PHOTO - CHICAGO - JEFFERY THEATER - 1952 E 71 ST SOUTH SHORE NEIGHBORHOOD - AUDITORIUM INTERIOR - A WONDERFUL FIND - WE ALREADY HAVE A LOBBY PHOTO OF THE JEFFERY ON THE SITE - NOTE: THE AVALON WAS MY FAVORITE OF OUR LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD "MOVIE PALACES" BUT THE JEFFERY WAS A CLOSE SECOND - JUST A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE GOING TO ONE OF THESE PLACES FOR A DOUBLE FEATURE AND GETTING A BIG CONTAINER OF FRESHLY-POPPED BUTTERED POPCORN (THE BUTTER MELTED, THE REAL STUFF, DRIZZLED ON AND IF YOU WANTED MORE YOU ONLY HAD TO ASK) - THE THEATER LOBBIES ALWAYS HAD BIG POPPING MACHINES ATTENDED AT THE CANDY COUNTER AND YOU COULD HEAR IT AND SMELL IT AS NEW BATCHES WERE PERIODICALLY MADE - MAYBE YOU WOULD ALSO HAVE A CANDY BAR OF WHICH THERE WAS A HUGE CHOICE IN THOSE DAYS - THE ATMOSPHERE WITH HIGHLY THEATRICAL LIGHTING AND ROMANTIC ARCHITECTURE WAS SO EXCITING AND MYSTERIOUS MAKING "GOING TO THE MOVIES" A SPECIAL EVENT - THE CITY HAD A LARGE NUMBER OF SUCH THEATERS (PLUS MANY MORE MODEST ONES) BOTH DOWNTOWN AND IN NEIGHBORHOODS SO IT WAS POSSIBLE TO HAVE QUITE A CHOICE OF THE "SHOW" YOU WERE GOING TO SEE AT ANY TIME - TRULY LIKE NOTHING AROUND TODAY - THE MOVIE MULTIPLEXES TODAY ARE PRETTY STERILE-LOOKING BY COMPARISON WITH NO ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE OR LIGHTING AND GENERALLY HAVE A SINGLE MOVIE PLUS TONS OF ADS (THERE WERE NONE TO SPEAK OF IN THE 1950s AND 1960s EXCEPT A PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK'S SHOW) - THE POPCORN ISN'T EVEN FRESHLY-POPPED NOW (GENERALLY PRE-POPPED IN BAGS, OFTEN RATHER DRY AND STALE) - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO LIKELY DATES TO OPENING AS A VAUDEVILLE THEATER IN 1924