Music Box Theatre

For more photos of the Music Box Theatre, visit my website at http://www.petrixphoto.com/musicbox/index.html

Lest anyone panic, the 2nd screen was added by opening into retail space adjacent to the lobby. The main auditorium remains in excellent condition thanks to the talent, forsight and hard work of the current management (who cannot be commended enough!).

The Music Box never had an organ until an electronic theatre style organ was installed in the early 1980's. As with many smaller theaters built at the end of the 1920's provision was made for installing an organ later, should talkies have proven to be only a fad. Later, air conditioning equipment was installed in the organ chambers.

Both lobby and auditorium were built in atmospheric style, with a Spanish flavor to the side wall architecture.

The Music Box projection booth is a technical tour-de-force equipped to show 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm film as well as 3-D and silent at original speed. Sound equipment includes regular optical, magentic stereo and digital.

The first time I was in the Music Box was 1961 when I saw "A Rasin In The Sun". As a young person I was never impressed by the Music Box, but remember, this is Chicago which had neighborhood theatres of 5000 seats (The Uptown) and many neighborhood theatres that sat over 3000. I also found its open vertical like the Covent theatre looking rather unfinished.
However since 1961, I've been in a lot of mega-plexes and in comparison The Music Box looks great. I re-visited The Music Box about 15 years ago and it looked terrific. Although I'm still not fond of its open vertical and it's lack of a balcony, I wish I owned it.
In 196l, The Southport area was certainly not prime Chicago real estate but luckily the neighborhood started to become trendy and The Music Box sucessfully re-opened.
Ah! if we could only predict real estate trends we all be wealthy and own prospering theatres.
Until its re-opening, The Music Box was never a first run house. All major releases premiered at downtown theatres (there were a few exceptions like "B" horror films) and then went to 2nd run movie palaces like the Uptown, Century, Gateway, and other 2000+ seat theatres. Along with the "A" film previously released downtown you got to see a "B" film for one admission. Smaller neighborhood independant theatres like the Music Box got films after they played at the large neighborhood houses for one to two weeks.

The Music Box is now under new management. The partners who in 1983 leased and renovated the building and subsequently maintained the highest standards of presentation and spared no expense to create one of the best cinema experiences available anywhere were unable to negotiate a new lease with the building's owner. The owner now plans to operate the Music Box himself though he has no experience in the field. Wishing him the best.

He has big shoes to fill. But of course, they're his shoes.

I lived three blocks from the Music Box from 1995 to 1997. During that time I loved the Music Box. It was a real treat to attend movies there on snowy weekend days or even just to walk past and see the marvellous detail in the theater facade and connecting building and storefronts. This is a real success story in the world of theater preservation!

What a Show Piece! That is what Theatre should look like!

I love the Music Box, and have missed it a lot since moving away from Chicago in 1998. I loved the floating cloud on the ceiling and the lights that look like stars. The movies were exceptional. I hope that the new management is keeping things going as well as they were.

From Russell Phillips' Galleries:

Music Box Lobby, Early 1980s
Music Box Auditorium, Early 1980s

The Music Box is a neat theater and brings back the golden era of moviegoing. The floating clouds and twinkling lights are a great touch. Of course the theater's best feature is the great selection of movies that are always presented here. There really is no other theater like it in the city. Having said that, the sound system is awful. I don't know about anyone else but I've always had problems hearing dialogue here because the sound echoes all over the place. The seats are so uncomfortable and the sight-lines terrible. If someone sits in front of you even three or four aisles in front of you, you cannot see the bottom of the screen (especially bad if watching a film with subtitles).

In the mid 1980s, I would regularly trek up to the Music Box for their classic double features - everything from The Thin Man series to Mad Max. The theater's architectural detail was amazing as was the popcorn with *real* Land O' Lakes butter!

The movie, High Fidelity (2000) starring John Cusack, had a scene in which he and his then girlfriend sat in the theater. The marquee was shown in the next scene. I immediately went on here and found it.

The Music Box was originally announced with the name "New Blaine" in the August 30, 1928 Tribune on p19. A rendering appeared in the October 28 edition on page B4. In both articles, Louis I. Simon (not A) and Edward Steinborn are named as architects. Steinborn was likely the engineer. Louis I. Simon is also named elsewhere as architect of several other Chicago buildings, so I think this clears up the confusion with Louis A. Simon, who was a major government architect. This was further confirmed in an August 14, 1983 article when Louis I. Simon's son wrote in to inform that his father had built it.

Great color photo of the Music Box.
http://snipurl.com/obzv

Here is a night view of the Music Box Theater.

This is a recent closeup of the Music Box theater and here is another.

Russell Phillips Photos:

Music Box Exterior
Auditorium
Lobby
Foyer
Aisle

Here is a recent photo of the Music Box's second screen.

Saw Vertigo here last year; auditorium is lovely. And took a peek at the mini-cinema, which is wildy decorated like an outdoor garden (I think). It was great to a see a 100 seat "atmospheric."

Here is a 2007 photo of the Music Box Theater.

The Music Box Theatre is where I first discovered the annual Festival of Animation, and where I saw anime on the big screen for the first time with "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". It's my favorite atmospheric style theater, and I'll probably see a movie there when I visit Chicago this year.

Great pics and posts, everyone.

From what i have ben told the Music Box is the sister to the Ramova in the Bridgeport neghborghood, and that Charlie Chaplin had two movies premiered at bouth theatres.

Also i was told that the Musie Box was one of if not the first to use neon on the vertical sign.
Is this true? thank you for your time :)

Another recent view of the Music Box Theater can be seen here.

Here is a rather artistic interpretation of the Music Box Theater.

This is a more recent photo of the Music Box Theater.

In the Sept. 21st edition of the Chicago Reader, Matinees at the Music Box is listed as one of their 40 "Our Favorite Things".

Does anyone know if they upgraded the sound system in the big theatre? I'm going to see "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" there, and somehow I doubt it'll be presented in 5.1. The audio in that theatre has always been distorted for as long as I can remember. It's just a shame Warner Bros. didn't pick a more technically-capable but equally beautiful theatre to show it at.

I dont remember the sound being off when I saw "Vertigo" there but it is some excellent location for the Blade Runner revival.

The music box runs most movies in Dolby Surround (analog surround) in the large auditorium which is equipped with Left,Center,Right and mono surrounds speakers. The system could use a good calibration and adjustment which would make a massive difference, as well a few minor speaker replacements. At little as three years ago the system sounded impressive for a theater of its era.

Here is another recent photo of the Music Box Theater.

Has anyone else noticed a problem recently (past few years) with the house lights being too bright during screenings?

This may seem odd, but I am probably one of the (very) few deaf people posting on this site! I enjoy movies and I enjoy going to the movies just as much as "hearing people" do. They show foreign films here, which are really the only movies that I can see in a theatre.

I have also been to the Landmark Century Cinema on Clark Street, the Wilmette, and the LaGrange (my husband and I saw "Letters From Iwo Jima there). But, I love the Music Box Theatre the best out of all of these! It has a lot of charm and character and it appears to be run by people who actually like film. And it's not cut-up like the LaGrange or the Wilmette. I recently saw a re-issue of "The 400 Blows" here and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a nice May 2008 photo.

A July 2008 photo can be seen here.

The Music Box is the grand dame of continuing art houses. When the Parkway Theatre closed, the Music Box was pretty much one of the last places that ran different double features every day. With a colorful flyers in each week's Reader newspaper.
Foreign films, `60's cult comedies, chick flicks, holiday fare, you name it. A very classy, vintage place that is exceptionally run to this day.

They started doing some "Grease" sing-a-longs about 2 years ago. Possibly "Wizard Of Oz" as well.

Maybe 3 years ago, they tried out a midnight run of "Xanadu", with what they claimed as good results. It played on the smaller screen to the right and front of the theatre. The one that was converted from retail space.

I'm an old ELO fan, and had a bunch of oddball "Xanadu" memoribilia.
On a whim I approached the Music Box about possibly having a table in the lobby, for "Xanadu" fans to peruse said stuff as they came and went. The Music Box staff didn't even hesitate to say what time, and what size table did I need? I did it both nights.

The lobby was stunning in it's original decor, and lit up beautifully. There is an interior ticket & concession counter to the right as you enter the theatre.
Plaster ornamentation that needs to be seen to be appreciated fully.

