Rockne Theatre

I have a ticket to the Amabassador theater from the 30's and also a Program of Events from the same period and am looking to sell it.

Is there anyone interested?

Tom Greenbaum
tlg@groupsplus.com

I remember this theater as the Rockne. It was renamed after Knute Rockne of Fighting Irish fame after his untimely demise in plane crash. It was always a neat place to watch a film, especially since it was one of the few neighborhood places that had a balcony.

Unfortunately, it became a porno house in the 70,s. Nice to see it's a church now.

The intersecting street at Division where this theater is located, is Mayfield, not Mansfield.

I lived just down the street from the Rockne in the 70's. I seem to remember it showing children's films for the early part of the decade, then switching to the aforementioned adult films. Looking at the picture, I was surprised...I don't remember the domed facade or corner signage, just a vertical "ROCKNE" sign on Division street. Does anyon know when they took down the facade?

I finally saw the inside of the Rockne for the first time on May 23,2004. The Rev. A.J. Griffin, I felt, found it difficult to believe anyone could be interested in old theatres but he eventually tried to understand my passion. The inside of the Rockne today looks nothing like a movie theatre. The seats have been removed and church pews installed. A lowered false ceiling completely hides the balcony. I believe a false wall was installed along one side of the auditorium. The wall separates the church kitchen from the sanctuary. The Rockne showed its last movie in 1979 and remained vacant until taken over by the church in 1985.

Actually, the Rockne was at the corner of Monitor and Division as I lived in the 1000 block of Monitor. Saw many movies there....only, occasionally was the balcony open (in the 50's). Later, my wife and I lived in the 1000 block of Mayfield and we would lie in bed and say R - O - C - K - N - E .....Rockne!!!! If you timed it just right, when the marquee would flash the entire name, ROCKNE, our bedroom would light up greenish from the marquee. One other item of interest.. My aunt, Hellen Larsen, won a prize for re-naming the theatre to Rockne in a contest. Lots of great memories from those old age. Would be fun to hear from others from that era if they have time. Dale Larsen

When I was twelve I used to sneak out of the apartment with another girl whose grandma was supposed to watch us after school. She left us with the girl's mom who disappeared and left us with her boyfriend's teenage son who disappeared. We spent a quarter for a bus ticket and transfer and spent many afternoons at the Rockne theater. We would buy our candy at a drugstore and sit down in the afternoon to watch Marilyn Monroe movies( which we snickered at) till the feature(cartoon marathon) or a horror movie came on.
Lots of memories, great entertainment...saw the Tingler with the wired seats. No adults ever knew cause our timing was perfect. moreeka

A somewhat recent view of the exterior of the former Rockne can be seen here.

The Rockne had two apartments in the building and I lived there from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. Growing up in a building like that was awesome and a lot of my relatives worked there. I remember seeing Sonny and Cher being usherd in the back door to play there to avoid the crowds out front We all watched from the fire escape in the alley. I watched so many great movies like all of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns and the planet of the apes movies as well as the pink panther movies with Peter Sellers. Towards the close of the the theater I also worked there and would come in afetr hours with my band and play in the acoustically beautiful auditorium.
What a time I had in those years.
Tom

In 1964 I lived on Austin Blvd off Division with my parents, two sisters, and a brother. At five years of age my Mom took me around the corner to see my first movie (Von Ryan's Express) and it also the first time I recall going somewhere at night. I was fascinated by the flashing marquee towering over Division since I had never been on Division after the sun had set. Later that year we moved to our first home on Laramie Avenue off Washington and several years later to Race Street off Austin/Mayfield. In the summer of 1970 after returning from my first European vacation, my mother informed me that the Rockne was now showing porn -- the end of an era but not my very early childhood memory.

This is a little of topic, but the Chicago Tribune movie listings that I have, from the 10s into the 50s all list the theaters in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago under the "Surburban Theatres" heading (for example, a listing I have from early 1950 shows the Austin theaters as the Rockne, Vet, Symphony, Iris, Park, Austin and Plaisance right before the Oak Park, Lyons, Elmwood Park, etc. theater listings). I wonder why Austin is included with the suburbs, when it was annexed by Chicago in 1899?

Also, I see the Rockne on a February 1980 Chicago Tribune movie listing I have, showing an adult double feature with the advertising blurb "All Ladies Accompanied by a Gentleman Admitted Free".

