1860 photo taken 4 days after Mr.
Lincoln visited Lincoln, Illinois, for the last time. Info at 3 below.
This President
grew;
His town does too.
Link to Lincoln:
Lincoln & Logan County Development Partnership
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of Lincoln, IL
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Internet Explorer is the only browser that shows this page the way it was designed. Your computer's setting may alter the display. April 24, 2004: Awarded "Best Web Site of the Year" by the Illinois State Historical
Society "superior
achievement: serves as a model for the profession and reaches a greater
public." |
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Marquee Lights of the Lincoln Theater, est. 1923, Lincoln, Illinois |
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". . . perhaps they [Chautauqua musicians] were the instruments of Change, pointing towards the fast automobiles, the golf courses, and the Sunday-night movies of the future. . . . The grey-haired members of the audience, guardians of a gentle Calvinistic [Puritanical] era and with fixed ideas of what entertainment was appropriate to a day of worship sat shocked and disapproving. The rest applauded wildly, reminded of something they had almost forgotten or known only in snatches-- of how wonderful it is to be young. . . ." William Maxwell, Time Will Darken It (1948), p. 150. _____________________ |
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Citizens of Lincoln, Illinois, have continuously expressed interest in art and entertainment of many kinds. Today the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival is an annual celebration with numerous events, including those emphasizing visual and musical arts.
The community also
supports the Lincoln Community Theater, Lincoln Writers Club, and the Logan County Arts
Association, which sponsors a series of classic films at the Lincoln Cinemas
(the Lincoln Theater). Of course, local schools and colleges also have
courses and extracurricular activities relating to theater, drawing,
painting, music, and writing. Theaters in Lincoln, Illinois, During the Route 66 Era The Lincoln Theater is
the only theater of five in Lincoln, Illinois, to survive from the Route 66
era. During that period, the other downtown theaters were the Grand
and the Vogue. The two drive-in theaters were the Lincoln Drive In,
located on the eastern edge of Lincoln on Route 10, and the Bennis Auto-Vue,
located on the northeast side just off the Route 66 "beltline." |
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18.1: Lincoln Theater (Leigh Henson photo, 7-01) |
18.2: Lincoln Theater Marquee at Dusk |
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18.3: Lincoln Theater and
Photo from
the Logan County centennial edition of the Lincoln Evening Courier,
Wednesday, October 18, 1939, p. 7. |
18.4: Grand Theater in the 1930s Photo from Paul Beaver, Logan County History, 1982, p. 27. |
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18.5:
Interior of the Grand Theater Showing Balconies, (Photo provided by Leon Zeter from 1953 Lincolnite) |
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Summary of Theater History in Lincoln, Illinois One of Lincoln's earliest entertainment establishments was Gillett's Hall, "located on the upper floors of the building today [1953] occupied by Jacobs' Clothing Store on Broadway" (Courier, Centennial Edition, Section Seven, August 26, 1953, p. 1). A photo of the Gillett Building appears on 15. Vintage Scenes of the Business & Courthouse Square Historic District. According to the Courier
article, Gillett's Hall featured
traveling shows that played for a week at a time. Also, there were
"home talent and minstrel shows sponsored by Lincoln civic and fraternal
groups to entertain theatre-goers. . . . As if theatre entertainment
were not enough, roller skating took place in Gillett's Hall also as the
beaus and their gals spent many an evening whirling along the floor on
skates to the tempo of a fine waltz." Other sites of live
entertainment were the upper floors of the Lincoln House and the K.C. Hall
(Sanford in Logan County History, 1982, p. 27). Sanford quotes
a source that said parades often preceded live performances. In 1895, John Cossitt built the
Broadway Theater, later known as the Grand (18.4 above) (Courier,
Centennial Edition, Section Seven, August 26, 1953, p. 1).
