United Artists Theatre

[Gistok]

Sadly, one of the things about the Detroit United Artists Theatre that I've never found is a photograph showing the theatre in full color with the jewel multi-colored house lights on.

Since the Detroit UA procenium [[arch) framing the stage had the lower half cut off by at least the 1960's [[in order to show a wider screen) and the organ screens covered up with curtains at the same time [[so you won't have to look at all that old stuff anymore)... there were never nice color photos showing the Detroit UA in its' full color glory.

But I just found something that is the next best thing... a full color picture of the Chicago United Artists Theatre.

The 1,739 seat Chicago UA was the smallest of the 3 Spanish Gothic styled United Artists Theatres. It was not only the smallest of the 3 1927-28 UA theatres, but also the least finely designed/detailed. In late 1927, C. Howard Crane was forced to put a new exotic shell into an existing smaller playhouse... the 1920 Apollo Theatre.

Sadly, the Chicago UA was pounded to rubble in 1989... but this glorious color image gives us a rare fortunate glimpse at how the similar [[and larger) Detroit UA would have looked in color with full house lighting.... [[click on the 4th theatre image down on the right side and then "ENLARGE IMAGE"):

http://www.photoeye.com/Gallery/form...lio1&Gallery=0

Wow!!

The Detroit UA with similar multicolored lighting must have looked awesome! The colorful cove lights would have highlighted many of the the stone or burnished metal looking plaster details, and would have left the theatre patrons awestruck... something that the existing black/white photo images can do no justice to...