Stratford Theatre

715 W. 63rd Street,
Chicago, IL 60621

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: National Theaters Corp., Stanley-Warner Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.

Architects: Walter W. Ahlschlager, Hans Teichert

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Stratford Theatre

Opened on September 4, 1920 with Elsie Ferguson in “Lady Rose’s Daughter” and a Max Sennett comedy. Located in the heart of the-then bustling Englewood business district, the Stratford Theatre was a large theatre which presented vaudeville acts as well as movies for its first couple of decades. It was equipped with a Moller 3 manual 22 ranks organ.

Built for the Cooney Brothers National Theaters Corp circuit, the Stratford Theatre was operated by Warner Brothers from the 1930’s into the 1950’s.

With the 1931 opening of the palatial and even larger Southtown Theatre just up 63rd Street, the Stratford Theatre’s popularity started to wane.

The Southtown Theatre very quickly succeeded the Stratford Theatre as the neighborhood’s premier entertainment venue. The Stratford Theatre managed to remain in business, ironically, for many years after the Southtown Theatre closed and was converted into Carr’s department store in the late-1950’s.

The Stratford Theatre has since been torn down.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 29 comments)

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on January 10, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Wow…walkin' around with almost 5 G’s in cash in 1927? With a cop, and still getting robbed? Sounds like Mr. Hogan got set-up.

Too bad the Stratford Theater building couldn’t have hung on long enough to be appreciated more as a neighborhood landmark. And restored to it’s former glory. The Bob Hope history alone should have prevented it’s fate.

thedoberman
thedoberman on August 29, 2009 at 7:49 pm

I live in phx az now but when i was a kid i went to the southtown,linden,ace STRATFORD,linden all the theatres were great.I once seen DICK CONTINO and him playing the accordian at the stratford.Plus i seen ROY ROGERS AND DALE EVANS THERE IN 1950.I am 69 yrs old and i had some good memories there.I lived at 504 w 62nd st across from the libraryI moved in 1952. the doberman

rjfullcircle
rjfullcircle on November 21, 2009 at 12:46 pm

I just bought a Nostalgia Magazine with Bob Hope on the cover. This triggered memories for me. My mother took me to see Bob Hope at the Stratford Theatre. We also saw Abbott and Costello there, who did their hospital sketch. I wish I knew what year this happened.

thedoberman
thedoberman on November 21, 2009 at 3:13 pm

Jan did you go to lewis-chapman grade school?I went there kindergarden thru grade 7B remember in those days they had grades a and b?I practically lived at 63 and halstead.All ways went with my mother to 3 sisters restaurant at normal and 63st.john(jack)I seen BAMBI at the ACE theater when it was a new movie i think it was new.In the late 40s.

rjfullcircle
rjfullcircle on November 21, 2009 at 6:06 pm

We shopped occasionally at 63rd & Halstead. I went to Sawyer Ave. School and Gage Park High.

thedoberman
thedoberman on November 21, 2009 at 8:08 pm

All i did was shop at 63st and halstead and down town at the loop.I am probly a lot older than you but i eather took the streetcar down town or EL and with $1.00 i went to the CHICAGO THEATRE AND TO A wimpys hamburger stand and then to the STATE AND LAKE theatre and home again.Then gave my grandmother the change back.This was 1949,50,51,DAMN i never knew i could get so old.I just retired as a truck driver 9 mths ago.But i sure remember those good theatres.PHOENIX AZ only had 6 theatres in the whole damn city then.JOHN

Englewood
Englewood on December 9, 2009 at 7:41 pm

To: thedoberman and Jan Fricke

Thedoberman,
The restaurant at 63rd and Normal Blvd. was called the Lauer Sisters Restaurant. BTW, just after the turn of the 20th century, the original Englewood Theater stood where Lauer Sisters would later have their place.

Jan,
I wrote an article for Nostalgia Digest (Summer Issue, 2008) about Bob Hope and how he got his real start at the Stratford Theater. The year, I believe was 1928 or 1929. The name of the magazine is Nostalgia DIGEST, not Magazine. They are two different publications.

CompassRose
CompassRose on February 20, 2011 at 11:04 am

View of the Stratford from 1961: Stratford, 1961.

Broan
Broan on November 4, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Here is a 1921 view of the Stratford and Englewood.

swansroad
swansroad on December 15, 2012 at 8:36 am

Sitting by the Swan Pool at the Southtown is one of my most wonderful memories as a kid…..what a theatre. I was able to see 3 double features a day at all the movie houses around 63rd and Halstead when I spent summers at my grandparents and while they were at work. I’m still looking for a good foto of the lobby of the Southtown. Great memories.

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