David - there’s a reference here, in 1909. I don’t see much reference to this theater outside 1908-1909. https://ia800607.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?id=moviewor05chal&itemPath=%2F9%2Fitems%2Fmoviewor05chal&server=ia800607.us.archive.org&page=leaf0613
The Riviera was the first mechanically refrigerated (air conditioned) theater in Chicago, with ads for its “freezing plant” first appearing in the Tribune on June 12, 1919. The Central Park, which is often cited as the first air conditioned theater, did not open with a plant in place, but was added at the same time as the Riviera’s, with its advertisement appearing June 21. The Central Park is probably usually cited as first because it opened before the Riviera.
However, the Empire Theater in Montgomery, Alabama had a CO2 refrigeration system in 1917. http://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew162unse/page/2804/mode/2up?view=theater
And a similar system was described in the National Theater in Los Angeles in 1914: http://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew102unse/page/n490/mode/1up?view=theater
I have yet to see any original sources that list J.E.O. Pridmore as the architect for the Vic, but several list John Eberson. The design is similar to other early Eberson designs like the Crown in Chicago which was also built by one of the Victoria backers, Robert Rickson. Also visibly similar to the Austin Paramount. I think it’s evident that someone wrote E.O. Pridmore at some point instead of Eberson and it’s been repeated ever since.
This was likely an early John Eberson work, as the American Terra Cotta Index notes for this building, “Records list both Cerny and Ebertson”. Eberson likely handled the theater portion of the building.
Fox did for a while in the late 20s, acquired many Ascher Bros theatres. Warners controlled the Cooney Brothers circuit. B&K were part of Paramount. So they were mostly present, B&K just controlled the big downtown theatres and many neighborhood ones.
AMC Rosemont has now been reduced to 12 screens. Recliners are being installed, greatly reducing the capacity. It appears that the upstairs premiere tier is being integrated to regular seating. DBOX has been eliminated. This was my preferred theater, but I don’t like recliners, it makes it much harder to get a good seat and reduces the audience effect. I’ll be going to Golf Mill more now.
Hippodrome was used at this time to indicate high-class vaudeville. It could also refer to theaters with water or circus acts but the usage had broadened by this point. The October 14, 1911 issue of Variety indicates that the Langley opened October 7, 1911. The actual address was 702 E. 63rd. The Sanborn Map, V16 Sheet 26, indicates actual seating capacity as of 1926 was 870 despite the claimed 1911 capacity of 1100. The initial policy was “not more than five acts [vaudeville], one booked for the entire week”.
Motion Picture News, December 19, 1925: “Construction contracts on a new theater at Des Plaines, Ill., have been awarded to Otto, John, & Butler, 818 Lee (Street), Des Plaines. The house is owned by W.C. Brahan Magee, 549 Lee, and will be two story, 42 by 160 feet. It will cost $60,000. There will be stores and offices in the building.” This really referred to the new lobby and remodeling of the house, to better compete with the Des Plaines Theatre. The theater reopened and closed several times over the years.
Further research on films played at the Erlanger on a roadshow basis – presented in a theatrical manner, with reserved seats and scheduled showtimes, twice a day:
Oct 30-Dec 24 1927 – “Wings” – played 8 weeks (including special sound effects exclusive to only a few theaters)
Feb 26-Mar 24 1928 – Cecil B. Demille’s “The King of Kings” – played 4 weeks
Jan 15-Jan 28 1933 – Cecil B. Demille’s “Sign of the Cross” – played 2 weeks
Feb 12-Mar 19 1933 – “Cavalcade” – played 5 weeks
Apr 12-Jul 11, 1933 – “The Great Ziegfeld” – played 13 weeks, noted as the longest roadshow run in Chicago since “Birth of a Nation”
Aug 30-Oct 3, 1936 – “Romeo & Juliet” – played 5 weeks
Mar 18-April 1937 – Capra’s “Lost Horizon” – played 4 weeks
May 9, 1937-? – “Captains Corageous”
Aug 8-Aug 28, 1937 – The Firefly 2 weeks
Aug 29-Sept 18? 1937 – “The Life of Emile Zola”
In 1939, management considered abandoning legitimate performances and turning the theater into a grindhouse, but ultimately decided not to.
