golden oldie-but-goody movie/musical classic “West Side Story” ever play at this theatre at any time? Just curious.

In KenMc’s 04/11/09 post of the 1972 picture, “Diamonds Are Forever” is playing at the Woods down the street.

Me and a buddy saw that there multiple times. Jill St. John, Lana Wood, & a lengthy car chase through “old” Vegas with a Mustang ending up escaping on two wheels. A young man’s dreams fulfilled on a daily basis.

Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cokbce

View link – 1975 Night

Great pic. It shows the giant ABC logo that replaced the Balaban & Katz neon in the photo at the top of this page.

Nice Toronado in the traffic too. A year or two later they had an optional funky, wrap-around rear window. Which today would cost more than the car to replace.

Greetings. I had thought the same thing too. But a friend of mine reminded me of how massive the entrance to the United Artists Theatre was.
It’s multiple glass doors spanned a good distance East, even though it was located on the West corner of that block. It’s possible there was one or two storefronts between it and Flo’s, but not much more than that.

I remember the swing girl had her own set of spotlights isolated on her alcove. Wireless technology was pretty scarce back then, if available at all. So any corded mic would seem cumbersome for someone swinging out over the sidewalk. Presumably needing both hands. Otherwise she’d start going sideways.
As with the old Vaudeville folks, she probably just projected her voice really well. The movement is all that was necessary to capture attention.