Waukegan Movie Theaters and Actors and Movies

During Waukegan's history, there have been a total of 43 movie theaters at 23 locations in the city.  Sadly, today there is not a single Waukegan theater showing first-run films, the nearest place to see one of those is nearby Gurnee.

Three famous ones were the Elite Theater, originally a vaudeville stage, the Academy and the Genessee which was built in 1927 and still stands.

One famous Waukegan person in the movie business was Jack Benny who appeared in the movie "Man About Town" which had its world premier in Waukegan in 1939 at the Genessee Theater.

Dorothy LaMour, George Chandler and Ray Bradbury also were from Waukegan.

"The Navy Way" movie was filmed a lot at Great Lakes Naval base near Waukegan in North Chicago, and had its world premier at the Genessee.

--Cooter

George Kirke Spoor and the Early Waukegan Film Industry-- Part 1

GEORGE KIRKE SPOOR

Born Dec. 18, 1871   Died Nov. 24, 1854

Early film pioneer.  Founded Essanay Studios in Chicago with Gilbert M. "Bronco Billy" Anderson in 1907.  Essanay lasted until 1917 and made 2,000 films of which, 215 survive to this day.

He also played a part in the career of Charlie Chaplin and some of the filming was done in Waukegan.

Spoor and Anderson also were instrumental in discovering other early movie stars like Wallace F. Beery, Francis X. Bushman and Gloria Swanson.In 1894, while Spoor was the manager of the Phoenix Opera House in Waukegan, he teamed up with inventor Edward Amet to build and exhibit the "Magniscope," the first practical 35 mm movie  projector ever designed and used for large audience display.

--Cooter

Waukegan in the Early Movie Industry-- Part 3: "Fake News" Back Then?

Edward Ahmet also filmed the William McKinley presidential inauguration and he wanted to film some of the Spanish-American War but could not get permission so he created his own Spanish-American War using model ships in his backyard in Waukegan.  (The first special effects?)

In these days of "Fake News," you might say Amet had the first one.

The Bess Dunn Museum, which is the Lake County History Museum, has one of the model ships, which were quite realistic-looking and even had puffs of smoke in the movie.

The magniscope was a success and was sold to several high profile theaters, however, Amet concentrated on inventing and never got a patent for his invention.  Thomas Edison even went so far as to sue Amet but when Amer didn't contest it, Edison dropped the suit.

Amet went on to shoot more films with George Kirke Spoor and made a series of war films, shooting footage from staged military camps and using miniatures in the bathtub for staged naval battles.

--Cooter

Waukegan In the Early Movie Industry-- Part 2: Of Phonographs and Early Films

This is from the November 16, 2019, presentation for the Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society at the museum on Washington Street in Ingleside, Illinois.

This is taken from my notes and Wikipedia.  When they turned off the lights in the hall, boy was it ever dark, plus, I was holding the notepad (no desk) plus my handwriting is not the best in the world.  So there were more than a few things I couldn't read.

Two men, Edward H. Amet and George Kirke Spoor had a lot to do with the movie industry in Waukegan.

Edward Hill Amet (Nov.10, 1860 to August 16, 1948), an electric engineer and inventor, was born in Philadelphia, and worked for a time with Thomas Edison.  In 1891, he developed the first spring motor for phonographs and his Echophone was the first cylinder phonograph to have a distinct tone arm.

In 1894, he was living in Waukegan, Illinois, where he teamed up with George Kirke Spoor, a theater manager, and they financed and developed a new projector they called a magniscope.  Their first film was of two young women boxing each other for ten minutes, calling it "Young Ladies in a Boxing Exhibition."

--CootBoxer

Waukegan and the Motion Picture Industry-- Part 1: Edison, Dickson and the Beginning of the Motion Picture Industry

The Fox Lake / Grant Township Historical Society then had our presentation, which today was on Waukegan and its role in the early motion picture industry.    Our presenter was Ty Rohrer of the Waukegan History Museum.

Had things worked out differently, who knows, maybe Lake County and Waukegan might have become "Hollywood" instead of out in California.

When people think of Waukegan and movies, they think of Jack Benny and the Famous Genesee Theater.  But, there is a whole lot more to the story.

Thomas Edison is given credit for the invention of the movie camera, but it was actually William Kennedy Dickson, in Edison's employ, who was the major force in its development.  He invented the kinetoscope.  Part of the reason for this was to see if all four of a horses' hooves came off the ground at the same time while in a gallop.

The kinetoscope was essentially a peep machine in which one person at a time could view it. But, that made it hard to make money with just at a time viewing it. It had to become larger.

--Cooter

The 1918 Flu Epidemic Hits Chicago-- Part 2

By mid-November, Chicago had experienced 38,000 cases of it and another 13,000 had its deadly companion, pneumonia.  In the end, some 10,000 Chicagoans had died.  The epidemic began in the city September 8, 1918,  when several sailors reported sick at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

Military bases had been jammed across the country after the U.S. had entered World War I and these proved breeding grounds for the highly contagious disease.  By September  21, the commanding officer of the base said they had 800 cases.

The September 28, Chicago Tribune said that Fort Sheridan, the Army's base in the Chicago area, had logged 120 cases that day alone, making a total of 300 cases.

Every theater and public hall in Waukegan and North Chicago closed  In North Chicago, schools shut down.  However, the Chicago schools remained open.

Then, the incidences of the flu exploded.  On October 8, the Tribune reported  135 deaths and 1,342 new cases.  The next week, the paper reported  more than 2,000 new cases were happening every day.

