Deerbrook Cinema
180 S. Waukegan Road,
Deerfield,
IL
60015
180 S. Waukegan Road,
Deerfield,
IL
60015
5 people
favorited this theater
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This opened on February 23rd, 1973, along with the Dunes Plaza cinemas in Gary, IN and the third screen at Ford City. Shared grand opening ad posted.
In July of 1971, plans for this theater is included as it was part of an expansion of the mall. The theater opened sometime between 1972 and 1973, because the Chicago Tribune haven’t receive any attractions for the Deerbrook until June of 1973.
Deerbrook Mall article, with photos of the theater in demo: https://jonrev.com/2017/05/10/deerbrook-mall/
I worked there from about 1993-5 and was there during the long remodel. I remember the bosses always didn’t like when I was at the ticket counter I would lean on it because it was so low to the ground and when they tore it up they took a section and everyone signed it and they gave it to me… it wasn’t very funny looking back.
Jonrev, can you please post some of your great pics here?
I can’t help but think of all the poor homeless cockroaches!
This theater – along with the mall interior – is now in demo.
I remember seeing Videodrome and Spaceballs there.
Spoke to a National Amusements Managing Director who said the their schedule is supposed to be a 50 hour week, but usually ends up being 60 hours. An assistant manager in the same theater told me he worked a double shift from 9AM to 1AM in one day. Divide these hours by their salaries and it must be quite pitiful. The typical working hours in these multiplexes are worse than ever…imagine a female manager locking up at 3:30 AM as is the case now..
The general cinemas sign was taken off the outside of the mall building recently :(. Is something finally happening with the theater I wonder?
lol… brings back memories :)
I remember we didn’t get paid extra for working on the holidays. I wonder if movie theater workers are still getting the shaft on that. I wish I could get back in touch with Scott Thomas or Roden Desacola.
Remember having to pop “cron” upstairs? Management would make some slacker go and pop say, 100 lbs. They’d fill up a super size drink with their favorite beverage and begrudgingly stomp upstairs and prepare for hours of boredom with the knowledge that they will spend the rest of the evening smelling like stale popcorn. In order to speed up the process of popping the 100lbs, some employees would attempt the shortcut know as the dreaded “double batch”. This was putting in twice as much seed into the popper then it was designed to handle.
Rather than start popping in 30 seconds, and overflowing the popper in about 2 minutes, this would take about 1.5 minutes to start and 3 minutes to finish and lead to a half full popper of half popped / half burnt kernels. The employee could shave a full minute off of 2 batches, finish up 1/3 quicker, with the only negative cost being the production of 100lbs of an inedible product. Seemed like a fair trade-off for minimum wage!
Oh yes, I forgot a “U” could ne an “N” upside down.
Lol,Lol, At Regency Mall I,II,and III we somehow had our janitor change the both Road Marquees almost 90% of the time. Coming from Plitt has a House Manager,fancy name for assistant I KNOW,We pretty much came in an hour or so before the theatre opened.I never could understand all this coming in at 10am everyday,especially,in the Winter Months. Honestly,I really can’t remember what all we did at 10am til 1pm when a movie would start.Had a lot of wrap sessions about the business,long lunch at the Mall which was usually free when movie passes were handed out to 21 year old fast food managers in the food court,I am sure you guys did the same thing.Maybe,i made around 200.00 a week,at Plitt it was hourly pay,Had GCC been that with all the hours we all put in,i would have had quite a paycheck from Boston or Chestnut Hill,Mr.Neil it would have been Blood Money,I know. Heck, I stll got my dark blue blazer from GCC in my closet right now.And a tie.I think you guys got the neater ones by your time concerning the Ties.
Mike, you made more than $150 per week, but not much more. The Egyptians to Moses were less oppressive than GCC corporate management to GCC assistant managers. I struggle to think of a less abused class of management in my 43 years of life.
My point is that GCC sucked.
I agree with you that had a great time working for the man, but a company that expects you to change movie times on a backlit sign, 25 ft. above the ground, at 9:30pm on a Thursday for a rate a $2.85 per hour, even in November, December, January, or February is simply crazy, doesn’t give a fuck, or both. The reason that the plastic letters were beat to shit was becase the minimum wage paid fuck heads putting up the sign were pissed that they had to perform a life threatening task for nothing. We (not me of course) simply chucked the stupid letters to the ground when it pleased us! (um…them). If they broke (not the stupid fuck heads changing the sign, the plastic letters) no problem from management’s point of view. Simply, turn a 3 upside down and you get an “E”, Mr. Neil.
you’re right I made a Salary I think was $150.00 a week.With Kid shows, Midnight Shows,having to come in usually at 10am every morning even though the show wouldn’t start til 1:00 pm and we ran at least six shows aday,yep managers got the short end even selling R.A.T’s,we figured just the Assistants and Chief of Staff was averaging about $1.60 an hour;less than our B.O.Girls,concession,and Doormen.We never could really slack off during Peak times at REGENCY I,II,and III in Augusta,Ga.,but we did our share of a lot of the stuff you guys did and really loved every second.
The Superbreak is a case of the inmates ruling the asylum. At GCC, Assistant Managers were so over-worked that they routinely camped out in their office during off peak hours (most likely napping or watching UHF T.V.). Thus, they were oblivious to all the shenagins going on in the lobby during this time.
GCC was horribly cheap. They paid minimum wage to everyone (back in 1983 it was $3.35 per hour, being 16 I was paid sub-minimum at $2.85 per hour). This cheapness led to three types of employee groups: the under 20 group, the over 20 group (severely socially dysfunctional), and employees who stole money.
As the fraternity of young employees with some intelligence realized that the typical Assistant Manager made about the same hourly rate as the dysfunctional slackers; the inmates started to push the status quo. Slacking became a hobby.
The ultimate outcome of this hobby was the Superbreak. A Superbreak occurred when a pair of employees disappeared during the 3:00 pm matinee “rush” on a Saturday or Sunday when “zero” patrons showed for the movies. It was a horrible lack of professionalism and a sign of severe disrespect to the mighty GCC. What made it worse was the gloating by the said 16 year olds when they came back from Venture or Tasty Platter at 4:30 p.m.
Please explain super break I worked for GCC,Assistant Mgr,NEVER heard of it.Of course,I was with GCC in the early Eighties.
Back in the day there was concept called a “super break”. One Saturday, I was working with one dude, and two chicks (Mr. Bob, Ms. Anne, and I forget the other dame). Mr. Bob and I missed the 3:00pm movies during a super-break. The girls were rightly pissed at us for slacking-off, and with the assistant manager’s approval (Sue), they took a super break missing the 5:00pm movies. Barely anyone showed up, so our lesson was hardly learned. I am sure we weren’t obnoxious about this point, not!
Mr. Neil… can you come in and pop two weeks from yesterday?
R.I.P. Uncle John!
View link
“If you get your money out, you’ll get in a little faster….uuuughhh” – Uncle John
“Eddie, there’s kernel in the corner…uuughhhhh” – Uncle John (Opening night, Night of the Living Dead/Midnight Movie circa. 1984+-1 year)
I worked there from around 1983-1985.
One Xmas we added green and red food coloring to the popper and made colored popcorn! No one bought it! We stashed a full bag in the ceiling tile above the popping room. I bet it is still there!
Yes,It looks great for second run,maybe has gone second run since AEK316 asked a question.It’s my old company GCC.