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TALKIETICKERa ^OI’TIITOWN boy ^ho has made good big is Harry r\. A Turrell, manager of the Avalon Theatre, Seventy-iinth st and Stony Island ave., regarded throughout the ntire west as one of the most beautiful playhouses of its »wn typically original and unusual style. Born and reared m the South side of Chicago, Mr. Turrell received his elementary school education at the larter public school, 55th st. and lichigan ave , and was graduated rom high school at Lane Tech. Mr.'urrell declares that he had a jve” for the show game that ate« hack to his school days, /hen he watched the ground-break-ng of lt;=i\ of the old-time South-own theatres—the Calumet thea-re, 58th st. and Calumet a\e., ack in 1910; the Palm theatre, 8th *t. and Indiana a\e, 11 912; the Federal Theatre, 51st stand Prairie ave.; the Vernon Theatre, Gist st. and Vernon ave., in1917, and the old Woodlawn Theatre. 63rd st. and Drexel ave., in1918. Fiom that time on, Mr. Turrell took a keen interest In tne movies. Liming near the Tivoli theater, he seldom missed a day watching the workmen raising that structure, so he started his career in the show gamein’ 1 as an usher at the Tivoli on its opening night He was promoted to chiefusher, treasurer and then first assistant manager. He left the Tivoli in 1925 to open the doors of the Capitol theater, which at that timfe was the only original atmospheric style theater in theworld. He alsoproduced stageshows during A1Short’s successfulstay at the Capitol, and left tlu Capitol to manage the Jeffery theater, which was termed a:- a “loser until Mr. Turrell took the reins and turned it into a “money” hous° Mr. Turrell then was selected toopen and manage HARRY turrell the new Avalon theater, 79th st. and Stony Island ave. The Avalon had its opening on August 29, 1927 Mr. Tur-rell’s hobby is collecting newspaper articles on sensational happenings. He has in his possesion articles on the World war, the deaths of Roosevelt and Wilson, Lindbergh’s flight, Dempsey-Firpo and Dempsey-Tunney fights, and it might be interesting to saythat Mr. TurreU la a personal friend of the ex-champion, Jack Dempsey. Mr. Turrell is a staunch supporter of the boxing game, and plays baseball with the Avalon theater baseball nine, composed of employes of the theater. He is married and lives, as always in the past and future, he adds, in Southtown.More than one thousand boys and girls—members of the RKO Englewood Theater Saturday Mat-tinee Club—assembled In front of the aforementioned place of amusement last Tuesday afternoon to greet their Him Idol of the west, Jack Hoxle, who has been appearing In person at every performance this week Incidentally, some real movies of the event were taken and the newsreel representatives were there to make it official.THE HOLLYWOOD BLADE: John Miljan invited some newspaper people to his house the other night and nobody drank his goldfish or threw any furniture out the ndow; Basil Rathbone shaved cfT his mustache; it oc^u-s to Previewer that this miniature golf craze seems about as permanent as a new endurance record; Harry Beaumont says he don'tTO BE SEEN THIS WEEK INSOUTHTOWN THEATRES
Newspaper Details
Southtown Economist
Chicago, Illinois, US
Fri, Sep 05, 1930
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 29 Apr 2019
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