Customer Reviews

The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz (IL) (Images of America)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The vast library of historical works on Chicago has an unfortunate tendency to overlap coverage on the same events, at the expense of the countless neighborhoods, cultural movements, and social movements that shape the city. It's great that such a specialized book, focusing solely on Balaban and Katz's numerous Chicago movie palaces, even exists.

Inspired by David Balaban's personal research into his ancestry, the initial chapter on the sprawling Balaban family may feel tedious to the casual reader. But following is an eclectic collection of photography of (now mostly demolished) cinema palaces, as well as scrapbook movie flyers. Though the narrative skimps a bit on detail, there's still some interesting background information about movie theaters' role in introducing air conditioning into society, as well as the surprisingly intensive professional training once required of cinema staff- backed up by photos of posters promoting such initiatives.

This book features beautiful photographs and unusual images from a near forgotten era of motion picture history. A must have!