The Seagull Study Guide (12MB) - Goodman Theatre

Michael Todd. He had just started a joint venture
with the American Optical Company to develop the
large film format systems we enjoy at the movies
today - wide, curved screens with multi-channel sound.
Todd demolished the stage in the in the Selwyn to
accommodate the screen and both theaters became
cinema palaces hosting “roadshow” movies, films that
opened for limited engagements in a few cities before
a nationwide release. Unlike modern-day limited
releases, roadshow films were shown to audiences who
had to reserve their seats as they did with live theater
productions. The films were usually longer versions
than in general release, cost more and screened less
often, and featured an intermission. The classic films
“Gone with the Wind” and Disney’s “Fantasia” are two
examples. Todd also used the theaters as an unofficial
laboratory, experimenting with many different aspects of
Todd-AO. Smell-O-Vision, a system that released odors
into the theater so that the viewer could “smell” what
was happening in the movie, was developed
there. And the Smell-O-Vision machine was still in the
basement when the building was demolished!
The theaters were successful movie houses for many
years until the overall decline of the Chicago theatre
district and the rise of neighborhood cinema complexes.
The Harris remained dark for many years, falling into a
horrific state of disrepair. The Selwyn – now the Mike
Announcement at a presentation for the new Goodman Theatre
space. Photo courtesy of Goodman Theatre.
Todd Cinestage – became an adult movie theater that
ran for more than 10 years before it too shuttered its
doors.
In the early 1980s, the Chicago Theatre on State
Street, the city’s most famous surviving movie palace,
reopened. Harold Washington, now the Mayor of
Chicago, set up the Department of Cultural Affairs as
an integral city agency, and helped revive interest in the
moribund Loop theater district. The City of Chicago, in
the process of re-vitalizing the North Loop, urged the
Goodman to consider the site of the two old commercial
theaters on North Dearborn. In the early 1990s the
Goodman committed to building on the new site and
fundraising efforts began. A major gift was received from
Albert Ivar Goodman, a distant cousin of Kenneth Sawyer
Goodman, and from his mother, Edie Appleton, which
ensured that the theater would keep the Goodman name
and allowed construction to begin. The new Goodman
Theatre opened in December, 2000 with August Wilson’s
play, King Hedley II.
Scene from King Hedley II. Photo courtesy of Goodman Theatre.
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