What I somehow failed to notice was the main midnight feature was the "Rocky Horror Picture Show".
The original granddaddy of a cult following. One that I saw only when it originally came out. An onstage re-enactment was also apparently planned.

I was set up with an 8 foot table in front of a radiator with a power source behind. Good interest in my little display, mostly by parents whose children were fascinated by "Xanadu".
Some on skates.

Also unbeknownst to me, was apparently the "Rocky Horror" convention was in town. Then...up pulled the buses. And out came the RHPS revelers in a non stop, full on costumed stream.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Music Box staff & added concert like security with military precision, herded the group into two lines-male & female. All the while shouting instructions on expected behavior. "You may not throw toast", etc.
The oddity of my presence, coupled with this added element in this beautiful old theatre setting, could have been the basis for it's own independent flick.
To have a dude in full drag make up, pause with his girlfriend looking at an ONJ picture disc deadpan, and just say "oh yeah, Xanadu" then calmly walk away was surreal.
I felt like Brian Wilson must have when Phil Spector first said, "yeah, I've heard your stuff".


The Music Box has stood the test of time, and given Southport's kind of big money revival, condos/retail, it will hopefully be around forever.
I seem to remember reading of tough times in the `80's, but all seems well now.

Great post, David.

I was only at the Music Box once, and your report really captured the vibe of a unique theater run by people who truly love movies and showmanship. Well done.

This is probably my favorite movie theater anywhere. Always a great mix of art and classic films presented in one of the most charming small scale atmospheric theaters I've seen. I attend films here often and would be crushed if the Music Box were to ever go away.

I do usually find things that could be improved upon though. The beautiful light fixtures always have lots of burned out bulbs. The electric stars in the ceiling were down to about 5 until a recent relamping got most of them back in order. The cloud projection equipment is either gone or hasn't worked in some time. The sound system isn't always great but that's probably due to the film prints rather than the house sound system. None the less, attending a film at the Music Box is always a treat and any theater architecture buff visiting Chicago should make a trip inside to enjoy a show.

What a fabulous-looking theatre!! Sure wish there were more of these great varied-movie movie palaces here in the United States, including Boston.

Do the owners of this theatre also run Music Box Films (the US distributors of films such as Tell No One and OSS 117) or is that company run by other Chicago people who happened to name their company after the theatre?

Yes, Music Box Films is owned by the same company that operates Chicago's Music Box Theater. Further information here:
http://www.musicboxfilms.com/about/

Thank you. I figured that was same from seeing the theatre in their logo.

does anyone have a recent photo

On Sunday, September 29, 1929 the Music Box Theatre was robbed of about $1,000 at gunpoint. A few hours later a robber burst into the McVicker's Theatre manager's office on the mezzanine floor where the assistant manager, Bernard Cobb, had just gotten about $4,500 in box-office receipts from a cashier. The robber herded the employees at gunpoint into an adjoining office overlooking the corridor and locked the door from the outside, then moved toward the exit. Meanwhile Cobb had grabbed a handgun from a desk drawer and stuck the barrel through a wall peephole, firing two bullets into the robber's head, dropping him dead on the floor of the corridor. The day before, two other Chicago theatres had been robbed of about $200 in that fashion.

The year given for this photo is 2002.

Reactivate Notification Status.

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dxquht

It was a cloudy day when this shot was taken in 1995:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34152329@N06/3474331616/in/set-72157617054310351/

1982 Photo

1982 Photo

1982 Photo

1983 Night Photo

1983 Night Photo

FYI. Director Harold Ramis premiered his new film "Year One" at the Music Box Theatre last night. He still lives near Chicago. Some of the exterior footage may still be up on WGNTV's website. WGN's Dean Richards interviewed Ramis out front in the rain.

This is a recent night photo.

Might anyone know what feature played the Music Box, Friday, October 10, 1930?

To paul2, there is a store opening in Skokie (on Oakton) called Bob's Newstand.
They specialize in vintage newspapers & magazines. Copies from specific dates bought as gifts for birthdays & anniversaries etc.

Perhaps you could purchase a Chicago newspaper from that day, and the films at the Music Box would be listed inside.

Thanks David. Sounds like a great place to start.

You could also try the Harold Washington Library 3rd floor microfilm room. They have rolls of microfilm of newspapers dating back to 1849. Good Luck. Let us know what you find.