McVickers Theatre
25 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
25 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
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Showing 26 - 50 of 100 comments
Exterior View
Interior Detail
Just in case a Google search doesn’t bring it up properly, the old Chicago Historical Society is now called the Chicago History Museum. And I’m petty sure it uses a Clark St address.
They made the change a number of years ago, I think to in order to qualify for different types of funding or grants.
Down at the Chicago Cultural Center, Tim Samuelson is also a great source for Chicago history.
There was a family named Stevens who owned hotels in Chicago; try this link to a story from Chicago Magazine about them.
View link
Additionally, the Chicago Historical Society may assist you. They are on North Avenue in Chicago.
Good luck.
I have an old photo of a man. It is a photo glued on a hard cardboard. The wording under is is Stevens, Chicago, McVickers Theatre. I would like to identify the man. Could you help me locate someone who could help identify him? Thank you for your help,
The last theater will not send you to the Edens, try this:
Edens
Chicago’s CINERAMA Theaters
Palace
Opera House
McVickers
Cinestage
Edens
Michael Coate has done a great amount of research to find out which CINERAMA films played at which CINERAMA theaters all around the United States and Canada. Here is his list for the McVickers. Thanks Michael
WINDJAMMER (Played previously at the Opera House) December 25,1959, 22 Weeks, 3-Strip CineMiracle
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHER GRIMM, August 8, 1962, 29 Weeks, 3-Strip CINERAMA
HOW THE WEST WAS WON, February 27, 1963, 37 Weeks, 3-Strip CINERAMA
IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, November 19, 1963, 33 Weeks, 70mm
CIRCUS WORLD, July 8, 1964, 15 Weeks, 70mm
THE BEST OF CINERAMA, October 21, 1964, 9 Weeks, 3-Strip CINERAMA
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, March 10, 1965, 29 Weeks, 70mm
THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, September 28, 1965, 9 Weeks, 70mm
BATTLE OF THE BULGE, December 22, 1965, 14 Weeks, 70mm
RUSSIAN ADVENTURE, March 29, 1966 (World Premiere), 11 Weeks, 3-Strip CINERAMA/KinoPanorama
KHARTOUM, June 22, 1966, 11 Weeks, 70mm
In the late 60s- early 70s, the McVickers played quite a few films from American-International. On Friday, August 15, 1969, SONNY and CHER were on stage at 8 and 10 P.M. with guest M.C. JIMMY P. STAGG, D.J. at WCFL, to promote the film “CHASTITY”.
Nice photo and ad Bryan.
I saw “Gone with the Wind” at the McVickers in the mid-1960’s I think – it was the release which converted the film to wide-screen. It had a balcony – my parents and a friend and I were there – and the sound was pretty good. The McVickers was still in pretty good shape at that point and it was the only time I was there.
The Art Institute of Chicago has this item which attributes the third McVickers Theatre to architect Thomas W. Lamb as well as Henry Newhouse.
As the Adler & Sullivan-designed second McVickers Theatre was demolished to make way for the third McVickers, shouldn’t it have its own Cinema Treasures page?
Funny, that 11/29/08 picture link has a woman’s bunny costume that predates Hefner’s Playboy magazine launched in Chicago by 5 years.
Over on the Montclare Theater CT page, I believe it’s mentioned Hefner thinks he got the idea of the bunny cuffs with no sleeves, from his days as an usher at the Montclare. They wore jackets with fake, cardboard shirt cuffs underneath.
This is one of the earlier versions of the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/cfx5vf
FYI, Just a further tidbit about Claudia Cassidy, originally posted by BWChicago & SPearce in February of `08.
There is a theatre bearing her name, the Claudia Cassidy Theatre, located in the Chicago Cultural Center at 78 East Washington. It is located next the GAR Rotunda & GAR Hall on the Randolph St. side. I’m sure the history can be easily accessed by visiting
www.chicagoculturalcenter.org
The McVickers Theater can be seen in the background of this 1950 photo from Life Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/6f75v7
The attraction posted on the marquee of the McVickers in the old photo posted above by Lost is “The Bostonians”. It was a popular touring company in the 1890s and early 1900s which specialized in operettas and operas.
I went there a lot during the 1970s when it was in decline. It had been reduced to a 3 films-for-a-dollar dump. I remember the feel of a sticky carpet walking in. I also remember the Entenmann’s Bakery across the street.
