West Side activists and preservationists like the Lawndale Historical Society are battling to save the Central Park Theatre from bulldozers.
The Central Park Theatre ushered moviegoers out of dingy nickelodeons and into air-conditioned cinema palaces, only to wind up itself on life support.“It is the mother ship of Chicago’s movie theaters,” said Blanche Killingsworth, president of the Lawndale Historical Society. Just because its audience vanished half a century ago doesn’t mean it is empty, she notes. It’s filled with memories, including her own of finding respite from Jim Crow laws.
One of those early families was the Balabans, who with a business partner built the Central Park Theatre, among many others. The entrepreneurial bent of some family members was evident early on. When he filled in for a performer at a local theater, it was like seeing the Promised Land. The silent films of the era were accompanied by musicians underscoring the on-screen action.“Everybody wanted to enjoy himself and the evenings passed off all too quickly,” Balaban wrote in his autobiography. “How different it all was to the worries about fruit and vegetables spoiling before they were sold and quarrels about under-weight and over-charge.
Accordingly, they built the 700-seat Circle Theater, just down 12th Street from the Kedzie Theater. It was a combination movie and vaudeville house, and A.J. had a knack for persuading big-name acts to perform showbiz sticks. One of them was the Broadway star Sophie Tucker, who sang numbers with notoriously racy lyrics.
Because of its hefty cost, they partnered with Ida’s husband, Sam Katz, giving the firm its iconic name: Balaban & Katz Theaters. His customers also got to see a film and stage show — no matter when they entered. From morning to evening, something was on the stage or the screen at the Central Park Theatre. Hence the title of A.J.’s autobiography, “Continuous Performance.”
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