Roosevelt Theater

Thanks for the memories. I ushered at the Roosevelt in the middle sixties as my first job. She’ll always hold a place in my heart, lots of great times.

The big draw during my employment was GOLDFINGER, Bond films were hot back then and Goldfinger drew lines waiting to get in, (out in the freezing winter cold yet) all the way around the block, sometimes even reaching the United Artists. I remember some moviegoers being quite confused as to which theatre the line was for. We ushers sometimes worked 11 hour days to handle the Goldfinger crowds, and we had to actually seat people to fill the theatre to capacity. Those were the days…

I had a lot of great times downtown at these long gone theatres.

The Roosevelt began to cater to the African American audience in the early 1970’s and, unfortunately, a stigma became attached to the theater. “Shaft” opened in 1971 and played a staggering 24 weeks, a feat not repeated in the rest of its lifetime. Still the Roosevelt drew crowds up to the very end. In the year that it closed (1978) they had a very successful run of “Richard Pryor Live in Concert”.

Was on State Street across from Marshal Fields flagship store. Was torn down a number of years ago along with the United Artists Theater, around the corner, at the corner of Randolph & Dearborn. In fact everything within the block bordered by State, Randolph, Dearborn & Washington was torn down including a very historic building at the Corner of Dearborn & Washington, with the exception of one small electric company building. The whole block is now used in the summer for art types of things and as an ice skating rink in winter. But after all these years it is still waiting for a developer.