Save the Skokie Theatre!

Don and I were on our way to the Skokie Public Library today, when we saw the streets closed off for a festival. We stopped to check it out and discovered that it was Skokie’s Backlot Bash and silent movie festival. Coming from a summer in Los Angeles, I’d seen my share of film festivals, but little did I know that Skokie, IL has it’s own rich film heritage.

The Skokie Theatre was built in 1912 on what was a backlot for some of the first silent films. It exclusively played silent films for many years . It was renovated in recent years and became a venue for all types of music, theatre, and film. Due to hard economic times and lack of grant funding the theatre was being threatened with foreclosure. As part of  an effort to fundraise, they arranged the Backlot Bash with free silent film screenings. Don and I sat in a program including a DW Griffith film, “The Little Tease” which had not been screened since 1913. Though I had seen many silent films as part of my film history courses at Emerson, it was a completely different experience to see it in a theater with live piano accompaniment. We really enjoyed the program, especially the slapstick comedy short similar to a Charlie Chaplin film. Apparently buckets of water falling on peoples heads is timelessly hilarious.

To help save the Skokie Theatre, visit: http://www.skokietheatre.org



Pictures via Skokie History and Annyas