Paradise Theater

Scott, I never heard the word gaudy referred to the Paradise. But I can see some people thinking that. If there was a rescue plan to save it, I never heard of it. Must have been a dozen or two. I did hear people call it a relic of the past, a by-gone era, a palace of yesteryear….. So Joe wrote you a letter. He wasn’t very talkative
to me. I would love to read it. I think my dad was upset about the demolition. But then again, I don’t remember him going out of his way
to attend it. So much on tv and home life. I was always there with friends and schoolmates. I do remember the Garrick campaign. I saw “Bambi” there and we went to Henrici’s afterwards. Can hardly believe not one movie theater in the loop today!

This theatre by looking at these picture makes me really feel in Paradise. There really wasnt any need to tear this wonder theatre down except that it was so large that it had an echo. They should have kept this theatre as a museaum.

Scott, The Paradise was indeed very colorful. Even toward the end of her life. When we went into the auditorium we went up front to the left . There was a statue or a fountain ( have to check the annual)
in front of the exit cove leading out to the alley. This little cove
was bathed in green lights. Could have been a green spot on the ststue. But I do remember and how pretty it looked. Never saw a star, but that does not mean there were a few still operating. I also was young and interested in the picture. Strange thing I almost
took the theater for granted, thinking it would always be there near
the Marbro and life would be the same always. Of course thats how a young person thought back in the 50’s. You are right the second marquee was changed slightly to eliminate some angle lighting and raise the attraction signs. They did this before the Marbro got their new design, about four years. Wonder why they picked such a plain
marquee and then jazzed up the Marbro. I would imagine that marquee was costing plenty as I mentioned above, and the business just didn’t warrant it anymore. Would love to see the books for those years. Is there a B&K library somewhere?

Scott, I get it about the organ. He changed it. Thanks for pix of
paradise marquee. I saw this before. Was that not the original vertical wwith a new marquee? That is the picture that is in thre distance from the Crawford. The top which you cannot see in this clip
has the ornamented heavy top with Balaban & Katz on it. It is dated
1941 so it would be correct. It was too far to see the marquee and I assumed it was the original, but I can clearly see it was this one.
So the Paradise had three marquees? The third was just a refashioned
second. The sidewalls of the auditorium were a colbalt blue, and the exit doors leading outside from the main floor were green. That I remember well. You are right about the Railto lobby drapes. There are none. I thought you ment the audtoriums. Still they just got new carpets and a new cleaning on the main stage drape. Thanks for telling me how to zoom. I am working on how to get the Crawford, State, Byrd, Senate on line to you. Did you ever go to the Kedzie
theater?

Scott, The Crawford was closed in 1960 and the Alex was the last theater in Garfield Pk. The State was the last in Austin. With the population so dense, one would think at least one movie theater would have survived! Now for some interest reports. Yesterday I went to a pipe organ concert at the beautiful Rialto in Joliet. What a gem!!!!. Were you ever inside? The organist said before a number,“I played this on the Chicago Paradise theater 5 manual organ, but not in the theater, I wish I could have. Instead I played it at the Richard Vaughn Studio in California. Richard Vaughn bought the instrumant and installed it out West. Then it was sold to a resident in Arizona. After that person died, the estate sold it. It now resides at Symphony Center in Hartford Conn. and is in excellent condition.” He went on to say, the Marbro organ was a twin to this one and was removed in 1959 and now is at the former Loews State in Providence R.I. Of course the external decorations were different.
Scott, did you ever hear the Paradise organ? I never did. Mainly I went to Sat matinee’s. I did hear the Marbro alot. It was played on the week-ends that we went before the feature. It sounded wonderful.
It was removed sometime around the arrival of “Ben-Hur”. It really added to the thrilling experience of going to the Marbro didn’t it?
So now these two wonderful machines are now near each other again. Not around the corner as they were, but on the same coast….

I don’t know what happened to the above message, but I think you get the drift. I just came across a pretty good photo of the Senate theater in the early 20’s with two streetcars in front Scott. I do not know how to paste them on the computer. I will have to ask someone. Also I came across a picture of the Byrd theater on Madison St. and an excellent photo of the State Theater from a good friend of mine. I forgot how beautiful the State theater was even though
I went to it alot.

