Comments from mikeroman

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mikeroman
mikeroman commented about Chelten Theatre on Feb 2, 2010 at 11:32 am

I recall watching with my friends “How I Won the War” and “The Battle of Britain” at the Chelten Theatre back in the late ‘60s and early '70’s.
My band The Tellstars also performed there in conjunction with an appearance we had made at the Gayety Theatre in South Chicago.
According to news reports, the Gayety Theatre was gutted by an arson fire in May 1982 and the Chelten was the only theatre left in the area, but it closed down as well. Both theatres at one point were leased or owned by Ricardo Ruiz and his wife who apparently didn’t want or know how to maintain these precious historical land marks.
For more information, please visit www.tellstars.com

Mike Roman, Esq.
Chicago, Il.

mikeroman
mikeroman commented about Gayety Theatre on Jan 30, 2010 at 2:54 pm

I remember watching several movies in Spanish with my friends and girlfriends at the Gayety Theater on Commercial Avenue. Mr. Henry Mendoza, whose mother worked there as a cashier, was the manager of my band, The Tellstars, and he got us a gig performing at the theater.

I was sad to see that an arson fire gutted the theater in May 1982, and it was demolished soon thereafter to make way for McDonald’s Theater. The only remaining area theater at that time was the Chelten Theater on South Exchange Avenue, which eventually suffered the same fate.(The Commercial Theater, located one block north of the Gayety Theater, had already been torn down to make way for a mini-mall in 1969.)

For additional comments/stories regarding these theaters, please visit [url=http://www.tellstars.com.
(Click players.)

Mike Roman, Esq.
Chicago, Illinois

mikeroman
mikeroman commented about Commercial Theatre on Jan 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

I remember watching with my friends “From Russia with Love” and “The Flight of The Phoenix” at the Commercial Theatre in South Chicago. As I recall, the theatre was demolished in the fall of 1969 to make way for a mini mall. My band, The Tellstars, was performing down the street at the Gayety Theatre around that same time.

An arson fire gutted the Gayety Theatre in May 1982 and it was demolished soon after to make way for a McDonald’s restaurant. The only remaing area theatre at that time was the Chelten on South Exchange Avenue which eventually suffered the same fate.

Those were indeed great times and wonderful movies at all three Southeast side cinemas.

For additional comments/stories regarding these theatres, please visit www.tellstars.com

Mike Roman, Esq.
Chicago, Il.