Liberty 1 & 2 Theatres

At one time very representative of a neighborhood cinema, the theatre is now damaged now beyond repair because of the desire to “modernize.” While still operating as of 2011, virtually all of the architectural deco character of the original theatre has been stripped away. The exterior art deco facade and sign are gone, and the stucco facade is now faced with paneling. The exterior box office is long gone. Virtually all the 1930’s décor has been stripped away, leaving a big ugly black box interior. To make matters worse, a long center wall was installed, splitting the auditorium into two halves, creating a long, cavernous feeling with tiny movie screens at the far end. There’s nothing left to save here. What remains might as well have been the interior of a warehouse with theatre seats.

Sure has changed over the years the marquee looks good though.

I think the bottom of the marquee may be from the 1930’s marquee.

I hate that paneling and marquee

Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ybuwosp

1982 Photo

Another photo can be seen here.

Here is a nice November 2008 photo.

The year given for this photo is 1955 and here is an earlier photo (1930s).

The Liberty Theater is no longer a part of the Rhyan Management Company of Theaters. It was sold in June 2006 to a company by the name of “C” You at The Movies, Inc. They have done numerous renovations to the building as far as decorating the interior and improving the exterior. They have improved the theater interiors both in the lobby and the auditoriums. They have also improved the parking lots and painted the building. As for the Grayslake Drive-In that was also part of the RMC chain but was sold and demolished for commercial expansion 10 years ago or so. The Antioch was also part of the RMC along with the Dunes, McHenry Indoor and McHenry Outdoor. These theaters however are still in operation and managed by “C” You at The Movies.

It’s hard to believe that in obscure Libertyville, far removed from the glamor and glitz of Hollywood, a world premiere of a major Hollywood film took place—-but a premiere did take place at the Liberty theatre (seating capacity 700) in 1942, during World War II—-the following news item will explain:

Chicago Tribune, Thursday, September 24, 1942, p. 16, c. 7:

WAR BOND FETE IN LIBERTYVILLE YIELDS $65,000
TOWN HAS WORLD PREMIERE OF MOVIE

Residents of Libertyville in Lake county [population 3,900] stepped out last night on a duel mission. With all the panoply of Hollywood repeated they saw the world premiere of a new movie, “Desperate Journey,” starring Errol Flynn, and they bought war savings bonds to the amount of $65,000 or more.

The town had already purchased more than $110,000 of the bonds and the new total of $175,000 brought a compliment from Gov. Dwight H. Green, who was present.

Here are photos of this theater.

Here is a photo of the Liberty Theater.