Cort Theatre
5352 S. Wentworth Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60609
5352 S. Wentworth Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60609
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Konrad Schiecke’s Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois, 1883-1960 says that the Alma Theatre opened in 1913, was renamed the Cort Theatre in 1948, and closed in 1955. The Alma is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
Opened fall 1914.
Chicago Tribune
May 17, 1944
BOY STABS GIRL
FOR BEING ‘TOO
NOISY’ IN MOVIE
Thomas Nuding, 13, of 338 W. Garfield blvd., last night stabbed May Lawson, 12, of 5211 S. Wells st. in the back while in the Alma theater, 5352 Wentworth av. The wound was minor and the girl was taken home after receiving first aid at Evangelical hospital.
The Lawson girl was sitting in front of young Nuding in the theater. She told police he kept pressing his feet against her seat and that she objected. He then jabbed her with a pocket knife and hit her on the head, she said, at the same time saying, “I’ll kill you.”
Nuding admitted the attack. “She was making too much noise and I stabbed her to keep her quiet,” he told police. Nuding’s mother is dead and the whereabouts of his father is not known. He is a ward of the Catholic Home bureau and lives in the home of Mrs. Margaret Lyons of the Garfield blvd. address.
Took a photo of it in the late 80’s (which today, along with the entire collection of Chicago neighborhood theatre photos I took) can be found at the Theatre Historical Society. It was a church and had a pretty lame 50’s facade at the time. You can spot the building (if it still stands, that is) from the Dan Ryan.