Neighborhood News: From Silents to Porn to Independent Movies, Lakeview’s Music Box Theatre Has Seen It All
If there were one movie theater that has truly seen it all, it has to be Lakeview’s Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. When it opened in 1929, sound films were a new technology, and unlike other theatres designed for vaudeville and burlesque, the Music Box was built specifically with the intention of screening sound films.
Designed by architects Edward Steinborn and Louis I. Simon, the architectural style of the 750-seat theatre was called ‘atmospheric,’ an eclectic mélange of Italian, Spanish and ‘Pardon-My-Fantasy put together with passion,” according to former Chicago Tribune architecture critic Paul Gapp. “The overall effect is to make the patron feel that they are watching a film in an open-air palazzo.” The ceiling of the Music Box was fashioned to look like “a starry, starry night.”
The Oldest Movie Theatre in Chicago?
Is the Music Box the oldest movie theatre in Chicago? Let’s say that it’s definitely the longest-running theatre showing movies. Lincoln Park’s Biograph Theater (also known as the theater where gangster John Dillinger was shot) is the oldest venue, built in 1914. But that building is now owned by Victory Gardens Theatre and hosts live shows.
Opened Two Months Before The Great Depression
The Music Box Theatre opened August 22, 1929 just two months before the Great Depression,” says the theatre on its website. “It was a time before fluorescent lighting, megaplexes, and artificial butter.”
On opening night, they showed ‘Mother’s Boy,’ starring Morton Downey, Sr., an Irish crooner. No plot summary appears to exist about the film. According to a Chicago Tribune article celebrating its 90th birthday,movie critic Michael Phillips wrote that it was nearly named the New Blaine Theatre, in honor of Blaine Elementary School across Southport Avenue, slightly to the north. The theater was squarely in the exhibition vanguard then, designed and equipped as a boutique-sized alternative to the massive Balaban & Katz auditoriums of the day, such as the Chicago Theatre.
The Music Box continued to show those new ‘talkies’ but became a pawn in 1931, when it was one of several theaters bombed during an ongoing dispute between the Allied Independent Theaters’ Association and the Motion Picture Operators’ Union as the theater was employing non-union projectionists, according to Wikipedia. And in the 1970’s, when cities across the nation were crumbling, it took a detour into playing porn movies, and later, became a Spanish and Arabic-language movie house.
1980s Restoration
In 1983, the Music Box was shuttered briefly as Robert Chaney, Christopher Carlo and Stan Hightower formed the Music Box Theatre Corporation, and restored and reopened the theater with a format of double feature revival and repertory films.
Eventually, foreign films and independent and cult films were added to the roster and repertory screenings were moved to weekend matinee and midnight time slots.
Today: Festivals, Special Showings, Sing-alongs
According to Cinema Treasures, in 1991, a 100-seat theatre was built in an existing storefront adjacent to the lobby. This second screen was designed to echo the architecture of the main auditorium, as an Atmospheric style, but because of the 13-foot ceiling height, the feel is that of sitting under a garden trellis with stars in the night sky beyond.
And they are known for their movie festivals. The Music Box hosts several Film Festivals each year: Chicago Critics Film Festival, Chicago Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 70mm Film Festival and is a venue for the Chicago International Film Festival.
The Secret to Its Success
“The key to our longevity,” one of the owners told the Chicago Tribune, “is that we’ve refused to pigeon-hole our audiences. Fifteen, 16 years ago, (the theater) heard about a sing-a-long ‘Sound of Music’ out in LA; now we do eight shows across two weeks.”
Promises Kept
“And although our ticket prices have changed slightly over the past 90 or so years,” the owners promise, “The butter on our popcorn is still real.”
Nobody’s Perfect: Billy Wilder Matinees Film Series
From now through February 26, the Music Box is hosting a cinematic tribute Wilder’s career, which spanned nearly five decades. From ‘Double Indemnity’ to ‘Sunset Boulevard’ to ‘Some Like it Hot,’ the Oscar-winning Wilder became one of the most accomplished writer-directors in Hollywood. For tickets and information, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