18.6: Marquee of the Grand from the 1955 Lincolnite The most complete history of movie theaters in Lincoln, Illinois, is "'Those Were the Days': Theaters and Shows in Logan County" by Sanford Patterson and published in Paul Beaver's Logan County History, 1982, pp. 26-28. He also includes some movie history in his account of local theaters: With the arrival of moving pictures in Lincoln, about 1910, several theaters were built, including the X-Ray, Family Theater, Star, Empire, Nickelodian, and Airdrome, which was built by Steve Bennis just east of the present Arcade Building. Over the years, Mr. Bennis emerged as Lincoln's most successful player in the movie theater business, creating the Bennis Enterprises. Eventually he owned the Grand and built the fabled Lincoln Theater, the Vogue, and the Bennis Auto-Vue. Sanford says that the Bennis Auto-Vue was constructed to compete with the Lincoln Drive-In Theater, built on the east end on March, 1953. The drive-in theaters were an attempt to attract viewers that had been lost from regular theaters because of television (History of Logan County 1982, p. 28). I recall that the location of the Lincoln Drive-In was prone to standing water after heavy rains. Thus, locals nicknamed this theater the "Lincoln Dive-In." In view of its enduring
appeal, the Lincoln Theater stands as a living monument to the history of
entertainment in this city. The advent of sound ("talking pictures") prompted Mr. Bennis to built the Lincoln Theater, and he bought the land [Kickapoo Street] in 1922 (Lincoln Evening Courier, section 6, Wednesday, August 26, 1953, p. 12). Sanford Patterson quotes Earl Loeber in describing how Mr. Bennis generated funds for the construction: "When Steve decided to build the Lincoln Theater, he hired some high powered salesmen to peddle the stock. They couldn't sell it so Steve went out and sold it. That's how he got some of the money to build the theater" (Beaver, History of Logan County, 1982, p. 27). Lincolnite Stu Wyneken writes that "construction on the Lincoln Theater started Feb. 12, 1922 [Lincoln's birthday] and the Theater opened Feb. 13, 1923, with the first film being John Quincy Adams Sawyer [with Lon Chaney and Louise Fazenda]." The Courier notes that "the late Judge L.B. Stringer made the dedicatory address, dedicating the show house to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. In his remarks of welcome to the first nighter crowd, Mr. Bennis pointed out that the theatre had been built so that it would be modern for 20 years in the future" (Lincoln Evening Courier, section 6, Wednesday, August 26, 1953, p. 12). According to the Courier, the Lincoln Theater was the first theater in the nation for a city of Lincoln's size to feature movies with sound. The pride of the theatre was the great organ, played by John LaMothe and Joseph Bennis. Every week, patrons at the Lincoln were given the chance to play SCREENO and possibly win $50 to $500 in cash; that promotion continued into the fifties" ("What Did We Do for Fun: Saturday Night in Logan County," Our Times. vol. 1, no. 2, winter, 1996, pp. 1-2). Nancy Lawrence Gehlbach notes the curious fact that even well into the era of sound movies, some of the movie theaters featured live acts: "On Friday, January 3rd of 1936, the stage show Lightnin', played at the Grand with 40 people in the cast and orchestra. . . . The Lincoln Theatre celebrated its 13th anniversary in 1936 with a stage show featuring Uncle Ezra and his Hoosier Hot-Shots from WLS and the National Barn Dance." The reference to Uncle Ezra and the Hoosier Hot-Shots from WLS led me to try to find information about them in the WLS Family Albums left to me by my Grandmother Ruth Henson. (As a kid, I often visited Grandmother Ruth and Great Grandmother Parlee on Fifth Street, Business Route 66, when they listened to the WLS Barndance on Saturday nights.) I did find separate pictures of Uncle Ezra and the Hot-Shots in the 1936 edition of the Family Album. The 1938 Family Album, however, contains a photo of both Uncle Ezra and the band, so I chose that photo to include below (note the washboard). |
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18.7: WLS's Uncle Ezra and the Hot-Shots as They Would Have Appeared at the Lincoln Theater, 1936 Photo from the WLS
Family Album, 1938, p. 45. |
18.8: Mr. Paul Million
&
Photos from the collection of Mr. Paul Million, given to Fred Blanford in
2001. |
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In the 1950s, Saturday Westerns and other adventure flicks
attracted a generation of young viewers. The Roy Rogers' Riders Club
was a promotional activity to fill the Lincoln Theatre. Use the following
link to view several photos of members of this non-exclusive club:
http://lincolnhigh1960.tripod.com/rrrc.html. |
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18.9: A Special Feature at the
Ad for Lincoln Theater in the Lincoln Evening Courier, August 26, 1953 |
18.10: Logan County Arts Association Feature Film for August, 2002 (photo by Stu Wyneken) |
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Rare Photos of the Lincoln Theater Provided by Mr. Stu Wyneken In a letter to me dated August 1, 2002, Stu offers some useful background on the photos below so I quote from his letter. As he indicates, the Lincoln Theater was well designed and equipped for live productions as well as movies. "The black-and-white backstage photos were taken when the theater was twinned in 1985. The stage equipment in the photos is gone now, taken out when house 3 and 4 were added in the mid 1990s. The dressing rooms under the stage still exist, as does the original projection booth. As you can see, the backstage area was quite deep and capable of holding and flying a lot of scenery. The stage also included three sets of colored strip lights, about 40 feet long, footlights across the front of the stage. Probably not many people knew all that was behind the movie screen.
