Village Art Theatre

I love the tacky blue marquee! The later gold and white one was an improvement!

As for “Bloody Mama”, it was a Roger Corman film. ‘Nuff said.

Good news! According to 42nd Ward Alderman Reilly’s Office e-newsletter, the Village Theater received final landmark status as of today.
The attached Germania Club building is next on his list.
I have the link if anyone is interested, you are welcome to e-mail me for it.

Here’s a little piece of trivia I don’t think anyone has mentioned on here yet: Did you all know the Village was a gay porno house for a short time just before Bob Taylor purchased it? Yep, it’s the truth and I heard it from Bob Taylor personally when I managed the theater. He said they literally closed the theater and changed it completely in ONE WEEK! He told me this in 2005 when he (sadly) began working for Village Entertainment. I always found it depressing that he was this ill man who had to work for Ron Rooding; a guy who Bob Taylor originally hired as an usher at the Village North when he was a teenager in the 1980’s. Anyway, Bob (or Taylor,as we always called him) mentioned that behind the walls in the lobby are beautiful green marble poster cases. He wanted to keep them at the time but they were in pretty rough shape so he decided to wall over them. Also interesting is the original screen made out of horsehair behind the screens in the back of theaters 3 & 4. Taylor told me the screen was the original from way back when it was a silent theater. Interesting also is the organ that was still in the theater when Taylor purchased the theater. Although long gone he claimed to still have the pipes, which were cleaned and are hanging in his condo.

Greetings. Landmark status for the building housing the Village Theatre, was broached again maybe 10 years ago. Ald. Natarus' stance was that any landmark status would limit future owners from doing renovations. Or prevent them from beng able to sell it.
Duh, that’s the point. To possibly protect buildings from their owners, If the owners actions could harm it’s very existence, facade, or historical signicance.
A term politicos coincidentally like to use against a building as well. As “in no historical significance”. Or “no architechtual sigificance” for that matter.

As with the Esquire and virtually anything else once in his ward, Natarus' opinion on landmarks is thankfully now moot.
I personally questioned him years back on the phone, on the rationale of not landmarking the now since demolished Coe mansion/Ranalli’s at Dearborn & Elm.
He’d actually called me in response to an e-mail I wrote to his office, implying his constituency had passed him by. By not protecting the Gold Coast’s neighborhood charm, in favor of OK-ing any development involving demolition that came down the pike.

He said the placement of the balconies on Ranalli’s exterior, negated it’s ability to be landmarked. Who was the Ald. when the balconies went up? (Brief Silence)
Of course he was.

So using his own argument, owners renovations prevent landmark status,
just as landmark status prevents owners renovations.
He said “I do the best I can”.

So basically his opinion helped greenlight demolition of the Coe and all the 100 year old brownstones adjacent to it. As they were all deemed not worthy of saving.
He claimed we were just losing a few more bars. Which he couldn’t name by the way. Instead the tax revenue generating high rise that was built in it’s place is now a reality. Even it had stops and starts during construction. Then some folks who bought the high end condos, actually complained about noise on Division St.
That’s like moving next door to Midway, and beefing about planes overhead.

The new Ald. has since showed with the Children’s Museum controversy, that he’ll at least do all his homework entirely, instead of just going along with any and all proposed developments. So hopefully The Village & Esquire will get 2nd looks under his watch.

Theatres seem particularly hard to protect though. Because it takes artistic visionaries with lots of money, to make anything else out of them even remotely viable. Some reasonable renovations have to be made. With The Village it’s just the building’s facade, part of which is the theatre ornamentation.
With the Esquire, it’s really just a matter of saving the marquee & facade. Let them build out the inside however they want or need. Like the Biograph did.

The Village Theatre certainly has huge potential given it’s location. And it’s essentially perfectly square interior for remodeling.
Maybe Latin School could pony up some dough and make it their “part time” auditorium. A sort of Theater Workshop complex. They could probably even have help on the taxes as a learning institution.

What a shame that Village operated that way. When they took over a lot of local theatres in the early 2000s, those sites were almost all still potentially good theatres. They were even still getting decent bookings into the Water Tower Theatres.

At the beginning, it appeared that Village Entertainment could have been a successful firm. A Projectionist, you certainly did try to breathe life into the Village Art. Given the right film, the location could still draw a big crowd. The last three films I saw at the Village, “Stranger Than Fiction”, “Venus”, and “Children of Men” certainly had decent sized crowds.

The Village could still make money today with the proper management.

