Biograph theater chicago history

Chicago theatres are full of drama and beauty — both on and off the stage. The stories of these historic theatres are just as fascinating as the tales the actors tell on stage, from a spot known for its association with a notorious gangster to a theatre taking up residence in a church.

Check out the fascinating history behind these historic Chicago theatres.

The Biograph Theater

The Biograph Theater was a Chicago movie house in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1914. It’s most famous as the place where John Dillinger, one of the most legendary bank robbers in American history, was shot and killed.

The year was 1934 and Dillinger, then known as Public Enemy No. 1, was seeing a movie at the Biograph. The FBI, tipped off to his location, was waiting outside after the show. A shootout began, ending with Dillinger being pronounced dead on July 22, 1934 at 10:40 p.m. The Biograph Theater remained a popular movie house for Chicagoans through the Depression and two World Wars before closing in the 1970s. The theatre is also on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2001.

Chopin Theatre

By the early 1900s, Chicago’s west side was home to a thriving Polish community. Many of these immigrants made their home near the “the Polish Triangle”, bordered by Division, Milwaukee, and Ashland. That’s where you could find the Chopin Theatre, a nickelodeon that opened in 1918 where you could see a movie for just 5 cents. Over the years, the building changed hands (and names) many times, with stints as a theatre, a savings and loan office, and even a bistro.

Zygmunt Dyrkacz, a Polish immigrant, was inspired by the neighborhood’s history and reopened the Chopin Theatre in 1990. The theatre, gradually restored to its original glory, has presented more than 120 of its own productions. There’s an emphasis on Eastern and Central European work, in an effort to st

Theater in Chicago, US, opened 1915

The Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It gained early notoriety as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was leaving when he was shot down by FBI agents, after he watched a gangster movie there on July 22, 1934. The theater is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 28, 2001.

History

Designed by architect Samuel N. Crowen in 1914, the Biograph has many of the distinguishing characteristics of movie houses of the period, including a storefront-width lobby, recessed entrance, free-standing ticket booth, and canopy marquee. The building is finished with red pressed brick and white-glazed terra cotta.

On July 22, 1934, after attending the film Manhattan Melodrama with brothel madam Ana Cumpănaș, also known as Anna Sage (or "The Woman in Red"), and Polly Hamilton, John Dillinger was shot dead outside the Biograph by FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis, when he attempted to pull a pistol and flee into the crowd after he saw them. Dillinger's whereabouts had been leaked to the FBI by Cumpănaș under the threat of deportation back to her birthplace of Romania.

From the 1970s through the 1980s, the Biograph was the center in Chicago for midnight showings, with raucous costumed cult following, of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

In July 2004, after 90 years as a movie theater under various owners, Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater announced it had purchased the Biograph for use as a live venue. The theater was completely renovated by architect Daniel P. Coffey, who constructed a proscenium-thrust stage and seating for 299 people. A grand staircase, which was part of the original structure, was restored to lead up to the building's second floor, housing a st

Perhaps best known for its historical connection to the infamous gangster John Dillinger, the Biograph Theater is also one of Chicago's oldest remaining neighborhood movie houses. Designed in 1914 by Samuel N. Crowen, an architect known for his classically detailed designs, the Biograph Theater possesses many of the distinguishing characteristics of the earliest movie houses, including a simple storefront-width lobby, recessed entrance, free-standing ticket booth, and canopy marquee. The building is finished with red pressed brick and white-glazed terra cotta, and its construction typifies the first-generation movie houses whose architectural style gave legitimacy and respectability to the fledgling motion picture industry. Dillinger's death here in 1934, after being named "Public Enemy No. 1" by the FBI, guarantees the Biograph's place in Chicago crime history.

Former movie theatre in Washington, D.C.

For the theatre in Chicago, Illinois, see Biograph Theater.

The Biograph was a repertory movie theatre in the DC neighborhood of Georgetown. Opened on September 30, 1967 in the shell of the Nash auto dealership, it closed in 1996.

History

Alan Rubin was one of its cofounders (other owners included Leonard Poryles and David Levy) and he stayed with it until the theatre lost its lease and became a CVS Pharmacy. One of his staff was Allyn “AJ” Johnson who made a collage out of some of their movie posters. The collage was eventually placed on one of the walls. Johnson managed to salvage the mural. AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center now has the mural in its lobby.

References

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