{"id":134863,"date":"2025-08-10T17:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T17:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134863\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T17:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T17:21:12","slug":"100-years-of-glory-and-decay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134863\/","title":{"rendered":"100 years of glory and decay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the Uptown Theatre opened its doors to the public on Aug. 18, 1925, advertisements in the Chicago Daily Tribune overflowed with hype for the city\u2019s newest and biggest movie palace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will hush and thrill you,\u201d one ad promised. \u201cIt throbs with beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one of the great art buildings of the world,\u201d the Uptown\u2019s owners, Balaban & Katz, asserted in another ad. \u201cYou have never seen such dignified luxury, such exquisite elegance as lives in its towering pillars, its mountainous ceilings, glowing colors, stately promenades, lounges, cosmetic rooms and smoking rooms.\u201d The grand opening was touted as \u201can event you will remember all your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t mere hyperbole. This was one of the largest and most elaborately decorated movie theaters ever constructed.<\/p>\n

The morning after the Uptown opened at 4816 N. Broadway, a Tribune movie critic reported that the 4,320-seat Uptown was even grander than downtown\u2019s 3,861-seat Chicago Theatre, which Balaban & Katz had opened four years earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a splendiferous palace of a place \u2014 the Chicago\u2019s dressy sister,\u201d wrote Mae Tin\u00e9e (a jokey pseudonym used at the time by Tribune critics). \u201cDon\u2019t ask me about the architecture because I don\u2019t know anything about architecture. But I do know that Sister Uptown \u2026 is lavish of space, decoration and comfort, is sumptuously furnished and is beautifully and softly lighted inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North Side\u2019s Uptown neighborhood held a festival to celebrate. Bands played on street corners, trapeze artists twirled overhead, and a daredevil set himself on fire before diving into a pool of water. Over six days, more than 500,000 people flocked to the streets around Broadway and Lawrence Avenue, according to the Tribune. (Another publication pegged the attendance at 750,000.) Those crowds included an estimated 150,000 people who went inside the movie palace that week.<\/p>\n

Balaban & Katz, a chain owned by two families from Chicago\u2019s West Side, had been building bigger and bigger theaters as Americans spent an increasing amount of their leisure time at the movies. After constructing the Central Park Theatre on the West Side in 1917, B&K had opened the Riviera on the North Side, the Tivoli on the South Side and the Chicago Theatre in the Loop.<\/p>\n

Then the company spent $4 million (roughly $73 million in today\u2019s money) creating the mammoth Uptown right across the street from the Riviera \u2014 motivated, apparently, by the desire to open an even bigger theater.<\/p>\n

The Chicago architectural firm Rapp & Rapp designed all of the movie palaces for B&K. As architect George Leslie Rapp explained, the ornate buildings gave everyone a chance to experience what it was like to step inside a European castle.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn interior view of the Uptown Theatre circa 1928 shows its ornate architectural features. (Chicago Architectural Photographing Company)<\/p>\n

The Uptown cast a spell on visitors with giant chandeliers, colored glass windows, tapestries and bronze clocks, to name just a few of its countless decorative touches. \u201cThe fanciful heads of Renaissance Cupids, fantastic gargoyles, griffins, the laughing heads of mythological gods and jolly demons grimace in friendly humor,\u201d according to a promotional Balaban & Katz magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not impractical attempts at showing off,\u201d architect George Leslie Rapp said. \u201cHere is a shrine to democracy where there are no privileged patrons. The wealthy rub elbows with the poor \u2014 and are better for this contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.J. Balaban, one of B&K\u2019s owners, said he envisioned the theaters as a \u201cmeeting place of the aristocrat and humble worker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s movie palaces, including the Uptown, were among the first theaters anywhere equipped with air conditioning \u2014 a major attraction during an era when people didn\u2019t have AC in their homes. B&K\u2019s magazine said the Uptown contained \u201ccomplex yet never failing machinery that you never see, shining engines that change the air in the theatre every two minutes, wash the air, cool the air, rewash the air, temper it exactly to your comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Uptown\u2019s lobbies, filled with sculptures, paintings and fancy furniture, were vast enough to hold thousands of people waiting for the next show. The Uptown\u2019s staff of 131 employees included 23 uniformed ushers working with military precision as they guided audience members to seats.<\/p>\n

Movies were just one portion of the show. At the Uptown\u2019s grand opening, classical musicians performed on an elevator platform that rose out of the basement. The Oriole Orchestra got things jumping with some jazz. Spanish dancers graced the stage. And the popular organist Jesse Crawford played the Uptown\u2019s giant Wurlitzer. When it was finally time for the feature film, a silent romance and adventure called \u201cThe Lady Who Lied,\u201d the orchestra provided a live soundtrack.<\/p>\n

