A Sunday Matinee On Easter
This photo of children outside a movie theater was taken by Edwin Rosskam on Easter Sunday, 1941, in the "Black Belt" of Chicago, Illinois, and later colorized by Marina Amaral. Rosskam had arrived in Chicago in 1941 to photograph the Black Belt during the Great Migration, and he spent three weeks there under the auspices of the Office of War Information. Richard Wright acted as his guide as he wandered from Maxwell Street, to the impoverished “kitchenette” neighborhoods and the wealthier areas near 47th street. Rosskam’s photographs captured the daily lives of African Americans living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s. During the three weeks, Rosskam said he photographed “everything from the undertaker to the gangster.” They capture the disparities between people in the different sections of the Black Belt, covering the desperation of some in contrast with the comfortable lives of others, like the children in this picture, lined up in their Easter clothes to catch a matinee.
In addition to capturing an image of children at a point in history, Rosskam’s photo also captures an image of a grand movie theater, the Regal. By the time this photo was taken, movies had been around for nearly 40 years. In 1903, The Great Train Robbery was the first film to be made. Two years later, on June 19, 1905, the first movie theater opened in the U.S. The owners of the theater called it the Nickelodeon, a word that was derived from the word nickel, which was the cost to see a film at the time, and the Greek word for theater. Early films were flickering shadows on white sheets, lasting 15 to 20 minutes, but early audiences were quite impressed, giving rise to the movie theater industry and the proliferation of grand theaters like this one.
The Creation Of A Grand Experience
With the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, Americans became very interested in Egyptian Revival Architecture, and some theaters, inspired by this interest, used sphinxes, hieroglyphics, temple facades, and other Egyptian elements. Other theaters incorporated Moorish design, and Chinese garden temples along with chandeliers in the lobbies and richly upholstered seats. This atmosphere, along with the magic of film, helped people escape from the realities of everyday life. The Regal, where the photo was taken, was built during this boom time for theaters. While the picture was taken almost 20 years after the proliferation of the movie palace, people still needed an escape, as this was the time when America was still recovering from one crisis, the Great Depression, and was about to enter another with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
A Golden Era For Film
Source: (Library of Congress).
By the time this picture was taken, there were around 17,500 movie theaters operating in 1940, according to the 1941
Film Daily Year Book. This meant that there was one theater for every 8,000 people in the U.S. The most important theaters were the first-run metropolitan houses. In 95 cities with populations of at least 100,000, there were about 450 downtown deluxe palaces. The movies during this time were also notable. Two years before this picture was taken was a blockbuster year for movies, as notable films like
Gone with the Wind and
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington graced the screen.
Life In Bronzeville
Source: (Library of Congress).
The Black Belt, also sometimes known as Bronzeville, where Rosskam took his pictures, was home to the Regal Theater, which was the center of African American culture during the time. The Black Belt itself was a chain of neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side. During the Great Migration, many African Americans moved from the Southeast, drawn by the promise of jobs in the meatpacking and railroad industries. and Chicago became the capital of Black America. In the early 1940s as racial tensions rose, whites formed covenants to stop individuals from renting or selling to black people. As a result, three-quarters of Chicago’s African-Americans were living in the Black Belt, the neighborhood which encompassed 30 blocks along State Street on the South Side. It rarely was more than seven blocks wide. With a quarter of a million residents, the neighborhood was densely populated, and because of overcrowding, many families lived in old, dilapidated buildings. Within the black belt, the poorest residents were located in the northernmost section, the oldest area, while the elites lived in the southernmost part of the neighborhood. Bronzeville’s culture rivaled that of Harlem, as it was home to numerous nightclubs and dance halls in addition to the Regal Theater. The Regal hosted music, dance, and comedy in addition to movies and some of the major black entertainers performed there. Additionally, a number of prominent African Americans called Bronzeville home, including Ida B. Wells, Louis Armstrong, Richard Wright, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
A Changing Neighborhood
Another picture by Rosskam, from the same series. Source: (Pinterest).
Despite the segregation and poverty many of them had to contend with, black-owned businesses, churches, and social groups helped to anchor the community, until the end of racially segregated housing. Middle and upper-class families then moved away from the neighborhood, and poverty and overpopulation increased. By 1968, the Regal Theater closed, and in 1973, it was demolished.
