Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
Yesterday’s post explored the Oak Park Theater, a venue with entertainment managed by Jones, Linick & Schaefer. This theatrical management firm was featured in Frederic Hatton’s article “A Romance of Chicago Theatricals” for the “Chicago Daily Tribune” (30 Dec, 1916, page 22). This is a fascinating article that provides insight into not only the theatre industry, but also many Chicago theaters:
“The rise of Jones, Linick & Schaefer if Chicago’s most recent commercial romance. The rapidity with which success has waited upon them dims many a tale of fortune in Chicago’s earlier days, days which were once considered to have been much more pregnant of opportunity than the present.
One can hear J., L. & S. on the loop street breeze now. The brief firm formula has a catchy ring. It drops easily from the tongue and it is so much in Rialto speech that it comes out now as if planted with a rubber stamp. Yet a few years ago no one except a few vaudeville men could tell you anything about this firm. It was known to have successfully planted a new brand of vaudeville in a few playing houses, but with the acquisition of McVicker’s and the Colonial at the end of the season these men leaped into the spotlight, as it were, fully made up as metropolitan managers. Their entrance to the loop stage was sudden and dramatic. Now you can hear the wildest sort of gossip as to how much money a day the form makes and how sudden it is to gobble up the entire theatrical business.
Bent on the discovery of these new phenomenons [sic.], we traced them down to their offices over the Orpheum Theatre on State Street. On the third floor there you can find a very accurate reproduction of scenes, which are supposed to be current in America only along Broadway. There your will find actor waiting in abundance without the rail which admits the privileged; there you will find non-resident managers in plenty arranging for bills and acts. Within the gates there are further signs of productive theaterdom – busy agents, stenographers, routing men. Booking directors and skillful executives. Playing the vaudeville game on a big scale is a bit like chess. It is all a matter of moves, and he who moves first has the offensive and the advantage. Jones, Linick & Schaefer have shown themselves masters of the quick, decisive move. They are not announcers of plans; they believe in coming up to a condition and then acting instantly.
In the innermost office of all the Orpheum you will find Messrs. Jones, Linick & Schaefer at triplet desks, one in the window, and another at each side of the room. Mr. Jones, the president of the firm, is short, dark, slender and very alert. He is a bundle of nervous energy. Mr. Schaefer is rather his opposite, being of serene, jovial, and easy-going presence, while Mr. Linick differs from both the others in being tall, wiry and rather soldierly. All seem to be in thorough harmony, which is perhaps the secret of their success.
All modestly disclaim being theatrical magnates or any other sort of bugaboo, being anxious to convey the impression that they had been lucky and their only credit lies in being strictly business.”
The paper then listed the
theaters
First in amusement, in price, in the hearts of Chicago Playgoers.”
The article also went on to describe each of the firm’s venues:
THE RIALTO- Chicago’s handsomest theatre with perfect ventilation. The first month of the year 1917 will become the birth month of the Rialto Theatre, built at a cost exceeding $600,000 by Jones, Linick & Schaefer. Within a few weeks it will open its doors with high class, popular priced vaudeville, with a policy similar to McVicker’s. Marshall & Fox are the architects and Fleishmann Construction Company are the builders. Its location, on State Street, between Jackson and Van Buren, in the heart of the loop.
MCVICKER’S THEATRE – located on Madison Street near State, is the most popular continuous vaudeville house in Chicago. It was built by James H. McVicker in 1854, burned to the ground twice and remodeled recently at a cost of many thousands of dollars. Performances are continuous from 11 A.M. to 11 P.M.
LA SALLE THEATRE – The La Salle Theatre, located in the very heart of the loop on Madison Street and Clark, gained renown throughout America as the birthplace of musical comedy. For many years the most popular of the lighter musical plays were originated and produced at the La Salle, but at present the house is given over to the exhibition of motion pictures. Mary Pickford in “The Pride of the Clan” now occupies its screen, where performances are given continuously from 9 A.M. to 11 P. M.
ORPHEUM THEATRE – The Orpheum Theatre, on State Street opposite the Palmer House, is really the nucleus of the Jones, Linick & Schaefer string of houses. Here their first great success was made and the Orpheum Theatre today stands alone as the only First Run, Daily Change, motion picture house in Chicago. Its performances are continuous from 8:30 A. M. to midnight.
LYRIC THEATRE – The Lyric Theatre is in a class by itself being the only twenty-four hour theatre in the world. Several years ago the key was thrown away and since that time three shifts of employes [sic.] have presented motion pictures every twenty-four hours out of every day, and three hundred and sixty-five days every year motion pictures are offered.
BIJOU DREAM – The Bijou Dream stands directly next door to the Orpheum on State Street near Monroe and is given over principally to long runs of feature pictures. Here the very best art of the motion picture photographer is shown to tremendous crowds all the time. It is a beautiful little play house.
STUDEBAKER THEATRE – The Studebaker Theatre on Michigan Boulevard near Van Buren has been on of the foremost Chicago Theatres for the past decade. The attraction occupying this theatre at present is Annette Kellermann in Wm. Fix’s film spectacle “The Daughter of the Gods,” a marvelous motion picture of novelty and sensation. Performances are given twice daily.
COLONIAL THEATRE – The Colonial Theatre on Randolph Street near State Street is probably Chicago’s greatest play house and had one of the most beautiful lobbies of any play house in the world, built in the Romantic period style. At present it is devoted to two daily performances of “Intolerance,” D. W. Griffith’s marvelous spectacle depicting Love’s struggle throughout the years.
THE BROADWAY THEATRE – The Broadway Theatre will be the newest addition to the Jones, Linick & Schaefer chain and is the only playhouse announced in the outlying district of Chicago attached to this string. The Broadway will be complete by September 1st, 1917. High Class Vaudeville will be installed, with a policy similar to the “Rialto” and “McVicker’s” Theatres.
To be continued…
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