Scott, My Dad never talked about the acoustics or lack of them at the Paradise. I just think he was so overwhelmed that he didn’t care.
After all the hoopla died down, they went back to the Marbro on a steady note. It was closer to where they lived at the time and as we always say, the Marbro booked better product. I suppose B&K did get all the Marks Bros. packgage theaters for pennys. I wonder if they would have gone into bankruptcy anyway even if the Paradise wasn’t built. After all it was the depression and the Paradise was closed for a few years wasn’t it? When it re-opened, I bet it didn’t reach decent crowds untill the war years. The candy counter was on the right, the Marbro was on the left as you passed the gate from the small outer lobby. I did remember the tunnel. Us kids would like to “prowl” around the theater in-between double features. They destroyed it way too soon. They should have tripelexed it for the neighborhood. All the small theaters were mostly gone by then and the area was still stable, in my opinion.

Scott, The one thing I think that saved the Loews is the fact that
it is near Fordham University with all the students and and teachers
living nearby and Little Italy with all their shops. The stores alongside the Paradise are open and not blighted. Granted they are mostly spanish, but there is a big police presence because of the school and the Botanic Gardens and Zoo nearby. Everything that our Paradise didn’t have. Can you just imagine the CPA’s at B&K offices in 1929 when the theater just opened with a huge mortgage I am sure and then THE GREAT DEPRESSION hits. I wonder how many of them hit the pavement on State Street after throwing themselves out the windows! We had that great marquee, they had none to speak of.
Concerning the trolley on Pulaski Rd and the year it stopped operating, we need to hear from trolleyguy… Scott and I are waiting trolleyguy………..

Scott, Have a great 4th! Hear from you when you return. I thought
about the parking lots again. You are probably right. They could never have held thousands of cars that would have held approx.
8 thousand people for those two palaces. I went back into my mind and I remember going downtown on the Madison streetcar and as you know they had to obey the trafic lights. As we were going east on Madison, a red streetcar going south on Pulaski Rd. was at the stoplight. It must have been 1953. So they were still running at that time. Washinton Blvd. had gas busses. Chicago Ave. had trolley
buses. Can you just imagine being on a streetcar going north at night and coming under the original Paradise marquee with all the colors flashing. One would need “sunglasses” for all the brightness!
Must have been quite a sight

Scott. That Sat afternoon was the ONLY time I remember the Paradise
being filled with kids. It was for that special personal appearence.
Every other time I was there it was a “ghost land” I think a tv station put the event on or a company. The stage wasn’t used in a while and the whole thing was not done well. So there was a coal
plant not far away. That would explain why the facade was blackened.
I was there 22 years after it opened and it was black already. One has to imagine how the lungs of the people that lived there daily
might have looked. The Marbro was also dirty, but nothing like the Paradise. You are wrong about the parking Scott. Do you not remember
the parking lots the city created by buying and tearing down homes
in the 50’s There was a big one on Monroe in front of the Marbro and
behind the theater. Als on a big lot near the Paradise. You can see them in the front of the Paradise Annual. This was the first mall without being a mall. Old Orchard and Oakbrook were not built yet. The city and the community knew the stores were a goldmine. Even though the streetcars were gone or going, there were enough people to realize the needs of the car-loving public to be met. The fact
that this was done in the mid-50’s, leaves me to believe they thought this intersection would be around and thriving for a long period. If the “flight” did not occur, I think maybe the Marbro and Paradise could have survived if they were marketed wiser. Don’t you think? Everyone on my block moved to the suburbs to get away from the crime and despair and the businesses went to. A Shame!!!

Hello Scott! Guess who??????
I just posted on the Marbro site.
Maybe we should all have a reunion some day at Madison and
Pulaski. All of us “The West Siders”. Unfortunatly we would have to
arrive in our own tanks. Armored of course. All the technology in
the world could not save the Paradise. It was technology that was
its demise—television.

Very nice vintage photos jwballer,to bad this one is gone now.