White Front Theatre
1257 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60622
1257 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60622
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The original address 909 N. Milwaukee Avenue has now been renumbered. The White Front Theatre was opened by Carl Laemmle on February 24, 1906.
This early nickelodeon was the stepping stone to success for Carl Laemmle, who went on to form Universal Pictures in 1912. The White Front Theatre was closed in 1911, and converted to retail use as a five & dime store.
The building is currently used as a Foot Locker store.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
My guess as to location would be the building next door at 1253, the Foot Locker store. The style of building and size conforms more closely to the era of this theater.
The Moving Picture World of July 15, 1916, had an article about Carl Laemmle’s first venture into the movie business (Google Books scan here.) There’s a 1906 photo of the White Front Theatre, but it is cropped too close to reveal whether or not it was in the building that now houses the Foot Locker store.
The building did have narrow windows on the upper floor, like the windows in the Foot Locker building, but the article says that the White Front property had a fifty foot frontage, while the Foot Locker building appears to be only half that width. If the theater was at what is now 1257 N. Milwaukee, it’s likely that it has been demolished, as the building now on the site has much wider windows on the second floor. At the very least, the entire facade was replaced.
The MPW article says that Laemmle gave up the theater when his original five-year lease ran out, at that in 1916 the building housed a five-and-ten-cent store.
After extensive research on this area, my former Chicagoland area neighborhood, the Foot Locker building is the location Carl Laemmle opened his White Front Theatre. The building once had a matching side to it. The larger building was never there. It was built years after the other side had burned from an interview I conducted with two surviving women of that day. One was Lydia Pucinski, a popular radio personality in her own right. I found this building and informed Carl Laemmle Junior about it soon before we met in 1979, when the structure was not a Foot Locker, but the longtime business known as Byster Brothers Clothing store. After viewing the photo of the nickelodeon, I recall seeing these triangular openings above the doorway. There is no question that this is the location. I lived in Chicago most of my life and interviewed neighbors (and one of the Byster sons and an employee who knew stories his father told him about the theatre), now long gone, who were young people at the time Laemmle was a part of their community.
Incidentally, it was Carl’s brother Joseph Laemmle, who opened his brother’s nickelodeon for in February 1906. Joseph’s daughter Carla Laemmle (born Rebecca Isabelle Laemmle). Carla’s Uncle Carl moved Joseph and his family to California in 1921. Carla has lived there since. In fact, the family was one of three families to live at Universal City. Carla and I have been good friends for 15 years. She is an amazing individual at the age of 102 (born 1909: just as her Uncle Carl was breaking away from theatre owner and began producing motion pictures forming the IMP company).
Carla Laemmle’s biography was published in February 2009, soon before her 100th birthday. I am her biographer. “Among the Rugged Peaks: An Intimate Biography of Carla Laemmle” is available through Amazon.com and/or Midnight Marquee Press.