Rialto Square Theatre
102 N. Chicago Street,
Joliet,
IL
60432
102 N. Chicago Street,
Joliet,
IL
60432
30 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
Jim – you consider the Buffalo Theatre to be a near duplicate of the Rialto Square? You lost me on that one. Don’t they have completely different lobby designs? Is it the auditoriums you consider similar? Even those look pretty different to me. I agree with NEO that the auditoriums of the Rialto Square and the Michigan in Detroit are similar. The Buffalo and Rialto Square are both great theatres, but I don’t see a lot of similarities between them. Just my opinion.
Architects Rapp & Rapp of nearby Chicago repeated many of the same ornamental techniquews in their theatres, so similarity in some respects is to be expected among their theatres, but the closest relative to the RIALTO is its near duplicate in Buffalo, NY, the BUFFALO theatre, which is also on this site.
The interior reminds me of the Michigan Theatre in Detroit.
The RIALTO has a number of claims to fame, but it is the more unusual elements that remain in my memory, and while I bemoan the loss of the luxurious draperies (later somewhat replaced by lesser creations done by Mid-West Scenic in Milwaukee), it is that wonderful ‘fountain’ in stained glass forms centered in the rotunda lobby since opening day that is most memorable. Here a four foot high octagon of metal grillework upon a marble base rises to a bowl of glass fruits which are illuminated from below. The grilles are backed with sheets of stained glass and illuminated from within to silhouette the grillework. It is artistic touches such as this which lend grace to a theatre and distinguish it from all the others with only the basic features. Another theatre that employs such ornaments is the CORONADO in Rockford, Ill, which features ‘vases’ of stained glass flowers in niches in the sidewalls under the balcony to this day. Using flame shaped bulbs to illuminate them, these decorations also lend the more artistic air so little found in smaller scale in theatres; we all appreciate the large scale effects, but a good planner balances the theme by means of attention to ornaments on both ends of the size scale. One might also recall similar ornaments in the form of the dioramas of Chicago cityscapes that once graced the niches in the walls of Chicago’s long-lost SOUTHTOWN (preserved at the Theatre Historical Soc. www.HistoricTheatres.org ), but people can increase the level of interest by using smaller ‘jewels’ to highlight the lobbies, as was done with antique figural lamps upon an imported mahogany back bar in the PABST in Milwaukee, for example.
My brothers and sisters and I saw a lot of movies at the Rialto (also at the Mode and at the Princess) in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I have two memories to share.
The first is, of course, it’s size. It seemed like everything at the Rialto was gigantic. It was a large theatre, and I believe it had entrances on three different streets. The first lobby was about three stories high and had mirrors everywhere. There were also six or eight HUGE thrones along the walls. Four or five of us could sit (or stand) on one chair, and you could easily hide behind a chair’s leg. The second lobby was the rotunda. It had a chandelier that must have been twenty feet from top to bottom. The third lobby, which had the doorways to the main floor of the theatre, was as long as the other two lobbies combined. Off of the third lobby, there was a kind of dining room or cafe.
The second memory is of a picture that was always hanging in the lobby. It was of a young woman, and looked like it was from the 1920’s. Underneath, it said her name, and that she was from Joliet, and that she was the first Miss America. I don’t know if that is so, but I am sure that is what it said. We would always stop and look at the picture, and make some weird mental note that the first Miss America was from Joliet, as if it were an important and useful fact. It sounds outrageous now, but it was so normal then.
The opening of “The Sting” was filmed in and around the Rialto
The “restoration” of the Rialto Theatre was a fortunate method of delaying the demise of the theatre, however the work performed was far from being faithful to the original color scheme of the theatre. Alas, most of the draperies were removed at that time. Many of the drapes, including the organ grille swags, swags on the balcony sidewalls and most of the arches on the orchestra floor were still intact before the restoration. The grand drape header was in place, and parts of its ornamentation were used in the bland red replacement that was hung in its place
A lot of the gold leaf, creme, red and muted green colors were replaced with a more pastel color pallette at this time as well.
Unfortunately the side lobby exit, which resembled an outdoor Italian Garden, complete with blue atmospheric ceiling, was demolished in the early 1970’s to make room for a Navy recruitment center. It would have been great to see this element recreated at the time of the restoration.
There was a huge Gilt Clock in the lobby, right up until the time of the sale of the building from its original owners. There were also about six large Gold Leaf Throne chairs in the grand lobby also, which were sold to a Chicago Antiques dealer in the same time frame.
There was a “lobby organ” which consisted of several ranks (sets) of pipes, high above the Rotunda Lobby. This division of the organ was playable from the main organ console in the auditorium and was supposed to be used to entertain waiting patrons. The Lobby Organ pipe chamber was reached from the upper house left exit door hallway, through a plain wood door which opened onto the top of the lobby ceiling. The Blower for the pipes was situated here also.
The Rialto was, and still is, an absurdly beautiful theatre situated in a rural city, completely out of place in Joliet, as most theatres of this calibre were in larger metropolitan areas.
The RIALTO THEATRE opened it’s doors the day I was born,May 21st,1926.I was fortunate to be able to celebrate Rialto’s 60th birthday party with an old fashion vaudeville show.My wife and I have attended many stage shows there.I’ll always know how old that theatre is whenever I have a birthday.Thanks to everyone who renovated it.Let’s have a party when it’s 80 years old.
I became interested in the name TIVOLI when I worked at a Milwaukee area hotel which had a restaurant with this name; they had no idea where the name came from, so I did some research, especially since it had also become the name of a number of theatres. It was popularized in the 19th century by the famous Tivoli amusement park and gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark founded in 1843 in imitation of the famous gardens and palaces of the Italian ruling princes of the 16th century, the Estes, who built the famed Villa d'Este palace in the region of Tivoli, a popular tourist attraction to this day. Thus, the pleasure-assuring name was thought auspicious by the developers of theatres, theatres being the pleasure palaces of the masses of their day.
This is akin to the common theatre name: RIALTO, for the famous enclosed Rialto bridge of 1591 in Venice, Italy over the Grand Canal, which to this day contains many amusing boutiques and is at the heart of an entertainment district. The distinctive architecture of the Rialto bridge also inspired many latter day architects, and perhaps found its forms reproduced in some movie palaces. A monograph on the origin of theatre names was presented at the 1981 Conclave of the Theatre Historical Society of America then meeting at the PABST theater in Milwaukee, but the origins of the above names and others were not known by the author of that paper. Perhaps this will add a little bit to that quest.
I went to movies here and it really became run down, but it sure is great now! WOW!