--Cooter

Round Lake Teacher Strike-- Part 10: Orange Fences All Over My School

As angry as I was at the school board and administration for bringing on this strike, those orange snow fences infuriated me the most.  I even made up a sign saying "Don't Fence Me Out" taking from the old Bing Crosby song "Don't Fence Me In."

The fence also caused me to buy the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

OCTOBER 19, 1994, DAY THREE OF THE STRIKE.

"I had a long talk today with Lt. D.W. of the Round Lake Beach police force about the fences and their presence.  He said they had done long studies on strikes and decided the fences were good because they clearly showed where people could and couldn't go.

"The police need to be there in case mob psychology takes over.  he says the police recommended that the board take these steps."

It was an interesting talk, but the fences were not needed, nor was police presence needed.  We were teachers, not likely to go on a rampage of destruction and mayhem.  The fences were put there to make us look bad and I'm sure that is what the administration and school board had in mind.  Same with the police being there.  The strike, however, did make the police a lot of money in overtime which I understand the district had to pay.

We have been out on the line in Waukegan three times and never even seen a cop car drive by the picket lines, much less park their cars there with an officer inside it.  And, there are no FENCES!!   The few other strikes I've been at have been officerless and fenceless as well.

October 17, 1994: Day One of Round Lake Teachers Strike-- Part 2

Yesterday, Liz and I commemorated the 20th anniversary of the strike by thanking our Union president who did such a great job carrying us through the hard times.

We also drove into Waukegan, Illinois, to walk the picket line with the teachers there.  They were in Day 11 of their strike and we told them we sure didn't want them breaking our record for longest school strike in a district that survived it in the history of Illinois.

Striking is no fun whatsoever!!

One thing about the Waukegan strike is that there is no police presence at all at the closed schools.  I didn't even see any driving by.  Plus, there were no fences around the buildings like with our strike.  However, there school board seems to be a lot like ours in their refusal to actually negotiate.  They pay that idea lip service, but there is none.

We have several friends who teaches there, but would have gone anyway.

And. of course, it was the 20th anniversary of the beginning of our strike.  What better way to commemorate than to walk the line again.  Maybe Johnny C. should have written a song about it.

I found my old Revolutionary War "Don't Tread on Me" flag which I bought during out strike and it once again waved proudly out on the line.

--Cooter

Last Public Hanging in Lake County, 1874

From the March 16, 2010 Daily Herald.

The last public hanging in Lake County, Illinois, where I lived for 18 years, occurred Feb. 27, 1874. Christopher Rafferty of Cook County (Chicago) had killed Chicago police officer Patrick O'Meara.

On August 4, 1872, Rafferty was in a saloon on South Halstead in Chicago when he was approached by two cops and told they had a warrant for arrest for a breach of peace charge for making improper noise and disturbing. Rafferty said he's shoot id they laid hands on him.

He turned to leave when O'Meara blocked the door and Rafferty drew a pistol and shot him. he also fired two shots at Officer Scanlon, but missed. Rafferty got away, but was captured the next day.

At trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Rafferty's attorney appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court because the fact that Rafferty was drunk at the time of the shooting had not been allowed into testimony. The court rules in his favor.

A second trial was held in Waukegan. The defense attorney tried to say the warrant was invalid as the police magistrate left blank warrants on his desk that officers could fill out.

Witnesses said that O'Meara had it in for Rafferty.

There ended up being a third trial where Rafferty was found guilty despite much evidence and many witnesses to the contrary and the man met his death at the gallows.

A Case of Blind Justice? --DaCoot

Waukegan, Illinois History-- Part 2

The historic and elegant Genesee Theatre was the site of the world premier of Jack Benny's 1939 movie "Man About Town."

Lake County's first bank, the First National Bank of Waukegan was founded in 1852.

Alfred Bennett, brother of Lake County's first black settler Amos Bennett, farmed 40 acres in the 1850s on the east side of what is now the Greenbelt Forest Preserve. Amos Bennett came to lake County in 1834 and claimed to be the first settler to plant corn.

In 1848, a 15-mile plank road was built from Waukegan to Hainesville at the cost of $2,000 per mile. There were three toll gates established, but they were abandoned a short time later because of insufficient revenue.

The courthouse was finished in 1876 at a cost of $40,000.

Edward Amet, who invented the first successful movie projector, the Magniscope, worked out of a studio at 421 North Avenue. In 1898 he and a crew recreated the Battle of Santiago in the Spanish-American War in his back yard in a water tank. He also filmed the 1896 inauguration of President McKinley.

Some Mighty Interesting Facts. --Cooter

Waukegan, Illinois History-- Part 1

From February 23rd Waukegan News Sun. Waukegan is celebrating its 150th year as a city this year.

Waukegan was originally called Little Fort, but early settlers had objections to the name "Little." The local Indian tribe, the Potawatomi word for Little Fort was Waukegance, so after the "ce" was dropped, Waukegan had a name.

Author Ray Bradbury was born August 22, 1920, at his parents' home at 11 S. St. James Street. His 1957 book "Dandelion Wine" was written about growing up in Waukegan. Other books by Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles.

The first death sentence in Lake County was carried out in Waukegan June 30, 1865, of William Bell who was hanged for murdering Ruth Briden of Ela Township for whom he worked.

Little Fort was incorporated Feb. 23, 1859, with Mayor E.B. Ferry. City limits were Lake Michigan on the east, Greenwood Avenue on the north, Lewis Avenue on the west, and 10th Street on the south.

More to Come. --Cooter

Local resident Jack Benny joined the Navy during World War I and trained at nearby Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago.