Paradise Th Chicago

Great photo. But somehow it doesn’t communicate the size of the place.

A number of theories have been advanced as to why the marquee and vertical were replaced, but the most likely reason to me was cost. I’m not sure that Crawford/Pulaski was widened, but perhaps you’re correct. By the way, looking at the original photo, it gives you a better perspective on both the size and detail. The photo was taken for an article published in the Chicago Daily News about the impending closure and demolition of the theatre.

Thanks Bobby. I don’t have any of the Marbro, but I have seen photos taken at the closing and during demolition. Incidentally, I used to post under the name “Scott” but it was changed to Paradise when CT did its redesign. I just haven’t bothered to change it back.

Bobby, I seem to remember you had a photo of the Paradise you were thinking about posting.

Bobby, this is what I did. I scanned the photo and saved it to my hard drive. Then I just uploaded the file to CT by clicking on the “Add a New Photo” button on the photos page. When there, click on the “Browse” button and you would point it to the file on your hard drive. That’s all there is to it. If you don’t have access to a scanner, you could go to a photo store or a Kinko’s and they could scan it for you. Where I live there’s a place that will put a picture on a CD for $4. There are probably other ways to do this, but that would require advise from someone smarter than me.

The exterior of this famous “Paradise” was in the “Louis XVI” style- while the interiors of white marble(staircases, statues, etc.) was in a suggested “Roman Villa” style. No doubt it would have satisfied a “Louis” and his French court. High(very high)above the proscenium arch was a life-sized statue of “Apollo in his chariot”– driven by horses(among other numerous statues in white marble(or faux marble)thru out. The very high celling- painted like the evening sky with twinkling stars + clouds- unfortunately affected the acoustic quality of the “new” sound pictures of the time, to the point it became hard to hear the sound/dialog. People began to frequent a competitor’s theater nearby- which offered better sound acoustics. This was just the beginning of the Paradise’s decline.