Chicago
The Auditorium is one of Chicago's architectural masterpieces. Built in 1888 on the northwest corner of Congress and Michigan, it combines Dankmar Adler's engineering ingenuity with Louis Sullivan's architectural virtuosity. It was the brainchild of Ferdinand Peck, a Chicago impresario devoted to bringing the city a world-class opera house and theater. A hotel and office block were added in 1890 to ensure the theater's economic viability. The Auditorium demonstrates Adler's technical ability to accommodate a variety of uses, from political conventions to grand opera, under one roof. Innovations in foundation technology allowed the large, heavy building to be constructed on notoriously marshy land, and the latest techniques were employed to give the building uninterrupted spans.
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The first notable African American nightspot was the 900-seat Pekin Theater at 2700 South State Street, Chicago established by policy kingpin Robert T. Motts to diversify his operations. It became a showcase for black musical talent. A stock company was established to perform dramatics, operettas, and comic operas. The Pekin, often called the “Temple of Music,” opened the first all-black show ever produced in Chicago on June 18, 1905 to an estimated crowd of 400 patrons.
Founded during a time when all existing theaters were white-owned and managed, the Pekin had to overcome skeptics who questioned black management capabilities and who expected black theatrical performances to be confined to minstrelsy.
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When the Orpheum Theatre opened in 1907, it was one of the largest vaudeville houses in the Loop at that time, and sat nearly 800. In 1909, Jones switched from vaudeville to movies, becoming one of the first theaters in Chicago to screen motion pictures (outside nickelodeons). Besides movies, the Orpheum Theatre began to feature sing-along slide shows. Its popularity remained as strong as ever. An innovation which made the theater particularly popular (especially during the often times miserably muggy Chicago summers) was its cutting-edge ventilation system, which blew ice-cooled air through the auditorium, a rare treat in early-20th Century public buildings in Chicago, which drew as many raves from theater-goers as its beauty did.
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This Rapp & Rapp designed theater opened in 1906 as a venue for primarily vaudeville seating almost 2500, but also infrequently screened movies, as well, and was originally known as the Majestic Theatre. (The building itself in which the theater and attached office tower are located in is still referred to as the Majestic Building). During the 10s and into the 20s, the Majestic was part of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Chicago, along with such other Loop theaters as the Palace and the State-Lake. The Majestic Theatre was closed in the early 30s after a couple of years of sporadic use and remained dark for over a decade. From 1945 until 2005, it was named the Shubert, by the theatrical family which took over the theater at this time, after their late brother, Sam Shubert. Since then, the theater has been used for stage shows and often plays host to Broadway shows when they come to Chicago.
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Chicago’s famed Orchestra Hall, designed by noted Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, and opened on December 14, 1904. It has been home to films intermittently in its long history, first from May-October 1915, and then May-September 1916 showing cinema concerts.A similar pattern followed for several years, and at one point the building even sported an electric Paramount/Artcraft sign. Since then, the Hall has seen movies on special occasions, and even now will occasionally accompany a silent film.
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