Today Theater
62 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
62 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
1 person
favorited this theater
The 327-seat Today Theater, which opened in 1941 on Madison Street near Dearborn Street, was the second theater in the Loop that featured a mostly newsreel format. The first Loop theater to do this was the Loop Theater, originally called the Telenews.
During the Today Theater’s last years, it showed adult films. Visitors to the Today Theater often went to the Forum Cafeteria — a two-level Streamline Moderne delight that was next door and was razed in the early-1980’s at the same time as the Today Theater. The site of the theater is now 3 First National Plaza.
Contributed by
John Keating, Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
The Adams Theatre was another early Chicago theater that was a newsreel and short-subject house in its later years (after starting out showing feature films). I think the Telenews was the first express-built newsreel house in the Loop, since both the Castle and Adams weren’t opened as newsreel houses.
In the book “THEN & NOW”-CHICAGO’S LOOP" by Janice A. Knox, there is a nice shot of the Today theatre- circa 1960- on page 69. ONE HOUR PROGRAM LATE NEWS on the marquee. Just west of the theatre is the great Forum Cafeteria, which was wildly popular. On page 94, there is a shot of Madison and Dearborn -circa 1960- looking west.There is another picture (very small) of the Today.
There is a small photograph on page 189 of Neal Samors' 2006 book Chicago in the Sixties of the corner of Madison and Dearborn Streets from 1966. The marquee of the Today Theatre can be seen and reads in part:
HOLIDAY IN LA SAVOIE
IVORY COAST CALLING
PICTURE IN THE …
KEEPING UP WITH THE WOR…
There is a sign from a next door lounge blocking the bottom corner of the marquee. In the same photo, the large vertical sign for Tad’s Steakhouse, next to the theater, can also be seen.
A 1/23/75 dated article from the Chicago Tribune with the headline “6 Loop Theaters Shut; fire code cited” lists the Today as one of the six theaters. The article mentions it was playing an X-rated movie, “Important Date”.
The article states in part, “The violations cited by the city include allegedly faulty electrical switches and flamable materials stored in open boxes”. The article also says that at that time, it was the largest crackdown against movie houses in the city’s history. Also noted was the fact all of the theaters were playing X-rated, violent, or “blaxploitation” movies.
The other five theaters closed were the State Lake, the McVickers, the Monroe, the Michael Todd, and the Cinestage.
Here is a June 1973 article in the Harrisonburg (VA) Daily News Record:
Some adult movie houses and book stores closed their doors Friday or planned to change their fare in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling apparently giving police more leeway to get tough with pornography peddlers. “Closed due to uncertainty of court decision. Open when situation more stable,” read a sign on the door of the Adult Movie Arcade in downtown Louisville, Ky.
Don’s Playland a block away decided on a closeout sale. “Due to the most recent ruling by the Supreme Court, we are liquidating all stock — 50 per cent off.“ Owner Don Marsh prophesied the ruling would drive pornography back underground. He called the decision a "rape of the Constitution.” Other newsstands and bookstores displayed signs saying closed “for inventory.”
Most pornography peddlers agreed the industry was in trouble and some film houses planned to change their tastes as a result. “The law is the law. We have to abide by what they say,” said Paul Jones, manager of Today, an X-rated theater in Chicago. “We’ll just have to go to something else. We’ll go to the films with less sex and black films.”
Joseph Boardman, advertising manager of the underground newspaper, the Los Angeles Free Press, said he alerted his sales staff that “there’s a good chance we’ll be changing our advertising policy drastically in light of the Supreme Court ruling.” “If they (the police) start hasseling us …we’ll take the nudies out…”
I kind of discovered this theater by chance. They never ran ads in the newspapers.
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Here’s a 1941 trade article on the grand opening of the Today Newsreel Theatre: boxofficemagazine
The compact auditorium was also featured in this 1941 trade ad: boxofficemagazine
Around 1969 a friend and I saw a couple of soft-core movies at the TODAY. The posted minimum age was 17 or 18 and my friend, an ex-Navy veteran of 28, could not believe he was carded!