LaGrange Theatre

By looks of the theaters, LaGrange was divided in to two screens. Later the South Screen was divided in two – current theaters 1 and 2. The second screen was cut for a long hallway to a theater built on the stage and backstage area of the building. This is theater 3, and looks like a 1970’s vintage multiplex screen. Remaining number 4 screen has the most seats, but is odd in that hallway part having cut the original split smaller. Theaters 1,2, and 4 all have screens that are now not wide enough for current movies. I often notice that titles and credits go off the edge of the screens, number 3 I don’t think is any better.

I remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” at the LaGrange with my mom when it was re-released in the 70’s. I think the last movie I saw there while it was still a single screen venue was “Xanadu.” They showed a Tom and Jerry cartoon to start, which was pretty cool—and a damn sight better than the movie. Saw some pretty good films there after it was split in two: “The Right Stuff,” “Out of Africa” (during which the management force-fit an intermission by simply stopping the movie halfway through!), and one particularly memorable double feature of “Never Say Never Again” and “Return of the Jedi.”

Haven’t been back too many times since it was split into four screens. Saw “Goldeneye” there, and took a bunch of neighborhood kids to see “The Phantom.” One time I took the kids there to see an animated film (can’t remember the title—something with penguins), and after the coming attractions, the film broke. They couldn’t get it fixed, so we got our money back and left.

Theatre #4 has been closed for some time. Apparantly, it is being remodeled with new seating. As a four-plex, it is oddly configured (but then again, name one chopped-up ex-single-screener that isn’t). I saw Oliver Twist in theatre #2, which is accessed via a l-o-n-g corridor to the rear. Presumably, this was where the original rear of the theatre was. #2 is perpendicular to the other theatres, which is to say that it is on a north-south orientation, whereas the #1 and #3 are on an east-west. I’ve never been in #4, so I cannot say how that is.

Well, there’s the Gateway still showing films fairly regularly, the Portage is set to reopen apparently. There are of course lots of others still standing and used for other purposes, like the Congress, Riviera, Oriental, Chicago, Lakeshore etc. There are ones that have been entirely repuposed. Then there’s H&E Balaban theaters like the Esquire, Pickwick, and Des Plaines.

It was showing first-run movies in the 70s. I remember seeing Inframan there. The last time I went there, a couple of years ago, it looked like it needed some work. I think they’re trying to raise money for renovation. I don’t know why the Village of LaGrange doesn’t help out. Instead, they let national bookstore chains raze architectural landmarks. You’d think they’d want to preserve their history.

Not usually, but it is rare if they do. Here some theaters that I go to that usually show foreign films so you don’t have to travel to downtown Chicago:

• Marcus Cinema Addison in Addison
• Yorktown 18 in Lombard
• Lake Theater in Oak Park
• Crown Village Theaters in Skokie
• Rivertree Court in Vernon Hills
• Century Theaters in Evanston (sometimes I go)

I remember going to LaGrange in 1983 to see “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs” and “Trading Places” when it was a single screen. In 1984, the theater was split into two, and in the 1990’s became a quad. To answer Florence’s question, I am not sure if the LaGrange will show “Whale Rider” again on the big screen, you may want to contact the manager of the theater. I saw it at the Oakbrook Theaters just before they closed down (Good movie). The movie is available on VHS videocassette and DVD.

Plitt theaters once operated the LaGRANGE theater from the 1970’s to the early 1980’s.