State Theatre

I worked as an usher at the State for about a year back in the late 50's when I was in high school. George Stevens was the manager. We wore uniforms, seated patrons after the movies began, cleaned the ashtrays, filled the candy machines, melted oil for the popcorn machine (a hot, sticky, messy job - but did give us a chance to flirt with the popcorn girls), break up fights and sweep the lobby. The State was a grand old place with a huge balcony, a vaulted ceiling, side boxes, a retractable Wurlitzer Organ under the stage and catacombed dressing rooms behind the stage that dated to vaudeville days. It was both spooky and great fun to explore that hidden backstage areas. The balcony was typically only open on Fridays and weekends or for large draw movies. When closed, we'd go up there on breaks to neck with girlfriends who also worked for the theatre. I'm sad to hear the great old lady was demolished. I have fine memories of the place!

I lived around the corner from the State Theater on 110th Place until 1950. I still remeber begging my mother for a quarter to see movies and my first daye (?) at about the age of 10 was there. Brings back many great memories of my childhood and the last time I was in Chicago in early 1992 I made a point of driving down Michigan Avenue. What has happened to this part of Chicago is a terrible shame! I have seen better looking areas in Hiroshima

Hi I am Penny Krejca. I grew up in Roseland until I was 16 and had to move for our safety. I went to the State Theater every Saturday. It cost 25 cents. I think. I loved getting cups of Green River Pop from there. I remember when they had scary movies and Frankenstien would come out and scare us all while lightning flashed across the big screen. Wonderfull Memeories.

In the early seventies, the theater still had it's Moeller organ of 12 ranks. It was purchased by a collector in the Chicago area. Photos of it can be seen in Dave Junchen's Encyclopedia, volume 1.

I always looked upon the State theater as the primier theater in Roseland. It ran the great first run movies and I remember going to see Pinoccio there in 1943. The other thing I remember about the State besides it's grandeur, were the great kids shows and prizes they would give out on Saturday mornings. It cost a little more to get in than the Roseland and the Parkway, but it seemed to be worth it. I also remember going to the State on Saturday morning...for 25 cents or a bunch of bottle caps...then going to the 111th street YMCA for a free swim and then saving a nickle for a White Castle hamburger from the White Castle behind the YMCA...what a day!
Doug Bruton Denison, Texas

One addendum...I went back to Roseland in the 1970's...the State had become a church. Beautiful Roseland with it's great business area had deteriorated into a terrible slum.
Doug Bruton

Doug
The White Castle is gone. Burnt down in he 80's. There is actually nothing decent left on Michigan Avenue anymore. Even Van Vlissingen school is gone. Palmer Park is a drug hangout and the old Pullman Tech looks like it is ready to fall down.
John Stitnizky

Mendel was looking a bit peaked. However, a couple of years ago, I stopped at the old Pullman Library at 110th and Indiana. Same waxed wood smell, old heavy wood tables and chairs and the balcony hadn't changed a bit. I wish I had a nickel for every time I rode my bike down the hill and picked up a basket full of books at that place. It was nice to see it kept up and took me back to some nice memories. Our old church, Elim Lutheran, at 113th and Forest was OK too. The name had been changed to Reformation Lutheran, but the building wasn't too much the worse for wear.

gaxelson
I attended People's Lutheran Church on corner or 110th and State Street. Spent a lot of time at that library myself. When gate was closed to Pullman Tech that's where we used to climb over the fence to get to the lagoon. Fished for crawfish with a safety pin and bread. Painted them white and threw them back. used to catch a lot of them over and over again! We also used to climb the fence at the pool in Palmer Park at about 4am (after delivering newspapers) and swim. One time we dove in and they were refilling the pool. Scared the hell out of me seeing the walls of pool going by! Luckily there was about 6 feet in deep end so didn't get hurt. Also remember ice skating on the lagoon in Pullman tech and well as across from the field house in Palme Park. They also used to flood the schoolyard at Scanlan and we could skate there.
John Stitnizky

I remember when they used to open Palmer Park for the summer...they would have a big celebration....put out some white sheets, put pennies all over them and we would race and try to grab as many as we could...There was a great big church right in the middle of the boulevard near Palmer Park...I never went in it, but it intrigued me.
I remember Morgan Park Military Academy...I think it is gone now.
A kid that lived next to me on Perry Ave was an usher at Parkway Theater...his name was Ronnie Stromberg.

