Casino Theatre
58 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
58 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60602
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This small, early movie theatre located on West Madison Street at Dearborn Street in the Loop was in operation from 1909 until closing in 1937.
The Casino Theatre was located across the street from the huge Morrison Hotel, which was demolished in the 1960’s and replaced by the First National Bank Building (later known as Bank One Plaza and today Chase Plaza).
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
An article from the Chicago Tribune dated April 9th, 1921 talks about the manager of the Casino Theatre, Thomas Breskin, and “Lila”, a violinist at a downtown chop suey restaurant, making off with $5100 from the theater and being “hunted” by the police. The article states that Breskin “has been manager of the Casino, a motion picture theater, since February [1921].”
Also, in a Motion Picture Directory from the Chicago Tribune from February, 1924, the Casino Theatre is shown as playing “Once to Every Woman” starring Dorothy Phillips. It is listed in a row of Loop theaters which also include the Alcazar, the Boston, the Castle and the Band Box.
The Casino Theatre opened in 1911 and closed in 1937.
In its early years, this theater is listed in the Chicago Tribune motion picture theater directory as Weeghman’s Casino. I wonder if this theater was named for Charles Weeghman, the owner of the Chicago Cubs from 1916 to 1921 and the builder of Wrigley Field (originally Weeghman Park).
Owning a casino & the Cubs?..seems fitting. Great update. Thanks Bryan!
This house was called the Casino Garden Theatre in 1910, when it was one of four houses featured in an article about theaters on Chicago’s Madison Street that was published in the August 20 issue of The Film Index. The article confirms that the Casino was originally owned by Charles Weeghman. It was managed for him by Harry B. Fitzpatrick. The article says that the Casino Garden Theatre had been operating for almost a year, which means it must have opened in the latter third of 1909.
The I cited in my previous comment article also gives the seating capacity of the Casino Garden Theatre as 400.