There was a recent (early May) story in the Milwaukee Sentinel that the Modjeska is now closed. The youth group that had been operating it at a deficit had to close it’s doors. Maybe someone can post the link.
Took me a while to track this theater down. I attended a dance show here that a friend’s sister performed in around 1986.
They performed “Businessman’s Lunch”, which included a famous typewriter themed dance routine.
I asked the school about the theatre’s history then, but had completely forgotten about it until now. I recall the stage as being quite wide. And the seating was nothing like an old theater. I believe we sat on platorms that had been built at different levels. Like a theater in the round would be. But the stage was still along the back, West wall as I recall.
I do not recall anything else about the interior.
Greetings gtl. You surely remember Oliver’s Pub then too. It was just to the North of Lane Drugs on Dearborn, directly across from the Playboy Theater. My grade school Ogden actually had our graduation luncheon there. Only on the Near North side in the `70’s, would a school take a bunch of kids to a bar.
If you are ever down there, there is still an Oliver’s Pub advertisement painted on the brick wall, across the alley from Five Faces. It is up on the East elevation above Shennanigan’s, and is partially covered by exterior duct work from when Shennanigan’s had a grill inside.
I’m sure you also remember the China Doll on the S/E corner too. With their fleet of bashed up, red AMC Gremlin delivery vehicles. Driven by drivers who literally parked by ear.
Thank you for the corrections. I remember the neanderthal in the museum case. But the chimp in the tux was why I was taken there by my parents. Is it possible there was more than one night to the premiere? We’d known Jerry Dukor for many years. He may have gone back and just met us there. He later worked at a CD store on North Ave. And at a florist called The Bronx Zoo at 12 E. Division. Jerry died around 2000.
We were regulars at the All Night Shows. Your husband did a fantastic job booking the films. We’d grab a bite beforehand at Lane Drugs, then again afterwards. Same waitress sometimes.
Nice Chuck1231. We’re those some type of promotional pics at one time?
They seem a bit enhanced with photoshop or something.
The street surface is perfect in one. Plus the moon, shadows and interior details in the night shot look almost fabricated.
At least the mobile phone masts will apparently be history. Can’t imagine any developer would maintain a lease with the cell phone companies. When the result is so unsightly. Who would want to buy in a building with all that clumsy stuff attached to it?
A lot of condo boards are now forbidding the addition of even satellite dishes on balcony railings from the onset.
Thanks for posting that. In the Flicker comments section someone confirmed the name of the bar next door was “Bar RR Ranch”. That’s where Channel 7’s Joel Daly/Sundowners played regularly.
jhallock, Check out the 7/24/09 post by Sonny D.
That appears to be the most current organization involved in saving the Midway. There is a website link embedded in that post.
Apparently Marilyn Miglin closed her Oak St. retail store for good, some time back. So any say she had in what went on with the Esquire is now possibly gone too. (See BWChicago’s 9/29/08 post) Unless she owns her building and is still an active Oak Street Council member.
Another novel idea would be to have Second City take over the management of Pipers Alley.
They could have mini live shows before the start of each film, to test out main stage material. Similar to what the Marx Bros. would do. They ironed out the kinks in routines that ultimately appeared rewritten in films, in front of a live audience first.
It could be a regular entertainment mecca over there. Plus the Second City ownership surely has the right connections,and would benefit from an improved theater nearby.
Just to the left of the Wood’s entrance is the Western Nite Club. On the sign you can barely make out The Sundowners. That was the country & western group that old ABC/Channel 7 news anchor Joel Daly was a member of. They were the standing house musical act for years. That was a neat place. In the basement as I recall.
B&G was a 24 hour diner type restaurant. It had multiple booths that looked out of windows facing the Oak Street Side, and one that faced the Rush Street side. It later became The Oak Tree restaurant. Both served the Rush St. night life crowd on a continual basis.
There was one regular, rather surly waitress that worked at B&G. Notorious for just throwing your plates on the table.
I stand corrected, and I signed the petition. Thanks for setting me straight.
Ironically I have always been an advocate for preservation and restoration of the Uptown. As evidenced in all of my previous posts to Cinema Treasures.
I also did freelance work for the city for 10 years. So I’ve experienced a bit of bureaucracy first hand.
Some may also want to search a Tribune series from a few years back. About the city and the preservation of various buildings within Chicago. At the time, all of the ones that had been lost needlessly were listed by address. My previous point was made with that particular series in mind.
I guess I was concerned that any project requiring the city’s help for preservation, would likely receive low priority if any, given current economic conditions and the city’s budget woes.