A note for Paul Fortini, and others calling Village Entertainment, Village Theatres or Lakehurst Entertainment or whatever name they are going by today, a “legitimate chain” is a huge stretch of grammar and common sense. For a business to be legitimate, they need to operate like a business, actually PAY their vendors and employees and try to be a good business citizen and comply with local laws (like paying taxes). Ron Rooding and his “partners” only pay vendors when sued or when they must pay to operate. They treat their employees like cattle (I know, because I was one, accuse every manager and employee of stealing from them and probably break every state and federal law concerning employees, time off, insurance, taxes, etc. Most of their locations have been shut down in the recent past for non payment of property taxes, sales taxes, health code violations, fire code violations and worse. They only pay their landlords when threatened with eviction and cant get a lot of films because several major studios have cut them off for non payment. They falsify attendance records and grosses and generally are shoddy, crooked operators.

The Village (Germania) Theatre was originally the Gumbiner circuit. Chicago Tribune, Oct 26, 1915 pg 18. “NEW PLAYHOUSE FOR NORTH SIDE – A moving picture theater with a seating capacity of 1,000, to cost $75,000 is to be erected by Frank Schoeninger on the property at the southwest corner of North Clark street and North avenue…He has leased the entire building, including the theater, through White & Tabor, to H. L. Gumbiner…designs are being prepared by architect Adolph Werner [sic].” His last name is WOERNER in the 1917 business directory. Article also mentions Gumbiner’s involvement in Paulina and a proposed theater that eventually became the Bertha.

Well, Tom, I was just paraphrasing the Tribune – I didn’t have any firsthand experience, as I was not yet living. I certainly don’t doubt it, however! That certainly is unfortunate; why was Fox demanding a higher rental if the film was not yet an established midnight performer?

Kohlberg Theaters ran it from at least 1974-77. After their departure at the end of their lease in March, Charles Cooper signed a 15-year lease on the building and invested $50,000-$125,000 in improving the theater, which was then leased to Bob Taylor, formerly of Brotman and Sherman, with Oscar Brotman himself sharing booking responsibilities with Tom Brueggemann, who was characterized as a young whiz kid. The two quickly turned around the Village’s reputation from dump to attractive.

The Village was quadded in 1991. Rooding came in 1993, after operating the Village North (then still called the 400 Twin) since at least 1989. Interestingly, Rooding attempted to have the building landmarked in 1995 to save it from “the continual and perpetual threat” of destruction. The Germania building was already on the list of consideration at this time. Another interesting quote from this article stated, “Rooding said he and his fiance, Terri Sween, bought the theater in 1993 aware there was a demolition clause in the lease that could be invoked in 1997. The lease stated if the building was not torn down then, they could remain tenants another 14 years, Rooding said.” Shortly thereafter, a followup article stated, “The commission decided to examine other theaters of its era to determine if the Village, built in 1917, merits the designation. They cited the 400 Theatre, the Bryn Mawr and the Biograph as possibly being better examples of old theaters.” Of course, the 400 remains in operation, with a virtually identical interior; the Bryn Mawr had a highly altered facade then and now and remains closed; and the Biograph was landmarked under the criteria of being a better-preserved example of a old theater and subsequently gutted. Now, comparing the facade of the Biograph to the Village – which is the only thing left of the Biograph – can the argument really be made that the Biograph is a better example of a theater facade? I don’t think so. Nonetheless, the Village never received any landmarking.

Robin, there are plenty of places that you can take your niece and nephew if you are in the area. The Cafe Brauer at the South Pond is much improved and is cheaper than the food court at the zoo. Cosi’s is on Clark and they are kid-friendly.

On the subject of the theatre, I don’t think we’ll ever see another movie theatre in this location. I think the location is at risk and I would not be surprised to see demolition permits issued soon.

That place has gone way downhill since it ceased being Mitchell’s and turned into Michael’s. It was even shut down for cockroaches, improper temperatures, and an unsanitary grease trap for a while this summer. On the subject of restaurants, from 1899-1970, the corner of Clark and Germania was occupied by the venerable German restaurant Red Star Inn, which was torn down to allow the drive to be widened for Sandburg Village. This restaurant, a favorite of some influential politicians, including Sen. Dirksen, was the primary reason why the Germania Club, Theater, and Red Star Inn were spared from demolition in the mid-60s. Also a factor was that the theater and the adjacent buildings (Mitchell’s was built as a Walgreens) were owned by State Rep. Bill Schoeninger.

Other things I just found out: In 1977 the operator was Kohlberg theaters. In 1985 there was a proposal to build a large, stepped apartment tower over part of the Germania Club and on the site of the Village and Mitchell’s; the new building would have accommodated replacement locations for both. I would guess that because the Michael’s restaurant is pretty marginal, the corner site including the theater is at risk despite the Orange rating on the theater.

There is a spectacular feature on Classic Cinemas in the Marquee Magazine that just arrived. It is also a tribute to Joe Ducibella.

It contains history, including openings and closings, as well as many photographs. I am sure THS would be happy to sell a copy to anyone interested.

Contact them through this web site:

http://www.historictheatres.org/