On February 8, 1914 at the Palace, as part of his vaudeville act, Windsor McKay debuted “Gertie the Dinosaur”, one of the world’s first animated films and the first to be animated using keyframe and many other important animation techniques. The film has great importance in animation history. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gertie-the-dinosaur-1914-animated-cartoon
The sign read Palace Theatre during construction, but was quickly changed to Palace Music Hall, probably to avoid confusion with other Palace Theatres. It was part of the Orpheum circuit, and on completion of the New (now Cadillac) Palace, passed to Erlanger. The Palace Music Hall showed several pictures during its early years, often during summer months when not showing vaudeville. In 1913 Edison Kinetophone “talking pictures” were shown here and at the Orpheum’s Majestic, though the synchronization was not very successful. In 1914, Lyman Howe’s Panama Canal pictures were shown. Other films were later shown intermittently as part of Erlanger’s early road show picture policy.
There’s more than that if you go digging. King of Kings, The Life of Emile Zola. I bet you could dig up many more. It was set up as a road show house. That’s a significant part of theater history and fits the site’s criteria.
There was a previous Glen theater in Glen Ellyn. It opened in 1914 at 481 Main Street, designed by George Awsumb for T. Stuart Smith. It was operated by Sam Bowden. In 1923 Polka Brothers took over the lease, intending to demolish it and build a new 1000 seat theatre. However, voters shut down Sunday movies, which killed these plans, but they proceeded without Polka Brothers. Later, a theater was proposed for Main & Duane streets, but went unbuilt, as did a proposed theater in conjunction with a Masonic Lodge. The Glen opened February, 1927.
That’s weird, I put that it was a 1913 map but that information seems to be lost. I’d think for structural reasons it would be unlikely to convert a single-story retail building to a three-story retail & apartments. Light wells, stairs, basement, and all. I think it’s possible that the party wall and maybe the shell of the back part of the building were reused, but I doubt any significant amount of it was retained. Interesting, though.
David - there’s a reference here, in 1909. I don’t see much reference to this theater outside 1908-1909. https://ia800607.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?id=moviewor05chal&itemPath=%2F9%2Fitems%2Fmoviewor05chal&server=ia800607.us.archive.org&page=leaf0613
The Riviera was the first mechanically refrigerated (air conditioned) theater in Chicago, with ads for its “freezing plant” first appearing in the Tribune on June 12, 1919. The Central Park, which is often cited as the first air conditioned theater, did not open with a plant in place, but was added at the same time as the Riviera’s, with its advertisement appearing June 21. The Central Park is probably usually cited as first because it opened before the Riviera.
However, the Empire Theater in Montgomery, Alabama had a CO2 refrigeration system in 1917. http://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew162unse/page/2804/mode/2up?view=theater
And a similar system was described in the National Theater in Los Angeles in 1914: http://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew102unse/page/n490/mode/1up?view=theater
I have yet to see any original sources that list J.E.O. Pridmore as the architect for the Vic, but several list John Eberson. The design is similar to other early Eberson designs like the Crown in Chicago which was also built by one of the Victoria backers, Robert Rickson. Also visibly similar to the Austin Paramount. I think it’s evident that someone wrote E.O. Pridmore at some point instead of Eberson and it’s been repeated ever since.
This was likely an early John Eberson work, as the American Terra Cotta Index notes for this building, “Records list both Cerny and Ebertson”. Eberson likely handled the theater portion of the building.
Notably the architect went by “Jerry J. Cerny” which also helps distinguish him from the later architect Jerome Robert Cerny
Architect was Jeremiah J. Cerny
Fox did for a while in the late 20s, acquired many Ascher Bros theatres. Warners controlled the Cooney Brothers circuit. B&K were part of Paramount. So they were mostly present, B&K just controlled the big downtown theatres and many neighborhood ones.
All seating is now recliners. Too bad.
AMC Rosemont has now been reduced to 12 screens. Recliners are being installed, greatly reducing the capacity. It appears that the upstairs premiere tier is being integrated to regular seating. DBOX has been eliminated. This was my preferred theater, but I don’t like recliners, it makes it much harder to get a good seat and reduces the audience effect. I’ll be going to Golf Mill more now.
Hippodrome was used at this time to indicate high-class vaudeville. It could also refer to theaters with water or circus acts but the usage had broadened by this point. The October 14, 1911 issue of Variety indicates that the Langley opened October 7, 1911. The actual address was 702 E. 63rd. The Sanborn Map, V16 Sheet 26, indicates actual seating capacity as of 1926 was 870 despite the claimed 1911 capacity of 1100. The initial policy was “not more than five acts [vaudeville], one booked for the entire week”.