I believe in JAM, and that they will step up to the plate as things evolve. I believe I read that they were the only buyer to show up at the sale.
Wow. Now THAT is what makes Cinema Treasures a truly special forum.
Just reading and knowing that a part of the State-Lake Theatre lives on in someone’s home, is heart warming.
I’m sure everyone would love to see a current picture of the organ.
If it’s not too intrusive on your privacy. If so we’d all understand.
I posted on one of the other CT pages of a suburban Chicago home, that has a huge pipe organ, Kaliope & Victrola collection in essentially what is a museum on the guy’s property.
The Festival/Mode mentioned in the very top bio paragraph was located on Sheridan, and not Sheffield as written above.
Sheffield turns into Sheridan a block South of where the Festival/Mode stood. The Westbound stretch of Sheridan that intersects Sheffield starts at the inner drive of LSD to the East.
It is also why the “L” stop is called Sheridan. Also the name on the Sheridan 151 bus.
I am quite certain that JAM’s intentions for the Uptown are and always have been all good. What “evidence suggests otherwise”?
Who in their right mind would spend 3 million or whatever it was, just to prevent competition from spending another 30-40 million, renovating a building with such huge problems that’s been empty for 30 years?
JAM could have NOT bought it and still gotten that result.
My understanding is that JAM owns the Riviera, and only manages the Aragon.
And the simple competition in the music biz, is to book who is most popular for the least amount of money, in the biggest place you have available.
And yes, that would be the Uptown. But there are so many insanely expensive variables to undertake before that could even remotely have been a threat.
Hypothetically, if the Uptown WAS bought and fully renovated/opened by JAM’s competition, it would still come down to who could book the bigger name acts consistently. 3-40 million is a pretty big gamble upfront to prevent competition.
JAM openly claimed it had wanted to buy and renovate the Uptown for years. But the roadblocks and various players invloved were always insurmountable. (Some of which is stated in links in posts above, from around the time they finally purchased it.)
I agree the City of Chicago seems shamefully indifferent to what happens to the Uptown. Or most landmark worthy buildings for that matter. Unless they can get their piece of the action. The City is claiming it’s treading water itself. So incentives are going to be flying out of City Hall any time soon.
I don’t know why I remember this, but I think NorthLight Theatre had something to do with trying to resurrect the Coronet Theatre at one time too. I seem to remember their name on the marquee.
Hopefully more will come out of this venture than sadly didn’t, over there.
It will be interesting to see how they are able to reconfigure some type of entrance on Sherman Ave. And not just some side door in the alley.
Since the stage is towards the back.
Some of the previous pictures posted showed that the back half of the auditorium, ceiling, and possibly balcony space had all been encapsulated. Awaiting just this type of project.
Wow, “The Fury” is on the marquee in the 1976 photo. It’s actually 1977 or 78 though. "The Fury" was filmed partially in Chicago.
We briefly met Kirk Douglas when he ran up to my car from a small Lincoln Park incline in front of the Cardinal's residence at North Ave. & State Parkway in mid77.
I had a 57 Plymouth Plaza, (much like a "Christine" Fury which was a58).
We had slowed down to look at some camera trucks, when Kirk ran up the hill to my drivers window and yelled “Ahhhh!”. Scared the begeezus out of us. He actually grabbed my driver’s door with both hands under the window. They had been filming and he was apparently goofing off during a break. I like to think that the then 20 year old car is what caught his eye.
Just a quick FYI. The Jewel/Osco on Howard St. near McCormick has some two sided tote bags at the registers with a really nice full color scanned picture of the Chicago Theatre on them.
Not sure if they are available at all Jewel stores or not, but it’s worth a look if there’s one nearby.
They are probably inexpensive as it appears there are multiple designs of other Chicago scenes and/or landmarks.
Point of purchase stuff usually is.
The existence of this theater and a mock up of it played a pivotal part in the 1999 Adrien Brody film “Liberty Heights”. It was shown as the site for a late 50’s James Brown concert that two of the film’s main characters attended.
A rather nice backlot, neon marquee was rebuilt to presumably replicate the original exterior.
I think there were some loft style apartments at the neighboring location up until 2005 or so.
A couple of fires displaced the few who resided or worked there.
There was a recent (early May) story in the Milwaukee Sentinel that the Modjeska is now closed. The youth group that had been operating it at a deficit had to close it’s doors. Maybe someone can post the link.
Took me a while to track this theater down. I attended a dance show here that a friend’s sister performed in around 1986.
They performed “Businessman’s Lunch”, which included a famous typewriter themed dance routine.
