Biography
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Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60614
Theater
- Phone
- (773) 871-3000
- Address
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.,
Get directions
Chicago, IL 60614- Email Address
- information@victorygardens.org
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Biograph Theater
Perhaps best known for its historical connection to the infamous gangster John Dillinger, the Biograph Theater is also one of Chicago's oldest remaining neighborhood movie houses. Designed in 1914 by Samuel N. Crowen, an architect known for his classically detailed designs, the Biograph Theater possesses many of the distinguishing characteristics of the earliest movie houses, including a simple storefront-width lobby, recessed entrance, free-standing ticket booth, and canopy marquee. The building is finished with red pressed brick and white-glazed terra cotta, and its construction typifies the first-generation movie houses whose architectural style gave legitimacy and respectability to the fledgling motion picture industry. Dillinger's death here in 1934, after being named "Public Enemy No. 1" by the FBI, guarantees the Biograph's place in Chicago crime history.
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Biograph Theater
Theater in Chicago, US, opened 1915
The Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It gained early notoriety as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was leaving when he was shot down by FBI agents, after he watched a gangster movie there on July 22, 1934.[2][3] The theater is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 28, 2001.[4]
History
Designed by architect Samuel N. Crowen in 1914,[4] the Biograph has many of the distinguishing characteristics of movie houses of the period, including a storefront-width lobby, recessed entrance, free-standing ticket booth, and canopy marquee. The building is finished with red pressed brick and white-glazed terra cotta.
On July 22, 1934, after attending the film Manhattan Melodrama with brothel madam Ana Cumpănaș, also known as Anna Sage (or "The Woman in Red"), and Polly Hamilton, John Dillinger was