Chicago's Congress Theater: Inside a Golden-Age Movie Palace

The Congress is one of the theaters featured in the photo book "The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz". 

The building - built in the 1920s - still remains but is now used exclusively as a live concert venue. 

According to Cinema Treasures, the theater opened on September 5, 1926,  the first movie shown was the silent comedy "Rolling Home" with Reginald Denny. The opening night also included five vaudeville acts. 

This summer I went to a concert there, and brought along my camera. The interior of this theater is a reminder of the theater's glory days, as you'll see from these shots.  

  

 Like most movie palaces, The Congress once had a huge vertical sign with the illuminated letters "C - O - N - G - R - E - S - S" 

Below, the marquee (not the original).

The lobby is enormous! There is a right and left entrance into the auditorium

The staircase you see leads up to the balcony! Awesome!!

A mix of architectural styles (including Adam and Italian Baroque). Original light fixtures.

Here's a view fromt he balcony. Imagine seeing a vaudeville act on that stage.

Here's a close-up look at the lights. The auditorium and is covered with decorations in stone, terra-cotta, and plaster.

Here's what it looks like coming out of the balcony after the show, with a view of the balcony from above:

Walking down the staircase...you feel like you're in a palace of royalty!

Now I know why people got dressed up to go to the show. Look at this enormous lobby! And to to think that there were many other theaters just like it, but have been demolished.

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Now, for you country fans, here's a few pics from the concert:

Jamey Johnson sings "In Color" [Music Video]

Merle Haggard takes the stage

The Hag does all his hits - "Silver Wings", "Ramblin Fever", "Pancho & Lefty", etc.  

And does a little fiddling. It was a great show! 

Jessica Lange back on big screen in The Vow (2013)

I went to see The Vow over the weekend, and I'd give it a C++. I give it the first "plus" because it's set in Chicago and has some nice exterior shots of Millenium Park and The Music Box theater. Really - The Music Box on the big screen! First time I've ever seen it in a major production!

The lovers in the film are married couple Rachel McAdams (Midnight in Paris) and Channing Tatum (Haywire), who both play artists (another plus for me!). Rachel is a sculptor and painter (and doodler); Channing owns his own recording studio. Rachel suffers from amnesia and can only remember her life before she was married. Things get interesting when a past lover steps into the picture.  Will Rachel go back to him and her old life or stay with her husband who's a total stranger to her? The movie is filled with questions like that, and it's amusing to see Channing try to make her fall in love with him again (even though he's rather wooden as an actor).

What I enjoyed most about the film was seeing Jessica Lange on the screen again. She and Sam Neill play Rachel's parents. Though it is a very small role - too small for her in my opinion - Ms Lange does have one emotional scene toward the end, and it reminded me of how good an actress she is. She also looked much older than I remembered; I couldn't believe how much time had passed since I last saw her in a film.

The Vow is now playing in theaters in the United States.

Thief (1981)

Directed by Michael Mann. James Caan plays a diamond thief who wants to pull one last job before he retires for good.

After spending over a decade in jail, the last thing he wants is anything to backfire.

Willie Nelson has a small role as his mentor who is still in jail.

Caan also wants to settle down (with Tuesday Weld) and adopt a baby, but gangster Robert Prosky steps into the picture and assumes to control his life. But not for long...

Filmed in Chicago.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)

Jason Robards as Al Capone, about to slug a couple of mugs

A rare big-budget, big-studio (20th Century Fox) classic directed by Roger Corman, where we learn almost everything we ever wanted to know with the main characters associated with the infamous shootout from 1929, including south side gangster Al Capone (Jason Robards) and his rival, north side gangster Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker).

To prepare for this movie, I booked a tour on Chicago's Untouchables Tour Bus, a popular attraction in the city. It takes visitors to famous gangster sites, including the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (SVDM). According to the guides, the Corman film gets almost all the facts right, right down to the German Shepard dog who was left behind in the garage.

The title card says it all

The SMC Cartage Company storefront is recreated.

I love the sets in the film, and there's some great period music to set the mood. I wonder if Corman ever had the idea to shoot this in black-and-white; I'm sure the studio pushed for color.

An old fashioned motor coach on Clark Street (where the SVDM took place)

Corman does a great job of staging the numerous shootouts in the movie: windows shattering, glass flying everywhere. Just when we think the gunfire is over, there's more. George Segal, his first film after Virginia Woolf, plays one of the Bugs Moran's henchman "Goosey" Peter Gusenberg; you can tell he's having fun with that tommy gun.

Some of the scenes are violent, including the gun-down of Polish gangster Hymie Weiss in his "flower shop", which was just a front for his bootlegging business. . As I learned on the tour bus, Hymie's flower shop was right across the street from the most well-known and one of the oldest Roman Catholic churches in the city: Holy Name Cathedral, which is still an active congregation (photo below)

Sidenote: If you visit Chicago and go to the cathedral today, you can still see a bullet hole from one of the shootouts that took place right outside. (photo below)

Jason Robards is excellent as Capone and is intense as he erupts in a fit of rage after discovering one of his associates was bumped off. In another scene, we see Capone about give gangster Joe Aiello a "Sicilian necktie", which is what someone gets when their necks are sliced open and their tongue is pulled through the neck.

Corman regular Dick Miller and Little Shop of Horrors co-star Jack Nicholson have bit parts as Capone gangsters posing as cops and only appear toward the end of the film during the SVDM sequence. Bruce Dern has a small part as Johnny May, family man who gets messed up in the Moran gang (and is killed in the SVDM).

As each character makes his first appearance, a voice over biography is given by narrator Paul Frees, who is famous for all of his cartoon narrations such as George of the Jungle and many others.

Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker)
avoids the bloodshed
intended for him

As the day of the SVDM unfolds, our narrator tells us what every one of the victims was doing "on the last morning of his life..." Which is really satisfying and makes us feel like we have gotten a taste of each of these gangster's lives.

The final ten minutes of the movie leading up to the massacre are exciting, even though we know what will happen. We see Bugs Moran go into a cafe for some coffee; while he's in there, the SVDM takes place. Al Capone is not happy that Bugs got away, let me tell you; I'll just say he whips out a baseball bat and starts swinging.

I recommend this film especially if you want to learn more about these gangsters.

If you have time check out this 5-minute video I took from the bus tour; the guide gives a good overview of the entire ordeal, which pretty much is how the movie plays out. Way to go! You can also get a chance to see the neighborhood where the massacre took place.

The SMC Cartage Building was torn down right around the time this movie came out. The old Mayor Daley didn't want Chicago associated with gangsters. But it still is no matter what. Bricks from the building were saved by some collectors; a few bricks can be seen at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

Today the actual site is a parking lot. Across the street, the “look-out” stations where Jack McGurn stayed are still there.

2122 N. Clark Street, Chicago

Nearby buildings give a taste of the era

Check out the gray building below in the 2011 photo and again in the 1929 photo. This was right next door to the SMC Cartage building.

2122 N. Clark St - Source: Google Maps

Here is another review of this movie from Cinemachine

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This post is part of the Roger Corman Blogathon hosted by
Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear

Around the World in 80 Minutes (1931) with Douglas Fairbainks

What it's about
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and a crew of three—photographers Harry Sharp and Chuck Lewis and co-director Victor Fleming—journey around the world and report on various cultural curiosities and the humor they find in everyday life overseas. (From TCM.com)

My Take:
I love this movie! It's narrated by our "tour guide", Mr. Fairbanks himself, who addresses the camera throughout. We travel with him to Japan, China, India, Siam (Thailand today), and India among other countries, mostly in Asia. This film must have been incredible to watch on the big screen in 1931 when there were no TVs: we see some awesome landscape views, mixed in with humorous bits featuring Fairbanks, in a similar fashion to the popular TV travel show Globetrekker. In one scene, Fairbanks pretends like he's being chased by a wild leopard (but it's all trick photography). In another scene, he plays golf on a giant map of the world; when his ball lands on an island, he "jumps" over the ocean so he doesn't "fall into it". Plus he cracks alot of jokes throughout and I found myself laughing hysterically.

The crew travels mostly through Asia, but there is funny gag at the end where they hop on a flying carpet and manage to see other countries and cities in America, giving the illusion they're literally traveling "around the world". At one point the carpet flies over Chicago and there are some bullets fired at it. Har har. There are one or two other Chicago/mobster jokes in the film too (that cracked up our audience)

I don't think this type of full-length travel film was common back in the early 30s. This is a one of a kind film. You can tell that Fairbanks had fun making this film. The total running time is about 80 minutes (hence, Around the world in 80 minutes) A follow-up film might have been cool with Mr. Fairbanks hosting again, perhaps with a trip to Europe, which would have been fun. Highly recommended!

The Will Rogers Theater in Chicago

Chicago used to have many neighborhood theaters like the one shown in the photo below, the Will Rogers Theater on the North-west side of the city, near where I grew up. All my favorite memories of going to see movies as a kid were here at this theater. They showed all of the Disney re-releases and new releases in the early 1980s. I remember going to see The Fox and the Hound, The Jungle Book, Pinocchio, and more.

There was only one screen. Weekend showings of a popular film always drew a huge crowd, and I remember waiting in lines that went literally "around the block".  Because of modern multi-plexes, rarely do I ever have that experience anymore of waiting in a long line outside a neighborhood theater, but when I do, I always think back to those days.  

The Will Rogers Theater went out of business in 1987 and was demolished in 1988

Classic horror marathon in Chicago IL: October 26-30, 2009

Only at Portage Theater

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