In July 1968 Oscar Brotman made a triumphant return to Hollywood Park with the opening of the 1,440-seat Lincoln Village Theater. It was located in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center, about two blocks upriver from Brotman’s shuttered and soon-to-be-demolished Tower Cabana Club.
Brotman now had a partner, Leonard Sherman, and in 1968 Brotman-Sherman Theaters, Inc., owned about 15 Chicago-area theaters, making it one of the largest local chains. Eventually they would double that number.
The Last Picture Palace
Reminiscent of Miami Beach Art Deco style, the theater’s brilliant white façade sparkled in the sunlight. Tall neon cursive lettering atop the roof gave the building more height and retro flair. A man recalls being able to see Lincoln Village Theater from the Church Street bridge over the North Shore Sanitary Channel, a distance of several miles. It was the last single-screen movie house of this size built in Chicago, a last attempt at bringing 1920s-era glamour to the movie-going experience.
Lincoln Village Theater was just like downtown, at a time when downtown was no longer just like downtown. The lobby was expansive, luxurious, lit by dramatic wall sconces and a working fireplace. There was a sunken seating area and fancy restrooms. A place to see and be seen.
Inside the theatre, extra-wide aisles led to extra-cushy seats. A wood-paneled balcony structure rose off the main floor. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, thanks to the deeply raked floor.
Here’s how Scott Marks, writer of the Emulsion Compulsion blog, recalls the stage curtain:
“It took five minutes to part and raise the yardage of various gold floor-to-ceiling curtains and travelers that camouflaged the screen.”
No expense was spared on technical specs, either. The theater was equipped with Cine-Focus 35mm and 70mm projection, a ‘Scope screen and full six-channel stereophonic sound.
Movies and more
The opening show was No Way to Treat a Lady. I would have been 12 and my parents were strict about movie content, so I’m guessing I didn’t see it. The same year brought Green Berets, Rosemary’s Baby, The Producers and How Sweet It Is to the theater, but the first movie I truly recall seeing at Lincoln Village Theater was the 1969 comedy, If This Is Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium.
For some reason, I really was excited about this movie. Was it the comedy, the adventures travelling through Europe, or just my first movie at Lincoln Village Theater? I have no idea why that movie made such an impression, but I can still see myself studying the poster in the front window of the theater, counting the days before the movie opened.
I also recall seeing Ben at Lincoln Village Theater on my first real date with a boy two years older, who had a car. My mother wouldn’t let me (very strict parents) go out with him after dark, so we saw a matinee. The best movie I saw there, though, had to be the first Godfather movie. I think I saw it three times. In one day.
Lincoln Village Theatre was booked for a variety of acts as well as movies. In December 1968 Chicago’s Royal European Marionette Theatre settled in for a weeklong run of its “Wizard of Oz” play. The Brothers Zim Revue played for two nights. The Barry Sisters, four nights only. Mickey Katz, “America’s favorite Yiddish comedian,” played the Lincoln Village, as did Larry Best and Eileen Brennan. The live closed circuit telecast of the 1970 Cassius Clay-Jerry Quarry fight, one-half of the “Double Dynamite” package, sold out in 45 minutes, at $7.50 a seat. And my family attended services for the Jewish High Holidays at the movie theater–it was rented out by Temple Beth-El, the former West Rogers Park congregation that outgrew its Touhy Avenue building.
Starting in the 1980s, ownership of Lincoln Village Theater changed with the seasons. It was partitioned into three odd-shaped boxes, then demolished around 2000 to make room from the Borders bookstore located on the site today.
Some 30 movie houses eventually made up the Brotman-Sherman empire, including the Carnegie, Lake Shore, Portage, Riviera, Hyde Park and my all-time favorite, the Cinema at 151 East Chicago. There are many, many great stories about Brotman’s promotional efforts and I’ll tell you a few of them later this week.
Related: The Man Who Put the Hollywood in Hollywood Park, Part One; Where I Grew Up: the Hollywood Park Neighborhood.
Sources: Scott Marks’ Emulsion Compulsion, Cinema Treasures. Photo of architectural sketch of from: Lincoln Village Theater Opens Friday. (1968, July 28). Chicago Tribune (1963-Current file),p. e9. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 – 1987). (Document ID: 646805882). Memory of seeing theater from Evanston.
I still can’t believe they tore down this theatre. I remember seeing “Fiddler on the Roof” there when it opened. It was a huge deal with reserved seats (I think tickets were $3.00 at the time which we thought was outrageous). Also saw “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” there and a million other films. If memory serves, there was some kind of Saturday morning children’s screenings for a while. Chicago has such a sad history of not preserving its grand movie theatres, especially the irreplaceable ones from the 1920s and 30s. The Granada was my favorite theatre in the city and that’s long gone now. At least the beautiful Uptown hasn’t met the wrecking ball yet.
Danny, did you ever see it as a multiplex? It was unbearable. Surprising that the theater had such a short lifespan.
those theater names sure brought back memories.. and i loved that movie, if it’s tuesday it must be belgium.. sandy dennis?? was she in it?? i will go check my memory on imdb..
oops! never mind. the movie i was thinking of with sandy dennis was the out of towners from 1970..
i saw many movies there when i was a kid and I was really sad to see how it ended up during the multiplex days, Lincoln village was a modern theatre when most chicago theatres were crumbling
I remember seeing B.J. and Dirty Dragon there and they had a Hula Hoop contest.(’68-’70?) I wish I still had my autographed picture of them.
Ok remind me: who was B.J.and the dragon?
Bill Jackson (B.J.) had a daily kid’s show on channel 32 called Cartoon Town. With Dirty Dragon,Cousin Weird, Old Professor and Mother Plumtree and a sculpture he would mold known as Blob. They were basically people in puppet costumes other than B.J. I remember when they built that theater, white with colored glass panels. I think it changed to 3 around ’84.
Well, that it explains. I do recall the name but don’t think I ever saw it. Frazier Thomas and Garfield Goose was in my time.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the BJ and Dirty Dragon shows they used to have. it must of been around 1971-72 (i don’t recall exactly). The place was so packed with kids i remember one year sitting on the stairs going up to the balcony and another when we could only sit on the edge of the stage.
I worked there from 1979 – 81 just before they chopped it in the smaller screens. When i worked there is was owned by the Balasco Brothers (sp?) show also owned WSNS tv.
Some one did mention them recently. and in fact I couldn’t remember BJ and the dirty dragon, though he sounded familiar.
Here’s what the earlier comment said:
I saw BJ and Dirty Dragon there too.I still remember my mother commenting on how cute he was (BJ not DD
Years later a friend and I got kicked out for scaring people by sneaking up on them and yelling/growling “GET OUT” during the Amityville Horror. Saw Saturday Night Fever with my girlfriend 4-5 times there…well we really didn’t watch the movie much!
A side note about some of my Lincoln Village memories, I was meeting my grandmother for lunch at….at …..aw nuts the name escapes me at the moment, the restaurant that was a little west of the theater,. Any how getting out of my car I glanced west and saw a thin column of smoke. I later learned that was from flight 191.
There was also a large optometrist in LV where I get my first pair of glasses in 5th grade (’73 -’74).