The large dome in the auditorium and the intricate scrollwork still survive,
yet hidden by the drop ceilings in house 1 and 2. The orchestra pit,
where house 3 is now, was accessed from under the stage." |
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18.11: Lincoln Theater Entrance and
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18.12: Ticket Booth and Lincoln Cinemas Manager Richard Casad |
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The front of the marquee
identifies Top Hat as the July feature presentation sponsored by the
Logan County Arts Association in cooperation with GKC Cinemas. |
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18.13: Lobby |
18.14: Original Scroll Work |
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The original scroll work
seen in photo 18.14 is elaborate and elegant. It still decorates the
curved hallway leading to the main auditorium. |
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18.15: Scenery of the Live Stage Production of Annie Get Your Gun, |
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Photo 18.15 also shows
the 16-foot high tapestries that adorned the interior. They still
survive and are safe in storage. Stu took this photo when he was the
technical director for this production. |
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18.16: Projection Booth for |
18.17: Projection Equipment for |
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The projection booth
shown in photo 18.16 formerly was the women's bathroom. Photo 18.17
shows the projection equipment for house 2. "Movies are placed on the
platters to the right and fed to the projector. No need for a
projectionist to stay with the films anymore. The original projector
booth is still there. It sits above the booths for house 1 and 2"
(Stu). |
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18.18: Dressing Room Below Stage |
18.19: Back Stage Light Board |
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More than one dressing room was located below the stage, and they are still there. Photo 18.19 shows original light board and door that accessed the roof over the stage. House 4 is presently in this location. |
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18.20: Close-up of Light Board |
18.21: Huge Stage Light Dimmers |
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The light
board controlled the stage lighting. |
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18.22: Counterweights |
18.23: Counterweights Fly System |
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When properly rigged, the counterweight system enabled a single worker to raise a 5,000-pound set.
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The Vogue
Vogue Marquee on "the Day
Lincoln Was Attacked"
18.24: City Hall Tower, Mark Holland, and Vogue Theater Marquee on March 23, 1943 (Photo in Gleason, Lincoln: A Pictorial History, p. 103) Mr. Gleason reports that on this day Mark Holland buzzed Lincoln, Illinois, with a C-47 Dakota, no. 73., in order to impress his girlfriend, Marcella, who later married him. The plane apparently flew "so low the exhaust of the plane blew papers off some of the desks in the Logan County Courthouse" (p. 103). Lincolnite Stan Stringer tells the story of how his father came to photograph this event. Mark Holland, who had had worked for Stan's photographer father, Charles M. Stringer, telegrammed Charles the night before. "Dad agreed he'd have his Speed Grafix loaded and snap the pictures." Stan writes that "at the time, I was in the fourth grade at Monroe Elementary School. My teacher was Miss Hazel Holland, and our classroom was on the second floor. Miss Holland was a cousin of Mark's. Needless to say, when Mark made his first run the class was out of hand. We ran to the windows for a grand view of the action. After Mark finished his runs and the class had quieted down, Miss Holland asked if anyone knew who was flying that airplane. While I had to fake it, we all had blank faces. I'm not sure if she suspected it was Mark, but nothing more was said" (lincolndailyness.com address below in Sources Cited). Respond to Stan at sstringer@cox.net. The Vogue
marquee indicates the film of the day was The Meanest Man in Town
starring Jack Benny. On that day it was Mark Holland who upstaged Mr.
Benny as the most entertaining man in town.
