Uptown Theatre
4816 N. Broadway,
Chicago,
IL
60640
4816 N. Broadway,
Chicago,
IL
60640
89 people
favorited this theater
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It is not libel. Libel involves lies and the judgments against you are a matter of public record, available on the Circuit Court of Cook County web site. All I am doing is quoting information that anyone can find with a web browser. Here are the case numbers.
http://198.173.15.34/
Case Number Plaintiff Defendant Date Filed
2005-M2-000785 PALES CAROL WARSHAUER PAUL 04/11/2005
2004-M1-719354 MID AMERICA MANAGE WARSHAUER PAUL 08/06/2004
2003-M1-731056 MID AMERICA MGMT WARSHAUER PAUL 12/04/2003
2003-M1-164392 ANNOYANCE PRODUCTI WARSHAUER PAUL 10/06/2003
This article describes the Uptown Theatre-related financial actions which led to a court judgement against you:
http://www.annoyanceproductions.com/readerart.gif
How can you possibly say that all of this is a lie and that you have never been involved with the legal system? If you have a way of explaining to me why the government would enter false court judgments against you I will be willing to listen. Is the Cook County government trying to ruin you? Maybe your attorney should contact them…or the daily newspaper that wrote the article above…or the authors of the countless other negative articles about you available in print and on the internet.
Webmaster: Please cut this person off. No “legal system” was involved. What Life said is most definitely libelous. I will contact my lawyer if this persists. This character slam comes from a total stranger and is totally unacceptable. For the record: No criminal acts or crimes were committed by me or any UTCA board member. No one was charged and I am insulted at your lies regarding all the good people who served on the UTCA Board. Yes, I am a champion to rstore the Uptown Theatre. Are YOU?? Enough us enough. Life: YOU have worn out your welcome here and refuse to discuss the theatre like we agreed! The movie was a student film and did not tell the whole story. Period. Everyone else has opinions about the movie and why aren’t they posting them? It was a good work to be sure.
Paul: I can’t believe you had the nerve to go and see a movie about one theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy BEING SHOWN AT another theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy, THEN post critical remarks about how the movie didn’t include a section about you. It boggles the mind.
And no, frankly, you started it by posting here again. I think “goaway” summed it up nicely when noting that conversation remains pleasant on Cinema Treasures as long as you are not around.
Uptown Advisor: I don’t think the business of theatre restoration is always nice, nor are the conversations surrounding it. Look at how heated things have gotten in Richmond surrounding the John Eberson Loews theatre there. A movie is fine and good. Historical research is fine and good. Talking about how the Uptown would be a good concert hall is fine and good. But the REAL business of restoring a large theatre, as Paul is fond of saying, is not pleasant.
The legal system has found that Paul committed financial crimes related to the Uptown Theatre. Do you want me to sit here, Uptown Advisor, and let him try to make people believe that he is a champion of the Uptown Theatre just so that Cinema Treasures remains NICE? How does that make sense? If you want to bring Martin Luther King into this, I would like to point out that Dr. King certainly didn’t ignore a ridiculous situation just in the name of keeping things pleasant. The actions he took during the 1960’s were highly aggressive.
Dear Uptown Advisor: Plain fact is Life doesn’t know squat but I agree with your message and sentiment. I agree to do what you ask. My last posting was in reference to the movie. Plain and simple. i hate to use the phrase but, “he started it!”
I disagree Uptown Advisor.
And as far as sharing my phone number with Paul goes, I would sooner send it to every telemarketing firm in the greater metro area.
Dear Paul Warshauer and Life’s Too Short:
Please have the courtesy to take your sparring away from the Uptown’s page here, and perhaps away from Cinema Treasures (a really nice place!). Your issues have nothing to do with this theatre building.
I suggest you share your email addresses with each other so you may argue in private. Or, exchange phone numbers. Or, arrange to meet in an alley or boxing ring and work out your frustrations on each other. Let’s self-police this forum and keep it positive.
Consider the wisdom of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Accepting Nobel Peace Prize,
December 10, 1964
So why isn’t the theatre open, you oh so studly rainmaker?
That’s all very cute. But you are like a salesman making excuses to his district manager about lack of production:
“but I did this, but I did that.”
You haven’t restored, reopened and successfully run a single theatre. Meanwhile people far and wide have accused you of crimes, and the court system has agreed with them. Everybody hates you Paul. Did that happen for no reason? Of course not. The human race doesn’t work that way.
You have balls Paul. But one day you are going to go too far with this behavior. Then somebody is going to chop them off.
You see? Again you are off task. Stick to the issues. Stay focused on the goal and not on the players. The only controversy that ALL of the board members of the old UTCA left under was the lack of money and vision. I offered then and continue to try and offer today specific and productive ideas. “Life’s:” your comments are always negative. What have you offered positively lately? By the way: Mary Brush is smarter than all of us. No one bilked her. Ask her who brought her engineering firm (Klein and Hoffman) to the table in the first place… ask architect Gary Martinez who brought him to the table… yeah that’s right. Me.
Leave Mary Brush alone. I will not be pleased with you, my little friend, if I find out that you have bilked her.
“It will take music promoters, producers, actors, musicians, theatre historians, preservationists, architects, construction estimators, professional theatre consultants, REAL developers with REAL money, dreamers, workers, finance people, grass roots groups and the politicos to save this theatre”
I don’t see scam artists in that list Paul. You have serious balls to continue posting here after you were run out of the Uptown Theatre under a cloud of controversy.
The REAL question is:
WHEN did they start allowing PRISON INMATES to use the INTERNET?
With great respect: The documentary, “Portrait of a Palace” was lacking in many respects. It was a good student film but lacked historical data like where the chandeliers are today and how they got there. It also failed to answer the question of who the REAL owners are. Glaring ommissions were the failure to interview: Mary Brush, D'escoto Architects, the two banks and their mortgage people, Carol, Mike, Mark Zipperer, Chad, Marty Tangora, and many others who could have explained the complex financial history and status of the theatre today. Rudy, Louie Wolf, Kenny Goldberg… It also lacked an interview with ME! I have collected and archived so many financial and historical documents from the Uptown, I would have been honored to share them all. I would have been a natural on camera. Even if I wasn’t interviewed, no one from UTCA was interviewed nor was Albert Goodman. Why wasn’t the official “trustee” even interviewed? “Portrait of a Palace” was a great piece to save other theatres but did little to answer the REAL questions of what to do programming wise with the Uptown Theatre when it opens…not if…but when. Many of us at the Portage Park Theatre that night were deeply saddened that a large committee of well meaning community members could not meet and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Some informal groups began their discussions on the street outside the theatre. (Dave S., Ruth, and her investors, George from Cleveland, and even Dr. Talsky with some of his minions.) The Alderman has the power and authority to do this: Organize the first Uptown Summit! It is time to bury our individual egos, roll up our sleeves and go to work. It truly will take a nation to save this theatre. It will take music promoters, producers, actors, musicians, theatre historians, preservationists, architects, construction estimators, professional theatre consultants, REAL developers with REAL money, dreamers, workers, finance people, grass roots groups and the politicos to save this theatre. Let’s stop addressing the root causes of why it hasn’t opened and deal with how it CAN open. And please.. leave the personal attacks of me off of this site and stick to the issues?
Does the Green Mill building’s owner agree to such floodlights, and who pays the hundreds or thousands for them, the electricians (at almost $100 the hour) to put in the wiring to them and then the daily electric power for them? How helpful would such be if the lights illuminate only one side of the building and thus the miscreants simply move their attentions to other sides then more deeply in darkness? If only some high powered flood lights could do it all. It seems that there are a few questions to be answered first, sad to say.
It is excellent news about the DVD coming out through Compass Rose! Let us hope that selling these at a reasonable price will promote their circulation and thus raise awareness of the UPTOWN as the landmark it really is.
There was one thing I was wondering about the pressure washer. Why can’t there be security floodlighting installed on top of the Green Mill building to deter vandals?
The DVDs will be available soon through http://www.compassrose.org once the filmmakers take care of a few technicalities.
The turnout at the Portage was fantastic. Proceeds supported the Portage Film Forum and Friends of the Uptown; F.o.t.U are now able to purchase a power washer so volunteers can now take care of the exterior graffitti on the theatre that’s otherwise prohibitively expensive to clean off. I’ll post photos from the premiere event soon.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes small pictures. Here is another.
The film was very good, with a few caveats, and the 80 DVD copies available on-hand sold out easily. The filmmakers said that more copies would be made, and that people who wrote their emails down would be informed, but no word yet.
Soooo, How is the Uptown Theatre film???? What is in it? Can it be purchased somewhere? Anyone get to see it?????
Nick Digilio of WGN radio has an Interview with a member of the Friends of the Uptown Theater at 11:05 pm tonight on 720 am (6/4/06).
If you were at the Uptown Portrait event last summer, be sure to come to the Uptown Theatre documentary on June 8th to see yourself on the Silver Screen!
WATCH THE NEW DOCUMENTARY “UPTOWN: PORTRAIT OF A PALACE"
AT THE HISTORIC PORTAGE THEATRE IN CHICAGO
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2006. Time: 8:00 pm
Address: 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
The public debut of the short documentary film Uptown: Portrait of a
Palace will be hosted by Friends of the Uptown and the Portage Film
Forum at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 8, 2006, at the Portage Theatre, 4050 N.
Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Two additional shorts and live theatre organ
music complete the bill. The Portage Theatre has a full concession
stand. Admission is $8 in advance; $10 at the door. Plenty of parking
is available nearby at meters and a City lot. Proceeds will benefit the
Portage Film Forum and Friends of the Uptown. Call (773) 205-7372 or
visit http://www.silentfilmchicago.com for more information.
Uptown: Portrait of a Palace was produced and directed by John Pappas
and Michael Bisberg for Debra Tolchinsky’s Fall 2005 documentary film
production course at Northwestern University. A devastating hard drive
crash caused its delayed completion and release. However, the data was
recovered with the help of grant assistance and a remarkable,
first-of-its-kind (for the Uptown Theatre!) film has been released.
Progenitor of the largest U.S. movie palaces of the mid-to-late 1920s,
the Uptown Theatre, Chicago, operated profitably and survived several
shifts in entertainment and public taste before closing in 1981. Since
then, the closed colossus has been one of the biggest mysteries of
Chicago’s North Side. Though the Uptown is a popular favorite venue for
generations of Chicagoans and a City landmark since 1991, it is
increasingly threatened by its disuse and real-estate speculation.
The film explores the history of the Uptown Theatre and why the largest
and one of the most elaborate theatres in the nation has been left
vacant for 25 years. It uses interviews with eight sources close to the
theatre and breathtaking footage from inside the rarely seen venue to
invite the viewer to question what is really important in a society
fueled by money and private interest.
Is the Uptown a crumbling remnant of the long-forgotten past? Or does
the building possess the quality that Balaban & Katz (the theatre’s
original owners and promoters) touted when they gave it as a gift to
their loyal cinema patrons: A theatre built “Not for TODAYâ€"but for ALL
TIME.â€
Overall, the film shows how the Uptown Theatre remains an active venue
for the hopes of volunteers who support it, the factoids of historians
who have tracked it, and the dreams of a city that promotes the concept
of its renovation and reuse for entertainment in the near future.
We hope to see you there! To learn more and to download a trailer for a
sneak peek
of what’s in store go to
http://www.compassrose.org/uptowntheatre/news.html
John Pappas and Mike Bisberg of Northwestern University have recently finished their documentary on the Uptown Theatre, filmed last summer. It will be shown locally sometime in May, and I’ll post the information as soon as it’s available. For now, you can download a sneak peek at: http://www.compassrose.org/uptowntheatre/news.html
David Balaban, whose family built the theatre in 1925, has written a book on the Balaban and Katz theatres. It is available as of today (Wednesday). Follow the same link to read about David and his book.
There is a show on Discovery Channel called Urban Explorers – Chicago episode. They went in the uptown, and went all over it (booth, main floor, catacombs). I’m not sure if this show will be on again, i sure hope so. You guys would have loved it!
Hello:
For JIM RANKIN
I put the answer to my UPTOWN question here instead of one the Paradise site considering that this doesn’t belong there.
WOW, we have another winner! Like I said, I HAVE heard of the Uptown before and saw pictures of the outside…but not the inside. Boy did I get a crash course on it tonight! For one, it is HUGE! I didn’t know was that it is LARGER than Radio City! One thing for sure…it is like the Granada or Marbro on steroids. ME LIKES!!
However, there seems to be quite a bit of controversy stirred up around this beauty. Many Many hands in the pot. You hit it on the head when you said “it is daunting.” But it does seem like there is quite a bit of interest in it and I am crossing my fingers that something good turns out for the Uptown. I just can’t see something like this being lost. I am happy learn it it WAS NOT demolished and it is still standing AND moreover, it is restorable. I most definately will get the Annual on this one.
JG
Yeah: that is a pretty good article. Sums it all up. I hadn’t been aware of the legal battle over the theatre’s ownership.
Can someone clarify who all these groups are (Friends of the Uptown, Uptown Theatre and Center for the Arts, Uptown Theatre Renovation Project, etc) and what role they play in the efforts to reuse the theatre?
A great article! Everyone should pitch in to do whatever it takes to ensure preservation and the reopening of this gem!!! It will be a focal point of the community. Good luck! – Michael from NY
Dear Michael,
May I suggest that you visit http://www.chicagosuptowntheater.com and read up on what’s presented there. If you contact those working at this site— who include a former owner of the Uptown and David Balaban of Balaban & Katz among others— they will be able to furnish you with a detailed history of the theatre (including original documents) as well as updating you on the problems that have plagued the Uptown’s restoration efforts. They should be most helpful to you in your film project.
Best of luck,
Richard Cohen