Maybe it had to do with this: http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/variety99-1930-07_0307
This photo is not of the Delphi, it is the Adelphi.
A redevelopment project next year will remove the stage house, but otherwise wrap around this building and the bank next door, unless plans change.
Motion Picture News, December 19, 1925: “Construction contracts on a new theater at Des Plaines, Ill., have been awarded to Otto, John, & Butler, 818 Lee (Street), Des Plaines. The house is owned by W.C. Brahan Magee, 549 Lee, and will be two story, 42 by 160 feet. It will cost $60,000. There will be stores and offices in the building.” This really referred to the new lobby and remodeling of the house, to better compete with the Des Plaines Theatre. The theater reopened and closed several times over the years.
Further research on films played at the Erlanger on a roadshow basis – presented in a theatrical manner, with reserved seats and scheduled showtimes, twice a day:
Oct 30-Dec 24 1927 – “Wings” – played 8 weeks (including special sound effects exclusive to only a few theaters) Feb 26-Mar 24 1928 – Cecil B. Demille’s “The King of Kings” – played 4 weeks Jan 15-Jan 28 1933 – Cecil B. Demille’s “Sign of the Cross” – played 2 weeks Feb 12-Mar 19 1933 – “Cavalcade” – played 5 weeks Apr 12-Jul 11, 1933 – “The Great Ziegfeld” – played 13 weeks, noted as the longest roadshow run in Chicago since “Birth of a Nation” Aug 30-Oct 3, 1936 – “Romeo & Juliet” – played 5 weeks Mar 18-April 1937 – Capra’s “Lost Horizon” – played 4 weeks May 9, 1937-? – “Captains Corageous” Aug 8-Aug 28, 1937 – The Firefly 2 weeks Aug 29-Sept 18? 1937 – “The Life of Emile Zola”
In 1939, management considered abandoning legitimate performances and turning the theater into a grindhouse, but ultimately decided not to.
On February 8, 1914 at the Palace, as part of his vaudeville act, Windsor McKay debuted “Gertie the Dinosaur”, one of the world’s first animated films and the first to be animated using keyframe and many other important animation techniques. The film has great importance in animation history. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gertie-the-dinosaur-1914-animated-cartoon
The sign read Palace Theatre during construction, but was quickly changed to Palace Music Hall, probably to avoid confusion with other Palace Theatres. It was part of the Orpheum circuit, and on completion of the New (now Cadillac) Palace, passed to Erlanger. The Palace Music Hall showed several pictures during its early years, often during summer months when not showing vaudeville. In 1913 Edison Kinetophone “talking pictures” were shown here and at the Orpheum’s Majestic, though the synchronization was not very successful. In 1914, Lyman Howe’s Panama Canal pictures were shown. Other films were later shown intermittently as part of Erlanger’s early road show picture policy.
There’s more than that if you go digging. King of Kings, The Life of Emile Zola. I bet you could dig up many more. It was set up as a road show house. That’s a significant part of theater history and fits the site’s criteria.
There was a previous Glen theater in Glen Ellyn. It opened in 1914 at 481 Main Street, designed by George Awsumb for T. Stuart Smith. It was operated by Sam Bowden. In 1923 Polka Brothers took over the lease, intending to demolish it and build a new 1000 seat theatre. However, voters shut down Sunday movies, which killed these plans, but they proceeded without Polka Brothers. Later, a theater was proposed for Main & Duane streets, but went unbuilt, as did a proposed theater in conjunction with a Masonic Lodge. The Glen opened February, 1927.
Should be listed as demolished as the current building is clearly different
If so, I think the 1934 image in the photos section is probably the Chicago Crown, as it has similarities to Emerson’s design for the Vic.
Slated to close: http://www.dailyherald.com/business/20180604/24-hour-spa-pitched-for-amc-theater-site-in-vernon-hills
The original is still there, it’s the additions being removed.
The redevelopment proposal is dead. https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/northlight-theatres-plans-for-evanston-location-have-been-shelved/
That’s weird, I put that it was a 1913 map but that information seems to be lost. I’d think for structural reasons it would be unlikely to convert a single-story retail building to a three-story retail & apartments. Light wells, stairs, basement, and all. I think it’s possible that the party wall and maybe the shell of the back part of the building were reused, but I doubt any significant amount of it was retained. Interesting, though.