Marbro Theatre
4110 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60624
4110 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60624
18 people
favorited this theater
The Marbro Theatre was designed by Edward Eichenbaum for the firm of Levy & Klein, whose other notable Chicago theaters included the Granada Theatre and the Diversey Theatre (better known by its later name, the Century Theatre), for the Marks Brothers chain (hence the theater’s name).
The Marbro Theatre opened in 1927 on Madison Street and Karlov Avenue, not far from the spectacular Paradise Theater, which would open a year later. The almost-4,000 seat Marbro Theatre was at the time one of the biggest theaters in Chicago, and not only drew its audience from Garfield Park, but the whole West Side of the city, as well as the bordering suburbs, all but stifling the competition.
Built in the Spanish Baroque style, including a flamboyant terra-cotta facade, the Marbro Theatre wowed first-time visitors with its massive stage and proscenium arch, its soaring lobby (with a two-story marble staircase and small tree-sized European crystal chandelier) and Mighty Wurlitzer 5 manual 21 rank organ.
The trade paper, Variety, wrote at the time that “…its beauty is loud, but beauty nonetheless”.
Opening day featured a parade with Garfield Park’s most prominent businessmen, the Gloria Swanson film, “The Loves of Sunya”, and performances by bandleader Benny Meroff and organist Albert Brown. Though critics warned the Marks Brothers that they’d have trouble filling the 4,000 seat theater, they were silenced when the Marbro Theatre began to draw patrons away from the nearby and longer established 3,000 seat Senate Theatre and smaller theaters in the area.
The opening of the Paradise Theatre around the block renewed speculation that the Marbro Theatre would falter, but the Marbro Theatre didn’t miss a beat, and in fact, once sound films became standard by the late-1920’s, it became the favored of the two, since the Paradise Theatre was notorious for its horrible accoustics almost from the day it opened (a tragic flaw that ultimately doomed the palatial theater).
On November 1, 1929, Marks Brothers sold the Marbro Theatre to Balaban & Katz (along with the Granada Theatre in Rogers Park that same day). The theater continued the format of live stage shows and films through the 1940’s.
The Marbo’s huge size worked against it eventually, and by the 1950’s, with the popularity of television, Balaban & Katz struggled to keep it even partly filled, and in 1963, it was closed.
Sadly, this magnificent giant was razed in 1964.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft, Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 228 comments)
Thanks for this reference. I will check it out.
Ditto, I will also check it out. Always interested about stories of the majestic Marbro….
Here is a nice early view
Great photo..Would love to see same photo in late 40’s & 50’s same view new signage. Thanks.
I have added a photo of the Marbro, which is actually a postcard view of the theatre from 1929. It shows a little more of West Madison Street than most of the other early pictures I’ve seen.
If any of you are on FB, there are photos and memories of the Marbro and other B&K theaters posted on the Austin neighborhood group and the St. Mel’s group.
I am amazed by the size of the upright sign. I wonder what it took to change the blubs on it?
I lived on Madison one half block west on the south side of the street. I’d open the window to check the marquee to see what movies were playing. You can’t beat that memory.
I had to walk two blocks to see what they were putting on the sign on Thursday nights. Couldn’t wait ‘til Friday when I walked by. You had it easy. By the middle 50’s, there weren’t any bulbs on the vertical sign. Pink neon only and elevator trucks were used to re-gas the tubes. I think maybe there were bulbs at one time when they first updated the sign, because you could see the holes were the bulbs used to be. I wonder what year they did the neon.
Good question, Bobby. Neon is very expensive. We had a neon sign in front of our family restaurant. It was so amazing to look down from our apartment on our name in lights. What a great time.