The firm is Gallup & Joy, like the Admiral, i'm pretty sure.

Does anyone know where I can find some photographs of the Rockne from the 1940's? I'm working on a gift for my Dad, and he used to go there every Sunday as a little boy!

Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

The best sources for historical theatre material is the Theatre Historical Society of America in Elmhurst, IL. Visit their web site:

http://www.historictheatres.org/

Other contact info:

Theatre Historical Society of America
York Theatre Building
152 North York, 2nd floor
Elmhurst, Illinois 60126-2806
Telephone (630) 782-1800
Fax (630) 782-1802
e-mail: thrhistsoc@aol.com

I am sure they must have material on the Rockne, which you can purchase copies of for a small fee. I think Richard Sklenar still runs the archives: a very cool and knowledgable person.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

No problem. Good luck with your project. It sounds like a very nice gift.

I can remember standing in line with my friends holding big bags of greassy popcorn waiting to get in for a Saturday matinaee. Usually acouple of horror movies like I was a Teenage Frankestein or Terror from the year 5000.I'm still a big fan of old B horror movies. The ushers wore uniforms. I really wanted that job! The show would be packed. I believe the managers first name was Jim. I remember going to see A man Called Horse and Little Big Man. These were the two movies they played last before going Adult. The whole neighborhood turned out to try and show them that they could still make money from these kind of movies. At least this is the way I remember it.

You can see a picture of what it looked like in 2000 as a Church. Not a very good picture. www.cookcountyassessor.com
Type in the pin#16-05-403-001-0000, or the address which is 5815 W Division.

Yep. That is the rotunda at right. Last time I was by here the ROCKNE vertical sign was still up. But that was many years ago. At some point the exterior of the building was totally redone. I have always assumed that took place at the point they adopted the ROCKNE name.

The ROCKNE to me had a more respectable reputation than other neighborhood theatres it seems; saw SOUND OF MUSIC there first, later THE GRADUATE. I say this knowing it went the adult route later on. It was the theatre one took the Division St bus to the end-of-the-line to.

Not only did the Rockne show good movies it was also a clean theater. Don't ever recall the place looking shaby or dirty at all. Went to the Rockne from the mid 50's to early seventies. Lived about six blocks away. I do recall though maybe in the late 50's or early sixtes they re-did their lobby.

From the 6/22/74 Chicago Tribune:

THIEVES INVADE THEATER, STEAL 'DEEP THROAT'

Linda Lovelace was reported missing last night by the management of the Rockne theater after two bandits tricked their way into the projection booth and made off with the film "Deep Throat", which made her famous.
The men entered the theater, 5825 W. Division St., while another X-rated film was playing, and knocked on the locked door of the projection room, said Investigator Luke Bello, Shakespeare Robbery Unit. When the projectionist Leo Posner, 63, of Skokie, answered, the bandits said they were police and showed him an imitation badge. Once inside, one of the men struck Posner on the head with a .32 automatic pistol and handcuffed him to a railing, Ballo said.
They took only the film, which is actually a copy of the original which is made by copying thousands of still photographs from the movie. Posner was carrying $700 at the time which the bandits ignored, as well as $800 at the ticket cage.

We would go to the Rockne every now and then as we mostly attended the Tiffin on North Avenue.

One movie in particular that I vividly recall seeing there was Disney's Babes in Toyland, which shows how long ago this was.

I mostly recall it being a little more upscale than the Tiffin. (I certainly don't recall the coppola shown in the picture above.)

I attended the Rockne only once when visiting Chicago in 1956. The movie was Elvis’ first: Love Me Tender. My cousin and I walked about 5 blocks from Lombard Ave. As a teenager from northern Wisconsin, I thought the theater was overwhelming. I was also quite impressed with the balcony. Very enjoyable to see the photo of the Rockne and read all the comments.

A Geneva theater organ size 4/14 was installed in the Ambassador Theater in 1925.

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6m6pnw

Here is a July 1967 ad from the Austin Journal:
http://tinyurl.com/3p2lqs

The exchange in 1954 was AUstn 7-3266. As you can see by the ad immediately above, the exchanges were no longer being used by 1967.

Here are 1982 and 1983 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/dcwtuf
http://tinyurl.com/cn237k