Holiday Star Theater
340 Main Street,
Park Forest,
IL
60466
340 Main Street,
Park Forest,
IL
60466
5 people
favorited this theater
Opened on October 28, 1950 as the Holiday Theater, it was part of the Park Forest Shopping Center. The single screen auditorium had seating provided in orchestra & balcony levels. A feature of the space was the wood beamed ceiling.
Classic Cinemas took over the theater in 1980 and renamed it the Park Forest Theater. As the shopping center began to change hands, Classic Cinemas decided to leave, and a new operator was found for the aging theater. The new operator soon went bankrupt and the shopping center’s owners contacted Classic Cinemas about once again managing the theater.
Thankfully, Classic Cinemas returned to the Park Forest Theater, and in 1990, restored the theater to much of its original 1950’s appearance, and divided the auditorium into two screens, with capacities of 374 and 276 seats each. Two more auditoriums were created out of the balcony, and later, a fifth screen was added using space from a nearby retail store.
The theater was later operated by the Sensible Cinemas chain, which ran it from 2004 to early-2005, when the theater was closed.
The theater reopened again in January 2006 as the Eagle Theater, by an independent operator who also operated the Eagle Theater in Robinson, Illinois.
In 2008, it has changed operators again, and is renamed Holiday Star Theater.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Park Forest Historical Society Program on History of the Holiday Theater
The History of the Holiday Theater will be the program at the Park Forest Historical Society annual meeting on Sunday September 26, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in Park Forest Village Hall Board Meeting Room, 350 Victory Drive.
Jack and Becky Mallers Black will lead a panel discussion on the history of the Holiday Theater. Mrs. Black’s father, Bill Mallers, owned the theater from 1953 to 1978-9. Mr. and Mrs. Black also worked at the theater. Also participating in the program will be Ann, Phillip and Chuck Mallers, Jim Kaufman—a former projectionist, and Jeff Lindstrom, who was an usher. Other former employees of any period of the theater are encouraged to attend.
The Holiday Theater opened in the Park Forest Shopping Center on October 28, 1950. It was one of the first movie theaters in the country to be in a shopping center. It was possibly the largest theater built in the Chicago metro area since the Depression, having over 1,000 seats and a soundproof “cry room” for parents with children.
Memories of the theater, which was a social hub in the early days of the village, are vivid for the early residents. The auditorium was used by several churches for Sunday morning services, while churches waited to build sanctuaries. The Holiday also had a conversation room where artists displayed and where refreshments were served.
The Holiday was originally operated by the Harry and Elmer Balaban corporation which also owned the Surf and Esquire theaters in Chicago. In early 1952, the building, by architects, Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, won the “Oscar” of theater design, awarded by Exhibitor and Theatre Catalog Magazines. A bronze plaque cited the Holiday for “international recognition as one of the most modern and well appointed of all current theaters.” The merit award was considered the highest honor offered for theater design by the motion picture industry.
The Facebook group, “Grew up in Park Forest,” has a discussion topic, “Holiday Theater—Did you work there?”
-more-
The theater is documented on the website, Cinema Treasures, at http://cinematreasures.org One of the creators of the site, Ross Melnick, says it is featured in the companion book, Cinema Treasures. A model of the Holiday Theater is on display at the Theater Historical Society of America in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Information is with Jerry Shnay at 708-747-3571, or with Jane Nicoll at parkforesthistory1 @ yahoo.com.
Note, the program for the grand opening of this theater says it opened on October 28, 1950, not in November.
Just visited Holiday Star for the first time today, though I’ve lived in the region for 50 years. (I recently found out some interesing things about Park Forest history, and wanted to see a piece of it up close, for myself.) Pretty nice theater, really nice people.
Sorry to learn when I got home and went online that a con artist, one Kenneth Arron, recently put his fingers on the place. Happily, the law caught up with him within a year. Sounds like he was so reckless that it was always just a matter of time before his house of cards fell.
I wonder who, exactly, is in charge of Holiday Star now that Arron is behind bars?
“Theater Operator Facing Multiple Charges Following Arrest"
(September 16, 2010) View link
“Suburb stunned that theater’s rescuer was a career criminal: Man who helped breathe life into Park Forest relic is revealed to have long record of convictions"
(September 19, 2010) View link
(Note that Arron was arrested the day after the post before mine appeared. Also see CWalczak’s links, above, for further irony.)
(Continued) Here’s an in-depth Cincinnati Enquirer article on Arron’s lengthy history of high-stakes scams. The article is from 2004! View link
One victim is quoted as follows: “If he used half his energy doing something legal, he could be on top of the world.”
Though Arron would seem to be a textbook case of “flight risk,” he was released on a $20,000 bail after his Holiday Star-related arrest.
History of the Holiday Theater, Part Two, June 26, 2011
Park Forest Historical Society Program
On June 26, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. in the Holiday Theater, 340 Main Street, Park Forest, the Park Forest Historical Society will present The History of the Holiday Theater Part Two. Willis and Shirley Johnson operated the theater from 1981-1986, and 1990 into 2002 with a name change to Classic Cinema’s Park Forest Theatre. Under their ownership, many improvements were made to the infrastructure, the marquee was added on the parking lot side, division of the main theater into three took place, and the fifth screen was built and transformed into an “art house” theater. Willis Johnson will be telling us about his ownership and developments under his management. Someone from the current management and Robert Matanky, one of the current owners, will speak on the progress they are making in reviving and updating the theater.
The Holiday Theater opened in the Park Forest Shopping Center on October 28, 1950. It was one of the first movie theaters in the country to be in a shopping center. It was possibly the largest theater built in the Chicago metro area since the Depression, having over 1,000 seats and a soundproof “cry room” for parents with children.
Memories of the theater, which was a social hub in the early days of the village, are vivid for the early residents. The auditorium was used by several churches for Sunday morning services, while churches waited to build sanctuaries. The Holiday also had a conversation room where artists displayed and where refreshments were served.
The Holiday was originally operated by the Harry and Elmer Balaban corporation which also owned the Surf and Esquire theaters in Chicago. In early 1952, the building, by architects, Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, won the “Oscar” of theater design, awarded by Exhibitor and Theatre Catalog Magazines. A bronze plaque cited the Holiday for “international recognition as one of the most modern and well appointed of all current theaters.” The merit award was considered the highest honor offered for theater design by the motion picture industry.
The theater is documented on the website, Cinema Treasures, at http://cinematreasures.org. One of the creators of the site, Ross Melnick, says it is featured in the companion book, Cinema Treasures. A model of the Holiday Theater is on display at the Theater Historical Society of America in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Part One of the History of the Holiday Theater was held September 26, 2010, with a presentation by Jack and Becky Mallers Black, members of the Mallers family, projectionists and ushers who had worked at the theater over the years.
A display on the history of the theater will be in the lobby. The public is welcome to attend this free program.
See the society website at www.parkforesthistory.org.
The web site of the Holiday Star Theater has been moved to this URL.
The Holiday Star is now owned and operated by Matanky Realty Group. The Matanky’s are now booking one art or foreign film, when they can. They have done innovative programming, including having a display and appearances by Tuskegee Airman during showings of “Red Tails”. When you come to the theater, be sure to pass by the windows on the shopping center side to see the murals from “Let’s Go Out to the Lobby.” They are showing current releases, often within a week or so of general release. If you live close enough, definitely come out and support this theater.
Described in this 1951 trade article: boxoffice
Renovations described in this 1963 trade article: Boxoffice
I enjoyed many of the treasures of my youth in this theater back in the 1980’s.