Michael Todd Theatre
180-190 N. Dearborn Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
180-190 N. Dearborn Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
10 people
favorited this theater
Located next door to the Cinestage (the former Selwyn Theatre) on Dearborn Street, the Michael Todd Theatre was the second Todd-AO 70mm roadshow theater, and was originally known as the Harris Theatre. The Harris, designed by C. Howard Crane in 1922 (along with the next-door Selwyn) as a playhouse for legitimate producers Sam H. Harris and Archie and Edgar Selwyn. The Harris was given an Italian Palladian design, while the Selwyn was done in neo-Georgian style.
Michael Todd took over in the 50s after the Harris' legitimate days were over. The Michael Todd was a bit different than the Cinestage, as it had a large flat screen instead of a curved strip screen. It also had a great waterfall curtain, whereas the Cinestage had a standard curtain that opened horizontally. There was also a huge balcomy and the Century JJ-equipped projection booth was on the main floor under the mezzanine.
Before it was razed, the Michael Todd’s entire ceiling had collapsed and was basically in ruins. Unfortunately, the roofs were always neglected in both of the theaters.
Today, the Michael Todd’s facade, along with that of the Cinestage (both saved when the theaters were torn down), now form part of the facade of the new Goodman Theatre complex, which moved from its long-time location at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000.
Contributed by
Mark, Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 65 comments)
Oh, contraire………… The Michael Todd WAS twinned in 1986. Here’s what happened: M&R Theatres took over the Michael Todd in 1985 after it was closed for 6 years. They also wanted to take over the next-door Cinestage Theatre, but the owners of that porno palace put up a short fight. Eventually, M&R got both theatres and changed the name to Dearborn Cinemas. The plan was to twin both theatres. M&R did manage to twin the Michael Todd; however, they never got around to the Cinestage. The Cinestage side of the Dearborn Cinemas was occasionally opened, but the Michael Todd twinned side remained open until 1988. The M&R Dearborn Cinemas was a complete failure.
Don’t forget the projectionist union’s contract on staffing Chicago theatres. It would cost you alot more to operate those extra screens with the extra projectionists you had to hire.
Timoneill – you are quite correct. I guess I was more referring to when there was still some hope for movie palaces in the city. By the time the Dearborn was opened all of the other palaces were gone save for the Woods and United Artists and those two plus the twin all closed within a year of each other.
For what it’s worth department: When the complex was first announced in 1920, the names of the theatres were to be the Selwyn and the CHICAGO. The eventual CHICAGO Theatre also went through various planning name changes…the Capitol, to the Ambassador, to, finally, the Chicago.
The one and only time that I was in the Michael Todd Theatre was seeing “Star!” with my parents and a couple of other people on Christmas Day, 1968 (I believe). (The reviews must have come in!) It was not a terribly large theatre; it was kind of like the old Civic Theatre which was connected to Lyric Opera’s building in Chicago which was converted to production space several years ago. The sound and projection were incredible (despite the many flaws of the film). It was impossible to determine what the theatre had looked like before it became a movie theatre due to the curtains which assisted all that lovely sound. And, of course, there was the usual popcorn machine in the lobby stinking up everything. I was out of the area at college from 1971-1975, and when I started working in Chicago I was amazed at the bookings as the road-show era of films had died.
Here is an interior view.
Thanks! I’ve never seen what the theatre’s interior looked like originally. As in my earlier comment, it was impossible to determine what the interior looked like due to all of those curtains that ensured that wonderful sound quality. The acoustics must have been pretty good in the Harris era, too.
http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2011/12/door-to-heart-bertrand-goldberg.html Here are a couple photos showing Bertrand Goldberg’s remodeling.
Thanks, Broan! I had not seen the article, nor do I remember the interior extrance of the Michael Todd Theatre looking like this.
In 1967-68 I saw the re-release of “Gone With the Wind” here. I sat in the balcony and the large audience gave Clark Gable a rousing applause upon his first screen entrance. I live in L A now and would be happy to give visitors a tour of our miraculously remaining single screens: