Paradise Theater

“was billed as the world’s most beautiful theater. It is regarded as one of the finest designs by its architect, John Eberson. The sheer opulence and intricate craftsmanship that went into the theater made it a showpiece in itself.” “Unfortunately, in 1956, owners Balaban and Katz decided to demolish the theater and sell the land to a supermarket chain. The theater that was also built to stand forever almost lived up to that claim; what was to have been a six month demolition took two years!” I say, shame on you, Chicago!

Okay, to get this right for everyone… you are all sort of correct. The rock group Styx recorded a concept album “Paradise Theater” based on the rise and fall of the real Paradise Theater in Chicago. The inside of the album cover even had a reprint of the newspaper article telling of the theater’s demolition. The songs were fictional accounts of life in and around the Paradise Theater over the span of the theater’s existence. The film “State Street Sadie” was a real film that played at the Paradise Theater. Follow this link and you will see it displayed on the marquee in the third photo down the page, on the first line of the marqee, starring Myrna Loy. http://www.moviepalaces.net/paradise-ext1.htm
The song “State Street Sadie” was composed by Styx as the closing tune on the album – a sad instrumental played on a solitary out of tune piano. Presumably, the composer, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, saw the photo that the link listed above displays. So everyone was correct, together! ;–)
As for the theater itself, I did a little research on the Paradise a few years back, based on my curiousity and love of theater palaces, and I happen to be a Styx fan as well. I was completely aghast when I first saw the photos of both the exterior and interior of this jewel! While many times venues have claimed to be beuatiful and the finest or most luxurious – this was actually true of the Paradise. I am frustrated at the thought that I will never get a chance to see this incredible structure. So sad it is gone – and that was almost 40 years ago now.

I meant to say photographs of the auditorium of the Loews Paradise in the Bronx.

John Eberson, a master of his craft also designed the oppulent Loews Paradise Theater in the bronx NY which is also considered one of the greatest movie palaces in America. It was also atmospheric and its almost 4,000 seat auditorium sat in a beautiful italian garden with the constellations set in the sky as they were on the birthday of Marcus Loew. On opening night there were canaries singing from their cages in the halls and lounges. The theater cost 4,000,000 1929 dollars and did phenominally even before the Central Park West subway line brought people in from the west side of Manhattan. The theater had been divided in four by the 70’s. By the 1990’s, there werent enough bronx residents attending with the multiplexes opening in the bronx and the rest of NYC as well as neighboring Westchester County. The movie palace closed 1994 and is currently being restored so that it can be an entertainment venue for Bronx opera companies, symphony orchestras and entertainers. Images of the interior can be seen here: http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=16520
Information on the venue can be found at: http://www.rpaniagua.com/paradise2.html

You can see some great interior and exterior shots of the Paradise here: http://www.moviepalaces.net/chicagotheaters.htm

Jon Erickson’s description of the wonderful PARADISE does accurately relay why the theatre failed, but there have been questions about the nature of the acoustics that should be addressed.
The ornamentation and auditorium decorative draperies so usually seen in movie palaces were not just for show; it was essential to absorb and deflect the sound waves coming from the stage and organ/orchestra so that only one sound wave struck the listener. When sound hits an essentially smooth surface —such as the ceiling of an ‘atmospheric’ (stars and clouds) theatre— it is focused by that surface upon a single broad point in the audience, effectively amplifying the sound to those there, but dimming it for those elsewhere. Not only will others outside of that point not hear as much volume, but worse is the echo that develops as the main sound front hits the listener, followed by the delayed sound front reflected off the ceiling a split second later. Many smaller atmospherics had smaller effective reflective ceilings where the flanking false building fronts were closer to the surface and these absorbed or deflected much of the sound. In the over 3,000 seats in the PARADISE, the vault of the ceiling was just too vast to have any ornament or draperies near enough to counteract the reflection(s); remember the laws of physics: the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection/refraction. Thus when the sound front hit the ceiling, it crashed onto the audience mid-floor, AFTER they had heard the other sound fronts from the stage and elsewhere. During music this may just cause muddled sound, but speech can be rendered unintelligible. How could the great architect Eberson miss this fact during planning? I don’t know, since acoustics was not an unknown science even then. It may be that the owner put too much pressure on him for a triumphal spectacular, which he achieved, as opposed to a good concert hall. After all, ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune.’

Some of the statuary and fountains from the Paradise went to the Chateau Royale, a banquet hall built out of the Iris Theater at 5747 W. Chicago Ave. I remember attending weddings and functions there and admiring the beautiful fixtures. The building still exists today, except as a church.

The style of this theatre really should say Atmospheric/French renaissance. The term “atmospheric” is important, as it classifies the auditorium as having a “open sky” effect, the French element being secondary, but no less important. Architect John Eberson (who designed the Paradise) is the inventor and best proponent of this style.

To see the famous portrait of The Paradise Theatre LP cover, go to

http//www.styxworld.com

The story of the fabulous, but long-lost Chicago PARADISE THEATRE is correctly told in the ANNUAL of 1977 of the Theatre Historical Society of America, titled: “The PARADISE THEATRE, Crawford near Washington, Chicago, Illinois” by Joseph DuciBella, past president of the Society. The 38-page, 8-1/2x11 long format booklet features dozens of black and white photos plus drawings of the theatre, one of John Eberson’s very best. It opened the same month as the equally famous PARADISE in the Bronx, NY, but that house still stands. The Annual can be purchased for $12.50 plus shipping from the Society under the sidebar: PUBLICATIONS: ANNUALS > Ordering Information, at: www.HistoricTheatres.org. There was even an ad in “Signs of the Times” magazine of November 1928, page 59 that shows the front facade in a photo describing its 4,692 light bulbs on one of the vary largest marquees in the world, the 10,772 total light bulbs on the marquee being animated by ‘Hotchkiss Silent Flasher’ made jus north of Chicago in Milwaukee by the Cramblet Engineering Corp. The used a strip of mercury switches riding on a series of cams turned by a motor to spell out the PARADIS*E letters and to sequence the rise of the sunrise design of colored lights to light from bottom to top in order. Such sequencing is now done electronically, but in those days, the mercury switch was new in this application. Such devices plus contactors and transformers were what was contained in those large boxes often seen built on the top of the marquee out of sight of the ground.