I asked the school about the theatre’s history then, but had completely forgotten about it until now. I recall the stage as being quite wide. And the seating was nothing like an old theater. I believe we sat on platorms that had been built at different levels. Like a theater in the round would be. But the stage was still along the back, West wall as I recall.
I do not recall anything else about the interior.
Greetings gtl. You surely remember Oliver’s Pub then too. It was just to the North of Lane Drugs on Dearborn, directly across from the Playboy Theater. My grade school Ogden actually had our graduation luncheon there. Only on the Near North side in the `70’s, would a school take a bunch of kids to a bar.
If you are ever down there, there is still an Oliver’s Pub advertisement painted on the brick wall, across the alley from Five Faces. It is up on the East elevation above Shennanigan’s, and is partially covered by exterior duct work from when Shennanigan’s had a grill inside.
I’m sure you also remember the China Doll on the S/E corner too. With their fleet of bashed up, red AMC Gremlin delivery vehicles. Driven by drivers who literally parked by ear.
Thank you for the corrections. I remember the neanderthal in the museum case. But the chimp in the tux was why I was taken there by my parents. Is it possible there was more than one night to the premiere? We’d known Jerry Dukor for many years. He may have gone back and just met us there. He later worked at a CD store on North Ave. And at a florist called The Bronx Zoo at 12 E. Division. Jerry died around 2000.
We were regulars at the All Night Shows. Your husband did a fantastic job booking the films. We’d grab a bite beforehand at Lane Drugs, then again afterwards. Same waitress sometimes.
Nice Chuck1231. We’re those some type of promotional pics at one time?
They seem a bit enhanced with photoshop or something.
The street surface is perfect in one. Plus the moon, shadows and interior details in the night shot look almost fabricated.
At least the mobile phone masts will apparently be history. Can’t imagine any developer would maintain a lease with the cell phone companies. When the result is so unsightly. Who would want to buy in a building with all that clumsy stuff attached to it?
A lot of condo boards are now forbidding the addition of even satellite dishes on balcony railings from the onset.
Thanks for posting that. In the Flicker comments section someone confirmed the name of the bar next door was “Bar RR Ranch”. That’s where Channel 7’s Joel Daly/Sundowners played regularly.
Just came across a Reader from Nov. 20, 1981.
It list’s “FRANK ZAPPA BAND. Next Friday, Nov. 27, 8 and 11:30 pm, Uptown Theatre 561-4110.”
So it made it through to at least the end of `81.
Can anyone imagine 2 Zappa sets in one night? Or asking any artist of his stature today to do 2 shows?
jhallock, Check out the 7/24/09 post by Sonny D.
That appears to be the most current organization involved in saving the Midway. There is a website link embedded in that post.
Apparently Marilyn Miglin closed her Oak St. retail store for good, some time back. So any say she had in what went on with the Esquire is now possibly gone too. (See BWChicago’s 9/29/08 post) Unless she owns her building and is still an active Oak Street Council member.
Another novel idea would be to have Second City take over the management of Pipers Alley.
They could have mini live shows before the start of each film, to test out main stage material. Similar to what the Marx Bros. would do. They ironed out the kinks in routines that ultimately appeared rewritten in films, in front of a live audience first.
It could be a regular entertainment mecca over there. Plus the Second City ownership surely has the right connections,and would benefit from an improved theater nearby.
Hey Cinemark, there was an article posted on the Broadway/Lakeshore page yesterday that it is now closing too.
It had been live theatre most recently.
Just to the left of the Wood’s entrance is the Western Nite Club. On the sign you can barely make out The Sundowners. That was the country & western group that old ABC/Channel 7 news anchor Joel Daly was a member of. They were the standing house musical act for years. That was a neat place. In the basement as I recall.
B&G was a 24 hour diner type restaurant. It had multiple booths that looked out of windows facing the Oak Street Side, and one that faced the Rush Street side. It later became The Oak Tree restaurant. Both served the Rush St. night life crowd on a continual basis.
There was one regular, rather surly waitress that worked at B&G. Notorious for just throwing your plates on the table.
I stand corrected, and I signed the petition. Thanks for setting me straight.
Ironically I have always been an advocate for preservation and restoration of the Uptown. As evidenced in all of my previous posts to Cinema Treasures.
I also did freelance work for the city for 10 years. So I’ve experienced a bit of bureaucracy first hand.
Some may also want to search a Tribune series from a few years back. About the city and the preservation of various buildings within Chicago. At the time, all of the ones that had been lost needlessly were listed by address. My previous point was made with that particular series in mind.
I guess I was concerned that any project requiring the city’s help for preservation, would likely receive low priority if any, given current economic conditions and the city’s budget woes.
I believe in JAM, and that they will step up to the plate as things evolve. I believe I read that they were the only buyer to show up at the sale.
Wow. Now THAT is what makes Cinema Treasures a truly special forum.
Just reading and knowing that a part of the State-Lake Theatre lives on in someone’s home, is heart warming.
I’m sure everyone would love to see a current picture of the organ.
If it’s not too intrusive on your privacy. If so we’d all understand.
I posted on one of the other CT pages of a suburban Chicago home, that has a huge pipe organ, Kaliope & Victrola collection in essentially what is a museum on the guy’s property.
Thank you for posting your story.
The Festival/Mode mentioned in the very top bio paragraph was located on Sheridan, and not Sheffield as written above.
Sheffield turns into Sheridan a block South of where the Festival/Mode stood. The Westbound stretch of Sheridan that intersects Sheffield starts at the inner drive of LSD to the East.
It is also why the “L” stop is called Sheridan. Also the name on the Sheridan 151 bus.
I am quite certain that JAM’s intentions for the Uptown are and always have been all good. What “evidence suggests otherwise”?
Who in their right mind would spend 3 million or whatever it was, just to prevent competition from spending another 30-40 million, renovating a building with such huge problems that’s been empty for 30 years?
JAM could have NOT bought it and still gotten that result.
My understanding is that JAM owns the Riviera, and only manages the Aragon.
And the simple competition in the music biz, is to book who is most popular for the least amount of money, in the biggest place you have available.
And yes, that would be the Uptown. But there are so many insanely expensive variables to undertake before that could even remotely have been a threat.
Hypothetically, if the Uptown WAS bought and fully renovated/opened by JAM’s competition, it would still come down to who could book the bigger name acts consistently. 3-40 million is a pretty big gamble upfront to prevent competition.
JAM openly claimed it had wanted to buy and renovate the Uptown for years. But the roadblocks and various players invloved were always insurmountable. (Some of which is stated in links in posts above, from around the time they finally purchased it.)
I agree the City of Chicago seems shamefully indifferent to what happens to the Uptown. Or most landmark worthy buildings for that matter. Unless they can get their piece of the action. The City is claiming it’s treading water itself. So incentives are going to be flying out of City Hall any time soon.
I don’t know why I remember this, but I think NorthLight Theatre had something to do with trying to resurrect the Coronet Theatre at one time too. I seem to remember their name on the marquee.
Hopefully more will come out of this venture than sadly didn’t, over there.
It will be interesting to see how they are able to reconfigure some type of entrance on Sherman Ave. And not just some side door in the alley.
Since the stage is towards the back.
Some of the previous pictures posted showed that the back half of the auditorium, ceiling, and possibly balcony space had all been encapsulated. Awaiting just this type of project.
Wow, “The Fury” is on the marquee in the 1976 photo. It’s actually 1977 or
78 though. "The Fury" was filmed partially in Chicago. We briefly met Kirk Douglas when he ran up to my car from a small Lincoln Park incline in front of the Cardinal's residence at North Ave. & State Parkway in mid77.I had a
57 Plymouth Plaza, (much like a "Christine" Fury which was a58).We had slowed down to look at some camera trucks, when Kirk ran up the hill to my drivers window and yelled “Ahhhh!”. Scared the begeezus out of us. He actually grabbed my driver’s door with both hands under the window. They had been filming and he was apparently goofing off during a break. I like to think that the then 20 year old car is what caught his eye.
To Chuck1231, the link with the current pics (10/11/08) you mentioned is still up, and was/is posted above by supercharger96 on 10/21/08.
The dog skeleton has a pretty large skull. I wonder if it was originally a guard dog that was sadly just forgotten about.
Oh, that’s too bad. It was a really nice daytime picture as I recall.
It showed the white ceramic tile work on the spires, etc.
Just a quick FYI. The Jewel/Osco on Howard St. near McCormick has some two sided tote bags at the registers with a really nice full color scanned picture of the Chicago Theatre on them.
Not sure if they are available at all Jewel stores or not, but it’s worth a look if there’s one nearby.
They are probably inexpensive as it appears there are multiple designs of other Chicago scenes and/or landmarks.
Point of purchase stuff usually is.
The existence of this theater and a mock up of it played a pivotal part in the 1999 Adrien Brody film “Liberty Heights”. It was shown as the site for a late 50’s James Brown concert that two of the film’s main characters attended.
A rather nice backlot, neon marquee was rebuilt to presumably replicate the original exterior.
I think there were some loft style apartments at the neighboring location up until 2005 or so.
A couple of fires displaced the few who resided or worked there.