18.25: Vogue Theater Marquee in Background (Photo from Paul Gleason, Lincoln: A Pictorial History, p. 165) In the Route 66 era, parades on
various occasions were special sources of entertainment. The above
photo shows the marching band of Lincoln Community High School in the 1953
centennial parade. Esteemed director Bill Smock accompanies his
charges at the left. Temperature was in the upper 90s. |
| Bennis Auto-Vue
18.26: Bennis Auto-Vue Ad
in the Lincoln Drive-in
If
the post-modern world has contradictions, Lincoln was post-modern before
post-modern was cool. |
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A Late Show
18.27: Lincoln
Drive-In Theatre Ad in |
An Early Show
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18.29: A Line-Up of Local Talent (Photo taken by Larry Shroyer and provided by
Fred Blanford) |
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Fred Blanford writes,
"Did someone say Mikado? [The above photo is] Another L(arry) B. S(hroyer)
scan. It is a part of the cast along with the director. My thoughts--Wilbur
Layman second from left looking down at score, first female on the left I
strongly suspect to be Ann Doolen, the male in the front row with
glasses--Spencer Littleton?, young guy behind him looking at his neck--Bruce
Davis?, the female with the big smile and ponytail--Virginia Dunkelberg and
to the right from Virginia, Shirley Wilenzsky. Virginia & Shirley were two
of the trio Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing--if memory serves.
18.30: 1952 Community Chorus Production of Carmen Photo from Lindstrom and Carruthers, Lincoln: the Namesake College, pp. 166-67. Caption reads, "Community Chorus in 1952, under direction of Bill Tagg, presented the opera "Carmen," with Judy Alvarado dancing a colorful role. This source
cites two other 1952 productions: One was G.B. Shaw's Arms and the
Man, with Jean Goodrich and Don Dunkelberg. "Another fine play in
1952 by Harold Aleshire was The Late Christopher Bean, which featured
Dick Fairbairn, Bud Gluckman, Boyd Roche, Lee Jenkins, Don Meredith, Betty
Lou Kelly, Eileen Huffman, Greg Soliz, and Martha Tibbs." |
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From High Brow to Middle Brow
18.31: Hickey's Pool Hall: Second Home to Many Lincolnites
(Photo provided by D.D. Welch, captions by Norm Schroeder) |
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Sources Cited Beaver, Paul J. History of Logan County Illinois, 1982. The Logan County Heritage Foundation. Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1982. Gehlbach, Nancy Lawrence. "What Did We Do for Fun? Saturday Night in Logan County." Our Times. vol. 1, no.2. winter, 1996. Same Redding, Publisher. Prairie Years Press. 121 N. Kickapoo St., Lincoln, IL 62656 Gleason, Paul E. Lincoln, Illinois: A Pictorial History. St. Louis, MO: G. Bradley Publishing, 1998. Material from Mr. Gleason's books is copyrighted with all rights reserved. Mr. Gleason's material used in this Web site is with permission from the G. Bradley Publishing Company, 461 Des Peres Road, St. Louis, MO 63131. Call 1-800-966-5120 to inquire about purchasing Lincoln, Illinois: A Pictorial History (1998) (200 pages of rare photos and text) or Logan County Pictorial History (2000) (also 200 pages of rare photos and text). Visit htttp://gbradleypublishing.com/. Henson, Leigh. Mr. Paul Million and the Lincoln Theatre Roy Rogers' Riders Club. http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/lchsclassof1960/rrrc.html. Lincoln Community Theater Web site: http://www.geocities.com/lincolncommunitytheatre/ Lincoln, Illinois, centennial edition of the Lincoln Evening Courier, section 7, August 26, 1953. Lindstrom, Andrew, and Olive Carruthers. Lincoln: The Namesake College (the Centennial History of Lincoln College, 1865-1965. Lincoln, Illinois, no publisher, 1965. Logan County Arts Association Web site: http://www.lincolndailynews.com/artsassociation/ Logan County centennial edition of the Lincoln Evening Courier, Wednesday, October 18, 1939. WLS Family Album, 1944. Chicago, IL: The Prairie Farmer, 1944.
Stringer, Stan. "Stan Stringer Tells the Story of Mark Holland's Buzzing of
Lincoln." |
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"The Past Is But the Prelude" |
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