I was unfortunately at the McVickers during it’s decline. I was the ride to a heavily advertised, short-run showing of “Make Them Die Slowly” in late 1982 or early `83. A campy horror film billed as “Banned In 31 Countries!”.
The tag line apparently worked, as the by then decaying structure was clearly overwhelmed by the those who showed up.
The restrooms were located in the basement. Needless to say the archaic plumbing was no longer up to the task of large crowds. As the ensuing flood approached the grand stairwell upwards, management saw fit to only rope off the area, instead of closing and/or causing chaos/losing money.
As with most of the downtown theatres already in decline, rodents could be heard and felt under foot during the feature presentation. So much so that at one of the many points the film stopped, rowdier patrons would yell: “Hey rats, the film broke!"
As if the rodents were somehow in charge or running the projector.
It was sad to see the once grand, vintage facade and ornate interior in such disrepair. Running "Make Them Die Slowly” sadly became a fitting end to a glorious theatre history. As previously documented, the McVickers closed shortly thereafter.
According to Gerald Bordman’s “American Musical Theatre” (Oxford,2001), “Excelsior” opened in New York at Niblo’s Garden on August 21 1883 and ran until Dec. 15th. The Kiralfy Brothers imported the show from Paris. It was a ballet-pantomime with no spoken dialog. Haniola, Imre and Arnold Kiralfy were immigrants from Hungary who began their American careers as dancers but later became prolific producers of stage spectaculars such as “Excelsior” at the McVickers.
On Thursday, June 19, 1884:
M’VICKER’S THEATRE
THIRD WEEK OF CONTINUOUS SUCCESS.
The Magnificent, Spectacular, Dramatic, Ballet Pan-
tomine.
KIRALFY BROS.’
Grandest Production.
EXCELSIOR!
Sixth “Excelsior†Matinee Saturday
SPECIAL PERFORMANCE SUNDAY NIGHT
(Obviously, the typefaces and sizes were different; but there it is, the performance was called ‘Excelsior!’.)
My great-grandmother writes in her diary of attending McVickers Theatre while visiting Chicago on June 19, 1884. I wonder if anyone could tell me what play she attended.
Thank you. I remember Claudia Cassidy; the other name is not familiar to me.
The McVickers was leased by B&K as a 30 year lease from 1937-1966. JLS had a 99-year lease previously, but after they defaulted on it the Board of Education took possession. The 1962 deal did involve some refurbishment such as paint, carpeted rows, and other things. It is unclear to me, then, how JLS was involved in 1962. The McVickers closed to Cinerama on September 11, 1966. Sill under the Nederlanders, first show this time around was “Half a Sixpence” for 7 weeks starting Nov. 1, then “On A Clear Day YOu Can See Forever from Dec. 19 to Jan 28, followed by the open run of Fiddler from Jan 30 to Oct 21. Man of La Mancha came on Nov. 8 and ran for 22 weeks. It then went back to movies with a reserved seat engagement of "Gone With The Wind”. The Nederlanders, as the Diana Theater Co., retained the lease until 1984, when they closed it (though it had long ceased as a legit house and was instead showing X-Rated, rock westerns, and the like in the interim).
Citicorp then assumed the lease , because the Board of Education had sold it to Citicorp’s predecessor, First Federal, in 1979, and Diana was not maintaining it. Citing an unstable facade, but perhaps more likely an excuse to get a tax drain off the books, Citicorp demolished it in 1985. The soft review was by Thomas Willis, while the harsh one was by Claudia Cassidy.
REndres: I don’t know about the McClurg Court Theater, past my Chicago time. I don’t think I was ever in the McVickers again after “Do Re Mi” (or wanted to be for a while, probably). I remember reading in the newspaper/hearing on the news that the ship used in the “Windjammer” was in Chicago – there was alot of publicity about that. I knew of “Windjammer,” but I don’t remember if I saw it, sort of think I did, or maybe could have seen a trailer of it in another theater. But I am becoming verrrry seasick and see this ship roiling on the water. I may have seen it and left the theater early. I vaguely recall someone telling me once that if I had seen “Windjammer,” I would remember it.
BWChicago: I was remiss earlier. Thank you for taking the time to share the detailed quoted material from the Tribune critics of “Do Re Mi” and the McVickers remodel in ‘62. I seem to recall those reviews and that being the flavor of them. Do you have the name of the critic who wrote the first, soft review? Just curious.