8/19/77-9/01/77. photo credit Chicago Sun-Times, Tim O'Neill.
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8/19/77-9/01/77. photo credit Chicago Sun-Times, Tim O'Neill.
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Description credit Tim O'Neill.
“Oriental Theatre in Downtown Chicago. 1977. This Chicago Sun-Times photo was snapped when it was announced that M&R Theatres wall pulling out of the Oriental by the end of the month (September 1977). At first, it looked like the Oriental was going to close permanently, but Stan Kohlberg "rescued” the theatre and turned it into a bargain basement schlock house. The Oriental was trashed for the next three years until the owner of the building kicked Kohlberg out in January 1981. The Oriental remained dark for 17 years, until undergoing a massive restoration courtesy of Garth Drabinsky, and it reopened as a live stage theatre in 1998. It’s now called the James M. Nederlander Theatre."