Woods Theater
54 W. Randolph Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
54 W. Randolph Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 112 of 112 comments found
I remember seeing “The Bubble” at the Woods in 1966. Although the plot was weak and the acting horrible, I was impressed by the 3-D effects. It would start me on my lifelong hobby as a 3-D photographer and filmgoer.
Some Woods Trivia. In the Spring of 1957, the Essaness chain proudly announced to the world that the Woods Theatre “grosses more per seat than any other film house in the world.” Always excepting Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy in Manhattan, this statement might hold some water. For one thing, beginning during the war years, the Woods began a policy of being open 22 hours a day, closing only for cleaning. This was to attract service men and women and shift workers who wanted entertainment in the wee hours of the morning. In the March 20, 1957 statement Essaness pointed to the example of Paramount’s “High Society” raking in nearly $60,000 in its first week at the 1,206-seat house with a $1.50 top. Another reason given by the chain is that the house steadfastly refuses to stick to advertising material given it by the distributors. Citing “The Moon Is Blue” and “Man With The Golden Arm,” the chain’s executive praised his chain’s “unique and independent policies in respect to programming and advertising.” Continuing, he said, “…whole selling program has developed with the Essaness policy of training its advertising staff from the lower echelons of assistant managers and ushers….Moreover…a theatre must have a personality of its own to sell, especially in the video age.” Sage words even today, methinks.
Also out of the trivia box. In 1960, the Woods was one of Paramount’s biggest grossers for Hitchcock’s “Psycho” which broke all attendance and boxoffice records at the time.
Widescreen/Techno trivia: December 21, 1966 saw the world premiere here of Arch Obeler’s (he introduced “Bwana Devil” in 3D in 1953) “The Bubble” in what was called “Space Vision 3-d”!
Here is a view down Dearborn towards Randolph with the Woods visible (as well as the Daley Center, entrance to the Dearborn Subway, and Marina Towers… phew! That’s a lot of Chicago in one photo!
And this is that same view now.
There is an apocryphal story that Plitt (which operated the competing United Artists theater just across from the Woods) purposefully booked a film into the “U.A” just because the name of the film was “Don’t Go Into The Woods.”
I’d love to know if this is true.
This photograph, dated 1917, the same year the Woods opened, shows the Dearborn Street facade of the theater, with its Venetian-inspired design (albeit somewhat obscured by a fire escape). The Dearborn Street entrance’s marquee can just be seen in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.
The Woods was the home for “guy flicks”. Action films and karate films seemed to always be there. It was home to the Chicago premieres of the James Bond films starting with “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, “Diamonds are Forever”, “Live and Let Die”, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker”. “Diamonds are Forever” set house records that were never broken. Other premieres there included “Cool Hand Luke”, “Willard”, “Carrie”, and “Silver Streak”. As with the other palaces the Woods fell into disrepair in the 80’s as business dropped off. The theater did last until 1989 and was the last of the great Loop palaces to close.
Here is a link to a photo dated 1917, the year of the Woods' opening, showing the theater’s exterior. The Schiller Building, which housed the Garrick Theatre, is just visible on the far left side of the photo. From the University of Minnesota Libraries collection.
I love the marquee of the Woods and the United Artists theatres in Chicago. Would love to see pictures of Randolph St in the late 50’s and early 60’s of the marquees on the street at that time. brucec
In the early 1960’s The Woods was owned and operated by Essaness Theaters Corp., and their coporate office was in the building. I was surprised not to see it listed on the Essaness list.
The Woods theatre was located in the Woods building which was built in 1917. The theatre,located at 50-56 W. Randolph Street, was demolished in 1989. Immediately after demolition the site was used for parking. The Woods was one of many great theatres that were located on Randolph Street…the United Artists, the Garrick, the Oriental, the Palace. Fortunately the Oriental and the Palace have been restored and are Performing Arts Centers.
The Woods Gave way to open land, which has now been claimed by the South end of the New Goodman Theatre Complex.
The Woods is definitely gone. I remember it being demolished when I worked in downtown Chicago back in the early 80’s. Last time I was in Chicago you could still see the outline of the balcony on the wall of the building next door. I guess they left that wall intact as taking it down would have probably endangered that building.