Studebaker Theater & Playhouse Theater
410 S. Michigan Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60605
410 S. Michigan Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60605
21 people
favorited this theater
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jwballer, The Studebaker was the original name of the 1200 seat theatre. It was called the Fine Arts Theatre #1 from December, 1982 until November, 2000. The smaller theatre had several different names; it was called the World Playhouse beginning in the early 1930s until December, 1982 when it was known as the Fine Arts #2 until it closed in November, 2000. When M&R Theatres re-opened these two theatres on Christmas Day, 1982, the newspaper ads had the new theatres advertised as “Fine Arts” but underneath that term, in parenthesis, it said “Studebaker/World Playhouse.”
According to the website you just posted, both theatres are to be restored. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what comes out of their upcoming event.
Well now that’s some good news. Thanks for posting.
1985 picture of the Studebaker auditorium:
View link
Hello, my name is Tim O'Neill. I worked as usher at the M&R Fine Arts Theatres from 1983-1985. I have to correct some information that is reported on this page. Now keep in mind, I would have to take a leave of abscence from my job in order to conduct a thourough research on the 111 year-old history of the two individual theaters located on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building. This information that I have comes from people who worked at the Fine Arts Building while I was an M&R employee. Okay, what I’ve been told or I have read about: The theater on the left opened as the Studebaker in 1898; the smaller theater on the right opened in 1901, according to THS. The smaller theater had various different names during it’s existence. I can’t remember in which order but the smaller theater has been known as the Fine Arts Theater, Orchestra Hall, the Playhouse Theater, the World Playhouse Theater, the World Theatre, and finally M&R Fine Arts 2 (later Loews, Sony, and Loews Cineplex). The Studebaker orginally opened as a concert hall. In the 1920s the interior was gutted and the auditorium was completely re-done. The only thing that survives from 1898 is the ceiling. The smaller theater has undergone changes as well and became a movie house in 1933. The Studebaker showed some movies during the silent era as well. Throughout the 30s through the 70s, the Studebaker was mainly a live stage house, while the World Playhouse was a movie house. I had heard that the World Playouse was used as a church after it closed as a movie house. In 1982, M&R Amusements took over the Studebaker and World Playhouse and began operating the two theatres as the Fine Arts 1&2. It opened on Christmas Day with MOONLIGHTING in Theatre 1 (Studebaker) and VERONIKA VOSS in Theatre 2 (World Playhouse). One year later, M&R closed Theatre 1 down for a few days and built a wall on the stage. Behind that wall they built Theatre 3 on the Studebaker stage. They converted one of the orginal dressing rooms into a projection booth. In the summer of 1984, M&R literally turned Theatre 3 around by placing the screen on the south end of the auditorium and re-sloping the floor. They built a twin booth and then built Theatre 4 on the stage of the World Playhouse. They had to build a wall on the stage of the World Playhouse. Now the Fine Arts had 4 auditorioums. Theatre 1 approx. 1200 seats; Theatre 2 approx. 550 seats; Theatre 3 240 seats; Theatre 4 158 seats. The theatres remained in business until November 2000.
My guess is that nothing will be happening here for a while, given the economic climate out there.
FYI. There’s a 1983 picture of the Fine Arts facade on the American Classic Images site, should anyone want to post it that is able.
Charles Teitel, who operated the World Playhouse until it closed in 1971, died on April 4, according to the Los Angeles Times. The obituary says that he succeeded his father, Abraham Teitel, who opened the cinema in 1933, and that he fought many battles with Chicago’s film censorship board, culminating in a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1968. Full obit (including a picture with Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert) here.
Reactivate Notification Status.
This is from Boxoffice magazine, May 1960:
Superior Court Judge Grover Niemeyer has ordered the sale of the Fine Arts building, which houses the World Playhouse, at 400 S. Michigan Ave., and the proceeds divided among the owners, Bessie Simon and Arnold Schwartz. Mrs. Simon brought the court action. The building is valued at about $1,300,000, by Mrs. Simon’s attorney.