\"PatronsThe Uptown Theatre, shown on its opening day in 1925, was billed as “one of the great art buildings of the world.” (Chicago Architectural Photographing Company)<\/p>\n

The Tribune\u2019s Mae Tin\u00e9e didn\u2019t care much for the film, complaining that \u201cit drags interminably,\u201d but as the Chicago Daily News observed: \u201cThe throngs paid more attention to the theater than to the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 19 ad, Balaban & Katz proclaimed: \u201cAll Chicago stormed the Uptown Theatre yesterday. Its opening was the most gigantic thing since Armistice Day. From North Side, South Side, West Side, and far, far up the North Shore, they came and couldn\u2019t believe their eyes. \u2026 The new theatre swept the entire city off its feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

But just a few years later, the movie business faced major upheaval, as 1927\u2019s \u201cThe Jazz Singer\u201d ushered in the era of sound films. Soon, there was no need for an orchestra or organist to play during screenings. The Uptown continued presenting live entertainment for a while \u2014 including the Marx Brothers in 1928 and Duke Ellington in 1931 \u2014 but that became less common after the Great Depression hurt ticket sales in the early 1930s.<\/p>\n

Amid the economic devastation, Balaban & Katz and other theater chains stopped building movie palaces. By the 1950s, as movie attendance plummeted and Americans spent more time watching television, huge theaters like the Uptown seemed like relics.<\/p>\n

Looking for new ways to attract audiences, the Uptown added closed-circuit television equipment in 1951, occasionally showing special events such as operas and boxing matches. And the theater installed a 70-foot-wide CinemaScope screen in 1954, turning movies into panoramic spectacles.<\/p>\n

\"AnThe Uptown Theatre, shown circa 1928, had 4,320 seats and air conditioning. Editor’s note: a circular crop mark can be seen on this historic print. (C.W. & George L. Rapp Architects Chicago)<\/p>\n

But when a Tribune reporter visited the Uptown in 1968, it was looking dingy. \u201cDust now covers peeling gold wallpaper in the quiet balconies, and bits of cracked plaster have fallen on once colorful tapestry rugs,\u201d reporter Edith Herman wrote.<\/p>\n

The theater\u2019s glamour faded further when many of its artworks and furnishings were auctioned off in 1969 and 1970.<\/p>\n

Things started to look up in 1975 when Jam Productions began presenting rock concerts there, starting with the Tubes on Oct. 31. Over the next six years, the Uptown hosted the era\u2019s most popular musicians, from Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart to the Grateful Dead, who played there 17 times.<\/p>\n

And yet, the theater continued to fall into disrepair. Its final show, a concert by the J. Geils Band, was on Dec. 19, 1981. It has been closed ever since.<\/p>\n

In the early 1980s, some of the building\u2019s pipes burst, damaging portions of interior walls. Volunteers pitched in to prevent further deterioration.<\/p>\n

After the Uptown passed through several owners, it was purchased in 2008 by a partnership led by Jerry Mickelson of Jam Productions. In 2018, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a $75 million plan to reopen the Uptown, but the project faltered as Mickelson tried to line up investors.<\/p>\n

\"TheA cyclist passes the Uptown Theatre on Broadway in January 2014. The venue has been closed since 1981. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

As the Uptown\u2019s 100th birthday approached, Mickelson said he\u2019s seeking the city\u2019s commitment to support renovations with tax increment financing or other funding and incentives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Uptown Theatre must be saved because it\u2019s one of the most extraordinary and historically significant movie palaces ever built \u2014 not just in Chicago, but anywhere in the United States,\u201d Mickelson said in a July 31 email. \u201cSaving the Uptown is about more than saving bricks, plaster and history. It\u2019s about creating jobs and opportunities at the theatre for our youth. \u2026 It\u2019s about honoring Chicago\u2019s place as a birthplace of movie palaces. And it\u2019s about choosing hope over cynicism. Letting it rot would be easy. Bringing it back to life will be bold \u2014 and deeply worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Loerzel co-wrote the new book \u201cThe Uptown: Chicago\u2019s Endangered Movie Palace\u201d (CityFiles Press) with James A. Pierce. At noon on Saturday, Aug. 16, Uptown Theatre fans and neighbors will gather in front of the theater at 4816 N. Broadway to pose for an \u201cUptown Community Portrait\u201d photo.<\/p>\n

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at\u00a0grossmanron34@gmail.com\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the Uptown Theatre opened its doors to the public on Aug. 18, 1925, advertisements in the Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[81452,960,5386,1818,81451],"class_list":{"0":"post-134863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-balaban-katz","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-uptown-theatre"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115005625774939374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}