Old Orchard Theatre

The Raymond Marks and Martin Rosenfield (M&R Theatres Circuit) launched September 2, 1960 with the film, “Bells Are Ringing” a block from the Old Orchard Shopping Center. It closed January 1, 2001. An auction prior to demolition took place on February 28, 2001.

Some VHS quality footage of the main auditorium and brief exterior footage of the Old Orchard can been seen on this news report for the Phantom Menace release in May of 1999. https://youtu.be/VcSHFMiAZng

RSH1967, the B.F. Goodrich building bnehind the Shell in your photo is still standing too. But it is a Goodyear dealer today.

In the pic posted here a few years ago by Catherine, I believe the Shell station is the only building still standing. View link

Here is a fresh link to the Boxoffice article about the Old Orchard Theatre. The text begins on the following page, and a third page of text and photos follows two subsequent pages of advertising. An additional photo appears on the cover of that same issue.

Boxoffice devoted three pages to an article about the Old Orchard Theatre in the issue of January 9, 1967. The original single-screen theater seated 1,700. It was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Sidney H. Morris & Associates.

Morris’s firm would later design at least two other projects for M&R Amusements: the Evergreen Theatre in Evergreen Park, and the M&R Twin Drive-In (later called the Wheeling Twin Drive-In) at Wheeling, Illinois.

I saw “North Dallas Forty” at Old Orchard. We had also gone there to see “Animal House” when it opened, but all the later shows were sold out.
I think we drove to Golf Mill after that and got in.
Also saw “More American Graffiti” here in 1979.

The bowling alley was called Fair Lanes in 1978. I was on our league that Winter for Holiday Texaco in Evanston.
That 78-79 Winter was brutal at both.

Vogue Tyre had a showroom & garage on the S/W corner of Golf & Skokie Blvd.

Oops, CDiM, I think you mean the upper left corner of the photo.

When M&R sold out (and yes I mean “sold out”) to Loews, I believe that Loews was operating under the name “Sony Theaters”. Alternately, I heard that they also operated under “Sony/Loews”.

I also heard elsewhere on this site (I believe) that M&R still exists as a corporation.

A photo of Gross Point Road & Skokie Boulevard can be seen here View link

This was the nearest major intersection to the theatre. The entrance to the theatre itself is most likely the structure in the upper left corner of the building.

Yep. Still there. Now Turtle.

In the mid-70s they had a re-release of SOUND OF MUSIC with the strongest (clear and resonant) magnetic (penthouse) soundtrack I’ve ever enjoyed and on a 1st class musical, with uniformly sharp 70mm picture throughout! From then on this installation couldn’t be beat for cinema quality (with one unfortunate sour note, later), proven to me again bringing my young sons on the opening of TITANIC there in more recent times.

On a Friday night late in August of 1981, having just seen CONDORMAN, while walking back to my car in the theatre parking lot off Skokie Blvd there I had my closest encounter ever with lightning.
A blinding ball struck in the middle of the parking lane between me and the theatre, during a thunderstorm of course. I was alone so every once and awhile I have to tell others about it, simply to remind myself.

The sour note was in their final years when I saw MISSION TO MARS (2000?) there, and the magnificent stereo sound system was now little more than an articulate buzz.

Lobby