Yes, it’s been there since 1961.
Google photo shows “George Mitchell’s Snack Shop” on the first floor, as best as I can make out. Some of those photos are a few years old, though.
Typo.
Another photo here. Says architect is Solon S. Berman, as opposed to Beman in the description.
http://tinyurl.com/5erfqx
any information on the renovation project? They had said they were looking for a New Years Eve 2008 reopening?
Another Chicago tragedy….
Granada – RIP
Nortown – RIP
Adelphi – RIP
400 – RIP
Uptown – RIP
Howard – RIP
United Artists – RIP
Oriental – RIP
State & Lake – RIP
Michael Todd – RIP
Woods – RIP
Studebaker – RIP
Playboy – RIP
the list goes on and on………
Does anyone know where to find good pictures of these theaters in their heyday?
David,
FYI – The Sayles film you are referring to is “Lone Star,” a terrific film. I saw it there as well.
I’d completely forgotten about the Studebaker Theatre.
For some reason I remember seeing Pearl Baily perform there, in about 1969 or 70 with my family. We then met her backstage and I shook her hand. Being all of 10, I wore a glove on the one hand at school the next day so I could tell the story. So I guess Michael Jackson owes me something for intellectual property.
The last film I saw there was maybe 1992 or so, a John Sayles film set in Texas or something. Kris Kristofferson was a sheriff & Elizabeth Pena a waitress maybe.
I also helped move some drafting tables & equipment out of The Fine Arts building around 2000 when the Harrington Design school vacated their space.
The elevator operator was still there, and they had a plaque on the wall about his 50+ years of service, etc.
There was also a freight elevator behind the theatre space at the alley.
The floor of the passenger elevator was concave it was so worn.
My mother had several singing coaches & pianists that rented space there as well. There were some small performance type rooms on upper floors that faced Michigan Ave.
I thought that The Art Institute had bought it at one time.
I can’t believe there is still an elevator operator. I remember seeing that ten years ago and thinking it wouldn’t last much longer.
I’ll bet there can’t be more than 100 elevator operators left in the entire U.S.
I wonder if the theatre will be called The Studebaker or renamed. I regret never going there when it was showing films. I remember when it was showing “Hilary and Jackie,” but for some reason I chose not to see the film there.
The Fine Arts building is really a treasure. I used to take music lessons there when I was a kid. I love the old elevators, which still require manual operation and a live operator. I still go to The Artists Cafe sometimes before or after classes at Roosevelt University.
I think downtown Chicago needs a smaller theater for showing more intimate dramas and comedies. The Oriental is perfect for musicals and extravagant entertainment.
View link A recent interior shot of the Studebaker is shown on a project website.
Here that with a picture.
View link
Life’s too short: thanks for the itinerary of the American Conservatory. How sad to hear that it is no more. I wonder if my piano teacher Charlotte Berguson is still alive.
Serious overwhelm of nostalgia for me when contemplating this area of S. Michigan Ave.
I think Smart Bar and the Artists Snack Shop are the only two places from that story that remain open, maybe the ballet studio too.
I lived in Chicago from 1983-91 and just discovered this week that the Fine Arts had closed, years ago. So sad. Though I worked in a number of theatres, from Water Tower Place to McClurg Court while in college, my favorite to actually see films was the Fine Arts. I befriended one of the managers and we’d let each other into screenings at our respective film houses. I still remember seeing everything there from Stop Making Sense (after I moved to NY, I lived two blocks away from David Byrne and would see him regularly riding a bike with his kids and always thought of him in that film) to Sid and Nancy to Manon of the Spring. Would take ballet classes upstairs, catch a flick on my way out, then a quick bite and cup of coffee to perk me up for a night out at Exit (when it was still on Wells), Smart Bar or 950. Damn fine memories.