Is the YMCA still on 111th street? That's where I learned to swim..still have the certificate they gave me.
Doug

Doug,
Yes, the YMCA is still there. Right next to where the White Castle used to be. I knew all kinds of ways to sneak into the "Y". Spent a couple nights sleeping in the gym after my father locked me out of the house for not being home by 9pm.I swam there a few times but I actually learned at Palmer Park pool. I used the weight room when I was a teenager also.
John

Ha...sounds a little like my life...my Mother would tell me she was going to the store...I wouldn't see her for maybe 3 days...I would find enough pop bottles to get into the theater...and I would stay until the movie shut down...one time in the Parkway I went to sleep and they locked me in..I got out through the stagedoor...when people ask me how I know so much about movies..(The Old ones)...I tell them if you sat through a the features about five times a day for several days...you memorized everything.

John - I remember People's Lutheran - the Boy Scout Troop I belonged to - I think it was 728 - had troop meetings there. The scoutmaster was a this great Italian treasure named Fee Fanizzo - Uncle Fee we called him. For that matter, I think the Cub Scout Pack, which I also had belonged to, was 3728 and also based out of People's. BTW, there are some good pictures if you go to the main Webshots site and, in the search box, enter Chicago Roseland. The first page or two are some shelter shots, but then you get into the good stuff. Like photos of the Y, Schmid & Lofgren, the Roseland, the State, etc. Regrettably, no Giovanni's, which is still the standard I judge all other pizzas by. I think they moved to Dolton - and still use the family recipe.

And Doug, like you, I learned to swim at the Y. They had grades like minnow and perch. My best friend and I went one spring break. Fenger had great summer swim classes too. And the Pump at 103rd and the tracks was nice.

I spent a few days at the Pump myself (still have a scar on my rear-end from getting pushed against one of those radiators along the pool
(today I would own the place the way everyone sues).
I learned to swim at Palmer Park. Just dove across corners and increased angle a little more each week or so. Eventually I could swim the length. Never did understand why those indoor pools made males swim naked.

John - Read your post about the Roseland YMCA. I grew up in Englewood, around 63rd & Halsted Sts. At 66th & Union Ave., there was the Englewood YMCA. Went in there several times as a guest. The Catholic Church policy at the time was no Catholics could join the YMCA. Anyway, in the wintertime, we'd swim at the Englewood Y's indoor pool. Apparently, Roseland and Englewood had the same policies for swimming. I remember the fish classifications for swimmers and remember having to swim naked. Like you, I never understood that policy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/custom/landmarks/chi-landday2roseland-photogallery,0,5644661.photogallery?index=1

The photo above is pretty close to how the building looked the last time I saw it (around 1990).

John,
I remember the swimming instructor at the 111th Street YMCA was a Bob Williams...by coincindence, he was also from my home town, Denison, Texas. Do you remember him?
Doug

Doug
Not that I recall. I only went there a couple times. Most of my swimming was at Palmer Park
John

Hi, I grew up in Roseland as did both my parents familys. I graduated from Fenger High in January 1965, and lived on 113th and Edbrooke Ave.. I guess we all thought we would raise our children there and they would attend the schools we did. I hear that the Pullman area still looks good, many of my family at one time worked for the Pullman company. I would love to hear from others that lived there.

Yes, it's true, Red Skelton did play the State!
NEWS ITEM:
Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, May 19, 1959, s. 3, p. 10, c. 6:
RED, ONCE FIRED, BOUNCES BACK
SKELTON TELLS OF CHANGE, by Stephen Harrison

Richard Skelton, also known as Red and once fired here by popular request, returned Monday to the scene of the crime--rehired by popular request.

Can't Vie with Legs
Having abandoned Vincennes, he was playing vaudevile in such landmarks as the Haymarket, the State & Congress, and the Gem, where aficionados paid a lot more attention to burlesque girls' legs than they ever did to Skelton.
_______________
[At the time of this item Skelton was headlining at the famed Chez Paree.]

Here is a 1958 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/4k7jsh

The 2009 CTA calendar features this image for August: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/miscellaneous_documents/2009_Historical_Calendar.pdf

That calendar sure brought some memories especially the one showing corner of 111th and Michigan. Wow!!!
John Stitnizky