Day 304: The Palace-Theatre Week Day 4

     In 1926, the firm of Rapp & Rapp opened up the Oriental Theatre.  At the same time they were also prepping to open up another Theatre in the city.  Later that year, the New Palace Theatre was opened up for a total cost of $12 Million.  After constructing both the Oriental, as well as the Shubert(Bank of America) Theatres, the Rapp brothers had experience with building theatres, experience which carried over to this latest project, which was to erect a new theater to host the Orpheum Circuit, which played host to such luminaries as Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Mae West, and even Bob Hope.  The interior design of the theatre was intended to be an homage to the look and feel of the Palace of Versailles, what with its huge decorative mirrors, violet interiors, and white marble.  The walls themselves are bedecked with decorations of wood and gold leaf, plus many examples of brass ornamentation(which will come into play later).  In response to the wane of the Vaudeville era, the theater was converted to a movie house in 1931.

     Fast forward to World War II.  At that time, the government was frantically cannibalizing all sorts of material to aid the war effort, including all the brass that they could lay their hands on.  When the feds came by the Palace, the quick-thinking owners painted all of the brasswork in the theater white, so that the government would not confiscate it.  The ploy worked, and the G-men walked off empty-handed.  Of course, one major drawback of this was that the brass was apparently forgotten about for several years.  In 1984, the place was renamed the Bismarck Theatre and was turned into a rock venue.  In the late 90s, the venue was shut down for an extensive renovation, at which point the original brass fixtures were finally uncovered from under the paint.

     At the completion of the renovations, the venue was reopened in 1999 as the Cadillac Palace Theatre, in deference to the naming rights bought by Cadillac.  The renovated theater has a capacity of 2,344 people and has played host to many different pre-Broadway shows that have opened in Chicago, including Aida, The Producers, The Pirate Queen, The Color Purple, Mary Poppins, and Shrek the Musical.  Additionally, when Wicked came back to town for the first time, they played their engagement at the Cadillac Palace.