The Music Box Theater in Chicago opened on August 22, 1929. It is located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue in the Lakeview/Wrigleville neighborhood. The Music Box was considered small compared to the larger Chicago theaters of the time, such as the Chicago Theater downtown. It accommodated 800 versus 3,000 for the large theaters. As such, it ushered in the era of the small neighborhood theater. The building was designed by local architect Louis A. Simon.
The fact that the Music Box was small also represented the move to the motion picture industry from primarily stage productions. The large theaters of the time mostly had stage productions (musicals and plays) and very few movies. The Music Box had no stage, so it was only for cinema. At the time the Music Box opened, sound films were a new technology that sometimes didn’t work. So, the Music Box included an orchestra area and organ in case sound was needed.
The opening film in 1929 was “Mother’s Boy” starring Morton Downey, Beryl Mercer and Brian Donlevy. By the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the Music Box venue was used for Spanish language films, pornographic films and Arabic language films. In 1983 the Music Box Theater was restored and became the venue for revival and repertory films. The opening shows were “Old Chicago” with Alice Faye and Tyrone Power and “Wabash Avenue” with Betty Grable and Victor Mature.
Since 1993, the Music Box has been showing specialty films, repertory, and independent and foreign films, as well as cult films such as the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is currently the largest Chicago venue for independent and foreign films.
I fondly remember the Music Box Theater because when I was a child in the 1970’s, my grandmother used to take me there to see Disney movies almost every weekend. My grandparents lived just a few blocks from there, so we would walk there, watch the movie and have popcorn and candy. That was my special time with my grandmother. Then, in my teens I used to go there with friends to see the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Those were good times!
I had forgotten about the old neighborhood theaters. My brother and I went to the Michigan theatre on 55th and Michigan every Sunday after church. As teenagers, we went downtown to the movies, my favorite theatres were the Chicago and the State and Lake.
Yes. The neighborhood theaters were very special. The one that was within walking distance from my house was the Milford. It was originally a dance hall converted to a theater. Brock and I went there on our first date and then ate at Jack-in-The-Box across the street.